''Tristramella sacra'', the long jaw tristramella, is a species of

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 ...

fish that was

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, 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 ...

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 ...

. It has not been recorded since 1990, despite searches both of the lake and in local markets, and it is regarded as

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

. This species could reach a

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 ...

of up to . The long jaw tristamella has not been seen since 1990 and declared extinct by the IUCN in 2014. ''T. sacra''s spawning ground was the marshy northern margin of the lake. This dried out in 1991 and again in the mid-1990s, destroying this species' breeding habitat and therefore possibly causing its disappearance. Water levels in the Sea of Galilee may have been under stress since Israel's National Water Carrier was built in 1964, and this stress may have been increased since the

Israel–Jordan peace treaty The Israel–Jordan peace treaty (formally the "Treaty of Peace Between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan"),; Hebrew transliteration, transliterated: ''Heskem Ha-Shalom beyn Yisra'el Le-Yarden''; ; Arabic transliteration: ' ...

of 1994 committed Israel to supply 50 million cubic meters of water per year from the lake to

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 ...

References

sacra Fish of Israel Endemic fauna of Israel Taxa named by Albert Günther Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Fish described in 1865 Sea of Galilee Cichlid fish of Asia Freshwater fish of Western Asia {{Israel-stub he:אמנון (דג)#מינים שונים של אמנון

See also

References