RESEARCH ARTICLE

New records of thicklips and grunts from the marine waters of Iraq (Teleostei: Haemulidae)

Laith A. Jawad, Majid E. Al-Badri & Ronald Fricke

Abstract

Adult specimens of the Sordid Thicklip, Plectorhinchus sordidus, the Olive Grunt, Pomadasys olivaceus, and the Lined Grunt, Pomadasys punctulatus, were captured by gillnet off the coast of Fao City, Basrah, Iraq in March 2012 by commercial fishery activities using a small trawler. These are new records for the marine waters of Iraq, and, for the latter two species, new records for the entire Arabian Gulf region. We document the appearance and morphometrics of the specimens from Iraq.