{"id":922,"date":"2019-06-28T17:33:42","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T17:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk\/site\/?p=922"},"modified":"2022-05-16T06:32:20","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T06:32:20","slug":"xiphophorus-xiphidium-gordon-1932","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk\/site\/2019\/06\/28\/xiphophorus-xiphidium-gordon-1932\/","title":{"rendered":"Xiphophorus xiphidium (Gordon 1932)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Etymology:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xiphophorus:<\/em> Greek, xiphos = sword <\/p>\n\n\n\n

+ Greek, pherein =\nto carry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xiphidium:<\/em>\u00a0Greek, xiph from xiphos = sword. Latin, idium\u00a0= diminutive<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First description:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr.\nMyron Gordon going on expedition. Aquatic Life<\/em> 15: 287\u2013288.\n(1932)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Synonyms:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Platypoecilus xiphidium – Meek, 1904.
\nPlatypoecilus maculatus – 1913. 
\nPlatypoecilius variatus -1932. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xiphophorus variatus xiphidium – 1960
\n
\nCommon name:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spiketail platy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original collection by Gordon, Creaser,\nand Ostos on April 25th<\/sup> 1930<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Group:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xiphophorus xiphidium <\/em>is\none of the northern platys consisting of X.\nvariatus, X. <\/em>evelynae,<\/em> X. xiphidium, X. couchianus, X.\ngordoni and X. meyeri.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Type Locality:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

R\u00edo\nCorona at La Corona, 15 miles north of Ciudad, Victoria, R\u00edo Soto la Marina\nsystem, Tamaulipas, Mexico<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distribution:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Found throughout the Rio Soto La Marina\nsystem, including ponds and irrigation ditches close to the river system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Populations:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rio Purification<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rio Santa Engracia (Rio Corona)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Habitat:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inhabits tranquil\nzones of slow-flowing waters of ditches, spring areas, marshes and ponds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Size:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Males\n30 mm, Females 40 mm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distinguishing Characteristics:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A deep bodied species with a high back\nand a stubby tail, a small sword or spike is present on the mature males.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colour\/Pattern Variability:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Males<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The basic body colouration is greenish\nbrown on the top, becoming white on the belly, in males as they reach sexual\nmaturity they begin to develop their full colouration.  This can be quite\nvariable and well coloured specimens will have their basic body colour overlaid\nwith purple and dominant males can develop a number of vertical black bars along\nthe upper flanks. Sometimes black spots will also develop and may become so\nprofuse that the whole of the middle region of the fish will be purple with a\nblack saddle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The caudal peduncle has a variety of\nmarkings from nothing to a full spot encompassing the caudal peduncle. The more\nusual markings found in the hobby are two spot, crescent and single spot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dorsal fin is a pale yellow to clear\nin colour and has a crescent marking within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All other fins are pale yellow to clear\nin colour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Females<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The basic body colouration is greenish\nbrown on the top, becoming white on the belly. Sometimes small black spots will\nalso develop on the flanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The caudal peduncle has the same range\nof markings as the males. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dorsal fin is a pale yellow to clear\nin colour and has a crescent marking within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All other fins are pale yellow to clear\nin colour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behaviour:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generally a peaceful fish, however a\ndominant male will guard a territory and protect it from other males. The\nfemales are free to roam between territories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Husbandry:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A well planted tank with regular water\nchanges and a diet that includes some live food. Temperature range is from 18C\nto 25C, with Dereck Lambert recommending 23C<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breeding Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broods are born on a monthly cycle and\nnumber from 20 to 35, provided there is plenty of cover and food then this\nspecies can be flock bred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remarks:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dereck Lambert in Platies and swordtails\nstates that the caudal markings have been associated with certain populations,\nbut in fact, fish with all the tail-spot patterns can be caught in the same net\nin the wild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donn E. Rosen: Middle American poeciliid\nfishes of the genus Xiphophorus.Bull. Fla. St. Mus. Biol. Sci. 5 (4): 57 –\n242. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Derek and Pat Lambert: Platies and swordtails\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photograph courtesy of Dave Macallister<\/strong> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Etymology: Xiphophorus: Greek, xiphos = sword + Greek, pherein = to carry Xiphidium:\u00a0Greek, xiph from xiphos = sword. Latin, idium\u00a0= diminutive First description: Dr. Myron Gordon going on expedition. Aquatic Life 15: 287\u2013288. (1932) Synonyms: Platypoecilus xiphidium...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3908,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922\/revisions\/3908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}