The shabout (''Arabibarbus grypus'') is a species of

cyprinid Cyprinidae is a Family (biology), family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family, including the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives the barb (fish), barbs and barbel (fish), barbels, among others. Cyprinidae is the ...

fish also called in English, Persian or Arabic by the alternate common names shirbot and variations shabut, shabboot or shabbout, and in local languages by several other common names. It is a large freshwater

carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

found in

Western Asia West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian ...

, where it inhabits the Tigris–Euphrates Basin, as well as

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian rivers that flow into the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

. This species can grow to a length of up to and a weight of , although there are unconfirmed reports of individuals up to and , perhaps caused by confusion with the mangar (''Luciobarbus esocinus''). The shabout supports important fisheries, but has declined because of habitat loss (mostly due to dams, water extraction, drought and pollution) and

overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing Fish stocks, fish stock), resu ...

Habitat and behavior

The shabout inhabits rivers from upstream tributaries to river mouths. However, it is rather adaptable and can also be found in more stagnant waters like marshes and reservoirs, although this strong swimmer prefers slow to moderately flowing waters and it has relatively high oxygen requirements. Adults prefer relatively cool waters (optimum ), and

migrate Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

upstream in the summer when the lower reaches of rivers become warm, but smaller individuals stay in the lower parts year-round. Nevertheless, the species has a wide temperature tolerance with wild individuals living in rivers that range at least from , and individuals kept in

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

at between . This is a freshwater fish, but it does tolerate slightly

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

waters in

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

; however, their growth significantly decreases under such conditions. Shabout breed in the spring and summer. They breed in upstream parts of rivers, generally in places with relatively cool and fast-flowing waters, a depth of no more than and a gravel bottom. A female reaches maturity when at least three years old and can lay up to 235,764 eggs, placed among gravel or plants. The species is mostly

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat n ...

, feeding on a wide range of plant material from

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

and

macrophyte Aquatic plants, also referred to as hydrophytes, are vascular plants and non-vascular plants that have adapted to live in aquatic environments ( saltwater or freshwater). In lakes, rivers and wetlands, aquatic vegetations provide cover for aquat ...

s to fruits and grain. They also feed at lower levels on

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s and small fish, with one study suggesting that individuals become more predatory as they reach a large size.

Fishing

It is a commercially fished species. It was proposed that this "shabut" was identical to the fish called "shibuta" (

Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Jewish Babylonian Aramaic (Aramaic: ) was the form of Middle Aramaic employed by writers in Lower Mesopotamia between the fourth and eleventh centuries. It is most commonly identified with the language of the Babylonian Talmud (which was comp ...

: ) in the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

.
המעין Vol. 45 No. 3 Nissan 5765 - Z. Amar, A.Z. Zivotofsky
pg. 41.
Dr. Moshe Ranon
Also her
Dr. Moshe Ranon
The latter's brain is famous for being touted as the

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...

equivalent, taste-wise, of the otherwise forbidden and even taboo

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

meat (cf. Chullin 109b). However, names of species are notorious for changing over time and between related languages, a fact, incidentally, the Talmud itself attests. The fact that ''Arabibarbus grypus'' is called in Modern Hebrew Shibuta is definitely no proof that it is the same fish as the Talmudic one, as Modern Hebrew has a strong tendency to assimilate local Arabic names for such realia. The shabout is an important target species for commercial fisheries which has been heavily overfished in some parts of its range for many years. In addition, dams have blocked its migration routes and its habitat has been further degraded by water abstraction and pollution. In Iraq its population had declined by 90% between the 1960s and the 2000s, although data from other parts of its range is not available. The fish is also being considered for

. Many species of carp are farmed as a protein source already.

Habitat and behavior

Fishing

References

Further reading