Caecocypris basimi Banister & Bunni, 1980:151
Haditha cavefish
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
The species may belong to the genus Mesopotamichthys (Freyhof, 2026).
Conservation Status
Missing (Freyhof, 2014, 2026; Freyhof et al., 2025)
Last record: 21 October 1977 or later (Banister & Bunni, 1980); 1983 [in error as holotype/paratypes cannot have been collected after scientific description] (Freyhof, 2014, 2026)
IUCN RedList status: Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct)
Distribution & Habitat
Near Haditha, western Iraq
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Banister, K. E. and Bunni, M. K. (1980). A new blind cyprinid fish from Iraq. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zoology 38(3): 151-158. https://doi.org/10.5962/p.12611
Other references:
Coad, Brian W. (2010). Freshwater fishes of Iraq (Pensoft Series Faunistica No. 93). Sofia-Moscow: Pensoft. 294 pp.
Freyhof, J. (2014). Caecocypris basimi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 09 July 2014.
Freyhof, J. (2026). Caecocypris basimi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2026: e.T3450A135083447. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2026-1.RLTS.T3450A135083447.en. Accessed on 23 July 2026.
Jörg Freyhof, F. Güler Ekmekçi, Atheer Ali, Najim R. Khamees, Müfit Özuluğ, Nashat Hamidan, Fahrettin Küçük and Kevin G. Smith. (2014). Freshwater Fishes, pp. 19-42. In: Smith, K. G., Barrios, V., Darwall, W. R. T. and Numa, C. (eds.). The Status and Distribution of Freshwater Biodiversity in the Eastern Mediterranean. Cambridge, UK, Malaga, Spain and Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. xiv + 132 pp.
Freyhof, Jörg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash and Kaya, Cüneyt. (2025). Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia. Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111677811 [p. 110]
Groombridge, B. (ed.). (1994). 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
IUCN. (1990). IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. 288 pp.
WCMC (World Conservation Monitoring Center). (1992). Global Biodiversity: Status of the Earth's living resources. Chapman and Hall, London. 594 pp.
http://www.fishbase.org/summary/6101
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/18336/caecocypris-basimi
https://shoalconservation.org/search-for-lost-fishes/haditha-cavefish/