Anatolichthys is a genus of small killifish restricted to Anatolia and the surrounding region, split off in relatively recent taxonomy from the wider genus Aphanius. The atlas records the genus from Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, where its species occupy spring-fed streams, marshes, and the shallow, often mineral-rich lakes scattered across the Anatolian plateau. These are small, robust toothcarps, typically 2–3 in as adults in the atlas, tolerant of the fluctuating salinity and temperature that many of these closed or semi-closed basins experience through the year.
Few genera in the atlas illustrate the fragility of single-lake endemism as starkly as this one. Of the eight species recorded, only one carries a reassuring Near Threatened rating, three have not yet been formally evaluated, two are Critically Endangered, one is Endangered, and one is considered Extinct, a sobering tally for a genus confined to a handful of Anatolian water bodies, several of which have been drained, dammed, or diverted for irrigation over the past century. Five of the eight species carry a CARES priority designation.
Anatolichthys has a small but devoted following among killifish specialists precisely because of this status. Keeping and breeding species such as the Anatolian killifish (Anatolichthys anatoliae) or Danford's killifish (A. danfordii) functions as much as an insurance population as a display fish, since several of the lakes and springs these fish rely on have already been altered. Aquarium care generally follows the killifish norm of small, well-planted setups, though exact water chemistry preferences vary with each species' home spring or lake.