''Aphanius saourensis'', the Sahara aphanius, is a species of freshwater pupfish belonging to the family
Cyprinodontidae. It is endemic to the
Oued Saoura
Oued Saoura is an intermittent river, or wadi, formed from the confluence of the Oued Guir and Oued Zouzfana at Igli, forming the Saoura valley. While in the past the flow of the river was steady and plentiful, in recent years it has diminished ...
river basin in Algeria. The species is threatened by water pollution and water withdrawal for agricultural use; it was evaluated by the
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
on 17 October 2007 and listed as critically endangered on the
Red List, although it is possibly extinct in the wild.
Etymology
The species name, ''saourensis'', comes from "Saoura", the valley where the fish was collected.
Description
Like all members of the genus ''Aphanius'', the Sahara aphanius exhibits
sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...
. Females possess brown mottling on their flanks and have transparent fins, whereas the much smaller males have bluish silver body mottling. Their fins have dark bars on them and are often blue in colour.
References
saourensis
{{cyprinodontiformes-stub