''Astatotilapia flaviijosephi'', the Jordan mouthbrooder, is a vulnerable species of

freshwater fish Freshwater fish are fish species that spend some or all of their lives in bodies of fresh water such as rivers, lakes, ponds and inland wetlands, where the salinity is less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine habitats in many wa ...

in the family

Cichlidae Cichlids () are a large, diverse, and widespread family of percomorph fish in the family Cichlidae, order Cichliformes. At least 1,760 species have been scientifically described, making it one of the largest vertebrate families, with on ...

(cichlids). It is found in the central

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

system, including

Lake Tiberias The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lak ...

(Kinneret), in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, making it the only

haplochromine __NOTOC__ The haplochromine cichlids are a tribe of cichlids in subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae called Haplochromini. This group includes the type genus ''Haplochromis'' plus a number of closely related genera such as '' Aulonocara'', '' Astatotila ...

cichlid to naturally range outside of Africa. This species is too small to be of significant importance to fisheries, unlike the only other cichlids native to the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

, the economically important

tilapia Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically mos ...

s (''

Oreochromis aureus The blue tilapia (''Oreochromis aureus'') is a species of tilapia, a fish in the family Cichlidae. Native to Northern and Western Africa, and the Middle East, through introductions it is now also established elsewhere, including parts of the ...

'', '' O. niloticus'', '' Sarotherodon galilaeus'', '' Coptodon zillii'' and ''

Tristramella ''Tristramella'' is a genus of oreochromines, freshwater fishes in the cichlid family. The members of this genus prefer standing waters and their native range is restricted to the Jordan River system, including Lake Tiberias (Kinneret), in Israel ...

''). The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''flaviijosephi'' refers to the historian Titus Flavius Josephus (37–c. 100 CE).

Habitat and conservation status

The natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s of ''A. flaviijosephi'' are streams, springs, canals, pools and shallow waters in lakes, especially in areas with stones or aquatic vegetation. The various subpopulations are isolated from each other, with some being

lacustrine A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

and others essentially riverine. The water temperature in its range vary quite significantly with season, at least from , but aquarium studies have shown that ''A. flaviijosephi'' are almost completely inactive at the lowermost range. ''A. flaviijosephi'' is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

caused by drought, water extraction and pollution. It may also be threatened by

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

, although they do not appear to have affected the Lake Tiberias population.

Appearance

''A. flaviijosephi'' is the smallest

cichlid Cichlids () are a large, diverse, and widespread family of percomorph fish in the family Cichlidae, order Cichliformes. At least 1,760 species have been scientifically described, making it one of the largest vertebrate families, with on ...

native to its range. It reaches up to in

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

, but most adults are about . Males grow larger than females. Like many other cichlids, its colour pattern varies with sex, age and mood; some of these colour changes can occur quite rapidly. The standard pattern is overall silvery–greyish to silvery– tan with a vertical dark or pale line below the eye. Males have a few relatively large yellow "egg–spots" on the

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

and a few dotty orangish lines along the side of the body. When afraid they get about ten dark grey vertical bars on their body and when breeding two horizontal stripes. The latter pattern is stronger in courting males when most markings and colours become much more intense and contrasting, with blue–black underparts and a bright blue chin. Nursing females are also more contrastingly patterned than the standard breeding season pattern, but much less intense than the courting males.

Behavior

Breeding

''A. flaviijosephi'' breeds in the spring and summer, and a female is able to spawn more than once in a season. Females will already breed when long and males when . Breeding males are highly

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

and will kill another adult male if he is unable to escape, as can happen if kept in an aquarium that is too small. Like other haplochromines, ''A. flaviijosephi'' is a mouthbrooder. The eggs are laid by the female and fertilized by the male in a small pit that he has dug in the bottom (otherwise the male does not participate in the brood care). Shortly after they are picked up by the female, which broods them in her mouth. The young are released after about two-and-a-half to five weeks when they are long. Brooding time depends on water temperature; it takes about twice as long at compared to . Sometimes the young are allowed to return to the female and seek security in her mouth for a couple of days after the release.

Feeding

This cichlid is a predator that mostly feeds on small invertebrates, but also will take fish fry, tiny fish up to about half the size of the ''A. flaviijosephi'' itself and aquatic vegetation. Adult males mostly eat

freshwater snail Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks that live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs t ...

s, while females mostly eat insects and their larvae (especially

chironomid Chironomidae , commonly known as non-biting midges or chironomids , are a family of Nematoceran flies with a global distribution. They are closely related to the families Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae, and Thaumaleidae. Although many chironomid s ...

s), worms and

amphipod Amphipoda () is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods () range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 10,700 amphipod species cur ...

s. This difference in diet is also reflected in differences in the teeth of the sexes.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1755013 flaviijosephi Taxa named by Louis Charles Émile Lortet Fish described in 1883 Cichlid fish of Asia Fish of Israel Fish of Syria Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN Fish of Jordan