Aspiolucius esocinus

A critically endangered fish species, Aspiolucius esocinus, has been documented in the Tugay forests of the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve, Tajikistan. This discovery highlights its restricted distribution within the Syr Darya and Amu Darya river basins, including the lower reaches of the Vakhsh River. The study confirms its presence outside the Kairakkum Reservoir and suggests potential occurrences in other large rivers of the Amu Darya basin, such as the Panj, Kafirnigan, and Kyzyl-Su. Conservation assessments classify it as Critically Endangered (Saidov, 2017) or Endangered (Karimov, 2020), emphasizing urgent protection needs. Specimens were observed between 2003–2018 in the Vakhsh River bed, underscoring its vulnerability and the importance of targeted conservation efforts in this UNESCO-recognized region.

Artaev, O., Thoni, R., Mirzoev, N., & Levin, B. (2025). Aspiolucius esocinus. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.20514676