The Cuban limia (''Limia vittata''), also known as banded limia, Cuban molly, Cuban topminnow or tabai is a species of livebearing freshwater fish from the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Poeciliidae The Poeciliidae are a family of freshwater fishes of the order Cyprinodontiformes, the tooth-carps, and include well-known live-bearing aquarium fish, such as the guppy, molly, platy, and swordtail. The original distribution of the family wa ...

. The species is native to Cuba where it was

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

but it has been introduced to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

Description

The Cuban limia is olive-green in background colour and has a bluish-grey back, silvery flanks marked with black-edged scales and a white belly. There is a yellow patch close to the vent in fenmles. In the males have the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

and the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as s ...

are normally yellow-orange in colour marked with blue-black spots. The females have colorless fins which are marked with a few scattered, black freckles. The females grow to over twice the size of the males which can have a

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

of , and females reach . In structure it is a rather robust species, depressed towards the rear with a rounded tail and it has a compressed head which has a small, oblique mouth with a protruding lower jaw and a protractile upper jaw.

Distribution

The Cuban limia is, as the common name suggests, native to Cuba. It occurs throughout the island of Cuba and the neighbouring

Isla de la Juventud Isla de la Juventud (; en, Isle of Youth) is the second-largest Cuban island (after Cuba's mainland) and the seventh-largest island in the West Indies (after mainland Cuba itself, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Andros Islan ...

. It has been introduced to Hawaii, where it is found on the islands of

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...

and

, where it is found in the

Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park located in the Kona District on the Big island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It includes the National Historic Landmarked archaeological site known ...

Habitat and biology

Within its native range the Cuban limia inhabits streams, lakes, estuaries, coastal lagoons, and mangrove swamps and can be found in both freshwater and brackish water, or saline water. Its diet consists of worms, crustaceans, insects and plant material. It often forms mixed shoals with species such as

sailfin mollies The sailfin molly (''Poecilia latipinna'') is a species of fish of the genus '' Poecilia''. They inhabit fresh, brackish, salt, and coastal waters from North Carolina to Texas and the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. Taxonomy The sailfin mo ...

and

mosquitofish The western Mosquitofish (''Gambusia affinis'') is a North American freshwater fish, also known commonly, if ambiguously, as simply Mosquitofish or by its generic name, ''Gambusia'', or by the common name gambezi. Its sister species, the east ...

. A larger female may give birth to up to 50 fry at a time and in a 4-6 week period can produce up to 100 young.

Human uses

This species is present in the aquarium trade and a number of colour variations have been bred. It is thought that released aquarium fish are the origin of the population in Hawaii where they have been blamed for impacting the population of native

damselflies Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies, which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Anisoptera, but are smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings along ...

. In Hawaii it has been given the local name ''tabai''.

Taxonomy

The Cuban limia was described by the French

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

Alphone Guichenot Antoine Alphonse Guichenot (31 July 1809 in Paris – 17 February 1876 in Cluny) was a French zoologist who taught, researched, and participated in specimen collecting trips on behalf of the ''Muséum national d'histoire naturelle'' (Paris), in ...

in 1853 as ''Poecilia vittata''. A year later the Cuban zoologist

Felipe Poey Felipe Poey (May 26, 1799 – January 28, 1891) was a Cuban zoologist. Biography Poey was born in Havana, the son of French and Spanish parents. He spent several years (1804 to 1807) of his life in Pau then studied law in Madrid. He became a ...

described a fish he named ''Limia cubensis'' and designated this as the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

of the genus ''

Limia ''Limia'' is a genus of livebearing fishes belonging to the Cyprinodontiform family Poeciliidae, which includes other livebearers such as platys, swordtails (genus ''Xiphophorous''), guppies and mollies (genus ''Poecilia''). They are found in ...

''. This was a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are al ...

of Guichenot's ''Poecilia vittata'' and so ''L. vittata'' was considered the valid name.

References

{{Taxonbar, From=Q2394320 Limia Taxa named by Alphonse Guichenot Fish described in 1853