The sulphur molly (''Poecilia sulphuraria''), locally known as ''molly del Teapa'', is an

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

species of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

in the family

Poeciliidae The Poeciliidae are a family of freshwater fishes of the order Cyprinodontiformes, the tooth-carps, and include well-known live-bearing aquarium fish, such as the guppy, molly, platy, and swordtail. The original distribution of the family was t ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, specifically to the

Baños del Azufre Banos or Baños ( es, baths) may refer to: *Banos, Landes, a commune in the Landes department of France *Baños de Agua Santa, a city and popular tourist destination in Tungurahua Province, Ecuador *Baños Canton, Ecuador, of which Baños de Agua Sa ...

(

Grijalva River Grijalva River, formerly known as ''Tabasco River'', ( es, Río Grijalva, known locally also as Río Grande de Chiapas, Río Grande and Mezcalapa River) is a long river in southeastern Mexico."Grijalva." ''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Diction ...

basin) near

Teapa Teapa Municipality is a municipality in Tabasco in south-eastern Mexico. Its name comes from the Nahuatl words "Tetl'' and ''apan", which mean "river over stones" or "stone's river". It refers to one of the rivers that crosses the town. The muni ...

Tabasco Tabasco (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco), is one of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It is located in ...

. The Baños del Azufre are sulfidic springs that contain high concentrations of toxic

hydrogen sulfide Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is poisonous, corrosive, and flammable, with trace amounts in ambient atmosphere having a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. The unde ...

(). ''Poecilia sulphuraria'' has apparently evolved the ability to tolerate the toxic conditions. A few other ''

Poecilia ''Poecilia'' is a genus of fishes in the family Poeciliidae of the order Cyprinodontiformes. These livebearers are native to fresh, brackish and salt water in the Americas, and some species in the genus are euryhaline. A few have adapted to livin ...

'' species are known from similar habitats in Mexico.Palacios, Arias-Rodriguez, Plath, Eifert, Lerp, Lamboj, Voelker, & Tobler (2013).
The Rediscovery of a Long Described Species Reveals Additional Complexity in Speciation Patterns of Poeciliid Fishes in Sulfide Springs.
' PLoS ONE 8(8): e71069.

References

External links

* Poecilia Endemic fish of Mexico Fish described in 1948 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Cyprinodontiformes-stub

See also

References

Further reading

External links