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Caudal skeleton of Bermuda shallow water fishes. IV. Order Cyprinodontes: Cyprinodontidae, Poecilidae

1940; Smithsonian Institution; Volume: 25; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5962/p.203604

0044-507X

Gloria. Hollister,

Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology

Introduction.This is the fourth of a series of papers dealing with the caudal skeleton of Bermuda fishes.2The shallow-water Iniomi of Bermuda is represented by two families, four genera and four species.Of these, Fundulus bermudae, a Cyprinodontidae, is a native, whereas all the Poecilidae have been introduced.Gambusia holbrooki, a common species of the Eastern States from Delaware to Florida and now thriving in Bermuda marshes, was brought from fresh-water ponds near Washington, D. C., and planted in Pembroke Marsh and others in May, 1928.Gambusia thrive in our Bermuda freshwater pools at Nonsuch as well as in the brackish marshes where they serve to control the breeding of mosquito larvae.Dr. Henry Wilkinson of the Medical and Health Department of Bermuda reports that, "for the most part they have done extremely well in brackish marshes.In some places, however, as Shelly Bay, they do not always last, but I think birds are the difficulty there and not salinity or other chemical substances.This fish is most adaptable.They stay near the surface, use their upturned mouth for mosquito larvae and give birth to a multitude of live fish.About half the Gambusia died coming here from Washington.The survivors were put directly into the various marshes and did well everywhere except in the marsh at Baileys Bay (which has since been filled).For this marsh a few of them had to be adapted by gradually stepping up the salinity in a bowl."