Guppy

From : Aquatic Animals

Also once known as the “millions fish,” because of the large numbers in which it was found in the wild, the guppy has been thrilling fishkeepers for around a hundred years. This species was originally named the millions fish,but the name guppy is used mainly today. This is in honor of the Reverend Lechmere Guppy who discovered this fish in Trinidad in the 1860s— even though it had in fact been described a few
years earlier by the German naturalist Wilhelm Peters.
Wild male guppies are about an inch long. However, they pack much beauty into their tiny bodies,and have been hot favorites with fishkeepers for nearly as long as the hobby of fishkeeping has been in existence. Few fish can compete with male guppies in terms of the richness of color and fin variations seen in specimens bredby fishkeepers.

The range of varieties that exists is bewildering, and more are created every year. In a sense, guppy breeding is similar to goldfish breeding,because any combination of colors can be found with any of the various caudal (tail) fin shapes. Sincewild populations are highly variable anyway,the scope for new combinations is infinite.

Today’s guppies have larger bodies than their wild ancestors. The tail of the vast majority of modern-day varieties is also many times longer and broader; so is the dorsal (back) fin. The females have colorful bodies, which are in sharp contrast to the drab,uniform body color of wild females. These changes have come about through careful breeding by fishkeepers.