Occurrence of Two Grunt Fish (Haemulidae: Pomadasys ) from the Iraqi Marine Waters

The new record of Pomadasys commersonnii  (Lacepede, 1801) and second appearance of Pomadasys aheneus  McKay & Randall, 1995 are reported from the Iraqi marine waters, northwest of the Arabian Gulf. Total length of P. aheneus  was 200 mm, while the total length of P. commersonnii  was 240 mm. The Yellowback grunt ( P. aheneus ) could be distinguished by the brassy color on nape, anterior part of back, and upper sides, dorsal fin with 13 spines and 14 soft rays and pectoral fin with 13 rays. Whilst The Smallspotted grunter ( P. Commersonnii ) characterized by the body is relatively elongate, the color is silvery with small black spots on upper of body and Dorsal fin with 11 spines and 13 soft rays.