Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 47(2): 205-207, doi: 10.3750/AIEP/02143
Atractosteus spatula (Actinopterygii: Lepisosteiformes: Lepisosteidae): A deliberate aquarium trade introduction incidence in the Shatt al-Arab River, Basrah, Iraq
expand article infoF. Mutlak, L. Jawad, A. Al-Faisal

Corresponding author: F. Mutlak

© F. Mutlak, L. Jawad, A. Al-Faisal.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Mutlak F, Jawad L, Al-Faisal A (2017) Atractosteus spatula (Actinopterygii: Lepisosteiformes: Lepisosteidae): A deliberate aquarium trade introduction incidence in the Shatt al-Arab River, Basrah, Iraq. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 47(2): 205-207. https://doi.org/10.3750/AIEP/02143
Open Access
Abstract
The first record of a single specimen of alligator gar, Atractosteus spatula (Lacepède, 1803), native to North America, is reported from the inland waters of Iraq. The specimen was caught from southern reaches of the Shatt al-Arab River at Om-al-Rasas Island, Basrah, Iraq during an ichthyologic survey in September 2016 using gillnets with mesh size of 40 mm. The capture of a sub-adult specimen, 900 mm in total length, marks the first record of a member of the family Lepisosteidae in the freshwater system of Iraq. Aquarium trade pathway is the suspected factor for the presence of this species in the Iraqi freshwater area.
Keywords
biodiversity, new locality, new occurrence, aquarium trade, invasion