The Big Bend gambusia (''Gambusia gaigei'') is a rare species of fish in the family Poeciliidae. It is endemic to the Big Bend region of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

of the United States and Mexico. The only known remaining population is in a protected pond in the

Big Bend National Park Big Bend National Park is an American national park located in West Texas, bordering Mexico. The park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topography and ecology in the United States, and was named after ...

. This

livebearer Livebearers are aquarium fish that retain the eggs inside the body and give birth to live, free-swimming young. Among aquarium fish, livebearers are nearly all members of the family Poeciliidae and include guppies, mollies, platies and swordtails ...

is about 2 inches long. It feeds on aquatic invertebrates. This species was described by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Carl Leavitt Hubbs in 1929 from a

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

collected in slough close to the Rio Grande at Boquillas, Brewster County, Texas by

Frederick McMahon Gaige Frederick McMahon Gaige (3 July 1890, Ann Arbor – 20 October 1976, Keystone Heights) was an American entomologist and herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the br ...

(1890-1976), a zoologist who was director of the Zoological Museum of the University of Michigan. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours Gaige.

References

Natural history of Texas Gambusia Fish described in 1929 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot ESA endangered species {{Cyprinodontiformes-stub