Documentation of the Turkestan barbel, Luciobarbus conocephalus (Kessler, 1872) in the Iranian part of Hari River basin (Teleostei: Cyprinidae: Barbinae)

The Turkestan barbel, Luciobarbus conocephalus (Kessler, 1872), is documented from the Iranian Part of Hari River basin by providing its morphometric and molecular characteristics based on the nine collected specimens in July 2016. In addition, the ichthyofauna of the Hari river basin was discussed and an up-to-date inventory was provided. Based on the results, L. conocephalus was clustered in a clade as sister group of L. capito with K2P genetic distance of 1.8% in the mtDNA cytb region. Luciobarbus conocephalus probably has entered the Hari River from the Karakum Canal in Turkmenistan (diversion from the Amu Darya River) that in recent years was connected to the channels collecting the Hari River water. Also, a misidentified specimen of L. conocephalus sequence in the GenBank sequences is discussed.