ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The pearl mullet, an endemic fish found only in Turkey’s southeastern Kurdish province of Van, continues to draw attention from scientists and environmentalists as the only fish species in the world capable of surviving in the highly alkaline waters of a local lake.
The fish is scientifically known as "alburnus tarichi" and is also commonly known as the Van fish or "Inci Kefali" in Turkish.
The species lives exclusively in Lake Van, where the water’s pH level reaches 9.2, making it inhospitable for most aquatic life. Researchers say the fish has adapted over hundreds of thousands of years to survive in the lake’s soda-rich environment.
Mustafa Akkus, a professor at the Faculty of Fisheries at Dicle University, told Rudaw that the fish became isolated in Lake Van nearly 800,000 years ago after volcanic activity cut the lake off from surrounding waterways.
“If we want to understand how the Inci Kefali differs from other fish in the world, we must go back nearly a million years,” Akkus said. “About 800,000 years ago, due to the eruption of the Nemrut volcanic mountain located south of the lake, the lake’s connection to the outside was severed, creating the Lake Van we see today.”
He explained that minerals and chemicals gradually accumulated in the lake because it has no outlet, transforming it into a highly saline and alkaline body of water.
“At that point, the Inci Kefali became trapped in Lake Van with no chance of leaving,” he said.
Akkus described the pearl mullet as an ancient native species of Van, predating many civilizations that later inhabited the region.
“If the Urartians and Assyrians were here 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, the fish has been here for 800,000 years,” he said.