Capoeta damascina

Capoeta damascina
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Cyprinidae
Subfamily: Barbinae
Genus: Capoeta
Species:
C. damascina
Binomial name
Capoeta damascina
(Valenciennes, 1842)
Synonyms
  • Barbus belayewi Menon, 1960
  • Capoeta angorae (Hankó, 1925)
  • Chondrostoma syriacum Valenciennes, 1844
  • Gobio damascinus Valenciennes, 1842
  • Scaphiodon fratercula Heckel, 1843
  • Scaphiodon peregrinorum Heckel, 1843
  • Scaphiodon socialis Heckel, 1843
  • Varicorhinus capoeta angorae

Capoeta damascina, the Levantine scraper or Mesopotamian barb, is a species of cyprinid fish from the Near East region. It is reported from Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Turkey.

It is a bottom feeding fish, up to 50 cm (1.6 ft) long but typically about 30 cm (1 ft), and it lives in lakes as well as both fast and slow-moving streams, and both in clear and muddy waters. It is said to have tasteless flesh and toxic eggs. It has been recorded hybridising with Carasobarbus canis but these hybrids are sterile.