Critically Endangered
Aphaniops sirhani
Aphanius sirhani
Aphaniops sirhani is a ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinodontidae (order Cyprinodontiformes) — Aphanius sirhani, recorded as Critically Endangered.
Range and habitat
It is endemic to the Azraq Wetland Reserve in Jordan. This species occurs in shallow water where there is vegetation and stones, or over muddy substrates where it feeds on insect larvae and crustaceans. It was found at Azraq Wetland Reserve in Jordan, the only habitat for this species in the world.
Successful reintroduction to the wild will depend on factors among them the removal of the alien mango tilapia and the attainment of a naturally stable and sufficient body of water.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
In 2001 a rescue mission involving captive breeding was initiated to secure the species' future, aiming at reintroducing captive fish into the wild.
In crisis
Habitat changes and the introduction of other fish species reduced its population until it almost disappeared in 1989 and was thought to be extinct in the mid-1990s. In 2000 a survey showed that there were around 45 adult fish remaining within the Azraq wetland. While the population is stable as of 2014, it is entirely dependent on the wetland, whose water levels are currently artificially maintained to counter illegal extraction of water.
Aphaniops sirhani is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Aphaniops sirhani, Wikidata item Q3236659. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
