Cuban gambusia

{{Short description|Species of fish}}

{{Speciesbox

| taxon = Gambusia punctata

| authority = Poey, 1854

| image = FMIB 47163 Gambusia punctata, from Cuba.jpeg

| image_caption = Male at top, female below

|status=LC

|status_system=IUCN3.1

|status_ref={{cite iucn|author1=Lyons, T.J.|author2=Ponce de León, J.|author3=García-Machado, E.|year=2021|title=Gambusia punctata|page=e.T125962255A125963389|doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T125962255A125963389.en|access-date=13 January 2025}}

}}

The Cuban gambusia, spotted gambusia or blue gambusia (Gambusia punctata){{ITIS |id=165893|taxon=Gambusia punctata Poey, 1854|accessdate=13 January 2025}} is a species of freshwater fish. It is a member of the family Poeciliidae of order Cyprinodontiformes, and is the type species of its genus.{{Cof record|genid=2245|title=Gambusia|access-date=13 January 2025}} It is native to Cuba, inhabiting lakes, ponds and streams, including mountain streams. A carnivorous surface feeder, it occurs in shoals near the shoreline. It be found in estuarine habitat.{{cite web|url=https://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/caribbean/en/thefishes/species/4712|title=Species: Gambusia punctata, Cuban Gambusia, Spotted Gambusia|website=Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information system|publisher=Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute|access-date=13 January 2025|year=2023}}

This species has the terminal, upward-facing mouth typical of surface feeders, and a protruding belly. It has four or five rows of darkly spotted scales, possibly forming a dark lateral stripe in the case of the midline row. The dorsal and caudal fins are typically partially spotted. Males reach a maximum standard length (SL) of around 4.8 cm, with females reaching about 7.0 cm.{{FishBase|genus=Gambusia|species=punctata|year=2025|month=January}} Record SL for this species is 10 cm.

Gambusia punctata is part of a species complex including G. rhizophorae, G. xanthosoma, G. beebei and G. pseudopunctata.{{cite journal|title=Phylogeographic evidence that the distribution of cryptic euryhaline species in the Gambusia punctata species group in Cuba was shaped by the archipelago geological history|last1=García-Machado|first1=Erik|last2=Ponce de Léon|first2=José L.|last3=Gutiérrez-Costa|first3=María A.|last4=Michel-Salzat|first4=Alice|last5=Germon|first5=Isabelle|last6=Casane|first6=Didier|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=144|year=2020|id=Art. No. 106712|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2019.106712}} Additional cryptic species have been proposed to exist within the range of G. punctata on the basis of mitochondrial haplogroup data.{{cite journal|last1=Lara|first1=Ariagna|last2=Ponce de León|first2=José Luis|last3=Rodríguez|first3=Rodet|last4=Casane|first4=Didier|last5=Côte|first5=Guillaume|last6=Bernatchez|first6=Louis|last7=García-Machado|first7=Erik|journal=Molecular Ecology Resources|volume=10|issue=3|pages=421-430|doi=10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02785.x|title=DNA barcoding of Cuban freshwater fishes: evidence for cryptic species and taxonomic conflicts|year=2010}}