Annotated checklist of the fishes of the Persian Gulf: Diversity and conservation status

Abstract

This checklist aims to reviews and summarize the results of the systematic researches on the Persian Gulf ichthyofauna that has been carried out for more than 200 years. Since the work of C. Niebuhr, a Danish biologist in the 18th century, the number of valid species has increased significantly and the systematic status of many of the species has changed, and reorganization and updating of the published information has become essential. Here we take the opportunity to provide a new and updated checklist of fishes of Persian Gulf based on literature and taxon occurrence data obtained from natural history and new fish collections. The total confirmed fish species of Persian Gulf comprise 743 species, 131 families, 444 genera and 27 orders. In the class Chondrichthyes, the most diverse family is Charcharhinidae with 23 species (41.89%), followed by Dasyatidae with 15 species (31.08%). Within the class Actinopterygii, Gobiidae with 65 species (9.70%), Carangidae with 45 species (6.27%), Serranidae with 25 species (3.73%), Apogonidae with 25 species (3.73%), Lutjanidae with 23 species (3.43%) and Blenniidae with 23 species (3.43%) are the most diverse families in the Persian Gulf.