The rainwater killifish (Lucania parva) is a small silvery fish with yellow flashes and diamond shaped scales that is widespread from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, through to Tampico, Mexico. It is commonly found in large numbers in fresh to brackish estuarine environments. It feeds on tiny crustaceans, mosquito larvae, small worms, and mollusks. It can reach up to 62mm (2.44 inches).
Coloration: Body not barred (Hubbs et al. 1991). Back silvery to light green, with a narrow, dark middorsal stripe. Scales on sides outlined in melanophores, creating cross-hatched pattern, which is especially prominent in breeding males. Forward and upper surfaces of the head speckled with melanophores, which also extend onto the underside of the lower jaw. Belly and undersides of body are silver. Fins generally lack pigmentation, except for some melanophores along the rays. In breeding males, dorsal fin has a black anterior blotch and dark marginal and basal bands that may include orange pigmentation. Caudal, anal, and pelvic fins red to orange, with black marginal bands (Gunter 1950; Simpson and Gunter 1956; Ross 2001).
Counts: 10+ dorsal fin rays; 8-13 scale rows from pelvic origin to isthmus; 30 or fewer longitudinal scale rows (Hubbs et al. 1991); 27 (26-28) lateral scales; 11 (9-13) dorsal fin rays; 13 (12-14) pectoral fin rays; 6 (4-7) pelvic fin rays; 9 (8-13) anal fin rays; 16 (15- 18) caudal fin rays; 8 (5-9) gill rakers on 1st arch (Sublette et al. 1990).
Body shape: Body deep, rather compressed; head flattened above, tapering to vertically rounded, blunt snout (Hardy 1978). Body depth contained four times in standard length (Hubbs et al. 1991). Body axis straight (Sublette et al. 1990).
External morphology: Distance from origin of dorsal fin to end of hypural plate more than distance from origin of dorsal fin to preopercle (Hubbs et al. 1991); dorsal and caudal fins rounded; pectorals, pelvic, anal fins rounded at apex (Sublette et al. 1990). Males develop prickly contact organs on top and sides of head and on side of body between dorsal and anal fin bases (Foster 1967; Collette 1977). Female with membranous sheath surrounding genital opening (Sublette et al. 1990).
Internal morphology: Teeth conical and simple (Hubbs et al. 1991). Premaxillary and mandibular teeth uniserial or irregular, occasionally with a few strong inner teeth (Sublette et al. 1990).
Diet
Simpson and Gunter (1956) and Harrington and Harrington (1961) reported diet items including larval crustaceans (mainly cyclopoid and harpacticoid copepods), mosquito larvae, small worms, and mollusks. Harrington and Harrington (1961) noted that the species heavily predates both larvae and pupae of saltmarsh mosquitoes.
Habitat
Found in salt marshes, bays, and lagoons from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Tampico, Mexico (Duggins 1980a); common in freshwaters of St. John's River system, Florida (Burgess 1977), and Rio Grande and Pecos River in Texas and New Mexico (Duggins 1980a). Lucania parva is a schooling species (Hardy 1978).
Reproduction and life cycle
Spawning season: In Texas, females began ripening in February, and a few were gravid in July. Peak spawning is in May and June (males displayed breeding coloration from February into June, or July, with greatest color intensity in May; Gunter 1950); may occur in earlier in the spring (Simpson and Gunter 1956). Sublette et al. (1990) reports spawning in New Mexico from spring – fall, at least in the southern portion of the state.
Spawning location: During spawning, males and females swim into vegetation with fine leaves; there, eggs are released and fertilized. Eggs have mucous threads with which they are attached to plant material (Foster 1967). McLane (1955) noted that male courtship behavior was observed near clumps of Naias and Vallisneria.
Reproductive strategy: A courting male swims in loops slightly below the female, waiting for the female to respond by stopping. After a female stops, the male moves under her, flicking his head against her throat. The pair moves slowly toward the surface of the water, while the male continues to rub his head against the underside of the female. When they are near the surface, the female swims into vegetation having fine leaves or algal masses and the male follows. Using his dorsal and anal fins, the male then clasps the female, and eggs are released and fertilized (Foster 1967).
Fecundity: 7–46 ripe ova (mean 24.5 per fish) plus numerous smaller ova (McLane 1955); the maximum reported count is 104 (Hildebrand and Schroeder 1928; Hardy 1978). Freshly laid eggs are spherical, nearly colorless, having chorionic threads. Live eggs average 1.23mm in diameter; eggs hatch in six days at a water temperature of 23.9 degrees C (Foster 1967). More than one brood may be produced per year by a single female (Hardy 1978).
Distribution
The rainwater killifish is native to coastal waters from Massachusetts to Tampico, Mexico (Hubbs et al. 1991). It has been introduced into California, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah (Hubbs and Miller 1965). It is locally abundant in lower Pecos River drainage, New Mexico, not ascending tributary streams far above mouth (Cowley and Sublette 1987).
The mummichog is a small killifish found along the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada. Also known as Atlantic killifish, mummies, gudgeons, and mud minnows, these fish inhabit brackish and coastal waters including estuaries and salt marshes. The species is noted for its hardiness and ability to tolerate highly variable salinity, temperature fluctuations from 6 to 35 °C, very low oxygen levels, and heavily polluted ecosystems. As a result, the mummichog is a popular research subject in embryological, physiological, and toxicological studies. It is also the first fish ever sent to space, aboard Skylab in 1973.
The bluegill, sometimes referred to as "bream," "brim," "sunny," or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and wetlands east of the Rocky Mountains. It is the type species of the genus Lepomis, from the family Centrarchidae in the order Perciformes.
The sailfin molly is a species of fish in the genus Poecilia. As with the other types of mollies, P. latipinna is a livebearer, giving birth to free-swimming babies, a trait they share with similar fish species such as guppies, platies and swordtails. Sailfin mollies typically inhabit both freshwater and brackish waterways along the East Coast of the United States, from North Carolina south to Florida, and around the Gulf of Mexico to Texas, and south to the Yucatán Peninsula of México. Given their preference for more brackish water conditions, mollies are often found within just a few yards or miles of the ocean, inhabiting coastal estuaries, lagoons, river deltas and swamps, as well as tidal areas with a regular inflow of oceanic minerals and nutrients mixing with inland freshwater sources.
Pupfish are a group of small killifish belonging to ten genera of the family Cyprinodontidae of ray-finned fish. Pupfish are especially noted for being found in extreme and isolated situations. They are primarily found in North America, South America, and the Caribbean region, but Aphanius species are from southwestern Asia, northern Africa, and southern Europe. As of August 2006, 120 nominal species and 9 subspecies were known. Several pupfish species are extinct and most extant species are listed. In the U.S., the most well-known pupfish species may be the Devils Hole pupfish, native to Devils Hole on the Nevada side of Death Valley National Park. Since 1995 the Devils Hole pupfish has been in a nearly steady decline, where it was close to extinction at 35–68 fish in 2013.
The Colorado pikeminnow is the largest cyprinid fish of North America and one of the largest in the world, with reports of individuals up to 6 ft (1.8 m) long and weighing over 100 pounds (45 kg). Native to the Colorado River Basin of the southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico, it was formerly an important food fish for both Native Americans and European settlers. Once abundant and widespread in the basin, its numbers have declined to the point where it has been extirpated from the Mexican part of its range and was listed as endangered in the US part in 1967, a fate shared by the three other large Colorado Basin endemic fish species: bonytail chub, humpback chub, and razorback sucker. The Colorado pikeminnow is currently listed as vulnerable by the IUCN, while its NatureServe conservation status is "critically imperiled".
The sheepshead minnow, also known as sheepshead pupfish, is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinodontidae, the pupfishes. It is found in salt marsh and estuary environments and is native to the eastern coasts of North and Central America.
The banded killifish is a North American species of temperate freshwater killifish belonging to the genus Fundulus of the family Fundulidae. Its natural geographic range extends from Newfoundland to South Carolina, and west to Minnesota, including the Great Lakes drainages. This species is the only freshwater killifish found in the northeastern United States. While it is primarily a freshwater species, it can occasionally be found in brackish water.
The sand shiner is a widespread North American species of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae. Sand shiners live in open clear water streams with sandy bottoms where they feed in schools on aquatic and terrestrial insects, bottom ooze and diatoms.
Lucania is a genus of North American ray-finned killifishes in the family Fundulidae. The genus can be found in northeastern Mexico and the southeastern and eastern parts of the United States, with L. parva ranging as far north as Massachusetts. They are mostly found in fresh water, although L. parva also is frequent in coastal brackish water. They are sometimes held in aquariums.
Heterandria formosa is a species of livebearing fish within the family Poeciliidae. This is the same family that includes familiar aquarium fishes such as guppies and mollies. Heterandria formosa is not as commonly kept in aquaria as these species. Despite the common name "least killifish", it belongs to the family Poeciliidae and not to one of the killifish families. H. formosa is one of the smallest fish species; the 1991 Baensch Aquarium Atlas listed it as the 7th smallest fish in the world, and as of 2006 it remains the smallest fish species found in North America.
The golden topminnow is a fish of the genus Fundulus and is a United States native fish mostly distributed throughout the southeast, ranging from Kentucky and Ohio south into Florida. Although it has such a wide distribution throughout the south, the habitats and micro-habitats that it occupies do not differ much from one area of distribution to others. The golden topminnow is a small surface feeding fish that tends to reproduce late in the spring season and on into the early parts of the summer, and although the fry reach maturity fairly quickly the longevity of the golden topminnow is quite short. Because the golden topminnow is lower in the trophic level and is a small fish, it primarily feeds on small and/or drifting organisms at, or near the surface of, vegetated areas. This particular topminnow is not currently listed as an endangered species, nor does it have any particular type of management plan.
The desert pupfish is a rare species of bony fish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It is a small fish, typically less than 7.62 cm (3 in) in length. Males are generally larger than females, and have bright-blue coloration, while females and juveniles are silvery or tan. A notable attribute of the desert pupfish is their ability to survive in environments of extreme salinity, pH, and temperature, and low oxygen content. The desert pupfish mates in a characteristic fashion, wherein compatible males and females will come in contact and collectively jerk in an s-shape. Each jerk typically produces a single egg that is fertilized by the male and deposited in his territory. Breeding behavior includes aggressive arena-breeding and more docile consort-pair breeding.
The Sonoyta pupfish or Quitobaquito pupfish is an endangered species of pupfish from Sonora in Mexico and Arizona in the United States.
The longnose shiner is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Notropis.
The red shiner or red-horse minnow is a North American species of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae. They are deep-bodied and laterally compressed, and can grow to about three inches in length. For most of the year, both males and females have silver sides and whitish abdomens. Males in breeding coloration, though, have iridescent pink-purple-blue sides and a red crown and fins.
The blackspotted topminnow, Fundulus olivaceus, is a species of fish in the family Fundulidae: the topminnows and North American killifishes. It is native to the south-central United States, where it is known from the drainages of the Mississippi River from Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico and as far west as Galveston Bay.
The southern studfish is a ray-finned fish of the family Fundulidae, the tooth carps, that is native to the southeastern United States.
The bluntnose darter is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, a darter from the subfamily Etheostomatinae, part of the family Percidae, which also contains the perches, ruffes and pikeperches. It is found in eastern North America where it is found in slower moving and still waters.
The Gulf killifish is one of the largest members of the genus Fundulus; it is capable of growing up to 7 inches (18 cm) in length, whereas the majority of other Fundulus reach a maximum length of 4 inches (10 cm). Therefore, F. grandis is among the largest minnows preyed upon by many sport fish, such as flounder, speckled trout, and red drum. Fundulus derives from the Latin meaning "bottom," and grandis means "large". The Gulf killifish is native to the Gulf of Mexico from Texas to Florida and the eastern coast of Florida and the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean. Threats to the survival of the Gulf killifish include extreme changes in salinity, changes in temperatures, and toxic events such as the hypoxic dead zone in Louisiana and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Gulf killifish is currently being used to test the effects of oil and oil dispersants on the physiology of marine species affected by these substances. This is significant to conservation biology, because with the continued extraction of oil and other natural resources from North American waters, it has become increasingly important to understand the risks and consequences in worst-case scenarios, such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the lasting effects on the marine ecosystem.
Fundulus luciae, the spotfin killifish, is a member of the genus Fundulus. This hardy fish is notable for spending its entire life in sporadically flooded salt marsh habitat, sheltering in shallow pools, puddles, and small tidal rivulets. It closely resembles the mummichog in shape and coloration, but the two species can be distinguished by dorsal fin ray count: 8–9 in the spotfin versus 11–12 in the mummichog. Additionally, the dorsal fin of F. luciae originates farther back, and slightly behind the anal fin origin; in the mummichog, the dorsal fin begins anteriorly to the anal fin origin. The spotfin killifish is named for the pronounced ocellus found on the posterior dorsal fin of adult males. It is a small fish, seldom attaining 50 millimetres (2.0 in) in total length. Its distribution extends along the U.S. east coast from Massachusetts to Georgia.
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