The investigation of fish fauna in Sürgü Dam Lake (Doğanşehir-Malatya) in term of taxanomy

In this study, fish fauna and taxonomic characteristics of these fishes in Sürgü Dam Lake were investigated. For this purpose, fish samples were caught by trammel nets with 18, 24, 32 and 54 mm mesh size, spreading nets and fishing buckets in different sizes between May 2012-November 2012 from Lake Reservoir and streams poured into the lake. During the study, a total of 167 fish were examined and a total of 7 different fish species belonging to 2 families were identified. The natural colour, tape, spots, lines and shapes and positions of patterns on the body of fish were immediately determined after catching. Then they were transferred to the laboratory. After species were identified, metric (total, fork and standard lengths, the lengths of head, nose, predorsal, postdorsal, postorbital, eye diameter, body depth and whiskers length) and meristic (the number of soft and hard rays in fins, the number of scales along the lateral line, the number of scales between at the beginning of dorsal fin-the lateral line and the ventral fin-the lateral line, the number of pharynx teeth, the number of spots or marks on the body and the number of whiskers) features of all fish were determined.The findings were compared with similar studies in other water reservoirs in order to determine the reasons for the similarities and differences.Key Words: Sürgü Dam Lake, Fish Fauna, Taxonomy