Species: Rivulus garciai, Garcia’s rivulus

Rivulus garciai de la Cruz and Dubitsky, 1976

Garcia’s rivulus

Body elongate, cylindrical; head flattened; sensory system on top of head with grooves and exposed pads rather than pores; covering of eye partly continuous with skin of head; mouth slightly upturned, at front, short, not reaching under eye, top jaw extendible; teeth small, weak, conical; front nostril in a forward projecting tube that extends beyond front profile of head, rear nostril a small slit before and above eye; 9 lower gill rakers; fins without spines, although 1st ray may be unbranched; dorsal fin at rear of body, its origin over end of base of anal fin, 8 rays, edge rounded; anal fin 14, edge rounded; pelvics on abdomen, at rear, 6 rays; pectorals rounded, on mid-side, 13; tail fin rounded, 30-31 rays; body with smooth scales, 36 along side; lateral line reduced to sensory pits along side of body; fertilization internal, with eggs then being laid.

Preserved fish: Grey brown with many small black spots, especially on the tail base and mid-flank; a small diffuse ocellus on the top of the base of the tail fin; a well developed ocellus above base of pectoral fin; rows of dark dots form 3 stripes on dorsal fin, 4 stripes on anal fin and 4 bars on tail fin.

Reaches 3.3 cm

Lives in intertidal high salinity rock pools.

Depth range 0-2 m.

Cuba.