Freshwater lampreys and fishes of Türkiye; an annotated checklist, 2023

Abstract

Herewith, the current status of the inland waters ichthyofauna of Türkiye is revised, and an updated checklist of the freshwater lampreys and fishes is presented. As of November 2023, the freshwater ichthyofauna of Türkiye is known to consist of 427 species belonging to 20 orders, 37 families, and 97 genera. Among these, 21 species (4.9%) are alien, and 215 species (50.4%) are considered endemic to Türkiye. The orders with the largest numbers of species in the ichthyofauna of Türkiye are the Cypriniformes (297 species, 69.6%), followed by the Cyprinodontiformes (26 species, 6.1%), the Salmoniformes (25 species, 5.9%), the Gobiiformes (20 species, 4.7%), the Siluriformes (13 species, 3.0%), and the Clupeiformes (9 species, 2.1%). At the family level, the Leuciscidae has the greatest number of species (126 species; 29.8% of the total species), followed by Nemacheilidae (63 species, 14.8%), Cyprinidae (59 species, 13.8%), Cobitidae (29 species, 6.8%), Salmonidae (25 species, 5.9%), Aphanidae (23 species, 5.4%), Gobiidae (20 species, 4.7%), and Gobionidae (15 species, 3.5%). According to IUCN Red List criteria, among 403 naturally distributed species (alien species not included), four fish species are extinct, and 99 species (24.4%) are classified as threatened extinctions, including 28 (6.9%) CR, 44 (10.8%) EN, and 27 (6.7%) VU. After the latest checklist published in 2020, a total of 56 species, including 26 newly identified species from Türkiye and 30 new records documented from Turkish inland waters, were added. By the way, a total of 17 species have been excluded, mostly because of synonymization.