TEHRAN –A research team from Tarbiat Modares University has discovered a new species of sillaginid fish, naming the species S. persica for its type locality in the Persian Gulf.

The team, comprised of Hashem Khandan Barani, Mohammad Sadegh Alavi-Yeganeh, and Mehdi Ghanbarifardi, obtained newly described species directly from local fishermen and through fishery surveys conducted along the coast of Bushehr city in the northern Persian Gulf, Iran.

Currently, there are 39 recognized valid species within the family Sillaginidae. Five of these species have been documented in the northern coast of the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea, Iran: S. Sihama, S. Arabica, S. Attenuata, S. Indica, and Sillaginopodys chondropus.

Sillago persica is a new species that has been distinguished from S. Sihama. The description of this new Sillago species from the northern Persian Gulf, along the coast of Iran, highlights the need for further investigation into its ecology, distribution, and abundance patterns. Such information is essential for the effective implementation of management practices and the conservation of ecologically and economically important sillaginids in this region, the researchers said in an article published in ZooKeys.

The holotype and paratype specimens have been deposited in the Aquatic Animals collection at the Department of Marine Biology, Tarbiat Modares University, Nur, Iran (TAC1245F).

MT/MG