Article text: Wikipedia contributors, Gambusia senilis (source revision). Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
Blotched Gambusia
Gambusia senilis
Poeciliidae · freshwater water fish
2 minute read · Species guide

About Blotched Gambusia
Gambusia senilis, the blotched gambusia, is a species of fish in the family Poeciliidae found in Mexico, where it is called guayacon pinto, and formerly in the Devil's River in the Rio Grande basin in Texas. The Texas population was extirpated following the construction of the Amistad Dam.
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 streams and small rivers, creeks, springs or subterranean waters.
The source records associations with muck, clay or silt, sand, gravel, cobble, bedrock, vegetation, organic debris. 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 Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul 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 4.6 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.
Range
Where it lives
Share of records by state
Habitat
Water and movement
- Water
- WoRMS records this species in fresh water.
- Migration
- Not migratory
Classification
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Superclass
- Actinopterygii
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Cyprinodontiformes
- Family
- Poeciliidae
- Genus
- Gambusia
- Species
- Gambusia senilis
- ITIS TSN
- 165889
- WoRMS AphiaID
- 1021264
- GBIF key
- 2350626
Common questions about Blotched Gambusia
What is the scientific name of Blotched Gambusia?
Does Blotched Gambusia live in fresh water or salt water?
Where has Blotched Gambusia been recorded in the United States?
Closest relatives
Other Gambusia species
Same family