The Yucatan flagfish (''Garmanella pulchra''), also known as the snakeskin killifish, is a species of

pupfish Pupfish are a group of small killifish belonging to ten genera of the family Cyprinodontidae of ray-finned fish. Pupfish are especially noted for being found in extreme and isolated situations. They are primarily found in North America, South Am ...

from the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Cyprinodontidae. It is found in the coastal waters (both fresh and brackish) of the Yucatan Peninsula, in Mexico and Belize. This species grows to a length of TL and is found in the

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

trade. This species was described by Carl Leavitt Hubbs in 1936 with the type locality given as east of

Progreso, Yucatán Progreso () is a port city in the Mexican state of Yucatán, located on the Gulf of Mexico in the north-west of the state some 30 minutes north of state capital Mérida (the biggest city on the Yucatán Peninsula) by highway. As of the Mexican ...

, Mexico. It is the only known member of its

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

. The name of the genus commemorates 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 ...

Samuel Garman Samuel Walton Garman (June 5, 1843 – September 30, 1927), or "Garmann" as he sometimes styled himself, was a naturalist/zoologist from Pennsylvania. He became noted as an ichthyologist and herpetologist. Biography Garman was born in Indian ...

(1843-1927) who was working on a revision of his 1895 monograph on the Cyprinodontidae at the time of his death. It is sometimes treated as a

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

of ''

Jordanella The flagfish (''Jordanella floridae''), also known as the American flagfish or Florida flagfish, is a pupfish, a type of killifish, from the family Cyprinodontidae which is endemic to Florida. It is found in the aquarium trade. Its common name ...

''. The Yucatan flagfish is found in coastal brackish water systems and inland freshwaters with

hard water Hard water is water that has high mineral content (in contrast with "soft water"). Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum, which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, bicarbo ...

over substrates of

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...

, sand, decomposing vegetation, rocks and mud. It is mainly herbivorous, its diet largely being made up of microalgae, but it also eats small invertebrates such as

ostracod Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typic ...

tanaidacea The crustacean order Tanaidacea (known as tanaids) make up a minor group within the class Malacostraca. There are about 940 species in this order. Description Tanaids are small, shrimp-like creatures ranging from in adult size, with most specie ...

, and

amphipod Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descr ...

References

Cyprinodontidae Monotypic fish genera Taxa named by Carl Leavitt Hubbs Fish described in 1936 Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{Cyprinodontiformes-stub