Remarks: According to Coates (1950), the California populations were thriving. Shapovalov et al. (1959, 1981) stated that there have been no records of Oryzias being taken from open waters of that state since about 1935. It was not mentioned by Moyle (1976a) or Swift et al. (1993) in their reports on freshwater fishes of California. Dill and Cordone (1997) referenced an early letter by Snyder and indicated that the first (and possibly only) record of this fish in California is based on a single specimen taken from San Francisquito Creek by Stanford University students. According to these authors, that single fish may be the only basis for Snyder (1935) and all subsequent mentions of this fish recorded for that state. This freshwater species shows broad temperature and salinity tolerances. Various color varieties or mutants are known and some of these are in the aquarium trade (Sakaizumi et al. 1983).
There are no known voucher specimens.