Cuban limia

The Cuban limia is olive-green in background colour[3] and has a bluish-grey back, silvery flanks marked with black-edged scales and a white belly. There is a yellow patch close to the vent in fenmles. In the males have the dorsal fin and the anal fin are normally yellow-orange in colour marked with blue-black spots. The females have colorless fins which are marked with a few scattered, black freckles.[4] The females grow to over twice the size of the males which can have a total length of 5 centimetres (2.0 in), and females reach 10 centimetres (3.9 in).[2] In structure it is a rather robust species, depressed towards the rear with a rounded tail and it has a compressed head which has a small, oblique mouth with a protruding lower jaw and a protractile upper jaw.[3]

The Cuban limia is, as the common name suggests, native to Cuba. It occurs throughout the island of Cuba and the neighbouring Isla de la Juventud.[5] It has been introduced to Hawaii, where it is found on the islands of Oahu and Hawaii, where it is found in the Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park.[6]

Within its native range the Cuban limia inhabits streams, lakes, estuaries, coastal lagoons, and mangrove swamps[6] and can be found in both freshwater and brackish water,[2] or saline water.[4] Its diet consists of worms, crustaceans, insects and plant material. It often forms mixed shoals with species such as sailfin mollies and mosquitofish.[6] A larger female may give birth to up to 50 fry at a time and in a 4-6 week period can produce up to 100 young.[6]

This species is present in the aquarium trade and a number of colour variations have been bred.[7] It is thought that released aquarium fish are the origin of the population in Hawaii where they have been blamed for impacting the population of native damselflies.[4] In Hawaii it has been given the local name tabai.[2]

The Cuban limia was described by the French zoologist Alphone Guichenot in 1853 as Poecilia vittata.[1] A year later the Cuban zoologist Felipe Poey described a fish he named Limia cubensis and designated this as the type species of the genus Limia.[8] This was a synonym of Guichenot's Poecilia vittata and so L. vittata was considered the valid name.[2]