''Scolichthys greenwayi'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of freshwater fish of 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 found in flowing waters along the Rio Chixoy and Rio Salinas system in

Alta Verapaz Alta Verapaz () is a Departments of Guatemala, department in the north central part of Guatemala. The capital and chief city of the department is Cobán. Verapaz is bordered to the north by Petén (department), El Petén, to the east by Izabal ...

, Guatemala.

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 1967 by

Donn Eric Rosen Donn Eric Rosen (1929-1986) was a member of the staff of the American Museum of Natural History. He was a Distinguished Fellow of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Family Born to immigrants Irwin Rosen (b. 1885) and Ani ...

. It is placed in subfamily Poeciliinae. Its

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

refers to

James Greenway James Cowan Greenway (April 7, 1903 – June 10, 1989) was an American ornithologist. An eccentric, shy, and often reclusive man, his survey of extinct and vanishing birds provided the base for much subsequent work on bird conservation. Early ...

Description

Rosen described ''Scolichthys greenwayi'' as having a diffuse and dusky midlateral stripe with a large dark blotch in front of the dorsal fin's origin. Above this stripe, the species has a reticulate pattern, and below it, the side is a brilliant blue with a lead-white lower belly. Dorsal and caudal fins are a bright orange-yellow. It reaches a length of .

Life history

''Scolichthys greenwayi'' is a livebearing fish with a gestation period of 28 days, after which it produces ten to thirty young.

References

*Wischnath, L., 1993. Atlas of livebearers of the world. T.F.H. Publications, Inc., United States of America. 336 p. Poeciliidae Fish of Guatemala Taxa named by Donn Eric Rosen Fish described in 1967 {{Cyprinodontiformes-stub