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Does anyone have any real technical/biological information concerning the gravid spot on female livebearers? Perhaps a website with photos or something? It seems that everyone says the gravid spot on a female becomes dark when she is pregnant because the babies eyes are showing. Or the dark spot is caused by the eyes of the babies. But that seems to be quite ridiculous. Unless the babies are all stacked nicely one on top of another and all facing the same direction, I don't see how this could be true. I could understand more if the gravid spot were just a section of darker skin on a female that gets stretched out when her belly is full. Any insight is appreciated. Thanks.

Scheibe

I suppose those are just generalizations.
I've noticed dark gravid spots on females that are no where near giving birth.

Far as I can tell, ALL female livebearers have gravid spots. I've noticed that they tend to get bigger and darker when close to birth, but other than that, they all have them.

Trust me... I have numerous female guppies that have never seen a male other than their sibs (who were removed at first signs of male-ness) and still have quite obvious gravid spots. And since they've been in female-only environments for quite some months, I feel safe to say that they are NOT with fry. Only one of these does not show an obvious gravid spot.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~