Question by supahhtroopahh2: what’s the difference between a mummichog and a killifish?

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Answer by Disillusioned
The Mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus heteroclitus) is a small killifish found in the eastern United States. It is capable of tolerating highly variable salinity and temperatures, and is found in estuaries and saltmarshes as well as less salty waters.

Its eggs stick to submerged plants and green algae. The eggs are used in teaching embryology, because it is possible to see the eyes and the beating heart and follow the different stages of ontogenesis. These fish are used to stock otherwise fishless ponds that breed mosquitos, and within three days the ponds are normally mosquito free.

Because of the extreme hardiness of the species, it is sometimes the only species found in severely polluted and oxygen-deprived streams, such as the Hackensack River and the Arthur Kill in New Jersey during the height of the water pollution problem in the United States. In 1973 the Mummichog became the first fish in space when carried on Skylab 3 as part of the biological experiments package, later space missions by the U.S. have also carried Mummichog.

Killifish
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Killifish are small egg laying tooth-carp fish belonging to the order Cyprinodontiformes. This order is composed of several families including that of Poeciliidae that includes the guppy (Costa, 1998). The name killifish is derived from the Dutch word “kilde”, meaning small creek, puddle. Most killies are small, one to two inches (2.5 to 5 cm). The largest is under six inches (15 cm). Only a small handful are this large.

The term “killifish” is generally restricted to the egg laying members of this large group of fish. This term used to include the ricefish or medakas (genus Oryzias) of the order Beloniformes, but these were removed by Parenti (Parenti, 1981).

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