<< Fundulus heteroclitus heteroclitus (Mummichog)

The two species of killifish collected at the MBL are both found in local salt marshes and other estuarine environments.

Estuarine animals can be used as models to investigate basic cellular physiology in, by mammalian standards, unusual conditions. Thus, the roles of enzymes in mediating cellular acclimation and tolerance can be investigated. As explained by Dr. Kennedy T. Paynter (Johns Hopkins University), estuarine animals endure large variations in environmental conditions including termperaturem salinity pH, and ovygen concentration, and many of these animals have evolved cellular mechanisms that allow them to tolerate these extremes.

Check our Fish Slides database for photos and catch records.

Bigelow, Henry B., William C. Schroeder. 1953. Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. Fishery Bulletin, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, vol 53, no. 74

Robins, C. Richard, Ray, G. Carleton, Douglass, John, 1986, A Field Guide to Atlantic Coast Fishes of North America, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston

Name Server Information for Fundulus heteroclitus heteroclitus
.... Metazoa
...... Chordata
........ Vertebrata
.......... Gnathostomata
............ Osteichthyes
............ Actinopterygii
.............. Cyprinodontiformes
.................. Fundulidae
.................... Fundulus
 Recorded names

  Mummichog (E)
  Fundulus heteroclitus heteroclitus (L)
  Cobitis heteroclita (Syn)
  Fundulus antillarum (Syn)
  Fundulus coenicolus (Syn)
  Fundulus fonticola (Syn)
  Fundulus heteroclitus (Syn)
  Fundulus lozanoi (Syn)
  Fundulus nisorius (Syn)
  Fundulus ornatus (Syn)
  Fundulus swampinus (Syn)
  Hydrargira ornata (Syn)
  Valencia lozanoi (Syn)

 Click for full size.

David Remsen
Adult. Size approximately 8cm.

David Remsen
Close up of adult head.

P.J.. Oldham
From Gray Slide Collection

P.J.. Oldham
From Gray Slide Collection