Orestias parinacotensis, locally known as karachi, is a species of pupfish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It is endemic to northern Chile. This fish was described in 1982 by María Gloria Eliana Arratia Fuentes from a type locality given as a wetland near the hamlet of Parinacota, Chile called the Bofedales de Parinacota.
In salar Ascotán the species was devastated by the extraction of water by the copper mining. Since the 2020s the species is threatened by the expansion of the lithium extraction.
References
Jerez, Sara (2024-11-20). "Karachi, el raro pez chileno del altiplano que vive en salares y peligra por la extracción del litio". Radio Bío-Bío (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-12-13. https://www.biobiochile.cl/especial/aqui-tierra/noticias/2024/11/20/karachi-el-raro-pez-chileno-del-altiplano-que-vive-en-salares-y-peligra-por-la-extraccion-del-litio.shtml ↩
Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Orestias parinacotensis". FishBase. August 2019 version. /wiki/Rainer_Froese ↩
Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Orestias parinacotensis". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 20 October 2019. /wiki/William_N._Eschmeyer ↩
Jerez, Sara (2024-11-20). "Karachi, el raro pez chileno del altiplano que vive en salares y peligra por la extracción del litio". Radio Bío-Bío (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-12-13. https://www.biobiochile.cl/especial/aqui-tierra/noticias/2024/11/20/karachi-el-raro-pez-chileno-del-altiplano-que-vive-en-salares-y-peligra-por-la-extraccion-del-litio.shtml ↩