Gambusia affinis, Mosquitofish : fisheries, aquarium

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Gambusia affinis (Baird & Girard, 1853)

Mosquitofish
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Cyprinodontiformes (Rivulines, killifishes and live bearers) > Poeciliidae (Poeciliids) > Poeciliinae
Etymology: Gambusia: Gambusia: From the Cuban term, Gambusino, which means "nothing", usually in the context of a joke or a farce. Fishing for gambusinos = when one catches nothing (Ref. 45335);  affinis: From the Latin word affinusmeaning related (Ref. 79012).
More on authors: Baird & Girard.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; brackish; benthopelagic; pH range: 6.0 - 8.0; dH range: 5 - 19; potamodromous. Subtropical; 12°C - 29°C (Ref. 52055); 42°N - 26°N

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

North and Central America: Mississippi River basin from central Indiana and Illinois in USA south to Gulf of Mexico and Gulf Slope drainages west to Mexico. One of the species with the widest range of introductions which acquired for itself a near pan-global distribution (Ref. 1739). Several countries report adverse ecological impact after introduction.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 5.1 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 50932); 7.0 cm TL (female); common length : 3.9 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 12193); max. reported age: 3.00 years (Ref. 796)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 7-9; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 9 - 10. Origin of dorsal fin opposite 7th anal ray. Length of anal base much less than half distance from caudal. 8 horizontal scale rows between back and abdomen. Ventrals terminate immediately before anal fin. Pelvic fins reach ventrals.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Most abundant in lower reaches of streams (Ref. 44091). Adults inhabit standing to slow-flowing water; most common in vegetated ponds and lakes, backwaters and quiet pools of streams. Found frequently in brackish water (Ref. 5258). Pelagic and surface predatory fish (Ref. 94816). Feed on zooplankton, small insects and detritus (Ref. 5258, 10294). Used as live food for carnivorous aquarium fishes. Viviparous (Ref. 5258, 30578). Effective in mosquito control and widely introduced, but found to compete with indigenous fish and to upset the ecological balance (Ref. 6351).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

The species is viviparous (Ref. 5258). Internal fertilization is possible because the anal fin of the male is modified into a copulatory organ. The females carries about 30 alevins and gestation lasts for a period of 24 days (Ref. 6348) to a month (Ref. 30578).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr, 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 432 p. (Ref. 5723)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 22 January 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Potential pest





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | GoMexSI (interaction data) | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00851 (0.00691 - 0.01048), b=3.13 (3.07 - 3.19), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.1   ±0.2 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 1.4 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 2 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=1.20; tmax=3; Fec=10-60).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (38 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.