Poecilia

Poecilia
Male sailfin molly (P. latipinna)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Cyprinodontiformes
Family:	Poeciliidae
Subfamily:	Poeciliinae
Genus:	Poecilia Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801
Type species
Poecilia vivipara Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801
Species
See text.

See text.

Poecilia is a genus of fishes in the family Poeciliidae of the order Cyprinodontiformes. These livebearers are native to fresh, brackish and salt water in the Americas, and some species in the genus are euryhaline. A few have adapted to living in waters that contain high levels of toxic hydrogen sulfide (H
2S) and a population of P. mexicana lives in caves (other populations of this species are surface-living).

Some common and widespread species are often kept as aquarium fish, while other have very small ranges and are seriously threatened. All species in Poecilia are called mollies except for the Endler's livebearer (P. wingei) and the well-known guppy (P. reticulata). Without a modifying adjective, molly usually refers to the species Poecilia sphenops.

Micropoecilia has been proposed to be included as a subgenus of Poecilia.

Along with their platy relatives, the mollies are part of a pivotal aquaculture group of livebearers, which can live in water from fresh to fully marine, and a wide range of other conditions. They feed on smaller insects, animals, and vegetation.

IUCN lists two of the species, the sulphur molly, P. sulphuraria, and the broadspotted molly, P. latipunctata, as Critically Endangered.

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