Mummichog in 1973. The genus name "Fundulus" comes from "", meaning bottom, from the fish's habit of swimming near muddy bottoms. The species name "heteroclitus" means irregular or unusual. The type specimen was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1766, from near Charleston, South Carolina. Other scientific names now considered synonyms for this species include "Cobitis heteroclita", "Fundulus fasciatus", "Fundulus pisculentus", and "Fundulus nigrofasciatus". The mummichog belongs to the order Cyprinodontiformes, and the family Fundulidae. There are two subspecies: "F. h. heteroclitus" (Linnaeus, 1766), in the south and "F. h. macrolepidotus" (Walbaum, 1792) in the north. The name mummichog is derived
Mummichog morphological differences. and genomic Further, eggs of the northern subspecies have filaments (adhesive chorionic fibrils) that eggs of the southern subspecies lack. While the northern subspecies deposits eggs in the sand, the southern subspecies often deposits eggs inside empty mussel shells. The mummichog is very similar to the banded killifish, "Fundulus diaphanus", and indeed the two species have been known to interbreed. 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. The banded killifish tends to have thin dark