Poecilia latipinna ( Lesueur, 1821 )

Çiçek, Erdoğan, Jawad, Laith, Eagderi, Soheil, Esmaeili, Hamid Reza, Mouludi-Saleh, Atta, Sungur, Sevil & Fricke, Ronald, 2023, Freshwater fishes of Iraq: a revised and updated annotated checklist- 2023, Zootaxa 5357 (1), pp. 1-49 : 30

Poecilia latipinna ( Lesueur, 1821) [I]—Sailfin molly

Taxonomy. Original description: Mollienesia latipinna Lesueur, 1821a: 3 , Pl. 3 [Freshwater ponds in the vicinity of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; lectotype: MNHN B-0929].— Iraq synonyms: None.—Revisions: Miller (2006: 234).—Illustration: Miller (2006: 235, fig. 6.275); Esmaeili (2021: 313, fig. 17.19).

Status in Iraq. First record from Iraq by Kennedy (1937); confirmed by Hussain et al. (2009); Al-Faisal et al. (2014).—Iraq materials: None.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Iraq: Somewhere Tigris and Euphrates River drainages.—General distribution: North America: southeastern U.S.A. south to Tuxpan (Veracruz, Mexico); introduced widely elsewhere.—Habitat: This species lives in springs, lakes, and ponds; backwaters and pools of streams; drainage ditches; and salt marshes. Freshwater, brackish.

Economic importance. Valuable for the aquarium trade.

Reasons of introduction. Ornamental fish industry.

Conservation. Not relevant (introduced species).