Lucania parva

"Shows considerable morphological variation (usually clinal) throughout range, but division into subspecies probably not justified" (Lee et al. 1980). See Duggins et al. (1983) for relationship to L. goodei. Removed from family Cyprinodontidae and placed in family Fundulidae by Parenti (1981); this arrangement was followed by Sublette et al. (1990) but was not adopted in the 1991 AFS checklist (Robins et al. 1991).

This species is widespread in coastal waters of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. It is threatened by habitat loss (seagrass) due to declines in water quality caused by runoff, pollution, and freshwater diversion. Most occurrences likely have good viability and the population appears to be relatively stable.

This species is found in coastal waters from Massachusetts to Florida (including some interior freshwater sites in Florida), and around the Gulf of Mexico to the Yucatán Peninsula of southern México (Page and Burr 2011). It also occurs in the Pecos River and Rio Grande, Texas and New Mexico (Hubbs and Miller 1965, Page and Burr 2011). Using Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (2024) records, range extent is estimated to be 4.422 million km².

It has been introduced outside of its native range in several western states (e.g., Utah, Oregon, Nevada, and California) (Hubbs and Miller 1965).

This species is represented by a large number of subpopulations and locations.

This species is threatened by seagrass loss caused by anthropogenic sources of runoff and excessive freshwater output, and hypersalinity due to freshwater diversion (Carlson Jr. 2010, Tomasko et al. 2018, de Fouw et al. 2024). Impounding saltmarsh habitat as a mosquito control method has been shown to reduce local populations (Harrington and Harrington 1982). Habitat shifting due to a warming climate could have future impacts.