Sailfin molly

Sailfin molly
Male
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cyprinodontiformes
Family: Poeciliidae
Genus: Poecilia
Species:
P. latipinna
Binomial name
Poecilia latipinna
(Lesueur, 1821)
Synonyms
  • Mollienesia latipinna Lesueur, 1821
  • Poecilia multilineata Lesueur, 1821
  • Poecilia lineolata Girard, 1858
  • Limia poeciloides Girard, 1858
  • Limia matamorensis Girard, 1859

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 Mexico. 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.