Cobitis kellei Erk'akan, Atalay-Ekmekçi & Nalbant, 1998:10
Diyarbakir spined loach
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Extinct (Freyhof et al., 2025; Freyhof, 2026; Kaya et al., 2026)
Last record: 1974 (Freyhof, 2014, 2026; Kaya et al., 2026)
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Distribution & Habitat
Göksu stream, upper Tigris drainage, Turkey
Type locality: "Turkey: Tigris drainage: Göksu stream, Cinar, Diyarbakir" (Kottelat, 2012:26)
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Previously known from two specimens held in a private collection, the holotype (ISBB 4682) and a paratype (Erk'akan et al., 1998; Kottelat, 2012:26; Kaya et al., 2026). These appear to have been disposed of by relatives of the owner of the specimens, T. T. Nalbant, after his death in 2011 (Kaya et al., 2026).
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Erk’akan, F., Atalay-Ekmekçi, F. G. and Nalbant,T. T. (1998). A review of the genus Cobitis in Turkey (Pisces: Ostariophysi: Cobitidae). Hydrobiologia 403: 13-26. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003794726444
Other references:
Freyhof, Jörg. (2014). Cobitis kellei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014: e.T19085174A19222973. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T19085174A19222973.en. Downloaded on 16 December 2015.
Freyhof, Jörg. (2026). Cobitis kellei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2026: e.T19085174A135118307. Accessed on 20 July 2026.
Freyhof, Jörg, Ekmekçi, F. Güler, Ali, Atheer, Khamees, Najim R., Özuluğ, Müfit, Hamidan, Nashat, Küçük, Fahrettin and Smith, Kevin G. (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, Bayçelebi, E. and Geiger, M. (2018). Review of the genus Cobitis in the Middle East, with the description of eight new species (Teleostei: Cobitidae). Zootaxa 4535(1): 1-75. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4535.1.1
Freyhof, Jörg, Kaya, Cüneyt and Ali, Atheer. (2021). Critical checklist of the inland fishes native to the Euphrates and Tigris Drainages. Pages 815-854 in Jawad LA, ed. Tigris and Euphrates Rivers: their environment from headwaters to mouth. Aquatic Ecology Series, Volume 11. Springer, Cham. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-57570-0_35
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. 452]
Kaya, Cüneyt, Kaba, Münevver Oral, Ünlü, Erhan, Bayçelebi, Esra and Freyhof, Jörg. (2026). Putative extinction of Cobitis kellei: Evidence from repeated field surveys and hydrological collapse. Journal of Lost Species 1. https://doi.org/10.66264/jls.v1i1.32
Kottelat, Maurice. (2012). Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 2012, Supplement No. 26: 1-199.
Ünlü, E. (2006). Tigris River ichthyological studies in Turkey. A review with regard to the Ilisu Hydro-electric Project. Hydro Quebec International, Ar-cheotec Inc. Environmental Impact Assessment Report, Ilisu Environment Group, Hydro Con-cepts Engineering.
Ünlü, E. (2009). Aquatic Fauna Studies. (In Ilısu Dam and HEPP project flora and fauna studies (terres-trial and aquatic) final report (Tore-13 & Tore-16). Project Implementation Unit, May 2009.
Ünlü, E. (2012). Fisheries and aquaculture in the Euphrates Tigris basin in Turkey. FAO. (2014). Report of the Expert Meeting on the Review of Fisheries and Aquaculture Activities in the Tigris Euphrates Basin, Erbil, Iraq, 11–12 November 2012. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Report 1079. FAO, Rome.
http://www.fishbase.org/summary/58640