The Tedzhen River is the more familiar, international name and is used here. In Iran this major river is known as the Harirud or Hari River. The Tedzhen rises in the Selseleh-ye Kuh-e Baba of Afghanistan and flows west for about 490 km before turning north as the Iran-Afghanistan border for 160 km. Along with the Hirmand and Aras, this is the only major river entering Iran. At Sarakhs (36°32'N, 61°11'E) it enters Turkmenistan and is known there as the Tedzhen, and is eventually lost in the Karakum desert. The river is usually dry even at Sarakhs (Barthold, 1984). Most of the water in the Tedzhen remains in Afghanistan where it is used for irrigation of the Herat valley. Spring floods (March-April) can increase flow ten-fold for short periods of time. The Jam River is a southern tributary from Iran, draining the mountains around Torbat-e Jam (35°14'N, 60°36'E) and the Kashaf River is a northern Iranian tributary draining past Mashhad from the northern slopes of the Kuh-e Binalud (3416 m at 36°30'N, 58°55'E) and the southern slopes of the Kuh-e Hazar Masjed (3146 m at 36°52'N, 59°26'E). The Kashaf is about 310 km long. Its discharge is comparable to, if not as great as, central Zagros streams and is larger than the plethora of minor streams draining the Alborz (Oberlander, 1968b). The upper reaches of the Kashaf approach those of the Atrak River, a Caspian Sea tributary, and are separated by only a small upfold. This area is very unstable with frequent earthquakes. The catchment area for the Tedzhen basin approaches 45,000 sq km (Pirnia, 1951).

Bazangan Lake between Mashhad and Serakhs (36°17'N, 60°29'E) is the largest natural lake in northeast Iran with an area of 690,000 sq m and a maximum depth of 6-11 m. It is hyposaline oligotrophic with low phyto- and zooplankton communities, and with a corresponding low diversity of fishes (Ghassemzadeh, 2004).

Najafpoor et al. (2007) give a water quality assessment for the Kashaf River and note its use for water supply, agriculture fishing and recreation. Pollution from agriculture, and from industrial and municipal wastes at Mashhad, is recorded. Supersaturation from excessive plant life and low night-time levels of dissolved oxygen through respiration could lead to fish kills in the Kashaf.

A number of minor streams drain northward from the Koppeh Dagh (= Kopet Dagh or Kopetdag) in the west, a range which straddles the border of Iran and Turkmenistan in this north-eastern part of Iran, and from the Hazar Masjed and intervening ranges in the east. These have not been collected. The Iranian tributaries of the Tedzhen have not been well collected either, but there is data on the fish fauna from both Afghanistan and the former U.S.S.R. (now Turkmenistan). Coad (1981d) lists fishes from Afghanistan, and Aliev et al. (1987; 1988), Starostin (1992) and Salnikov (1994) fishes from Turkmenistan. Aliev et al. (1987) list rare and endangered species in Turkmenistan.

There is evidently a strong possibility of exotic species from Turkmenistan entering Iranian waters via the Tedzhen drainage. Fishes, including exotics, are farmed along the basin of the Karakum Canal, a 1372 km long diversion from the Amu Darya. Some of these exotics can be expected to enter the Tedzhen River basin via its delta and eventually the Caspian Sea basin via the Atrek River through runoff and collector canals (Sal'nikov, 1995; 1998). Potential exotics for Iran from the Karakum Canal include Pseudoscaphirhyncus kaufmanni (Acipenseridae), Alburnoides taeniatus, Aristichthys nobilis (= Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), Aspiolucius esocinus, Aspius aspius iblioides, Barbus capito conocephalus, Capoetobrama kuschakewitschi, Carassius auratus gibelio, Chalcalburnus (= Alburnus) chalcoides aralensis, Ctenopharyngodon idella, Hemiculter eigenmanni (= leucisculus), Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Mylopharyngodon piceus, Parabramis pekinensis, Pseudogobio rivularis, Pseudorasbora parva, Rhodeus ocellatus, Rutilus rutilus aralensis (all Cyprinidae), Cobitis aurata aralensis, Misgurnus anguillicaudatus (Cobitidae), Nemacheilus oxianus (Balitoridae), Gambusia holbrooki (Poeciliidae), Oryzias latipes (Oryziatidae), Channa argus warpachowskii (Channidae), Micropercops cinctus (Odontobutidae), and Rhinogobius brunneus or Rhinogobius similis (Gobiidae). A Rhinogobius species is now found in Iran (Coad and Abdoli, 2000a; Abdoli et al., 2000). Other species not native to the Tedzhen basin but found elsewhere in Iran are also reported such as Acipenser nudiventris (Acipenseridae), Pelecus cultratus (Cyprinidae), and Sander lucioperca (Percidae). Cyprinus carpio stocks are a mix of native and Chinese imports. Silurus glanis (Siluridae) has also been introduced along with carp from the Amu Darya although it is also native. Sal'nikov (1995; 1998) also lists other species which may penetrate the canal eventually. These exotics have a great potential to cause devastation in the native fauna through competition and through genetic swamping of related taxa.

The fauna of the Tedzhen basin is found in rivers and streams as well as springs and qanats. Dams include the Barzou, 40 km north of Shirvan, which is 85 m high with a crest of 325 m and the Shirnin Darreh north of Bojnurd which produces 60 million cu m of water for irrigation (Iran News, 17 September 1997). A dam is scheduled for completion in 2005 at the Iran-Turkmenistan border. It will have a capacity of 1,250 million cu m of water (IRNA, 3 September 1999).

Berg (1940) places this basin as a part of his Turkmen District of the Iranian Province (other parts include the Murgab River of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan and northslope streams of the Kopet Dagh in Iran and Turkmenistan). He considers that the Hari River once belonged to the Amu Darya basin of Central Asia.

Top