THE STEINHART AQUARIUM - Gulf of Guinea Science ...

122 A Docent Field Guide to the Species of the Steinhart Aquarium
Mortality/Longevity: Life span: 2 years.
Remarks: The name describes this fish.
Fundulus means “bottom” and chrysotus
means “golden ear,” referring to the color of
its gill covers.
Endler’s Livebearer
Scientific name yet to be designated; Poecilia
endleri has been suggested (Poeciliidae)
Livebearers
Distribution: Northeastern Venezuela; may be
extinct in the wild
Habitat: Formerly in a freshwater lagoon.
Appearance: A tiny, guppy-sized fish. The anal
fin of the male, along with its internal supports
of bone, muscle and cartilage, is highly
modified into a copulatory organ. Female is
less colorful.than the many-hued male.
Diet: Eat whatever food is available.
Reproduction and Development: Viviparous.
Attain maturity quickly, allowing them to
reproduce rapidly given favorable conditions.
Mortality/Longevity: Life span: probably up
to 3 years.
Conservation Status: Apparently extinct in their
natural habitat. Now live only in captivity.
Remarks: Dr. John Endler discovered this species
in 1975 but died before his paper describing the
species’ provisional name was published.
This species appears to be “weedy” (has high
reproductive rate at early age). Since it is
apparently extinct in the wild, it illustrates that
a “weed” is vulnerable to extinction, too.
Desert Pupfish
Cyprinodon macularius (Cyprinodontidae)
Killifishes and Pupfishes
Distribution: North America: originally described
from the lower Colorado River drainage,
including Gila River system and south
through Southern Arizona and California, USA
(including Salton Sea) into Northern Mexico.
Now occurs only at two protected locations:
Quitobaquito Springs at Organ Pipe Cactus
National Monument, Arizona, and a wildlife
refuge at Anza-Borrego State Park, California,
on the western side of the Salton Sea.
Habitat: Usually occurs over mud or sand in
springs, marshes, lakes and pools of creeks;
also in hot springs with temperatures up to 45°
C and salinities up to 20.0 %. Able to tolerate
the lowest oxygen levels of any fish species that
has been studied.
Appearance: Length to 7 cm. Small, stout,
deep-bodied; back silver to olive; sides silver
with 6–9 dusky bars.
Diet: Primarily algae, supplemented with
small invertebrates.
Reproduction and Development: Breeding
males iridescent blue. Fertilization external.
Females scatter eggs over substrate. Nonguarders.
Hatchlings grow quickly; can reach
5 cm length in one year.
Mortality/Longevity: Life span: about 2 yrs.
Conservation Status: Listed as Endangered
due to desert development and the introduction
of exotic fish.
Remarks: Isolation, very small population
size per breeding group, and short lifetime
contribute to rapid speciation in pupfish..
ORDER BERYCIFORMES
Splitfin Flashlight Fish
Anomalops katoptron (Anomalopidae)
Flashlightfishes
Distribution: East coast of Africa to the Philippines
and Indonesia, north to southern Japan,
south to the Great Barrier Reef.
Habitat: Steep drop offs near caves to 400 m.
Appearance: Length to 35 cm. Black with luminous
organ under the eyes.
Diet: Zooplankton.
Reproduction and Development: Little
known. Probably not an egg guarder.
Remarks: Light organ operates by rotation
into a sac when not needed (vs. Photoblepheron
palpebratus below); thus this fish can elect when
to turn off its “lights.”
Function of the glowing green light (provided
by endosymbiotic bacteria) is reportedly used
to communicate with conspecifics of the host.
Anomalops was discovered by the Academy’s
Senior Scientist and former Steinhart Aquarium
Director John McCosker. On a trip to the
Comoros Islands in 1977, Dr. McCosker was
unable to collect his primary target, a living
coelacanth; however, on a deep dive, he
discovered, collected, and returned these
flashlight fish to the Steinhart, the first
aquarium in the world to display them.