Freshwater fishes of Turkey; a revised and updated annotated checklist

Abstract

The current status of the inland waters ichthyofauna of Turkey is revised, and an updated checklist of the freshwater fishes is presented. A total of 368 fish species live in the inland waters of Turkey. Among these, 3 species are globally extinct, 5 species are extinct in Turkey, 28 species are non-native and 153 species are considered as endemic to Turkey. We recognise pronounced species richness and a high degree of endemism of the Turkish ichthyofauna (41.58%). Orders with the largest numbers of species in the ichthyofauna of Turkey are the Cypriniformes 247 species), Perciformes (43 species), Salmoniformes (21 species), Cyprinodontiformes (15 species), Siluriformes (10 species), Acipenseriformes (8 species) and Clupeiformes (8 species). At the family level, the Cyprinidae has the greatest number of species (188 species; 51.1% of the total species), followed by the Nemacheilidae (39), Salmonidae (21 species), Cobitidae (20 species), Gobiidae (18 species) and Cyprinodontidea (14 species).