Mystus misrai Anuradha, 1986

(Fig. 4–5)

Material examined. MHNG 603.95, holotype, 123 mm SL; Lake Antioche, Syria (= Lake Amik, Türkiye) (photo only) .— MHNG 2231.84, 2, 116– 118 mm SL; Lake Antioche, Syria (= Lake Amik, Türkiye) (photo only) .— FSJF 4117, 4, 106–127 mm SL; Türkiye: Lake BalIklI (GölbaŞI), 36.4950 36.4809 .— SMF 30250, 1, 138 mm SL, Syria: Gisr-al-Sugun market .

New material used in molecular genetic analysis

FSJF-DNA 3563; Türkiye: Lake BalIklI (GölbaŞI), 36.4950 36.4809 (GenBank accession number: OR038172 OR038173, OR038174, OR038175).

Diagnosis. Mystus misrai is distinguished from M. pelusius by having a rounded dorsal fin margin (vs. straight or very slightly convex) (Fig. 7), 8–10 serra on the inner pectoral spine (vs. 11–16), the eye situated below the dorsal head profile (Fig. 6), not protruding (vs. at or slightly above, usually protruding the dorsal head profile), blunt head (vs. pointed), no stripes or lines on the flank in life and preserved individuals (vs. usually a wide, dark-brown, mid-lateral stripe, followed by a wide silvery stripe above and below the mid-lateral stripe, and a silvery line along the lateral midline in life and preserved individuals), the dorsal spine shorter than the head-width measured at the eye, usually as long as the distance between the lower eye margins (vs. as long or longer than the head width at the eye, often longer than the maximal head width). Mystus misrai is also distinguished from M. pelusius by a K2P distance of 7.3% in its COI barcoding gene.