Redtail splitfin

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Redtail splitfin
Male
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cyprinodontiformes
Family: Goodeidae
Genus: Xenotoca
Species:
X. eiseni
Binomial name
Xenotoca eiseni
(Rutter, 1896)
Synonyms[2]

Characodon eiseni Rutter, 1896

The redtail splitfin or redtail goodeid (Xenotoca eiseni) is a species of goodeid fish from the family

San Francisco, California.[3]

Range and habitat

The colorful San Marcos variant was formerly included in X. eiseni, but in 2016 it was described as a separate species, X. doadrioi[4]

The redtail splitfin comes from west-central

Coahuayana River, were formerly included in this species, but in 2016 they were described as X. doadrioi and X. lyonsi respectively.[4]

The redtail splitfin inhabits springs, pools, lakes, creeks and rivers, typically in places with little or no aquatic vegetation. It prefers shallow waters.[5]

Description

The redtail splitfin is a deep-bodied fish, and males have a hump behind the head.

gill cover to the tail, but it virtually disappears on the mid-body region. The throat and belly or yellowish to whitish.[5] Females lack the red-orange and are overall more plainly colored.[8] Females are generally slightly larger than males. Females grow to 7 centimeters (2.8 inches) while males grow to 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) total length.[7][2]

Among goodeids, the distinct red-orange tail and tail-base is unique to the males of the redtail splitfin and its close relatives X. doadrioi and X. lyonsi.[4]

Breeding

Male goodeids like the redtail splitfin have a notched

andropodium, is used to transmit sperm to the female. The female nourishes the unborn young via trophotaeniae, which function like an umbilical cord in mammals.[9][10]

Females give birth about every 2 months to 10 to 50 fry.[8] The newborn redtail splitfin fry are relatively large compared to most newborn livebearer fry, at about 15 millimeters (2/3 of an inch) long.[8]

In the wild, both male and female redtail splitfins prefer to mate with fish of similar size. This limits the sexual advantage to males that grow especially large. This minimizes the sexual dimorphism in the size of the fish between males and females.[11]

Aquarium keeping

The redtail splitfin is not a very common aquarium fish, but it is one of the most common goodeids to be kept in the aquarium. They are not very demanding in the aquarium,[8] although they prefer hard, alkaline water.[7] They can tolerate a wide range of water temperatures, from 15 to 30 degrees Celsius (59 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit). They accept a wide range of foods, but do require some vegetable matter in their diets.[8][7][6] Although they are generally peaceful, they are known to occasionally nip the fins of fellow aquarium residents.[8][6] This behavior can be reduced by keeping the redtail splitfin in schools.

References

  1. . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2021). "Xenotoca eiseni" in FishBase. June 2021 version.
  3. ^ 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 22 September 2019.
  4. ^
    PMID 27988757
    .
  5. ^ a b ""Xenotoca" eiseni". Goodeid Working Group. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  6. ^ .
  7. ^ .
  8. ^ .
  9. ^ .
  10. ^ "Zipcode Zoo Xenotoca eiseni". Archived from the original on 2012-03-14. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
  11. S2CID 10170386
    .