Genus · Killifish

Xenurolebias

Xenurolebias is a genus with 2 species in this atlas, catalogued in the Killifish section, recorded from Brazil. Adult sizes run from 2 in to 2.5 in. Every species below links to a full researched profile.

Species in atlas
2
Adult sizes
2–2.5 in
IUCN assessed
2 of 2 · 2 threatened
Recorded from
Brazil

About the genus

Xenurolebias is a genus of killifish in the family Rivulidae, endemic to Brazil. The atlas's two species, X. izecksohni and X. myersi, are known only from Brazil, small fish in the 2–2.5 in range typical of the seasonal-pool killifish groups within Rivulidae. Like other genera adapted to temporary wetlands, Xenurolebias is presumed to inhabit shallow pools that fill during the rainy season and dry out completely for part of the year, a boom-and-bust habitat that has shaped the group's whole reproductive strategy.

Annual killifish of this kind lay eggs that bury into the mud substrate and enter diapause, a suspended state of development that lets the embryos survive the dry season buried in damp soil long after the adults that produced them have died; the eggs then hatch in a rush once the rains return and refill the pool, and the next generation races through its whole life cycle before the water disappears again. Xenurolebias is a genus of real conservation concern rather than a hobby mainstay: the atlas tally shows one species Vulnerable and the other Endangered, reflecting how exposed small, geographically restricted, seasonal-pool specialists in Brazil are to habitat loss and land drainage.

IUCN Red List: Endangered · 1 Vulnerable · 1

The 2 species

Every Xenurolebias recorded in this atlas. Each card links to a full researched profile — distribution, water parameters, and aquarium care, cited to primary sources.

(Costa & Brasil, 1990)

2.5 in TL · VU

(Carvalho, 1959)

2 in SL · EN

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How to cite

Aquarist Atlas (2026). Genus Xenurolebias. Aquarist Atlas. https://www.aquaristatlas.com/xenurolebias/

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