Marbled swordtail
Species of fish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The marbled swordtail (Xiphophorus meyeri) is a species of freshwater fish in the family Poeciliidae. It was endemic to the Rio Salado system (itself a part of the Rio Grande basin) in Coahuila, northeastern Mexico.[4][5] It was restricted to springs, connected creeks and pools in waters with a pH slightly above neutral and temperatures of 16–26 °C (61–79 °F), with captive studies indicating that the optimum temperature is around 24 °C (75 °F).[1][5][6]
| Marbled swordtail | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cyprinodontiformes |
| Family: | Poeciliidae |
| Genus: | Xiphophorus |
| Species: | X. meyeri |
| Binomial name | |
| Xiphophorus meyeri Schartl & Schröder, 1987 | |
| Synonyms[2][3] | |
|
Xiphophorus marmoratus Obregón-Barboza & Contreras-Balderas, 1988 | |
The marbled swordtail is considered extinct in the wild by the IUCN with the last wild record in 1997, meaning that it survives only in captivity.[1] Captive populations are maintained at the Xiphophorus Genetic Stock Center, Texas State University, United States,[1] and by XNP conservation project members, which include public aquariums, universities and private aquarists in several European countries and the United States.[7][8][9] The marbled swordtail shares the title as northernmost naturally distributed Xiphophorus with the closely related Monterrey platyfish (X. couchianus) and northern platyfish (X. gordoni).[5][10] The specific name of this species honours the German ichthyologist Manfred K. Meyer.[11]