Eastern mosquitofish

Gambusia holbrooki, females, over it the smaller male, in a Fotoküvette.

The Eastern mosquito fish ( Gambusia holbrooki ) is a species of the subfamily of viviparous tooth carp ( Poeciliinae ). It occurs in the eastern United States from New Jersey to Alabama and was introduced by man to mosquito control to southern Europe and in many other tropical and subtropical countries. Gambusia holbrooki was named after the American naturalist John Edwards Holbrook, the German name limits the kind on the Western mosquito fish ( Gambusia affinis ), whose distribution area to the west connects and extends from southern Alabama to the Rio Panuco in Mexico.

Features

Females reach a length of 4-8 cm, males remain smaller with 3 to 3.5 cm. The gonopodium of the male is in contrast to that of Gambusia affinis three teeth. Most fish are plain gray, strak pied males rarely occur, especially in Florida. The gravid females is clearer than in Gambusia affinis.

• Fins formula: Dorsal I / 7, Anal 1/9.

Way of life

The Eastern mosquito fish lives mainly in standing or slow-flowing waters with dense plant population, especially in low and backwaters of rivers, lakes and ponds and is also in brackish water. It has a high temperature tolerance, and can withstand temperatures of 30 ° C until almost to freezing, but preferably high temperatures. It feeds mainly on mosquito larvae.