#cyprinodontiformes

[herpsandbirds]

Banded Panchax or Clown Killi (Epiplatys annulatus), family Nothobranchiidae, order Cyprinodontiformes, found in fresh water habitats in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in West Africa

photograph by Michael Jensen

[uncharismatic-fauna]

To Live with the Death Valley Pupfish

The Death Valley Pupfish, or Salt Creek Pupfish (Cyprinodon salinus) is a species of pupfish found only in the Death Valley region of the Mojave Desert; within this region there are populations in Salt Creek, Cottonball Marsh, River Springs and Soda Lake. These locations are characterized by shallow water four times the salinity of the ocean, with temperatures regularly reaching peaks of 46 °C (116°F) and lows of 0 °C (32 °F), and limited vegetation.

Like other pupfish, Death Valley pupfish are quite small. Most adults are about 3.7 cm (1.5 in) in length. Females are rather drab, typically tan or brown with darker mottling. Males are larger than females, and turn bright blue and yellow during the breeding season. They also have larger dorsal and anal fins, which are used for display.

Salt Creek pupfish can reproduce several times a year, although their peak season is in the spring and the fall. When they're ready to mate, males will claim a small territory and vigorously defend it against rival males. Little is known about the physical aspects of their reproduction, but individuals typically live only a year or so.

C. salinus feed primarily on cyanobacteria and algae, and supplement their diets with available aquatic arthropods. Their only predator is the diving beetle Neoclypeodytes cinctellus, but their populations are also highly influenced by flooding and drought cycles. At the peak the rainy season, when flooding has increased habitat availability, the population of C. salinus can explode into the millions, but that number is then cut down to only several thousand when subsequent droughts dry up most pools and streams.

Conservation status: The Death Valley pupfish is considered Endangered by the IUCN. It has an extremely limited distribution, which is under threat from excessive draining of the aquifer that feeds their habitat.

Dr. Cynthia S. Shroba

Michael Hawk

Jim Boone

[life-on-our-planet]

The Devils Hole pupfish can only be found in the wild in one small but deep geothermal pool. When water levels dropped during the last ice age, this group was separated from other pupfish species and evolved independently in the limestone caves of Devils Hole.

They're currently critically endangered in the wild, and at one point the population even dropped to just 35. Since then many groups have been working together to monitor and save the Devils Hole pupfish. Part of that effort includes a massive off-site replica tank of the conditions, where about 100 Devils Hole pupfish live and are studied further. ©

[chuck-wills-widow]

My Mosquitofish (Gambusia spp.) exploring their new tank :)

[fish-facing-forward]

(poecilia)

Poecilia reticulata

Guppy

Image source: Submission by @toytulini

Status: Least concern

Distribution: Native to northern Brazil. Introduced in warm freshwater habitats in all continents except for Antarctica.

[every-day-creechur]

Black-banded Limia Limia melanonotata

A toothcarp endemic to the island of Hispaniola. It is found in the lower Artibonite River, Plain of the Cul-de-Sac, Haiti; extending to the Valle de Neiba in the southwestern Dominican Republic.

Least Concern

image by mr_southwest

[sonofshermy]

via

[vin-the-zoologist]

Aapticheilichthys websteri - No. 1

Starting off with a cutie! This killifish is found from Africa and lives in rivers.