''Garra widdowsoni'', commonly known as the Iraq blind barb or Haditha cave garra, is a species of

cyprinid Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest verte ...

fish

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to underground water systems near Haditha in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. Although traditionally placed in its own

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Typhlogarra'', this is not supported by genetic evidence, leading to its move to genus '' Garra''. This cavefish is considered critically endangered because of water extraction, which has lowered the

groundwater level The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. T ...

. Once abundant, a survey in 2012 found that it now was very rare. Another species from the same place, ''

Caecocypris basimi ''Caecocypris basimi'', the Haditha cavefish, is a species of cyprinid fish endemic to Iraq, only occurring in aquifers near Haditha. This cavefish is the only member of its genus. The species is classed as Critically endangered, possibly extin ...

'', may already be

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. The only other known cavefish in Iraq is ''

Eidinemacheilus proudlovei ''Eidinemacheilus'' is a genus of troglobitic fish in the family Nemacheilidae endemic to Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan. Species There are currently 2 recognized species in this genus: * '' Eidinemacheilus proudlovei'' Freyhof, Abdullah, Ararat, Ib ...

''.Freyhof, J.; Abdullah, Y.S.; Ararat, K.; Ibrahim, H.; & Geiger, M.F. (2016): Eidinemacheilus proudlovei, a new subterranean loach from Iraqi Kurdistan (Teleostei; Nemacheilidae). ''Zootaxa, 4173 (3): 225-236.''

References

Cave fish Cyprinid fish of Asia Fish described in 1955 Labeoninae Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Labeoninae-stub