The Morphology and Characteristic of Poeciilia reticulata

Abstract
This present study aims to describe about the characteristic and morphology of
Poelicia sp in Biology Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, State
University of Malang. Poecilia family consists of Poecilia formosa, Poecilia reticulata,
Poecilia sphenops, Poecilia latipinna, Poecilia picta, and Poecilia velifera. But this study
more focus in Poecilia reticulata, among those species are fishes called gatul fish by the local
people. These fishes are widely distributed across Indonesian archipelago, but biological
studies on these fishes are very limited. The necessary data and information were collected
through directly observation. This result indicated that the male and female fish has different
characteristic. The male and female fishes have different body color patterns. The males have
yellow, black, and metallic pigment creating different spots. But the female just has black
spots in its body. The length of the male fish is about 6 cm, while the female fish is more
long, the length is about 8 cm. The male fish have gonopodium. The function of gonopodium
to channel the sperm into the females body.
Introduction
Poeciliidae is a species of fish are able to live and adapt in a place that has been
contaminated or dirty, example in the gutter. Poecillia is an effective biocontrol for the
development of mosquito. Some members of the Poeciliidae family are able to control the
spread of malaria by eliminating population of Anopheles larvae. Poecillia has different
characteristic with other fishes because the fertilization of this species is internal body. The
male and female of the Poecilia has a different characteristic. The male fish is slim body with
a relatively small size and length. The male fish also has a orange color in his body so he look
more interest. In male fish, there is modified anal fin and pelvic fins and the function to
channel sperm into the female's body. The modified anal fin and pelvic fins is called
gonopodium. While the female fish, the body size is more large but it has short size. The
female fish has darker color . Poeciliidae family consists of small fishes because the length of
the body is about 4-6 cm. Their body is elongate to moderately deep. They have a flat head
and short snout.
Material and method
Morphological observation were done on 2 male and female samples from Poeciilia reticula.
We did very careful observation on the morphological structure because this fish is very easy
to die. To get data about the length we measuring with ruler. The result indicated that the
male fish has a smaller body size when compared with the female fish. The male has length
body is about 6 cm, while the female has a length is about 8 cm. We also identify the head
shape, snout, color, anal fins and pelvic fins with seeing the fish. The head shape is flat, has a
short snouts, the color of male fish is more interest because it has orange spots on the body,
the anal and pelvic fins is modified and called gonopodium. With touching we know the
texture of the scales of Poeciilia reticula. The texture of the fish is slippery and smooth.

Result
The Classify of Poecilia reticulata
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Ordo
Family
Sub-family
Genus
Species

: Animalia
: Chordata
: Actinopterygii
: Cyprinodontiformes
: Poeciliidae
: Poeciliinae
: Poecilia
: Poecilia reticulata

The male and female fish has different characteristic. The male and female fishes
have different body color patterns. The males have yellow, black, and metallic pigment
creating different spots. But the female just has black spots in its body . The length of the
male fish is about 6 cm, while the female fish is more long, the length is about 8 cm. The
male fish have gonopodium. The function of gonopodium to channel the sperm into the
females body.

Conclusion
Based on morphological identification , Poeliciia males and females have different
morphological. Poeliciia males have a smaller body size, but more length than the female.
The males have yellow, black, and metallic pigment creating different spots.