Tristramella
Encyclopedia
Tristramella is a genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of fishes in the Cichlidae family. The four species in this genus are restricted to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, where they are among the relatively few native cichlid
Cichlid
Cichlids are fishes from the family Cichlidae in the order Perciformes. Cichlids are members of a group known as the Labroidei along with the wrasses , damselfish , and surfperches . This family is both large and diverse. At least 1,300 species have been scientifically described, making it one of...

s (the others are Astatotilapia flaviijosephi, Oreochromis aureus
Oreochromis aureus
Oreochromis aureus is a species of fish in the Cichlidae family. Native to Northern and Western Africa, and the Middle East, through introductions it is now also established elsewhere, including parts of the United States, where it has been declared an invasive species and has caused significant...

, O. niloticus
Oreochromis niloticus
The Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus is a relatively large cichlid fish, which is native to Africa from Egypt south to East and Central Africa, and as far west as Gambia. It is also native to Israel, and numerous introduced populations exist outside its natural range.It is also commercially...

, Sarotherodon galilaeus , and Tilapia zillii).

Tristramella intermedia
Tristramella intermedia
Tristramella intermedia is an extinct species of fish in the Cichlidae family. It was endemic to Lake Hula in northern Israel.The deliberate draining of Lake Hula in the 1950s led to the extinction of this species, along with the cyprinid fish Acanthobrama hulensis and the Israel painted frog....

and T. magdelainae
Tristramella magdelainae
Tristramella magdelainae is an extinct species of cichlid fish. It was endemic to the vicinity of Damascus in Syria. It was last recorded in the 1950s, has not been recorded since and is presumed extinct. Drought, pollution and water extraction may have destroyed its habitat....

are extinct, T. sacra
Tristramella sacra
Tristramella sacra is a species of cichlid fish that is endemic to the Sea of Galilee in Israel. It has not been recorded since 1990, despite searches both of the lake and in local markets, and may therefore be extinct....

may be extinct, and T. simonis
Tristramella simonis
Tristramella simonis is a species of cichlid fish. It is common in the Sea of Galilee in Israel, and may also occur in a tributary of the Jordan River in Syria. It is the only member of the genus Tristramella that certainly remains extant. Of the other three species, two are certainly extinct and a...

is confined to one locality but there it remains abundant and it is not considered threatened.

Species

Some authorities (e.g. FishBase
FishBase
FishBase is a comprehensive database of information about fish species . It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web...

) treat intermedia and magdalenae as subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of T. simonis instead of separate species.
  • Tristramella intermedia
    Tristramella intermedia
    Tristramella intermedia is an extinct species of fish in the Cichlidae family. It was endemic to Lake Hula in northern Israel.The deliberate draining of Lake Hula in the 1950s led to the extinction of this species, along with the cyprinid fish Acanthobrama hulensis and the Israel painted frog....

  • Tristramella magdelainae
    Tristramella magdelainae
    Tristramella magdelainae is an extinct species of cichlid fish. It was endemic to the vicinity of Damascus in Syria. It was last recorded in the 1950s, has not been recorded since and is presumed extinct. Drought, pollution and water extraction may have destroyed its habitat....

  • Tristramella sacra
    Tristramella sacra
    Tristramella sacra is a species of cichlid fish that is endemic to the Sea of Galilee in Israel. It has not been recorded since 1990, despite searches both of the lake and in local markets, and may therefore be extinct....

  • Tristramella simonis
    Tristramella simonis
    Tristramella simonis is a species of cichlid fish. It is common in the Sea of Galilee in Israel, and may also occur in a tributary of the Jordan River in Syria. It is the only member of the genus Tristramella that certainly remains extant. Of the other three species, two are certainly extinct and a...

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