''Acanthobrama telavivensis'', commonly known as the Yarkon bream or Yarkon bleak, is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
freshwater ray-finned fish
Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species.
The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...
of the family
Cyprinidae found only in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, in the
Yarkon River
The Yarkon River, also Yarqon River or Jarkon River ( he, נחל הירקון, ''Nahal HaYarkon'', ar, نهر العوجا, ''Nahr al-Auja''), is a river in central Israel. The source of the Yarkon ("Greenish" in Hebrew) is at Tel Afek (Antip ...
system.
Description
The silver fish, which grows to a length of , was reintroduced to the
Afek springs and Ein Nymphit by the Israel Nature Preservation Authority.
History
Throughout 1950 to 1970, there was a very sharp decline in the species population. The population was stable until a
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
in 1999 which made it near-extinct. The remaining individuals were taken and bred in captivity. In 2006, these fish were re-introduced to 12 rehabilitated sites in its previous range. Since then, large populations of various sizes and ages have been found in these areas. According to the authority's chief ecologist, this shows that efforts to rehabilitate the river have succeeded. Yarkon Bleak preservation efforts began in 1999, when the population dropped to only a few hundred. The project was a joint endeavor of the Yarkon River Authority,
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...
and the Israel Nature and National Parks Authority. The fish were transferred to special breeding pools at the university's zoological park, and an attempt was made to reintroduce them to the river in 2002 with little success. The scientists involved believed that this was because of a lack of suitable spawning sites, they built a pond filled with gravel and vegetation and soon there were many juvenile fish seen.
In 2005, a second attempt to reintroduce them to the upper part of the river was reportedly more successful, following engineering to create suitable spawning sites
[Near-extinct fish reintroduced to Yarkon River]
/ref> In 2014, the IUCN declared this species sufficiently 'wild' (i.e. no direct intervention) to remove it from its "Extinct in the Wild" category, and is now considered "Vulnerable".
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2704671
telavivensis
Fish described in 1973
Vulnerable animals
Endemic fauna of Israel
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot