Then suddenly it darted its sharp black bill into the water, speared a mummichog with no apparent emotion and tossed its head back to gulp it down before transforming back into a statue.
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Skylab 3 carried pocket mice and the first fish in space (a mummichog), and the first spiders in space (garden spiders named Arabella and Anita). Mummichog were also flown by the U.S. on the Apollo-Soyuz joint mission, launched 15 July 1975. The Soviets flew several Bion program missions which consisted of satellites with biological cargoes. On these launches they flew tortoises, rats, and mummichog.
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The banded killifish tends to have thin dark bars on a light side, whereas in the mummichog the bars are thin and light on a dark side. Internally, the banded killifish has 4-7 gill rakers, as opposed to 8-12 in the mummichog.
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Fish Base Mummichog distribution As bait fish, mummichogs are sometimes released in freshwater habitats, where they can survive, and there have been reports of individuals in New Hampshire ponds, as well as the upper Ohio River and Beaver River.USGS Nonindigenous aquatic species database Mummichog occurrences The mummichog is a common fish in coastal habitats such as salt marshes, muddy creeks, tidal channels, brackish estuaries, eelgrass or cordgrass beds, and sheltered shorelines. It can be found within coastal rivers but seldom beyond the head of tide. A few landlocked populations may exist in freshwater lakes close to shore, for example on Digby Neck, Nova Scotia.
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Although killifish is sometimes used as an English equivalent to the taxonomical term Cyprinodontidae, some species belonging to that family have their own common names, such as the pupfish and the mummichog.
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The minute hydrobia is a secondary host of a parasitic fluke, Homalometron pallidum. This has a complex life cycle with the adult phase being found in a small fish, the mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus.
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Coad, B.W. 1995. Encyclopedia of Canadian Fishes. Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, 928p. The mummichog is very similar to the banded killifish, Fundulus diaphanus, and indeed the two species have been known to interbreed.
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The mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) is a small killifish found along the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada. Also known as Atlantic killifish, mummies, gudgeons, and mud minnows, these fish inhabit brackish and coastal waters including estuaries and salt marshes. The species is noted for its hardiness and ability to tolerate highly variable salinity, temperature fluctuations from , very low oxygen levels (down to 1 mg/L), and heavily polluted ecosystems. As a result, the mummichog is a popular research subject in embryological, physiological, and toxicological studies.
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Billeter, P. A., Klink, M. M. & Maugel, T. K. (2000). A new species of Swingleus (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae) from the mummichog Fundulus heteroclitus, in the Delaware Bay. The Journal of Parasitology, 86(6), 1219–1222. Swingleus has been reported from the skin and fins of Fundulus grandis and Fundulus heteroclitus but not from the gills.
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Homalometron pallidum is a species of marine trematodes in the family Apocreadiidae. It is an endoparasite of the mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus, a small fish found in brackish water along the east coast of the United States and Canada. It has a complex life cycle and lives inside several different host species at different stages.
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Homalometron pallidum can parasitise mummichogs, pictured Homalometron pallidum has a complex life cycle involving several host species. The adult worm lives in the gut of a small fish, the mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus). Eggs are ejected from the host fish in its faeces and are ingested by a small aquatic snail, Hydrobia minuta. This acts as a secondary host.
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They swim tail first with their body bent round and their tail lashing. They can also crawl with the use of two ventral suckers. They have penetration glands and make their way into an intermediate transfer host. Such hosts can include the amethyst gem clam Gemma gemma, another mummichog, or certain polychaete worms, but not other species of fish.
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Hubbs, C.L., Walker, B.W., and Johnson, R.E. 1943. Hybridization in nature between species of American cyprinodont fishes. Contributions to the Laboratory of Vertebrate Biology of the University of Michigan 23: 21 p. The two species may overlap in their choice of habitat, but in general the banded killifish is more commonly found in freshwater, which is not the case for the mummichog.
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In their new host, the cercariae become metacercariae by encysting in the tissues. In this inactive state, they wait to be ingested by a mummichog. In its gut, they develop into adult worms ready to undergo sexual reproduction and start the cycle again. Other fish have been identified as also acting as a host to the adult worms, including Menticirrhus saxatilis, Morone americana, Pseudopleuronectes americanus, Tautoga onitis, and Bairdiella chrysura.
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Saint Michaels, Chesapeake Bay, United States The body of the mummichog is elongate but thick, with a deep caudal peduncle. Usual length is but a maximum length of up to is possible. The mouth is upturned and the lower jaw protrudes when the mouth is closed. Pectoral and tail fins are round. Mummichogs have 10-13 dorsal fin rays, 9-12 anal fin rays, 16-20 pectoral fin rays.
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The pectoral fins are large and extend past the origins of the small pelvic fins. The origin of the anal fin hardly overlaps the trailing edge of the dorsal fin. The caudal peduncle is thick and the caudal fin is truncated and square-ended. The arrangement of the fins, the deep body and the tri-cuspid teeth help to distinguish this fish from the mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus), which is found in the same habitats.
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Taylor, M.H., DiMichele, L., and Leach, G.J. 1977. Egg stranding in the life cycle of the mummichog Fundulus heteroclitus. Copeia: 1977: 397-399. The eggs cannot hatch in air, nor can they do so in moving water; hatching is initiated by a lack of oxygen, something that can happen in the boundary layer of relatively still water surrounding the metabolically active egg at high tide, but not in air or in moving water.
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Forage fish species are found throughout the various aquatic habitats in the bay at different times of the year. Atlantic silverside, the most dominant member through much of the year, in most of the bay. Bay anchovy is the major mid-bay water column occupant in the summer during its spawning time in late June and July. Killifishes include mummichog in the salt marsh habitats, striped killifish over sandy habitat, and sheepshead minnow in both habitats.
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It also has high levels of mercury, copper and other toxic chemicals. While illegal discharges of chemical waste have been stopped, crabbing is illegal and fishing is limited due to chemicals that remain in the sediment. Pronounced endocrine disruption and reproductive effects have been reported in Newark Bay Mummichog, often used as a sentinel and bioindicator species. Reproductive effects reported are primarily due to a chemical inhibition of vitellogenesis and oogenesis, which are highly conserved processes for oviparous (egg-laying) animals.
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One example is the mummichog, whose upturned mouth suggests surface feeding, but whose feeding habits are not particularly restricted to the surface. In the tambaqui, a South American species, exposure to hypoxia induces within hours the development of additional blood vessels inside the lower lip, enhancing its ability to take up oxygen during ASR. Swimming upside down may also help fishes perform ASR, as in some upside-down catfish. Some species may hold an air bubble within the mouth during ASR.
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The results revealed that the diversity of breeding bird species is steadily decreasing as the red-winged blackbird becomes dominant. In addition to its value as a bird habitat, it is also an important nursery and spawning area for fish, including striped bass, shad, herring, and mummichog. Some 1,000 snapping turtles live in the marsh, and frequently lay their eggs at the nearby Boscobel estate grounds. The area contains invasive species like common reed, purple loosestrife, water caltrop, zebra mussels, and mute swans.
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Coastal marshes, bays, tidal creeks, and rivers support diverse shellfish and finfish populations. Sunfish (Lepomis species), creek chub (Semotilus atromaculatus), cunner (Tautogolabrus adspersus), golden shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas), common mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus), American eel (Anguilla rostrata), and white sucker (Catostomus commersoni) abound. Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and brown trout (Salmo trutta) are stocked in rivers and estuaries each year. The Ogunquit River sustains alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis), pollock (Pollachius virens), bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix), longhorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus octodecimspinosus), and winter flounder (Pleuronectes americanus).
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The Webhannet River has native species such as winter flounder, northern pipefish (Syngnathus fuscus), Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), common mummichog, Atlantic silversides (Menidia menidia) and Atlantic mackerel. The Merriland River sustains populations of American eel, brown trout, and brook trout. The Mousam River attracts little skate (Raja erinacea), American shad (Alosa sapidissima), striped bass (Morone saxatilis), bluefish, cunner, Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus), pollock, and rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax). The Spurwink River supports blueback herring, Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus), American shad, pollock, cunner, winter flounder, and little skate.
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Separation from the sea at low tide means that water is not renewed, fish crowding within the pool means that oxygen is quickly depleted, and absence of light at night means that there is no photosynthesis to replenish the oxygen. Examples of tidepool species that perform ASR include the tidepool sculpin, Oligocottus maculosus, the three-spined stickleback, and the mummichog. But ASR is not limited to the intertidal environment. Most tropical and temperate fish species living in stagnant waters engage in ASR during hypoxia.
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In addition to the formal research internship, nearly all credit courses at SML require small individual research projects. For example, students enrolled in the Underwater Research course must produce an original research proposal, supported by preliminary data collected and analyzed in the course. The lab also hosts and works with visiting researchers from across the country, including a migratory bird banding program, the New Hampshire Fish and Game tern restoration project on White Island, gull research, and monitoring of subtidal communities. In 2016, researchers investigated an intertidal species of fish called a mummichog.
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The striped killifish (Fundulus majalis), also called the striped mummichog, is a North American species of fundulid killifish. It lives in salt and brackish waters in shallow coastal regions from New Hampshire to Florida, and in the northern Gulf of Mexico. It exhibits sexual dimorphism, with the males having vertical black stripes and the mature females having horizontal black stripes along the sides of their silver-colored bodies. Juvenile females have vertical stripes, however, and one or two vertical stripes remain at the end of the tail even on adult females.
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Power plant For two centuries, the river suffered from extremely severe pollution. The construction of the Oradell Reservoir dam in 1921 essentially changed the lower river from a free-flowing stream into a brackish estuary, allowing the encroachment of marine species. Urbanization in the region intensified after World War II, with the expansion of roads and highways, including the New Jersey Turnpike (1952), as well as the Meadowlands Sports Complex (1970s). By the 1960s, much of the lower river was essentially a turbid hypoxic dead zone, with only the hardiest of species, such as the mummichog, able to survive in its waters.
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It is heavily used by wintering raptors. "The marshes of the Meadowlands provide many important wetland functions. More than 265 species of birds use the area, and the Meadowlands is recognized as a major link along the Atlantic Flyway for migratory species (especially shorebirds) and an important overwintering area for a variety of waterfowl... Waterway-associated birds occurring in the region include a variety of shorebirds, wading birds, waterfowl, and gulls." Significant fish species in the Meadowlands region are mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus), white perch (Morone americana), Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia), gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), striped killifish (Fundulus majalis), and striped bass (Morone saxatilis).
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The Elizabeth River estuary is important for Norfolk, Virginia, Chesapeake, Virginia, Virginia Beach, Virginia and Portsmouth, Virginia. It has been polluted by nitrogen and phosphorus, but also toxic deposits from the shipbuilding industry, the military, the world's largest coal export facility, refineries, loading docks, container-repair facilities and others, so fish had been "offlimits since the 1920s". In 1993, a group formed to clean it up, adopting the mummichog as a mascot, and has removed thousands of tons of contaminated sediment. In 2006, a 35-acre biological dead zone called Money Point was dredged out, and this let fish return, and the wetland recover.
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The average summer flounder reaches sexual maturity at 2 years and weighs 1 to 3 pounds, typically 15 to 20 inches in length, though they may grow as large as 26 pounds and live up to 20 years with females making up the largest and oldest specimens. Female flounders have a maximum observed age of 17 years, while male flounders have a maximum observed age of 15 years. Adults are highly predatory and considered mostly piscivorous, often lying buried with only their head exposed to ambush prey which includes sand lance, menhaden, atlantic silverside, mummichog killifish, small bluefish, porgies, squid, shrimp, and crabs. While primarily considered a bottom fish, they are rapid swimmers over short distances and can become very aggressive, feeding actively at mid-depths, even chasing prey to the surface.
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