98 VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF THE UNITED STATES 



anal with 10 or 11; scales 26-8: Atlantic coast from Connecticut to 

 Key West and Texas, near the shore and in brackish pools; very common 

 towards the south. 



6. Cyprinodon Lacepede. Body short, deep, elliptical, the back 

 elevated; mouth small; teeth tricuspid, in a single series; scales very 

 large; dorsal fin high and in advance of the anal: 9 species, in brackish 

 waters of the southern States and Mexico. 



C. variegatus Lac. Length 75 mm.; head 3.25; depth 2; color of 

 male olivaceous, blue above; color of anterior portion of the sides and of 

 belly salmon; tail with a black bar at base and tip; female light olive, 

 with about 14 cross streaks; rays of dorsal fin ii; anal 10; scales 25-12. 

 Cape Cod to the Rio Grande, in brackish waters and the mouth of 

 streams; very common. 



7. Jordanella Goode & Bean. Body short, deep, compressed; 

 back elevated; mouth small; teeth in a single series; dorsal fin long; 

 scales large; tail rounded; viviparous: i species. 



J.floridcB G. & B. Length 65 mm.; head 3,5; depth 2 to 2.5; color 

 olivaceous, with a blue stripe along each series of scales, and 4 or 5 

 vague vertical bars; rays of dorsal fin I, 14 to 16; anal I, 11 to 13; 

 scales 25 to 27-11 or 12: streams and swamps of Florida; common. 



Family 2. Poecilliidae. — Top minnows; mosquito fish. Anal fin 

 of male modified to form an intromittant organ; all species vivipar- 

 ous: many species, all in tropical and subtropical America. 



I. Gambusia Poey. Top minnow. Body elongate; mouth small; 

 scales large, anal fin in male very long and slender and modified to form 

 a long intromittant organ; ventral fins near the pectorals; dorsal fin 

 behind the anal; viviparous : about 1 2 species of small fish in fresh waters 

 of the southern States, West Indies, Central America, and Mexico; 

 2 species in the United States. 



G. patruellis (Baird & Girard) (Fig. 47). Length 50 mm. (female); 

 male much smaller; head 3.6; depth 4; color light olive, each scale edged 

 with darker; a very narrow, often indefinite, lateral stripe; rays of 

 dorsal fin 7; anal 10; scales 30-9: marshes of the South Atlantic and 

 Gulf coasts from Delaware to Mexico and northward to Kentucky, 

 Tennessee and southern Illinois in the Mississippi Valley; in brackish 

 and fresh water; very common in the south; celebrated as mosquito- 

 larvae devourers. 



G. holhrooki Girard. Similar to G. patruellis. Length 60 mm.; 

 head 4; depth 3.8; rays of dorsal fin 8, of anal 10 or 11; scales 30-9: 

 swamps and ditches, New Jersey to Florida; useful as a destroyer of 

 mosquitoes; introduced for this purpose into many European countries. 



