Poecilia reticulata, Peters, 1859

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 768

Poecilia reticulata

Common name. Guppy.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species of Poeciliidae in West Asia by: ● male brightly coloured in life, with black blotches on flank also seen in preserved individuals / ○ dorsal and caudal in male with blue, white or red colour / ○ flank in male with a variable colour pattern of red, turquoise, yellow, orange, and black blotches and short stripes / ○ dorsal larger in male than in female / ○ flank not red, if with red blotches, then in male only / ○ pelvic of male modified, tip of first ray enlarged, different in male and female / ○ body moderately elongate / ○ dorsal origin behind vertical of anal origin / ○ gonopodium short / ○ dorsal and caudal without black spots / ○ no lateral stripe / ○ male without sword-like prolongation on caudal. Size up to 35 mm SL in male 50 mm SL in female.

Distribution . Introduced worldwide. Established in warm springs in upper Sakarya, İzmir, and upper Tohma drainages (Euphrates, Türkiye). Likely established elsewhere in West Asia. Also locally established in hot springs in Europe and in warm effluents from European power stations. Native to Venezuela, Guyana, and adjacent islands.

Habitat. A wide variety of habitats with low predation pressure. Usually found in very small streams and densely vegetated lakes and springs.

Biology. Not studied in West Asian populations. In captive populations, females mature at about 3 months, males slightly earlier. Continuous, non-resource and non-territorial mating system. Sexually dimorphic. Males brightly coloured and highly polymorphic with many cultivated colour forms; females cryptically coloured. Predation is a major evolutionary pressure influencing colouration, life history traits, and behaviour. Widely used as a model in biology, especially to study evolution.

Remarks. Despite being one of the most common aquarium fish in the world, there are few confirmed records of guppies being introduced in West Asia, with some populations surviving for more than 40 years. Poecilia wingei and P. obscura are two other guppies kept in the hobby, and hybrids between P. wingei and P. reticulata are particularly common and likely to be released into the wild. Although we identify all wild guppy populations as P. reticulata , this is likely incorrect. Hybrid populations with P. wingei are likely to occur, especially in more recently established populations.

Conservation status. Non-native; released from aquaria.

Further reading. Haskins et al. 1961 (ecology); Liley & Seghers 1975 (behaviour); Reznick et al. 1990 (biology); Magurran et al. 1995 (behaviour); Houde 1997 (reproduction); Esmaeili et al. 2017 (introduction in Iran); Freyhof et al. 2020 (distribution in Arabia).

Figures

Poecilia reticulata

Distribution