Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun 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.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of cyprinodont fishes, containing such ovoviviparous killifishes as G. patruelis, known as the top-minnow, a common species in the lowland streams of the southern Atlantic States.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A genus of fish including some of the mosquitofish.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of several freshwater fish, of the genus Gambusia, that feed on the larva of mosquitos, and are used to control them

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun mosquitofish

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin Gambusia, genus name, from American Spanish gambusino.]

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Examples

  • The water also has been stocked with minnowlike mosquito fish, also called gambusia, which eat mosquito larvae.

    Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories 2009

  • The water also has been stocked with minnowlike mosquito fish, also called gambusia, which eat mosquito larvae.

    Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories 2009

  • The unique mound springs are threatened by weed infestation, trampling by domestic stock and feral animals, and exotic fish species such as eastern gambusia (Gambusia holbrooki), and extraction of water from the Great Artesian Basin aquifer which leads to decline and extinction of springs.

    Simpson desert 2008

  • The springs contain the only remaining populations of two small fish, the fountain darter and the San Marcos gambusia; the Texas blind salamander; the San Marcos salamander; the Comal Springs Riffle beetle, the Comal Springs Dryopid beetle, the Peck's cave amphipod, an invertebrate; and Texas wild-rice.

    KansasCity.com: Front Page 2011

  • The springs contain the only remaining populations of two small fish, the fountain darter and the San Marcos gambusia; the Texas blind salamander; the San Marcos salamander; the Comal Springs Riffle beetle, the Comal Springs Dryopid beetle, the Peck's cave amphipod, an invertebrate; and Texas wild-rice.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • In fact, the San Marcos gambusia hasn't been seen since the early 1980s and could already be extinct.

    The Seattle Times 2011

  • In fact, the San Marcos gambusia hasn't been seen since the early 1980s and could already be extinct.

    KansasCity.com: Front Page 2011

  • In fact, the San Marcos gambusia hasn't been seen since the early 1980s and could already be extinct.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • The springs contain the only remaining populations of two small fish, the fountain darter and the San Marcos gambusia; the Texas blind salamander; the San Marcos salamander; the Comal Springs Riffle beetle, the Comal Springs Dryopid beetle, the Peck's cave amphipod, an invertebrate; and Texas wild-rice.

    KansasCity.com: Front Page 2011

  • The springs contain the only remaining populations of two small fish, the fountain darter and the San Marcos gambusia; the Texas blind salamander; the San Marcos salamander; the Comal Springs Riffle beetle, the Comal Springs Dryopid beetle, the Peck's cave amphipod, an invertebrate; and Texas wild-rice.

    The Seattle Times 2011

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