A new species of riverine barb from the Capoeta genus has been described from Turkey.
The new tropical freshwater fish is a member of the family Cyprinidae and was described as Capoeta ekmekciae by Davut Turan, Maurice Kottelat, S Gulsun Kirankaya and Semih Engin in a paper in the latest issue of the journal Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters.
The new Capoeta species was caught in the Coruh River drainage in northeastern Anatolia in Turkey using electrofishing equipment. The authors state that the new barb is one of three members of the genus caught in the area, including Capoeta tinca and another species C. sp. aff. tinca, which is due to be formally named at a later date.
Capoeta ekmekciae has a shorter head and deeper caudal peduncle than other members of the genus, as well as a shorter tail and a greater number of serrae on the posterior edge of the last simple serrated dorsal fin ray.
The Capoeta genus is restricted to the Levant and Middle East, Caucasus and the southwest of Asia. Most species are found in fast flowing rivers and streams, but a few species also occur in lakes and springs.
The bodies of the fish are fusiform in shape and they part of their lower lip is hard and keratinised to allow them to scrape algae and aufwuchs from rocks in fast flowing water.
For more details on the new Capoeta species see the paper: Turan D, Kottelat M, Kirankaya SG and S Engin (2006) - Capoeta ekmekciae, a new species of cyprinid fish from northeastern Anatolia (Teleostei: Cyprinidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 147-156.