River · Persian Gulf

Hormozgan Coastal Rivers

The coastal rivers, streams and springs of Hormozgan province in southern Iran, draining to the Persian Gulf at the Strait of Hormuz. They are the home of Iranocichla — the only cichlid genus native to Iran, and among the easternmost native cichlids on Earth. Iranocichla hormuzensis lives in the Mehran River drainage; I. persa (Esmaeili et al. 2016) in the Shur, Hasanlangi and Minab drainages. Both favour warm, often brackish water, frequently around thermal springs (Esmaeili et al. 2016; Coad, Freshwater Fishes of Iran).

Maximum depth
Length
Mixing regime
Unknown
Basin
Hormozgan coastal drainages (Strait of Hormuz)
Countries
Iran

Where every species has been recorded

2 cichlid species across 1 genera have been georeferenced in the lake, drawn from 44 field and museum records. Switch to satellite imagery, or pick a single species to see exactly where it lives.

44 records

Occurrence records: GBIF.org (Global Biodiversity Information Facility). Each point is a georeferenced observation or specimen; positions carry the source dataset's own coordinate precision.

Sources

Every number on this page is traceable to peer-reviewed research.

  • GBIF.org (2026). GBIF Occurrence Download — Cichlidae, African rift lakes. Global Biodiversity Information Facility, www.gbif.org. link

A shoreline of separate worlds

Hormozgan Coastal Rivers does not have one habitat but a mosaic of them, and the boundaries are sharp. A cichlid adapted to grazing algae off boulders may never cross the few metres of open sand to the next reef — which is exactly why so many species here live nowhere else on Earth.

Mapped habitats

Surveyed habitat data for this lake is not loaded yet.