A New Locality for the Blind Loach, Eidinemacheilus smithi (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae) in Iranian Zagros: A Morpho-Molecular Approach

Four obligate cave fish species have been recorded from Zagros in Iran: Garra typhlops (Bruun and Kaiser, 1944), G. lorestanensis (Mousavi-Sabet Eagderi, 2016), tashanensis (Mousavi-Sabet, Vatandoust, Fatemi 2016) Eidinemacheilus smithi (Greenwood, 1976). So far, the only known locality of latter has Loven cave. Here, we extend range blind loach (E. smithi) by reporting a new locality, Tuveh spring, located 31 km south Loven. We combine morphological evidence with calculated K2P genetic divergences 1.39% between to confirm that these populations are conspecific. Our discovery second E. population implications for conservation this rare vulnerable species.