Popoyote

The Popoyote (Profundulus hildebrandi) also known as the Chiapas killifish is a killifish from the family Profundulidae which is endemic to the valley of San Cristobal de las Casas in the Chiapas Highlands in Southern Mexico. It is highly endangered, because its natural habitat, which amounts to only a few square kilometers, is subject to contamination and urban sprawl from San Cristobal. It is currently being targeted by a civil society alliance for the protection of San Cristobal's wetlands.[3]

Popoyote
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cyprinodontiformes
Family: Profundulidae
Genus: Profundulus
Species:
P. hildebrandi
Binomial name
Profundulus hildebrandi
Miller, 1950[1]
Synonyms

Tlaloc hildebrandi (Miller, 1950)[2]

Profundulus hildebrandi was described in 1950 by Robert Rush Miller with the type locality given as the closed basin of San Cristóbal de las Casas in the Atlantic drainage of Chiapas at an elevation of 2,200 metres (7,200 ft).[2] The specific name honours the American ichthyologist Samuel F. Hildebrand (1883-1949).[4]

The popoyote is a smaller species of fish that can grow up to 13 centimetres (5.1 in) in length and weigh up to 36 grams (1.3 oz). It is marked with numerous vertical bars as a juvenilewhich disappear in the adult. spawing begins at the end of February and continues until the onset of the rains in June.[3] In the breeding season the adults are greyish in colour with green tones and yellow fins.[5] This species uses the channels and puddles that remain after the rains to lay as many as 150 eggs per female which hatch after three days, the larvae reach the juvenile stage after three months and in less than one year olds become adult. Their diet largely consists of the larvae and adults of mosquitoes,[3] although it will also feed on molluscs and other insects, such as beetles and dragonflies.[5]

References
  1. "Profundulus hildebrandi Miller, 1950". Discover life. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  2. Eschmeyer, W. N.; R. Fricke & R. van der Laan (eds.). "Profundulus hildebrandi". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  3. Sergio Alejandro López Ruiz (2 November 2012). "POPOYOTE – pez endémico de San Cristóbal". Todochiapas.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  4. Christopher Scharpf; Kenneth J. Lazara (26 April 2019). "Order CYPRINODONTIFORMES: Families PANTANODONTIDAE, CYPRINODONTIDAE, PROFUNDULIDAE, GOODEIDAE, FUNDULIDAE and FLUVIPHYLACIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  5. Raúl Brito (28 November 2017). "¿Por qué el popoyote está en peligro de extinción?". www.bigfish.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2019.

Further reading


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