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Teleostei (teleosts) > Cyprinodontiformes (Rivulines, killifishes and live bearers) > Poeciliidae (Poeciliids) > Poeciliinae
Etymology: Poecilia: Greek, poikilos = with a lot of colours (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Valenciennes.

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

Freshwater; brackish; benthopelagic; pH range: 7.5 - 8.2; dH range: 11 - 30; non-migratory. Tropical; 18°C - 28°C (Ref. 13371); 24°N - 1°S, 101°W - 69°W

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

Central and South America: Mexico to Colombia. Often confused with Poecilia mexicana (Ref. 1739).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m 3.5 range ? - ? cm
Max length : 7.5 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 102977); common length : 4.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 12193)

Feeds on worms, crustaceans, insects, plant matter. The black variety (Black molly) is a very popular aquarium fish and is marketed throughout the world (Ref. 1739). In the aquarium it feeds on green algae and also readily accepts dried food (Ref. 1672). Minimum aquarium size 60 cm (Ref. 51539).

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

Produces 20 to 150 young after 28 days gestation.

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Wischnath, L., 1993. Atlas of livebearers of the world. T.F.H. Publications, Inc., United States of America. 336 p. (Ref. 26130)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 22 March 2018

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest; aquarium: highly commercial

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Trophic ecology
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Ecology
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Length-weight rel.
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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=0.01514 (0.00869 - 0.02637), b=3.12 (2.97 - 3.27), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.0 ±0.34 se; based on food items.

Resilience (Ref. 120179): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (tm<1; multiple spawning per year; Fec=20-150).

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).

Nutrients (Ref. 124155): Calcium = 299 [141, 613] mg/100g; Iron = 1.23 [0.70, 2.19] mg/100g; Protein = 16.9 [15.7, 18.1] %; Omega3 = 0.276 [0.125, 0.582] g/100g; Selenium = 22.7 [10.9, 46.7] μg/100g; VitaminA = 85.1 [29.6, 226.7] μg/100g; Zinc = 2.88 [1.99, 4.14] mg/100g (wet weight);

Poecilia sphenops Valenciennes, 1846