Rainwater killifish

Rainwater killifish
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Division: Teleostei
Order: Cyprinodontiformes
Family: Fundulidae
Genus: Lucania
Species:
L. parva
Binomial name
Lucania parva
Synonyms
  • Cyprinodon parvus Baird & Girard, 1855
  • Limia venusta Girard, 1858
  • Lucania affinis Girard, 1859

The rainwater killifish (Lucania parva) is a small silvery fish with yellow flashes and diamond shaped scales that is widespread from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, through to Tampico, Mexico, with occurrences reported on the Yucatán peninsula. It is commonly found in large numbers in fresh to brackish estuarine environments, and inland in parts of New Mexico, Texas and Mexico. It feeds on various aquatic invertebrates. It can reach up to 7 centimetres (2.8 in) total length.

Species description and etymology

The rainwater killifish was formally described by Spencer Fullerton Baird and Charles Frédéric Girard as Cyprinodon parvus with the type locality given as Beesley's Point, New Jersey and as Greenport, Long Island, New York. The name of the genus, Lucania, is a Native American word from an unknown language and of unknown meaning which presumably Girard liked the sound of. Girard named this species as the type species of the genus Lucania in 1859 but using the junior synonym Limia venusta. The specific name is Latin for "small".

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lyons, T.J. (2019). "Lucania parva". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019 e.T191368A130017300. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T191368A130017300.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Lucania parva". FishBase. April 2019 version.
  3. 1 2 Hendrickson, Dean A.; Cohen, Adam E. (2022). "Lucania parva". Fishes of Texas Project Database. Version 3.0. doi:10.17603/C3WC70. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  4. 1 2 Ross, S.T (2001). The Inland Fishes of Mississippi. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. pp. 371–372. ISBN 1-57806-246-2.
  5. ↑ Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Cyprinodon parvus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  6. 1 2 Christopher Scharpf; Kenneth J. Lazara (26 April 2019). "Order CYPRINODONTIFORMES: Families PANTANODONTIDAE, CYPRINODONTIDAE, PROFUNDULIDAE, GOODEIDAE, FUNDULIDAE and FLUVIPHYLACIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  7. ↑ Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Lucania". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 26 September 2019.

Further reading