The Dead Sea toothcarp (''Aphanius dispar richardsoni'') is a subspecies of the

Arabian toothcarp The Arabian toothcarp (''Aphaniops dispar''), known also as the Arabian pupfish or mother-of-Pearl fish is a species of killifish belonging to the family Cyprinodontidae. It can be found from the shores of the Red Sea south to Ethiopia, the Gulf ...

that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

to the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...

basin, although molecular evidence suggests that it should be regarded as a species. It is threatened by water fluctuation, and the introduction of

cichlid Cichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses ( Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have contradicted this ...

s and '' Gambusia''. The sub-specific name of this fish honours the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

and naturalist

John Richardson (naturalist) Sir John Richardson Royal Society of London, FRS FRSE (5 November 1787 – 5 June 1865) was a Scotland, Scottish naval surgeon, natural history, naturalist and Arctic explorer. Life Richardson was born at Nith Place in Dumfries the son of Gabr ...

(1787-1865) who first reported killifish in the Dead Sea basin. The Dead Sea toothcarp -- has been on the red list of the International Union for Conversation of Nature since 2014. The IUCN warns that the "exploitation of spring waters and climate change" are major threats facing the four-centimetre-long, silver-coloured fish.

References

Aphanius Endangered fish Fish described in 1907 {{Cyprinodontiformes-stub