Levantine Scraper

Dorsal spines (total): 4; Dorsal soft rays (total): 8

Occurs in lakes, streams with fast and slow-moving water currents and in clear and muddy water. Bottom fish that feeds on aufwuchs which it scrapes from the substrate with the horny sheat of the lower lip. Its diet consists of algae, aquatic invertebrates, and detritus.

Occurs in lakes, streams with fast and slow-moving water currents and in clear and muddy water. Bottom fish that feeds on aufwuchs which it scrapes from the substrate with the horny sheet of the lower lip. Its diet consists of algae, aquatic invertebrates, and detritus (Ref. 13609). It spawns between January and March in small streams where it deposits its eggs on gravel. Tasteless fish, and the spawn is toxic (Andrey Marlin, pers. comm., 2003).

Capoeta damascina, the Levantine scraper or Mesopotamian barb, is a species of cyprinid fish from the Near East region. It is reported from Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Turkey.

It is a bottom feeding fish, up to 50 cm (1.6 ft) long but typically about 30 cm (1 ft), and it lives in lakes as well as both fast and slow-moving streams, and both in clear and muddy waters. It is said to have tasteless flesh and toxic eggs. It has been recorded hybridising with Carasobarbus canis but these hybrids are sterile.

Carasobarbus canis x Capoeta damascina - ZooKeys-339-001-g028