There are a big number of species with a high ecological value in Almeria. There is especially a fish, "fartet" (Alphanius íberus) ,that inhabits in  sweet and salty  waters of the basin of the river Adra.

    This kind of fish is very small (4 and 5 cm long); and presents marked sexual differences between sexes.
    The males have got bright colours, with vertical blue cobalt lines on its tail. the lines are being intensified in reproduction periods. The females are bigger and their colour is generally darker.Their body is usually spotted too.

    Fartet (from Cipriodontidos family) adapts to diffferent aquatic conditions, (temperature, salinity,  oxygen...) easily and it supports wide variations.
    Another singular characteristic is its nutrious diet. It is an omnivorous fish. Fartet eats aquatic invertebrates, like mosquito larva. At the same time, fartet is the food for local animals: herons, water snakes, wild ducks and birds.
    The distribution of fartet in the world is very restringed, only in the Iberian Peninsula, in humid areas (the South Mediterranean Coast and the South-east Atlantic Coast)
    The populations have been isolated and have become different genetic varieties. Two of them stay in basin of River Adra; in a very restricted area (the stream river and in connected areas like watering channels). The other kind of fartet lives in the lagoons (Las Albuferas).

    Fartet is distrubuted for many places in the Iberian Peninsula, but there are very small  areas and very restricted too. This fish is considered in extinction, based on R.D 439/90 for National Catalogue of Threatened Species.

    There are a lot of reasons which affect the survival in all our country:

* Contamined water, (agriculture and urban wastes)

* Habitat destruction.

* Introduction of exotic species (red Crab, Gambusía or Black Bass).
   Although some of these factors also affect the Fartet in the   basin of the River Adra, but we can identified  another like:  

* There is no water in basin of the River Adra.

* Contamined riverside and fluvial channels.

* Drying of the channel and watering rafts.

* Elimination of algae in the dams, with poisons (copper Sulfate, etc.).

* Worse conditions for life (less oxygen, less water...)

    The Environmental Authority, based on 4/1989 March Law about conservation of Natural Spaces, is making a special recovery planning to correct and eliminate the threats that affect the population of fartet.

    WE MUST HELP OUR AUTHORITIES TO GUARANTEE THEIR SURVIVAL. WITHOUT EVERYBODY´S HELP, THIS PRECIOUS JEWEL OF OUR RIVERS WILL NOT EXIST ANY MORE. WE MUST ACT NOW TO SAVE OUR FARTET.

    At the present time, we have a lot of fartet at our school. These were given to us for their conservationby the Environmental Authority. We keep them in two big aquariums.
    They stay in the entrance hall, and we try to obtain the best conditions for their conservation and reproduction,

    THEY ARE THE BEST ECOLOGICAL EXAMPLE FOR THE WHOLE COMMUNITY: CHILDREN AND ADULTS.

AQUARIUS NEXT TO THE CORRIDOR NORTH-SOUTH

(*) Text and taken out pictures of the pamphlet published by the School Shop "José Oliva" of Adra in collaboration with the Town council of Environment of the City council of Adra and the Consejería of Environment of the Junta of Andalusia.