Whence
Guppy
Animal

Where does Guppy come from?

The guppy comes from the streams of northeastern South America and nearby islands such as Trinidad. Carried around the world for aquariums and to eat mosquito larvae, it is now one of the most widespread tropical fish.

A drain fish from Trinidad

In their home range guppies have colonised almost every freshwater body they can reach, especially streams near the coast of mainland South America. In Trinidad, where people call them 'millions' or 'seven-colours', they live in almost every stream, pond and drain. At about 3 cm they are the smallest freshwater fish of Trinidad and Tobago. Males wear spots and stripes of orange, black and shimmering blue, green and yellow, and females give birth to live young instead of laying eggs.

How Mr Guppy's name stuck

Wilhelm Peters first described the species in 1859 as Poecilia reticulata. In 1866 Robert John Lechmere Guppy, a British-born naturalist living in Trinidad, caught the fish in the St Ann's River and sent specimens to the British Museum, where Albert Günther named them Girardinus guppii in his honour. That scientific name was soon dropped for the earlier one, but the common name lived on. In the early 1900s Guppy's son began exporting the fish for the aquarium trade, probably spreading the name worldwide.

Why people think of Southeast Asia

Guppies are now established in over 70 countries on every continent except Antarctica. They were introduced to most countries of Southeast Asia, where they live in streams, open drains and city canals, so they are easy to take for local fish. Most were released on purpose, some into outdoor water tanks, to eat mosquito larvae and slow the spread of malaria, and others escaped from aquariums. In many places they have harmed native fish, but wild guppies belong to the streams of South America and Trinidad.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org › Guppy ↗ · en.wikipedia.org › Robert John Lechmere Guppy ↗ · sta.uwi.edu ↗ · ecologyasia.com ↗

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