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Sailing away to a subtropical holiday for Day 3 of #25DaysofFishmas! 
Meet the sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna), a small but stylish inhabitant of ecosystems along the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of North America
Meet the sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna), a small but stylish inhabitant of ecosystems along the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of North America
The sailfin molly is part of the Poeciliidae family - also known as livebearers. Unlike a lot of fish species, sailfin mollies are “viviparous” meaning that they give birth to live young, not by externally laying eggs #25DaysofFishmas
Sailfin mollies are found across a wide range of salinities - fresh, brackish (slightly salty), and salty - in marshes, streams, swamps, and estuaries from North Carolina to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. So they really play all sides in #FreshVsSaltyFish #25DaysofFishmas
The sailfin molly’s scientific name “Poecilia” = Greek for “speckled” + “latipinna” = Latin for “broad” + “pinna” = Latin for “fin" - all together: “speckled broad fin”
Only males have that large, flashy dorsal fin though #25DaysofFishmas
Only males have that large, flashy dorsal fin though #25DaysofFishmas
Despite their showy appearance, it’s rough being a wild male sailfin molly: while sex ratios of juvenile mollies are typically equal, adult populations tend to have more females b/c males have higher rates of mortality (showy= greater susceptibility to predators) #25DaysofFishmas
Like other molly species, male sailfins (who imo should be called male-fins) have a structure called a gonopodium - basically a modified anal fin allowing for internal fertilization. Female-fins can store sperm long after the demise of their short-lived mates #25DaysofFishmas
Sailfin mollies have been used to study a behavior called “mate-choice copying” - when a female bases her decision on who to mate with by watching the selection made by another female (so, copying her gill-friends?) #25DaysofFishmas (
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In nature, sailfin mollies are hardy lil’ guys - they’re euryhaline (can handle fresh + saltwater) and can live in low oxygen waters. Because of their wide environmental tolerances (+ dashing good looks), they're a popular species in the aquarium industry #25DaysofFishmas
Today's #25DaysOfFishmas moment of zen comes from one place you could find the sailfin molly, the Indian River Lagoon of Florida's Atlantic coast
