Habitat Preference Assessment of Capoeta razii (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) in Klarood River, Mazandaran Province, Iran

Habitat assessment is the most important step in environmental decisions. One of the ways to assess habitat quality is to use habitat suitability for fish species. So, this study was conducted in Klarood River, one of the important tributaries of Babolrood River in Mazandaran Province, north of Iran to evaluate the habitat quality for Capoeta razii. At first, a site with the least anthropogenic influences was selected on the river. Then the fish was caught by electrofishing device aggregate at 100 points. At each point where the fish was caught, environmental parameters such as depth, water velocity, type of biotic and abiotic substrate were also measured. The results showed that the species prefers water velocity of 16-30 cm s-1 and depth of 16-115 cm. Moreover, suitable abiotic and biotic substrates were Macrolithal, Mesolithal and Microlithal" as well as LPTP (Live parts of terrestrial plants) respectively. Generally, the results of this study showed the appropriate function of the model in assessing the habitat suitability of this species and it can be used as a guide for quantitative assessment of habitat as well as recognizing the behavioral characteristics of the studied species.