Gambusia gaigei Hubbs, 1929
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Big Bend gambusia (Gambusia gaigei) is a rare species of fish in the family Poeciliidae. It is endemic to the Big Bend region of the Rio Grande of the United States and Mexico. The only known remaining population is in a protected pond in the Big Bend National Park.
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.
Wikipedia contributors, Big Bend gambusia; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:34:08.989734+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Gambusia gaigei Hubbs, 1929
- Name authority
- Hubbs, 1929
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Cyprinodontiformes
- Family
- Poeciliidae
- Genus
- Gambusia
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCyprinodontiformes
- familyPoeciliidae Bonaparte, 1831
- subfamilyPoeciliinae Bonaparte, 1831
- genusGambusia Poey, 1854
- speciesGambusia gaigei Hubbs, 1929
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Gambusia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Gambusia dominicensis Regan, 1913 | PoeciliidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Widemouth GambusiaGambusia eurystoma Miller, 1975 | PoeciliidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Clear Creek gambusiaGambusia heterochir Hubbs, 1957 | PoeciliidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gambusia hispaniolae Fink, 1971 | PoeciliidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| eastern mosquitofishGambusia holbrooki Girard, 1859 | PoeciliidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Crescent GambusiaGambusia hurtadoi Hubbs & Springer, 1957 | PoeciliidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Spotfin GambusiaGambusia krumholzi Minckley, 1963 | PoeciliidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gambusia lemaitrei Fowler, 1950 | PoeciliidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gambusia melapleura (Gosse, 1851) | PoeciliidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gambusia nicaraguensis Günther, 1866 | PoeciliidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gambusia panuco Hubbs, 1926 | PoeciliidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gambusia puncticulata Poey, 1854 | PoeciliidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Hubbs, C. L. (1929). Studies of the fishes of the order Cyprinodontes. VIII. Gambusia gaigei, a new species from the Rio Grande. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology University of Michigan, 198: 1–11. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:6JX7Y. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.