Pest fish profiles Poecilia reticulata - Guppy

Detailed information Synonyms Classification Taxonomic description Appearance and size Diet Reproduction Habitat Natural & introduced distribution Ecological tolerances Ecological impacts p.1 p.1 p.1 p.1 p.1 p.1 p.1 p.2-3 p.3 p.3 p.4 p.4 p.4 Anal fin modified to form a tube-like gonopodium used for inseminating females. Diet: Consists of zooplankton, small aquatic insects and larvae, detritus (Arthington 1989) but will also eat fish eggs (Eldredge 2000). Reproduction: The guppy is ovoviviparous and has a polygamous mating with internal fertilization; males actively court females and females are selective of their mates. Male P. reticulata anal fins are transformed into a gonopodium for internal fertilization. Males are continuously chasing and mating females, although females are selective of their mates (Viken et al. 2006). Studies have demonstrated that females select males, particularly those with larger and or brighter orange spots (Houde 1987; Karino and Shinjo 2004; Karino and Haijima 2004; Karino et al. 2005), while Millar et al. (2006) showed that predation pressure was also a strong selection factor in male colour variation, and influenced female mate selection (Reynolds and Gross 1992), i.e., a compromise between sexual selection (favouring conspicuousness) and natural selection (favouring crypsis). Females can store sperms for later fertilization and may produce young every four weeks. Pregnant females are recognizable by black triangle between anal and pelvic fins. After a gestation period of four to six weeks females give birth to 20-40 live young. No parental care is exercised and parents may even prey on their young. Habitat: Occurs in a range of fresh and brackish warmwater habitats; slow-flowing or still water typically associated with wellvegetated margins of ponds/streams.

Glossary References Contact details Common names: Guppy. Synonyms: Acanthophacelus guppii (Gnther 1866) Acanthophacelus reticulatus (Peters 1859) Girardinus guppii (Gnther 1866) Girardinus reticulatus (Peters 1859) Haridichthys reticulatus (Peters 1859) Heterandria guppyi (Gnther 1866) Lebistes poecilioides (De Filippi 1861) Lebistes poeciloides (De Filippi 1861) Lebistes reticulatus (Peters 1859) Poecilia reticulatus (Peters 1859) Poecilioides reticulatus (Peters 1859) Classification: Order Cyprinodontiformes Suborder Cyprinodontoidei Superfamily Poeciloidea Family Poeciliidae Subfamily Poeciliinae Supertribe Poeciliini Tribe Poeciliini Genus Poecilia Species reticulate Taxonomic description: Dorsal fin spines 0-0, soft fin rays 7-8; anal fin spines 0; anal soft fin rays 8-10. Appearance & Size: Females are typically pale olive with transparent fins, similar in appearance to Gambusia holbrooki females but lacks dark spots on fins. Feral males are polychromatic: have highly variable combinations of colours (red, orange, yellow, blue and green) with white and black in patches on flanks and fins (but lack the range of colours and enlarged caudal/dorsal fins of ornamental forms). Caudal fin may be extended ventrally into a short sword.

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Pest fish profiles Poecilia reticulata - Guppy

World distribution:

Figure 1: World wide distribution of Guppy. Table 1: Introduced range of the Guppy. (Froese & Pauly 2007) Country Status Albania Antigua & Barbuda Australia Barbados northern Brazil Colombia Comoros Cook Islands Costa Rica Cuba Czech Republic Fiji French Polynesia Guam Guyana Hong Kong (China) Hungary India Indonesia Jamaica Japan Kenya Madagascar Malaysia Martinique Mauritius Mexico Namibia Introduced Native Introduced Native Native Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Native Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced
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Country Netherlands Antilles Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nigeria Palau Papua New Guinea Peru Philippines Puerto Rico Reunion Russian Federation Samoa Seychelles Singapore Slovakia South Africa Sri Lanka Tahiti (french Polynesia) Taiwan Trinidad & Tobago Uganda UK US Virgin Islands USA (14 states) Venezuela Vietnam Zambia Native Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Introduced Native Introduced Introduced Native Introduced Native Introduced Introduced

Status

Pest fish profiles Poecilia reticulata - Guppy

Natural and introduced distribution: The guppy is a neotropical species and native to the Caribbean Islands (Netherlands Antilles, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Windward and Leeward Islands), Venezuela and coastal islands, Guyana and northern Brazil. It has been introduced to about 50 countries/territories in Asia, Australasia-Pacific, Europe, North America, and South America (see table); used for mosquito control (largely ineffective) or as an aquarium fish. Ecological tolerances: P. reticulata has wide ecological tolerances: it is eurythermal, euryhaline and hypoxia tolerant. P.reticulata can survive water temperatures to 32C(Gibson 1954), with limited tolerance to higher temperatures to 36C (Arai et al. 1963). The species can reproduce in full strength seawater (35ppt) (Shikano and Fujio 1997) and tolerate salinities up to 58.5ppt (Chervinski 1984). It can tolerate low oxygen levels down to 0.5 mg/l with access to aquatic surface respiration (ASR) (Kramer and Mehegan 1981; Weber and Kramer 1983). Ecological impacts: Largely unknown; has been implicated in decline of some species in its introduced range by predation or as a disease agent. P. reticulata is considered a hazard to native cyprinids and killifishes in the United States and Africa (Courtenay and Meffe 1989). It has been implicated in the decline of native fishes in Nevada and Wyoming (Deacon et al. 1964; Sigler and Sigler 1987 Courtenay et al. 1988), and of native damselflies in Hawaii (Englund 1999). It is a known carrier of trematode parasites, which may affect native fish populations (Leberg and Vrijenhoek 1994). It eats the eggs of native fish species and acts as a host for the parasitic nematode Camallanus cotti, and the Asian tapeworm Bothriocephalus acheilognathi in Hawaii (Eldredge 2000). Guppies infected with this tapeworm were also found in Wright Creek, Cairns, in northern Queensland (Webb 2003).

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Glossary
Anal Aquatic surface respiration (Fin) beneath the body, behind anal opening. The ability of some fish to irrigate their gills in the narrow surface boundary layer of water where there is sufficient oxygen diffusion with the air to maintain respiration even when the rest of the water column has little dissolved oxygen present. Towards the tail. The ability of an organism to avoid observation Fish that live in a wide range of salinities, opposite to stenohaline Tolerating a wide range of temperature, opposite to stenothermal Period of time between fertilisation and birth of an animal. Gonopodium Hypoxia Ovoviviparous Modified anal fin in male livebearers, used to deliver sperm into females An inadequate supply of oxygen to the tissues. Producing fully formed eggs that hatch inside the maternal (mother's) body and are released later as live offspring. Embryos provided with nutrition in the form of yolk; no placental connection with mother. Related to the pelvis, or lower middle of the fish. Having many colours, multicoloured. Having more than one mate at a time

Caudal Crypsis Euryhaline Eurythermal Gestation

Pelvic Polychromatic Polygamous

Arai M.N., Cox E.T. and Fry F.E.J., 1963. An effect of dilutions of seawater on the lethal temperature of the guppy. Canadian Journal of Zoology 41: 1101-1115.

References

Karino K. and Shinjo S., 2004. Female mate preference based on male orange spot patterns in the feral guppy Poecilia reticulata in Japan. Ichthyological Research 51: 316-320.

Arthington A.H., 1989. Diet of Gambusia affinis holbrooki, Xiphophorus helleri, X. maculata and Poecilia reticulata (Pices: Poeciliidae) in streams in southeastern Queensland, Australia. Asian Fisheries Science 2: 193-212. Chervinski J., 1984. Salinity tolerance of the guppy, Poecilia reticulata Peters. Journal of Fish Biology 24(4): 449-452. Courtenay W.R. Jr., Robins C.R., Bailey R.M. and Deacon J.E., 1988. Records of exotic fishes from Idaho and Wyoming. Great Basin Naturalist 47: 523-526. Courtenay W.R. Jr. and Meffe G.K., 1989. Small Fishes in Strange Places: A review of Introduced Poeciliids. In: G.K. Meffe and F.F. Snelson Jr (eds): Ecology and Evolution of Livebearing Fishes. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA, 319-331. Deacon J.E., Hubbs C. and Zahuranec B.J., 1964. Some effects of introduced fishes on the native fish fauna of southern Nevada. Copeia 1964(2): 384-388. Eldredge L.G., 2000. Numbers of Hawaiian species, Supplement 5. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 63: 3-8. 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. Froese R. and Pauly D. (Eds.), 2007. FishBase [online] version (01/2007). Available from: www.fishbase.org {Accessed April 2007}. Gibson M.B., 1954. Upper lethal temperature relations of the guppy, Lebistes reticulatus. Canadian Journal of Zoology 32: 393-407. Houde A.E., 1987. Mate choice based upon naturally occurring color-pattern variation in a guppy population. Evolution 41: 1-10. Karino K. and Haijima Y., 2004. Algal-diet enhances sexual ornament, growth and reproduction in the guppy. Behaviour 141: 585-601.

Karino K., Utagawa T. and Shinjo S., 2005. Heritability of the algal-foraging ability: an indirect benefit of female mate preference for males' carotenoid-based coloration in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata . Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 59(1): 1-5. Kramer D.L. and Mehegan J.P., 1981. Aquatic surface respiration. An adaptive response to hypoxia in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata (Pisces, Poeciliidae). Environmental Biology of Fishes 6(3/4): 299-313. Leberg P.L. and Vrijenhoek R.C., 1994. Variation among desert topminnows in their susceptibility to attack by exotic parasites. Conservation Biology 8(2): 419-424. Millar N.P., Reznick D.N., Kinnison M.T. and Hendry A.P., 2006. Disentangling the selective factors that act on male colour in wild guppies. Oikos 113(1): 1-12. Reynolds J.D. and Gross M.R., 1992. Female mate preference enhances offspring growth and reproduction in a fish Poecilia reticulata. Proceedings of the Royal Society London B 250: 57-62. Shikano T. and Fujio Y., 1997. Successful propagation in seawater of the guppy Poecilia reticulate with reference to high salinity tolerance at birth. Fisheries Science (Tokyo) 63(4): 573-575. Sigler W.F. and Sigler J.W., 1987. Fishes of the Great Basin. A natural history. University of Nevada Press, Reno, USA. Viken A., Fleming I.A. and Rosenqvist G., 2006. Premating avoidance of inbreeding absent in female guppies (Poecilia reticulate). Ethology 112(7): 716-723. Webb A.C., 2003.The ecology of invasions of non-indigenous freshwater fishes in northern Queensland. PhD thesis. School of Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland. Weber J-M. and Kramer D.L., 1983. Effects of hypoxia and surface access on growth, mortality, and behaviour of juvenile guppies, Poecilia reticulata. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 40(10): 1583-1588.

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Created by A. Webb, M. Maughan and M. Knott ACTFR, James Cook University, 2007 For further information please contact actfr@jcu.edu.au, tel: 07 4781 4262
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Other information sheets available:

Mozambique tilapia - Oreochromis mossambicus Spotted tilapia Tilapia mariae Oscar Astronotus ocellatus Burtons haplochromis Haplochromis burtoni Mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki Swordtail Xiphophorus helleri Platy Xiphophorus maculates Three-spotted gourami Thrichogaster trichopterus

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