Sailfin molly | |
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Male | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Cyprinodontiformes |
Family: | Poeciliidae |
Genus: | Poecilia |
Species: | P. latipinna
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Binomial name | |
Poecilia latipinna | |
Synonyms[3] | |
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The sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna) is a livebearer fish typically found in both freshwater and brackish waterways along the East Coast of the United States, from North Carolina south to Florida, and around the Gulf of Mexico to Texas, and south to the Yucatán Peninsula of México. Given their preference for more brackish water conditions, mollies are often found within just a few yards or miles of the ocean, inhabiting coastal estuaries, lagoons, river deltas and swamps, as well as tidal areas (such as mangrove swamps) with a regular inflow of oceanic minerals and nutrients mixing with inland freshwater sources.