A scientific study prepared by Dr. Maytham Abdullah Ghali in partnership with Ms. Rehab Nasser Younes in the Department of Ecology at the Faculty of Science at the University of Basra and Dr. Adel Al-Handal and Dr. Angela Wolf from the Swedish University of Gothenburg records a new global species of diatomaceous algae in the Shatt al-Arab.

The study, which was published in the "Cryptogamie, Algologie" journal, classified within Scopus containers Q2 showed that the new species, which was called "Synedropsis abuflosensis", grows attached to the muddy sediments in the Shatt al-Arab.

The results of the study concluded that the new species is the third globally recorded species of this genus in salty waters in subtropical regions, while the rest of the species are registered within the polar waters.