Poecilia sphenops: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the poecilia sphenops lives – recorded in 5 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Poecilia sphenops
Group	Bony fish
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	5 countries
Continents	North America, South America
Class	Ray-finned fish
Order	Cyprinodontiformes
Family	Poeciliidae

Where does the poecilia sphenops live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the poecilia sphenops in 5 countries and territories across North America and South America.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the poecilia sphenops endangered?

The poecilia sphenops’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the poecilia sphenops?

The poecilia sphenops (Poecilia sphenops) is a ray-finned fish in the order Cyprinodontiformes and the family Poeciliidae, genus Poecilia. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the poecilia sphenops

Poecilia sphenops, called the Mexican molly or simply the molly, is a species of poeciliid fish from Central America. It was once understood as a widespread species with numerous local variants ranging from Mexico to Venezuela, but these variants are today considered distinct species belonging to the P. sphenops complex and P. sphenops itself as being native to Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. Due in part to its popularity as an aquarium fish, the species has been introduced outside of its native range, but many records may in fact refer to P. mexicana or other species from the complex. P. sphenops has been crossbred with other mollies, notably P. latipinna and P. velifera, to produce fancy mollies for the ornamental fish trade.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Poecilia sphenops (revision 1366850114), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q177832 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).