gambusia

Related to gambusia: Gambusia affinis, mosquito fish

gam·bu·sia

(găm-byo͞o′zhə)

Any of various small live-bearing fishes of the genus Gambusia of the Americas, which are popular in home aquariums and have become widely naturalized because of their use for mosquito control.

[New Latin Gambusia, genus name, coined (perhaps in reference to their small size) in 1851 by Cuban zoologist Felipe Poey y Aloy from Cuban Spanish colloquial gambusino, nothing (as in pescar gambusinos, to go on a snipe hunt, literally "to fish for gambusinos"), variant of Spanish gamusino, imaginary creature that children or naive persons are sent to hunt as a practical joke, object of a snipe hunt; perhaps akin to Old French gabuser, to dupe, from gab, mockery, jeering, probably from Old Norse gabb; akin to gabba, to scoff; see gab.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

gambusia

(ɡæmˈbjuːzɪə)

1. (Animals) a member of a genus of small primarily freshwater fish of the family Poeciliidae, widely used in aquaria

2. (Animals) the mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis)

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

gam•bu•sia

(gæmˈbyu ʒə, -ʒi ə)

n., pl. -sias.

any fish of the genus Gambusia, comprising small livebearers that feed on aquatic insect larvae and are used to control mosquitoes.

[1900–05; < New Latin, alter. of Cuban Sp gambusino; see -ia]

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Noun

Gambusia - mosquitofish

genus Gambusia

fish genus - any of various genus of fish

family Poeciliidae, Poeciliidae - topminnows

Gambusia affinis, mosquitofish - silvery topminnow with rows of black spots of tropical North America and West Indies; important in mosquito control

Translations

гамбузия

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References in periodicals archive ?

The testicular cycle of Gambusia affinis holbrooki (Teleostei: Poeciliidae).

Disturbed sexual characteristics in male mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) from a lake contaminated with endocrine disruptors. (Research)

11:15 STUDY OF METABOLIC RATES OF MOSQUITOFISH, GAMBUSIA AFFINJS, AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES

Zoology and Entomology

Some of these species, such as largemouth bass, bullfrogs, and crayfish, may prey on pupfish, while exotic fishes such as mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) and sailfin mollies (Poecilia latipinna) may compete with the pupfish for space and food (and prey upon the baby pupfish "pups").

Desert fish: life on the edge

It is sympatric with exotic mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis).

Ecological and Distributional Status of the Continental Fishes of Northwestern Baja California, Mexico

To test the influences of two environments (differing in resource quantity) on life-history variation, we used a common freshwater poeciliid, the eastern mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki, raised under controlled conditions in the laboratory.

Quantitative genetic and optimality analyses of life-history plasticity in the eastern mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki

Some mosquito control districts culture Gambusia and will supply them on request.

Insect & rodent control

Treatment species included two predators (adults of the mosquitofish Gambusia affinis and larvae of the spotted salamander Ambystoma maculatum), two herbivorous snails (the lymnaeid Pseudosuccinea columella and the small planorbid Menetus dilatatus), and two herbivorous tadpoles (the chorus frog Pseudacris triseriata and Fowler's toad Bufo woodhousei fowleri).

Are autecologically similar species also functionally similar? A test in pond communities

Tuyong (Gambusia affinis), which voraciously consumes mosquito larvae, can be the better weapon against dengue instead of the expensive and controversial Dengvaxia, said Westly Rosario, research center chief of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resouces (BFAR).

'Mosquito fish' tapped vs dengue in Pangasinan

Because the tarpon often key on the abundance of mosquito fish, a dark-colored freshwater minnow also called gambusia, flyrodders will do well on a two-inch black Clouser pattern on a No.1 tarpon hook that imitates the minnow.

Crane creek

grandis from a nonnative Brazos River population consumed largespring gambusia (Gambusia geiseri) in laboratory aquaria.

Feeding ecology of nonnative, inland Fundulus grandis in the Lower Pecos River

Suite a l'apparition de ces cas de paludisme, le secretaire general de la wilaya de Ghardaia a recommande a l'ensemble des autorites locales l'organisation de surveillances entomologiques, d'operations de demoustication, d'elimination des mares et des fuites d'eau et l'ensemencement des bassins d'eau, des barrages et autres retenues collinaires en poissons Gambusia. Quelque 30 cas de paludisme ont ete enregistres depuis le debut de l'annee 2013 a Ghardaia, selon les statistiques de la DSPRH.