A.J. Al-Faisal , F.M. Mutlak

Marine Science Centre, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2015, Vol. 5, No. 38   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2015.05.0038
Received: 22 Apr., 2015    Accepted: 26 May, 2015    Published: 10 Jun., 2015

This article was first published in Mesopot. J. Mar. Sci., 2014, 29(1): 45-50, and here was authorized to redistribute under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Al-Faisal and Mutlak, 2015, First record of the Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758), from the Shatt Al-Arab River, Southern Iraq, International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.5, No.38 1-3 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2015.05.0038)

The exotic cichlid Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) was first recorded from the Shatt Al-Arab River, at Basrah (Abu-al-Khasib), Iraq. This species was the third cichlid recorded in Iraq. O. aureus and Tilapia zillii have also been recorded for the region. Samples were collected by gill nets during November 2013 and April 2014. Specimens ranged from 192 to 292 mm total length and from 136.5 to 500.06 g. inweight. The Nile tilapiais characterized by having regular dark vertical stripes on the caudal fin, dorsal fin with 17-18 spines, 35-40 lateral line scales and 28-31gill rakers.

First record; Nile tilapia; Shatt Al-Arab River