Taxonomy & naming
Anatolichthys iconii was originally described by the Turkish ichthyologist F. Akşiray in 1948 as a subspecies, Aphanius burduricus iconii — treating the Konya-basin population as a geographic variant of the Lake Burdur toothcarp. Subsequent taxonomic review, reflected in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes, elevated the population to full species status and, following the broader genus-level revision that split the Anatolian lake-and-spring toothcarps from Aphanius into the resurrected genus Anatolichthys, arrived at the currently valid combination Anatolichthys iconii (Akşiray, 1948).
The specific epithet iconii derives from Iconium, the ancient Greek and Roman name for the city now known as Konya, in the Konya Basin of central Anatolia — a large, historically lake-dotted closed drainage system that has long been recognised as a centre of Aphaniidae diversity and endemism, alongside the neighbouring Burdur and Acıgöl basins to the southwest. Akşiray's original subspecific placement under 'burduricus' reflects the coarser taxonomic resolution available to Turkish ichthyology in the 1940s, when the full extent of genetic and morphological differentiation among the many isolated Anatolian lake populations had not yet been documented; the modern treatment as an independent species is consistent with the broader pattern in the genus, in which numerous other 1948-era Akşiray subspecies have likewise been raised to full species rank.
This fish was long listed as a subspecies of Aphanius burduricus (as Aphanius burduricus iconii); Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes recognises it as a full species in the genus Anatolichthys, and the current combination Anatolichthys iconii is followed here.
Morphology
Dedicated morphological description of Anatolichthys iconii beyond the original 1948 subspecies account is sparse in the sources consulted. As in its close Anatolian relatives — including A. burduricus/sureyanus, from which it was originally split — it is reasonable to expect a small, laterally compressed toothcarp in the 1.5–2.5 in range, with the family's characteristic upturned mouth and rounded fins.
Sexual dichromatism is essentially universal across Anatolichthys and can be expected here as elsewhere in the genus: males patterned with pale, iridescent vertical bars or spots on a darker ground colour, particularly vivid in breeding condition, and females plainer, cryptically brown to olive, and larger-bodied when gravid. Species-specific measurements and colour-pattern detail for iconii were not located and should be treated as provisional pending direct examination or a published redescription.
Habitat
Anatolichthys iconii is associated with the Konya Basin of central Anatolia, Turkey — a vast, historically lake-rich closed drainage system centred on the city of Konya (ancient Iconium) that has long supported a diversity of small, endemic Aphaniidae in its springs, marshes, and the margins of its shallow, often saline terminal lakes. As with its Anatolian relatives, the species is expected to occupy hard, alkaline water, likely with some tolerance of elevated salinity given the closed, evaporation-dominated hydrology typical of the region's lake basins.
The Konya Basin's hydrology has been profoundly altered over the past half-century by large-scale agricultural irrigation, and many of the shallow lakes and marshes that once characterised the plain — including Lake Aksehir and Lake Eber to the north of the core Konya sub-basin — have shrunk dramatically or dried intermittently as groundwater is pumped for crop irrigation, a regional water crisis that has been widely documented in the context of Turkey's agricultural expansion. Precise, published locality and water-chemistry data specific to A. iconii were not located in the sources consulted; the habitat description here is inferred from the regional context and the closely related Anatolichthys species that share the wider Turkish Lakes Region.
Feeding
No dedicated dietary study of Anatolichthys iconii was located. By analogy with its Anatolian relatives, it is reasonable to expect a micropredatory, opportunistically omnivorous diet — small aquatic invertebrates, zooplankton, and insect larvae taken at and near the water surface, supplemented by algae and detritus grazed from submerged surfaces. In captivity, congeners of this genus accept a wide range of small live, frozen, and dried foods, with a live or frozen component generally recommended for condition and breeding readiness.
Mating
Species-specific breeding behaviour for Anatolichthys iconii has not been documented in the sources consulted. As a presumed inhabitant of permanent spring and lake-margin water, it is expected to follow the non-annual, plant-spawning reproductive mode general to the genus: fractional spawning of small batches of adhesive eggs onto algae or fine-leaved vegetation across an extended warm-season breeding period, rather than the single mass spawning event and diapausing eggs characteristic of annual killifishes from temporary pools.
Breeding
No published breeding or aquarium-propagation account for Anatolichthys iconii was located. By analogy with its close Anatolian relatives, eggs would be expected to be adhesive and to incubate directly in water without diapause, hatching within roughly two to three weeks at typical spring or aquarium temperatures, with fry able to take fine live foods shortly after becoming free-swimming. Given the species' apparent absence from the hobby, this account should be treated as inferential rather than field- or captive-verified.
In the aquarium
Anatolichthys iconii does not appear to be an established aquarium species; no hobbyist husbandry accounts were located in the sources consulted, and it is likely held, if at all, only by a very small number of specialist Turkish or European killifish researchers or collectors with direct access to Konya Basin material. Prospective keepers should not expect to source this species through normal aquarium trade channels.
Where the species might be kept, care would be expected to follow the general Anatolichthys template: hard, alkaline water, a secure lid against jumping, and a temperature regime reflecting the seasonal extremes of the central Anatolian plateau — likely a cool winter period followed by a warmer spring–summer breeding season, as documented for several better-studied congeners.
Conservation
Anatolichthys iconii appears on the CARES Fish Preservation Program priority list, classified Near Threatened (CNT) — a designation that places it alongside several other narrowly distributed Anatolian toothcarps whose long-term survival the hobby is asked to help safeguard through documented captive breeding.
No species-specific IUCN Red List assessment was located for A. iconii. The wider conservation context for Aphaniidae of the Turkish Lakes Region and the neighbouring closed basins of central Anatolia is nonetheless well established and sobering: decades of agricultural water abstraction have shrunk or dried many of the shallow lakes and marshes these fish depend on, and the introduction of predatory mosquitofish (Gambusia spp.) across Turkish inland waters has caused documented declines and local extinctions in multiple congeneric Anatolichthys populations. In the absence of dedicated survey data for the Konya Basin population specifically, the CARES Near Threatened classification should be read as a precautionary flag reflecting this regional pattern rather than a fully quantified population assessment. A formal IUCN evaluation, grounded in field survey of the species' current range and population trend, would be a valuable next step.