Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 103, July 2013, pp. 1-25. | Page 2

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Keywords: Cypriniformes, Cyprinidae, Garra rufa wadiqana, Freshwater Fish,
Doctor Fish, Palestine Doctor Fish, Wadi Qana Doctor Fish, New Subspecies, Wadi Qana, Nature Reserve, Springs, Pools, Salfit Governorate, Palestine, State of Palestine, Near East, Middle East.

The newly discovered Palestine Doctor Fish subspecies Garra rufa wadiqana Khalaf, 2013 at Ain Al Basa Spring, Wadi Qana Nature Reserve, Salfit Governorate, State of Palestine. Photo by: Ola Mostafa Khalaf. 08.07.2013. http://www.flickr.com/photos/50022881@N00/9474997501/

Introduction:
During a field trip to Wadi Qana, which is an important nature reserve in the northern West Bank of the Jordan River, Salfit Governorate, State of Palestine, on Monday the 8th July 2013, accompanied by the Palestinian Botanist Banan Al Sheikh, my wife Ola Mostafa Khalaf and my daughter Nora Norman Ali Khalaf, I inspected Ain Al Basa Spring ? ??? ??????and pools at Wadi Qana ? , ???? ?????and saw many Doctor Fish (Garra rufa Heckel, 1843) swimming in the spring and pool waters. These fish were observed, examined, measured and photographed. After examining Garra rufa at Ain Al Basa Spring, Wadi Qana Nature Reserve, I began comparing between the different Middle Eastern Doctor Fish subspecies. There are six Garra rufa freshwater subspecies living in the Middle East: The Doctor Fish subspecies Garra rufa rufa Heckel, 1843, from southern Turkey, northern Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Oman; and Garra rufa obtusa Heckel, 1843, from northern Syria, northern Iraq and the hot springs at Kangal, Turkey; and Garra rufa turcica Karaman, 1971 from Ceyhan River Basin, Turkey; and the Persian Doctor Fish subspecies Garra rufa persica
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 103 – July 2013