This livebearer is about 2 inches (5.1 cm) long. It feeds on aquatic invertebrates.
This species was described by the American ichthyologist Carl Leavitt Hubbs in 1929 from a type collected in slough close to the Rio Grande at Boquillas, Brewster County, Texas by Frederick McMahon Gaige (1890–1976), a zoologist who was director of the Zoological Museum of the University of Michigan. The specific name honours Gaige.
Article text: Wikipedia contributors, Big Bend gambusia (source revision). Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
Diet and feeding
The FishTraits compilation records these diet categories for this species: algae or phytoplankton; invertebrates or larval fish. These are broad categories, not a claim that every individual consumes every example in a category.
Reported feeding positions include surface or water-column feeding. The compilation combines published observations; diets can vary with age, locality, and available food.
Habitat preferences
Reported habitat associations include springs or subterranean waters.
The source records associations with muck, clay or silt, sand, gravel, cobble, vegetation. An association indicates reported use, rather than an exclusive requirement.
Reproduction and parental care
The compilation reports a representative maturity age of 0.3 years. Its maturity field summarizes mean, median, or modal estimates, usually for females; male estimates can be used when female data are unavailable. It is not a fixed age at which every fish first breeds.
Batch or serial spawning has been reported somewhere in the species’ range. This does not establish the same spawning pattern for every population.
Recorded spawning months are Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun for the source’s reporting region (MEX). This is a regional calendar, not a range-wide schedule.
Size and recorded longevity
FishTraits reports a maximum total length of 4 centimetres. Some entries use an estimated asymptotic length; this value should not be treated as a certified record catch.
Recorded longevity in the compilation is 1 years. Wild observations were preferred, but captive records were accepted where wild records were unavailable, and unspecified records were assumed wild. The value is not a guaranteed wild lifespan or an aquarium life expectancy.
