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| NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species |
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Common Name: southern platyfish
Synonyms and Other Names: (moonfish, platy).
Taxonomy: available through 
Identification: Distinguishing characteristics were given by Rosen (1960, 1979) and Page and Burr (1991). It is included in identification keys of Rosen (1960, 1979) and Greenfield and Thomerson (1997). Photographs or illustrations appeared in Rosen (1960), Mills and Vevers (1982), Petrovicky (1988), Dawes (1991), Sakurai et al. (1993), and Wischnath (1993). Formerly known as Platypoecilus maculatus.
Size: Females to about 6 cm; males t
Native Range:
Atlantic Slope of Middle America from Ciudad Veracruz, Mexico, to Belize (Rosen 1960, 1979; Page and Burr 1991; Greenfield and Thomerson 1997).
Nonindigenous Occurrences: This species has been recorded from Orange County, California, near Westminster (St. Amant and Hoover 1969; Courtenay et al. 1984, 1991; Swift et al. 1993); near a fish farm in Conejos County and the South Platte drainage, Colorado (Woodling 1985; Zuckerman and Behnke 1986; Rasmussen 1998); several counties in Florida (Courtenay et al. 1974; Courtenay and Hensley 1979a; Dial and Wainright 1983; museum specimens); Hawaii (Brock 1960; Maciolek 1984; Devick 1991b; Mundy 2005); an unnamed tributary to Big Branch Bayou in Lacombe, Louisiana (K. Piller, pers. comm.); Beaverhead Rock Pond (Madison County), Montana (Page and Burr 1991); Clark County, Nevada (La Rivers 1962; Courtenay and Deacon 1982; Courtenay et al. 1984, 1991; Deacon and Williams 1984; Vinyard 2001); and Texas (Hubbs 1982; Courtenay et al. 1984, 1991). It has also been collected in the Loiza drainage near Loiza Reservoir, Quebrada Honda, and Rio Abajo Forest Station north of Utuado in Puerto Rico (Erdsman 1984; Lee et al 1983).
Means of Introduction: Probably due to fish farm or aquarium releases. Specimens in Louisiana were collected near a tropical fish farm.
Status: It is locally established, or possibly established locally, in several states, including Florida (Courtenay and Meffe 1989; Nico, personal communication), Colorado (Zuckerman and Behnke 1986), Hawaii (Kanayama 1968; Devick 1991b), and Montana (Page and Burr 1991). It was reported from Texas (Courtenay et al. 1984, 1991). The species was mentioned as being extirpated from California (Swift et al. 1993); however, there is no evidence that it was ever established in that state (Courtenay and Meffe 1989). Unknown in Louisiana. The species was introduced into Blue Point Springs near Lake Mead, in Nevada (Deacon and Williams 1984); the status of that population is assumed to be locally established. A second population, inhabiting Indian Springs, Clark County, Nevada, was considered to be a hybrid with X. hellerii (Deacon and Williams 1984; Courtenay and Meffe 1989); however, in 1989 M. Rauchenberger examined specimens (UF 91919) taken from Indian Spring and determined that they represented X. hellerii and not a hybrid.
Impact of Introduction: Southern platys, and other introduced poeciliids, have been implicated in the decline of native damselflies on Oahu, Hawaii. Often the distributions of the damselflies and introduced fishes were found to be mutually exclusive, probably resulting from predation of the fish on the insects (Englund 1999).
Remarks:
This species exhibits a wide range of color patterns (Rosen 1960, 1979; Dawes 1991; Wischnath 1993). Kallman and Brunetti (1983) examined the genetic basis of several mutant color varieties of this species. It has long been a popular ornamental fish. Myers (1940) received unconfirmed reports that X. maculatus, along with several other introduced species, had breeding populations in the Florida Everglades. There is some confusion surrounding the positive identification of a Nevada population (see account for X. hellerii). Courtenay and Meffe (1989) indicated that the Nevada record of Courtenay and Deacon (1982) and Deacon and Williams (1984) was actually a hybrid with X. hellerii. As such, the listing of pure X. maculatus for Nevada is obviously tentative. Nevada records are also covered in the hybrid accounts.
Voucher specimens: Florida (UF 91921, 91922, 91923, 91924, 91925, 92140, 97845, 98929, uncataloged).
Brock, V. E. 1960. The introduction of aquatic animals into Hawaiian waters. Internationale Revue der gesamten Hydrobiologie 45(4):463-480.
Courtenay, W. R., Jr., and J. E. Deacon. 1982. Status of introduced fishes in certain spring systems in southern Nevada. Great Basin Naturalist 42(3):361-366.
Courtenay, W. R., Jr., and D. A. Hensley. 1979a. Survey of introduced non-native fishes. Phase I Report. Introduced exotic fishes in North America: status 1979. Report Submitted to National Fishery Research Laboratory, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gainesville, FL.
Courtenay, W. R., Jr., and G. K. Meffe. 1989. Small fishes in strange places: a review of introduced poeciliids. Pages 319-331 in G. K. Meffe, and F. F. Snelson, Jr., editors. Ecology and evolution of livebearing fishes (Poeciliidae). Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Courtenay, W. R., Jr., D. A. Hensley, J. N. Taylor, and J. A. McCann. 1984. Distribution of exotic fishes in the continental United States. Pages 41-77 in W. R. Courtenay, Jr., and J. R. Stauffer, Jr., editors. Distribution, biology and management of exotic fishes. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.
Courtenay, W. R., Jr., D. P. Jennings, and J. D. Williams. 1991. Appendix 2: exotic fishes. Pages 97-107 in Robins, C. R., R. M. Bailey, C. E. Bond, J. R. Brooker, E. A. Lachner, R. N. Lea, and W. B. Scott. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada, 5th edition. American Fisheries Society Special Publication 20. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, MD.
Courtenay, W. R., Jr., H. F. Sahlman, W. W. Miley, II, and D. J. Herrema. 1974. Exotic fishes in fresh and brackish waters of Florida. Biological Conservation 6(4):292-302.
Deacon, J. E., and J. E. Williams. 1984. Annotated list of the fishes of Nevada. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 97(1):103-118.
Devick, W. S. 1991b. Patterns of introductions of aquatic organisms to Hawaiian freshwater habitats. Pages 189-213 in new directions in research, management and conservation of Hawaiian freshwater stream ecosystems. Proceedings of the 1990 symposium on freshwater stream biology and fisheries management, Division of Aquatic Resources, Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Dial R. S., and S. C. Wainright. 1983a. New distributional records for non-native fishes in Florida. Florida Scientist 46(1):1-8.
Dial, R. S., and S. C. Wainright. 1983b. New distributional records for non-native fishes in Florida. Florida Scientist 46(1):8-15.
Englund, R.A. 1999. The impacts of introduced poeciliid fish and Odonata on the endemic Megalagrion (Odonata) damselflies of Oahu Island, Hawaii. Journal of Insect Conservation 3:225-243.
Erdsman, D.S. 1984. Exotic fishes in
La Rivers, I. 1962. Fishes and fisheries of Nevada. Nevada State Print Office, Carson City, NV.
Maciolek, J. A. 1984. Exotic fishes in Hawaii and other islands of Oceania. Pages 131-161 in W. R. Courtenay, Jr., and J. R. Stauffer, Jr., editors. Distribution, biology, and management of exotic fishes. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.
Myers, G. S. 1940. An American cyprinodont fish, Jordanella floridae, reported from Borneo, with notes on the possible widespread introduction of foreign aquarium fishes. Copeia 1940:267-268.
Page, L. M., and B. M. Burr. 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. The Peterson Field Guide Series, volume 42. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.
Petrovicky, I. 1988. Aquarium fish of the world. Hamlyn, London, England.
Piller, K. - Southeastern Louisiana University.
Rasmussen, J.L. 1998. Aquatic nuisance species of the
Rosen, D. E. 1960. Middle-American Poeciliid fishes of the genus Xiphophorus. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum Biological Sciences 5(4):57-242.
Sakurai, A., Y. Sakamoto, and F. Mori. 1993. Aquarium fish of the world: the comprehensive guide to 650 species. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA.
St. Amant, J. A., and F. G. Hoover. 1969. Addition of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus (Cantor) to the California fauna. California Fish and Game 57(2):330-331.
Swift, C. C., T. R. Haglund, M. Ruiz, and R. N. Fisher. 1993. The status and distribution of the freshwater fishes of southern California. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Science 92(3):101-167.
Williams, J. D., D. P. Jennings, and D. C. Haney. 1992. Exotics in the Indian River Lagoon System. National Biological Survey, Gainesville, FL. Unpublished manuscript.
Woodling, J. 1985. Colorado's little fish: a guide to the minnows and other lesser known fishes in the state of Colorado. Colorado Division of Wildlife, Denver, CO. 77 pp.
Zuckerman, L. D., and R. J. Behnke. 1986. Introduced fishes in the San Luis Valley, Colorado. Pages 435-452 in R. H. Stroud, editor. Fish culture in fisheries management. Proceedings of a symposium on the role of fish culture in fisheries management at Lake Ozark, MO, March 31-April 3, 1985. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, MD.
Other Resources:
FishBase Fact Sheet
Author: Leo Nico and Pam Fuller
Revision Date: 4/24/2006 Citation for this information:
Leo Nico and Pam Fuller. 2009. Xiphophorus maculatus. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL.
<http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=872> Revision Date: 4/24/2006
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