Aphaniops richardsoni Boulenger, 1907

Çiçek, Erdoğan, Fricke, Ronald, Sungur, Sevil, Çapar, Osman Bahadir & Golani, Daniel, 2023, Freshwater fishes of Israel; a revised and updated annotated checklist- 2023, Zootaxa 5369 (4), pp. 451-484 : 470-471

Aphaniops richardsoni Boulenger, 1907 [N] — Dead Sea killifish; Na’avit

Taxonomy. Original description: Cyprinodon richardsoni Boulenger, 1907: 412 [Brine spring near (Mount Sodom), Israel, springs running to the Dead Sea, 31°05’30’’N, 35°23’50’’E. According to Richardson (1856: 371), Usdum is the supposed site of Sodom, i.e., Mount Sodom, Israel; lectotype: BMNH 1856.5.2.4.].— Israel synonyms: Lebias dispar richardsoni Boulenger, 1907 ; Aphanius dispar richardsoni Boulenger, 1907 ; Aphanius richardsoni Boulenger, 1907 .—Revisions: Teimori et al. (2018) and Esmaeili et al. (2020).—Illustration: None.

Status in Israel. Recorded from Israel by Günther (1865: 490), Lortet (1883: 175, 178) and Tristram (1884: 170, 172) as as Cyprinodon dispar and Cyprinodon sophiae (non Heckel, 1843), and in the original description by Boulenger (1907); subsequently reported by Goren (1974: 100) as Aphanius dispar richardsoni ; confirmed by Goren & Ortal (1999: 4) as Aphanius dispar richardsoni .—Israel material: BMNH.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Israel: Dead Sea basin.—Distribution in River Basin: 2-Dead Sea Basin.—General distribution: Middle East: springs in the Dead Sea basin ( Israel and western Jordan).—Distribution in Ecoregion: 438- Jordan River.—Habitat: This species lives in streams and pools on a variety of foundations. Freshwater, brackish.

Economic importance. No commercial importance. Has the potential to be used as aquarium fish.

Conservation. Conservation Status in Israel: Unknown.—IUCN: EN ( IUCN 2023).—Threats: ABS, CLI, CON, COM, EUT, HAB.—High sensitivity to human activities.—Keystone species.—Decline status: Decreasing.—High priority for conservation action.

Remarks. This species was described as subspecies, Aphnaius dispar richardsoni . There is, probably no justification to elevate it to a specific level. Need to further study to eliminate this hypothesis.