Notes on taxonomy of Barbus kotschyi (Heckle, 1843) and Barbus grypus Heckle, 1843

Abstract Precise identifying of a Barbus fish species and the hybrids is very important because these fishes are large freshwaters fishes of Iran and the stock of them are going to vanished. In 2000 the Barbus species of Iran was revised at CMN and from that time all document of these species were reviewed, this is a part of this studies. In 1842 Heckel described Lebeobarbus kotschyi and named it in respect to Theodor Kotschyi. During the time this name has changed to Barbus kotschyi. Barbus kotschyi (Heckle, 1843) was synonymized with Barbus grypus Heckle, 1843 by several authors. The samples was examined In my projects the morphological differences between these two related species is enough to separate them, but for conceding them as two identical species more recherché has to be done and more samples must be collected. In this paper the more outstanding features and differences between these two species are outlined. The difference between this species and Barbus grypus, to which it is deceptively similar, lies mainly in the relative head length, the mouth, and the fleshy lobe below the symphysis of the lower jaw. In querying among 2000 professional angler, they states that have caught this fish and named it as a night touring fish.