Pseudomugil, the blue-eyes, is a genus of tiny rainbowfish relatives in family Pseudomugilidae, native to coastal fresh and brackish waters of Australia, New Guinea, and eastern Indonesia. Atlas species run from a minute 0.5 in up to 3 in, slender, translucent fish named for the bright, often iridescent ring around the eye. They live in swamps, slow-flowing creeks, billabongs, and estuarine margins, frequently in dense vegetation, and several species tolerate a range of salinities from fresh to brackish water.
Blue-eyes are popular among nano and planted-tank keepers for their peaceful schooling habit and the flashy fin displays males put on during courtship - the forktail blue-eye (P. furcatus), spotted blue-eye (P. gertrudae), and the wide-ranging, hardy Pacific blue eye (P. signifer) are well established in the trade, and the red neon blue-eye (P. luminatus) is prized for intense red fin coloration. Conservation is a real concern across the genus: 2 species are Critically Endangered and 4 Endangered in the atlas tally, and 11 of the 16 species carry CARES conservation-priority status, a reflection of how many blue-eyes are confined to small, isolated drainages vulnerable to habitat loss.