Oxynoemacheilus cemali, a new species of stone loach (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae) from the Çoruh River drainage, Turkey.

Oxynoemacheilus cemali sp. nov. is described from the Çoruh River drainage in the eastern Black Sea basin. One molecular marker (coI), 25 morphometric and 4 meristic characters were analysed. Oxynoemacheilus cemali is distinguished from O. kosswigi, O. banarescui, O. samanticus and O. angorae in the Black Sea basin by having a suborbital groove in males, an axillary lobe at the pelvic-fin base, no dorsal adipose crest on the caudal peduncle, a slightly-forked caudal fin and 7-15 dark grey dorsal saddles. Morever, Oxynoemacheilus cemali is distinguished by commonly having 9-15 irregularly-shaped dark-grey bars on the flank posterior to the dorsal-fin origin or, rarely having a mottled pattern or 4-6 irregularly shaped dark-grey bars on the flank posterior to the dorsal-fin origin. Oxynoemacheilus cemali is also distinguished from the closely related species O. araxensis and O. cyri, distributed outside the Black Sea basin, by having 15 and 31 diagnostic nucleotide substitutions in the coI barcode region, respectively. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.