Abstract

The last distribution map of different Artemia populations in Iran dates back to 2006, which reported the identification of Artemia from 17 different geographical areas. Iran climate changes and Artemia compatibility to new environments, reinforce the importance of the study of its new habitats. In this study, in addition to introducing three new habitats for Artemia, scientific information on the species and population characteristics of Artemia found from these new habitats was presented. Moreover, cyst samples were recorded and stored in the cyst bank of National Artemia Research Center, Urmia, Iran. Cyst samples collected from three new areas of Iran including Qazvin, Behshahr and Khoy were transferred to the laboratory for general biometric study of cysts, molecular studies and species differentiation by examining the nucleotide diversity of the COI-mtDNA region and the marker of the Na/K ATPase pump. The results showed that the identified Artemia were all bisexual and in terms of species, the Artemia found in Behshahr region was Artemia sinica and those found in Qazvin-Abyek and Khoy-Qotur were A. urmiana. The mean diameter (mean ± standard deviation) of the Artemia cyst in Behshahr region was significantly different from that of the other two regions (p<0.05). The largest cyst diameter was related to A. sinica from Behshahr region (280.53±19.64 μm) and the smallest cyst diameter was related to Artemia in Khoy-Qotur region (255.15±5.51 μm). For the first time, the isolation and identification of A. sinica in Behshahr and A. urmiana in Qazvin and Khoy were reported in Iran. The reason for the presence of Artemia in these areas seems to be the presence of nearby fish farms, which may have used Artemia as a live food for larvae, from which Artemia cysts spread out and became a permanent habitat of the reported areas in recent years.

Keywords: Artemia, Distribution, Population, Genetics, Iran