KILLIFISH FAMILY Fundulidae

BANDED KILLIFISH Fundulus diaphanus (Lesueur, 1817)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. Banded killifish are very common where found in Massachusetts. There are records of this species from every major river drainage, however, populations seem to be somewhat localized within any given drainage.

MUMMICHOG Fundulus heteroclitus (Linnaeus, 1766)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. The northern subspecies, F. h. macrolepidotus, is found north of Long Island, N.Y., and is abundant all along the coast of Massachusetts. This species is most often encountered in coastal marsh creeks, ditches, and tide pools. Mummichogs frequently enter tidal freshwater and occasionally coastal overwash ponds.

SPOTFIN KILLIFISH Fundulus luciae (Baird, 1855)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. Southern Massachusetts is the northernmost part of the range of the spotfin killifish. The only Massachusetts record is based on a collection of 7 reproductively active males and females (24 to 29 mm SL) found in the Palmer River, Rehoboth on June 7, 1980 by K.E. Hartel. These specimens were collected in a very shallow mosquito ditch and over a Spartina marsh flooded to 1 or 2 inches by a high spring tide.

RAINWATER KILLIFISH Lucania parva (Baird and Girard, 1855)

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. In Massachusetts, rainwater killifish are common in many of the drainages to Nantucket Sound, and to Buzzards and Narragansett bays. They are very common in the tidal freshwaters of Martha's Vineyard, where they are also found in a freshwater pond at Felix Neck. Rainwater killifish seem to be rare on Nantucket where the first records were brought to our attention by Bruce Stallsmith in 1995.