Eidinemacheilus smithi (Greenwood, 1976)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Eidinemacheilus smithi, also known as the Zagros blind loach, is a species of loach in the family Nemacheilidae. Nemacheilidae is a diverse family of small benthic cypriniform fishes which are distributed mainly across Europe and Asia, where most species inhabit cool, fast-flowing streams and rivers. This cavefish is endemic to an aquifer in the Karun River drainage in the Zagros Mountains of Iran. Adults have no pigment and no functioning eyes. Individuals are reported to reach lengths of approximately 5.5 cm, and they inhabit groundwater-fed pools, wells, and resurgences connected to the Loven Cave (Kaaje-Ru) system. The species used to be long known only from its type locality near the Baq-e-Loveh oasis, and it is named after British explorer Anthony Smith, who collected the type specimens. In 2022, a second new population was found at Tuveh Spring, about 31 km south of Loven Cave. Because it occupies small, isolated underground habitats in a limited distribution, it is listed as Vulnerable (D2) on the IUCN Red List under the 1994 criteria currently.
Wikipedia contributors, Eidinemacheilus smithi; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T19:34:35.300565+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Eidinemacheilus smithi (Greenwood, 1976)
- Name authority
- (Greenwood, 1976)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Cypriniformes
- Family
- Nemacheilidae
- Genus
- Eidinemacheilus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCypriniformes
- familyNemacheilidae Regan, 1911
- genusEidinemacheilus Segherloo, Ghaedrahmati & Freyhof, 2016
- speciesEidinemacheilus smithi (Greenwood, 1976)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Nemacheilus smithi Greenwood, 1976 Greenwood, 1976 | synonym |
| Noemacheilus smithi Greenwood, 1976 Greenwood, 1976 | synonym |
| Paracobitis smithi (Greenwood, 1976) (Greenwood, 1976) | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1524337 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:6DYJK. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.