Identification of Qanat fishes in Taft and Mehriz (Yazd-Iran) via DNA barcoding

In this study fish in 8 Qanats in Taft and Mehriz townships of the Yazd Province were compared to specimens from Sirvan, Karun, Mond, Kor Rivers, Kerman and Namak basins. In the studied Qanats, Capoeta saadi and Cyprinion sp. were observed. The haplotypic diversity in Qanats was zero. Capoeta saadi haplotype observed in Qanats was similar to haplotype observed in the Kor basin. Cyprinion sp. haplotype was highly distant (1.68-1.94 percent) from the haplotypes observed in Cyprinion watsoni and Cyprinion macrostomum of Mond and Karun Rivers. In the phylogenetic analyses the genus Capoeta clustered as a monophyletic group with Luciobarbus and Barbus genera as ancestral groups relative to it. According to the observed data the genus Cyprinion is older than the other genera studied here and it may be justified based on its ploidy level (diploid) compared to other genera.