Parasitological examination of gills of three species of sparid fishes in the territorial waters of Iraq was performed, two diplectanid monogenoids were isolated and described; Lamellodiscus indicus Tripathi, 1959 from both Haffara seabream Rhabdosargus haffara (Forsskål, 1775) and Goldline seabream R. sarba (Forsskål, 1775) and Protolamellodiscus senilobatus Kritsky, Jiménez-Ruiz and Sey, 2000 from King soldierbream Argyrops spinifer (Forsskål, 1775). The record of the parasites is considered new to the parasite fauna of Iraq. The redescription of L. indicus for the first time which is collected from a new distribution area (Arabian Gulf). R. haffara is considered a new host record .

   The aim of this paper is to present the first record of ctenophore species Pleurobrachia pileus (O. F. Müller, 1776) in the coral reef as was recently found in Iraqi marine waters. The specimens were collected from two sites, the first was in Khor Abdullah during May 2015, and the second site was located in the pelagic water of the coral reef area, near the Al-Basrah deep sea crude oil marine loading terminal. Three samples were collected at this site during May 2015, February and March 2018 which showed that P. pileus were present at a densities of 3.0, 2.2 and 0.55 ind./ m³ respectively. The species can affect on the abundance of other zooplankton community through predation.

The composition of fish assemblages in Iraqi marine water was assessed. 91 species belonging to 71 genes and 47 families of Osteichthyes and 13 species of Conderchthyes were collected during the study period from January  to December 2018, using trawl net fishing. Three stations were selected, where two new species (Siganus  javus and Gobiopsis sp.) and reclassification of Torpedo panthera where identified and two species of freshwater fish (Oreochromis niloticus and Oreochromis aureus) were first recorded in marine waters. The highest numbers of species were 32 and 42 for the first and second stations, respectively, recorded in October , while 55 species were recorded in the third s

Commercial fish catch in the Iraqi marine waters from December 2018 to December 2019 was investigated. The study is based on three stations: the first station is located at the Shatt Al-Arab estuary, the second represents the area between the Shatt Al-Arab Estuary and open marine waters, and the third is associated with the Iraqi territorial marine waters. The total weight of the catch was 1881 kg, represented by 500, 654, and 727 kg in the first, second and third stations respectively. The third station was the highest with a majority of the family Sciaenidae by 464 kg, while the lowest was the family Scombridae by 0.5 kg. The total number of species included 37 species, belonging to 27 genera, 19 families, and 6 orders, the largest ord

Two Siganid fishes were described in the current study, the first one is Siganus javus (Linnaeus, 1766) as a new record and the other Siganus canaliculatus (Park, 1797), which was collected from the Iraqi marine waters. The samples were collected during December 2018. Streaked rabbitfish S. javus is diagnosed by a deep body, 54.01% in standard length, depth  of caudal peduncle, 7.27%, total gill rakers 19 and silvery blue undulating lines on mid and lower sides of the body. Whereas the body depth of White-spotted rabbitfish S. canaliculatus was 39.08-42.66%, Caudal peduncle depth ranged from 5.21 to 5.66%, total gill rakers ranged from 22 to 24 and it  is distinguished by a numerous pearly bl

The impact of seasonal variation on the spermatozoa reproductive cycle of Hemantura walgo in Western North of Arabian Gulf from January 2016 to December 2017 was studied. A total 225 individuals males of H. walga were collected using beach net.  Gonads Somatic index (GSI) was high during May (10.1) and September (9.98) and the lowest values were recorded during on February, July and October with their values were 0.85, 1.21 and 1.43 respectively. Mature males were noticed during May and September which indicates there are two reproduction periods for H. walga during the year. The relationship between weight and width desk of  H. walga was also investigated and generally demonstrated positive

    A total of 680 fish specimens belonging to 31 species from the Yemeni coastal waters of the Red Sea were inspected for the isopod infestations. Four isopod species belonging to three families of the suborder Cymothoida were detected. These are: Aega psora (Linnaeus, 1758) from Lethrinus lentjan, Natatolana insignis Hobbins and Jones, 1993 from Abalistes stellatus, Excorallana tricornis (Hansen, 1890) from Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, E. guttatus and E. tauvina and Alcirona krebsi Hansen, 1890 from Epinephelus microdon. All these isopod species are reported here for the first time from the Yemeni coastal waters of the Red Se

Hysterothylacium  is one of the most important nematode parasites parasitizing fish, and it's the most diverse species nematodes of marine parasites, these species attach to the intestinal wall via their mouth lips adaptation. In the present study, seven out of 56 fish specimens (12.5 %) were found to be infected by the adult worms of Greasy grouper fishes Orangespotted  grouper Epinephelus coioides (Forsskål, 1775)from locations of marine coastal water, Arabian Gulf, Iraq. A new recorded of Hysterothylacium spp. collected are morphologically described, genetically and  Sccaning Electron Microscope (SEM)  images for new systematic observations, on dorsal labium, su

The monogenean Gyrodactylus bychowskianus Bogolepova, 1950 is recorded in the present study for the first time in Iraq from the gills of the cyprinid fish Arabibarbus grypus (Heckel, 1843); which was collected from the Tigris River at Al-Taji Beach north of Baghdad Province during the period from July until November 2018.

 Five fish species were collected from Tigris river at Al-Adhamiyah region, Baghdad during the period from September to December 2011. These fishes were examined for ectoparasites. They were infected with 13 species of parasites which included one species of ciliated protozoans and 12 species of monogeneans. Among such parasites, Ligophorus imitans Euzet et Suriano, 1977 is reported for the first time in Iraq. In addition, eight new host records in Iraq were reported in the present study.