Fish: Introduced Species
Scientific name: Poecilia mexicana
Common name(s): Mexican molly, Tabai
Status: Introduced
Habitat: Mexican mollies like slow-moving streams and pools.
Preferred Area of Stream: Pools and slow runs, also side pool areas. They are extremely hardy and can also live in canals that have been paved with concrete.
Range in Hawai‘i: Common on all Hawaiian Islands
Diet: Carnivorous, eats small fish, worms, small shrimp, and insects
Predators: Birds such as ‘auku‘u (black-crowned night-herons) and introduced fish
Fact: This fish was brought in as an aquarium fish and is highly destructive to native freshwater species. Mollies compete with native fish for food and living space and have harmful parasites which they spread to native ‘o‘opu (stream fish). Mollies lay 80-100 eggs every 5-8 weeks. Often they are the most common fishes, along with mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis), in altered Hawaiian streams. Experiments have shown that Mexican mollies in aquariums will quickly consume all ‘o‘opu hinana [young native stream fish] placed into the same aquarium.
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