Species: Cyprinodon dearborni, Petotica, Petotica Pupfish

Cyprinodon dearborni Meek, 1909

Petotica, Petotica Pupfish

Body moderately deep and chubby; head flattened; snout short and blunt; cheek not deep (distance from edge of bone under eye to corner of preoperculum < length of opercle); front nostril not tubular; covering of eye not continuous with skin of head; mouth wide, oblique, at front, protrusible; teeth compressed, 3-pointed; dorsal fin short based, 11-12, at mid-body, its origin before anal fin origin; anal fin with 10-11 branched rays; pectoral fin short, 15-17 rays, low on side; pectorals, dorsal and anal fins much larger in males; pelvics small, 6-7 rays, on belly well behind pectoral base; tail fin bluntly rounded; body with large, smooth scales, 23-29 lateral scales, head scaly; an enlarged, elongate scale just behind upper corner of operculum; lateral line reduced to a series of pits along side of body.

Males olivaceus, darker above, whitish below; ~6 poorly defined dark bars on flank; pectorals, dorsal, anal and tail fins with black outer edges; breeding males turquoise blue above, orange below and inner part of pectoral, dorsal and anal fins, bars on body more intense. Female light olive, with irregular dark bars on side, pale below; fins clear.

Reaches 6.1 cm.

In shallow water with muddy bottoms, seawater to hypersaline ponds.

Depth range: 0-2 m.

The S Caribbean.