Iran – Strait of Hormoz region, September 2009

_{In a valley at 340 m above Sea level, flows a complete salty river surrounded by amazing mountains…}

_{…the slow flowing crystal clear river is edged by salty crusts and drying up at an incredible speed…}

_{…one can see how shallow the water level is where the Iranocichla hormuzensis Coad, 1982, was collected in this extreme dry and hot region. The water temperature was 37.5°C, amazingly hot. Here Deghani is helping Heiko}

_{Saeed is holding the plastic sac while Heiko is collecting the fishes, Iranocichla and Aphanius species}

_{Iranocichla hormuzensis, adult male (with a slight damage on its head from the net)}

_{Head detail of this beautiful mouth-brooder...}

_{…its pelvic fin design…}

_{…the rows of teeth of Iranocichla…}

_{…and a detail of its beautiful pattern colour}

_{Only in a very few spots this river had a depth of more than 15 cm, like here, near this large rock, it was about 40 cm deep}

_{The only other fish species living in this salty river-habitat of Iranocichla hormuzensis is Aphanius species (which has some similarity with Aphanius dispar}

_{After a long and heavy walk Behnam had for us a water melon to refresh from the 47.5°C in the shade (over 50°C in the sun…)}

_{Heiko Bleher collecting Iranocichla hormuzensis in Iran}

_{With Behnam, Saeed and Deghani, Heiko Bleher collected the beautiful Iranocichla hormuzenis in the extreme south-western, very hot region, of Iran begin of September, 2009. This is the most eastern found Cichlidae on Earth.}

Here one can see to two nice videos of the spawning of Iranocichla hormuzensis