RE: NANFA-L-- Amazon Mollies

Hoover, Jan J ERDC-EL-MS (Jan.J.Hoover-in-erdc.usace.army.mil)
Mon, 7 Feb 2005 14:35:24 -0600

Dave wrote:
>>>No one really knows the parentage of all the aquarium mollies, especially
blacks. Black morphs of several molly species occur in the wild, but the
most common are from Poecilia sphenops. Some are also from P. latipinna.
The sail fin on the fish you bought suggests latipinna, velifera (or other
tropical) heritage, but the red margin on the fin suggests some other
parentage also, even including sphenops. The short of it is, mollies in the
aquarium trade are derived from lineages long ago established from a variety
of parents.<<<

Inness is of the same opinion - in 1948 (probably earlier) he referred to
them as "midnight mollies" bred from black "sports" of latipinna ("mostly"),
sphenops ("sometimes"), and velifera ("rarely").

- Jan Hoover
Vicksburg, MS

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