Gambusia holbrooki, Eastern mosquitofish : fisheries, aquarium

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  Poeciliidae
- - Classification -
- Poeciliinae
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- Cyprinodontiformes
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Gambusia holbrooki Girard, 1859

Eastern mosquitofish

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Gambusia holbrooki
Female picture by Delgado Saez, J.A.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Cyprinodontiformes (Rivulines, killifishes and live bearers) > Poeciliidae (Poeciliids) > Poeciliinae
Etymology: Gambusia: Gambusia: From the Cuban term, Gambusino, which means "nothing", usually in the context of a joke or a farce. Fishing for gambusinos = when one catches nothing (Ref. 45335).
Eponymy: Dr John Edwards Holbrook (1794–1871) was a zoologist and herpetologist who has been described as ‘the Father of North American Herpetology’. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.
More on author: Girard.

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

Freshwater; brackish; benthopelagic; pH range: 6.0 - 8.8; dH range: ? - 40; potamodromous (Ref. 51243). Subtropical; 15°C - 35°C (Ref. 13371); 40°N - 31°N, 89°W - 74°W

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

Introduced worldwide in tropical and subtropical countries. North America: Atlantic and Gulf Slope drainages from New Jersey south to Alabama in USA (Ref. 5723). Established throughout southern Europe (Ref. 59043). Introduced for mosquito control, but had rare to non-existing effects on mosquitoes, and negative to perhaps neutral impact on native fishes (Ref. 12217).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 4.7 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 59105); 8.0 cm TL (female); max. reported age: 1.00 years (Ref. 126182)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 1; Dorsal soft rays (total): 7; Anal spines: 1; Anal soft rays: 9.

Adults occur in standing to slow-flowing water, mostly in vegetated ponds and lakes, backwaters and quiet pools of steams (Ref. 5723), typically seen shoaling at the edges (Ref. 44894). They also frequent brackish water (Ref. 5723). Adults feed on small terrestrial insects usually in the drift and amongst aquatic plants, actively selecting very small prey (Ref. 6154). Also observed to take in mosquito larvae (Ref. 41168). Introduced worldwide. Introductions to Europe have seriously threatened many endemic species (Ref. 59043). It is now widely accepted that their effect has been minimal and even may have exacerbated the problem due to their voracious appetite for natural invertebrate predators of mosquito larvae (Ref. 44894).

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

Matures at 4-6 weeks; 3 generations can be produced in one year. Gestation lasts 3-4 weeks. Brood may reach up to 354 young, but is generally around 40-60 (Ref. 1672, 59043).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr, 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 432 p. (Ref. 5723)

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

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 06 February 2012

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Potential pest (Ref. 12257)

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators

Ecology
Ecology

Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance

Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
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Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics

Distribution
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Anatomy
Gill area
Brain
Otolith

Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)

Genetics
Genetics
Heterozygosity
Heritability

Human related
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Stamps, coins, misc.

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

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=0.01000 (0.00803 - 0.01246), b=3.19 (3.13 - 3.25), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.1 ±0.2 se; based on diet studies.

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

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

Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.

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