The northern platyfish (''Xiphophorus gordoni'') is a small, endangered species of fish in the family Poeciliidae. It is endemic to the vicinity of Cuatro Ciénegas in the Mexican state of

Coahuila Coahuila (), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 32 states of Mexico. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of N ...

. It is restricted to hot-spring heated ditches and marshes of the Laguna Santa Tecla. Its native water is shallow and vegetation-choked, with very stable temperatures that generally are around , although captive studies show the species also can live in slightly colder water. The species is primarily threatened by habitat loss due to construction of irrigation channels. Captive "safety" populations are kept at the ''Xiphophorus''

Genetic Stock Center Genetic stock centers are collections of pure genetic stock available for use in research. They are often housed at research universities, and include everything from single cell life to plants, fish, and small mammals such as mice and rats. Gene ...

, Texas State University, United States, and by XNP conservation project members, which include public aquariums, universities and private aquarists in several European countries and the United States. It was named in honor of Myron Gordon by Robert Rush Miller and W. L. Minckley who discovered it with

Carl Hubbs Carl Leavitt Hubbs (October 19, 1894 – June 30, 1979) was an American ichthyologist. Biography Youth He was born in Williams, Arizona. He was the son of Charles Leavitt and Elizabeth (née Goss) Hubbs. His father had a wide variety of jobs (f ...

on a 1961 expedition. The northern platyfish shares the title as northernmost naturally distributed ''

Xiphophorus ''Xiphophorus'' is a genus of euryhaline and freshwater fishes in the family Poeciliidae of order Cyprinodontiformes, native to Mexico and northern Central America. The many ''Xiphophorus'' species are all known as platyfish (or platies) and s ...

'' with the closely related

Monterrey platyfish The Monterrey platyfish (''Xiphophorus couchianus'') is a species of freshwater fish in family Poecilidae. A live-bearer, it was native to a very small section of the San Juan River system (itself part of the Rio Grande basin) in the vicinity ...

(''X. couchianus'') and

marbled swordtail The marbled swordtail (''Xiphophorus meyeri'') is a species of freshwater fish in the family Poeciliidae. It was endemic to the Rio Salado system (itself a part of the Rio Grande basin) in Coahuila, northeastern Mexico. It was restricted to spri ...

(''X. meyeri'').

References

External links

*Some Like it Hot:The Cuatrocienegas Platy, Ted Dengler Coletti, PhD, Pgs 36 and 37, ''Tropical Fish Hobbyist'', May 2009

northern platyfish The northern platyfish (''Xiphophorus gordoni'') is a small, endangered species of fish in the family Poeciliidae. It is endemic to the vicinity of Cuatro Ciénegas in the Mexican state of Coahuila. It is restricted to hot-spring heated ditches ...

Freshwater fish of Mexico Endemic fish of Mexico Taxa named by Robert Rush Miller Taxa named by Wendell L. Minckley

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Cyprinodontiformes-stub