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 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. This species ranges along the Atlantic coast of North America, from Gaspé Peninsula, Anticosti Island and Port au Port Bay in the north to northeastern Florida in the south. It is present on Sable Island, southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean. The approximate geographical division between the two subspecies lies in New Jersey, Delaware and Virginia. Introduced populations have