Abstract:
Alburnus sellal inhabits Ceyhan, Euphrates, Orontes and Tigris river basins whereas Alburnus
adanensis is geographically restricted to Ceyhan and Seyhan river basins. Due to the very similar
morphometric and meristic characteristics, discrimination of these two species is difficult. The most
important diagnostic character is the scale numbers in lateral line (73-80 in A. sellal vs 60-66 in A.
adanensis) and pronounced lack of the dark grey band on side of the body. In order to clarify the
taxonomic status of the A. sellal and A. adanensis, a total of 27 morphological characters and the
nucleotide sequence variation of mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) and cytochrome oxidase I
(COI) genes were analyzed on the specimens which were from Seyhan, Ceyhan, lower Euphrates
and Orontes river basins. The results show high similarity between A. sellal and A. adanensis based
on the morphometric and the morphological characters using Principal Component Analyses (PCA).
In addition genetic distance of the specimens belonging to two species between 0.000 to 0.011 using
COI and cyt b genes sequences. Therefore, our results based on morphology, molecules and
nomenclatural priority pointed out that A. adanensis should be evaluated as a synonym of A. sellal.
