Humpbacked limia

Appearance

Both males and females are colorful, with translucent and glittery bodies featuring dark vertical bars (from that the specific epithet nigrofasciata is derived). The males also have an enlarged dorsal fin with purple flecks. As they mature, the males become distinctly humpbacked and their golden base color intensifies.

Humpbacked limia grows to a length of 5.2 centimetres (2.0 in) in standard length.

Range and habitat

The humpbacked limia or black-barred limia is a critically endangered species of poeciliid fish that is endemic to Haiti.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Habits

In habitats characterized by submerged aquatic vegetation and muddy bottoms, Humpbacked limia is found alongside congeners L. Islai, L. Garnieri, L. Miragoanensis, and L. Immaculata. Fellow poeciliid Gambusia beebei, and the cichlids Nandopsis haitiensis, Oreochromis aureus, and Tilapia rendali (the latter two being introduced species). In contrast to its sister species, L. Islai (that is often mislabelled as L. Nigrofasciata), the reproductive behavior of Humpbacked limia features an elaborate courtship display by the males, that try to attract the females by presenting a large, ornamented dorsal fin, wagging their tail, and performing lateral displays.

In crisis

Humpbacked limia is a critically endangered species.

Humpbacked limia is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Humpbacked limia, Wikidata item Q963321. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.