Species: Fundulus majalis, Striped Killifish

Fundulus majalis (Walbaum, 1792)

Striped Killifish

Body slender elongate, compressed; head flattened above, with straight to slightly concave; snout long, pointed; cover of eye not continuous with head skin; front nostril not tubular; mouth small, oblique, opens at front, protrusible, distinctly below level of center of eye; top jaw twisted, lower jaw projecting; 7-8 pores under chin; jaws with outer row of pointed conical teeth, inner band of simple teeth; gill rakers short, 6-10; no spines in fins; dorsal fin short based, its origin distinctly before anal fin origin, 11-16 rays; anal fin with 3rd fin ray branched, 9-13 rays; pectoral with narrow base, rounded, inserted low on side, 16-21 rays; pelvics inserted well behind pectoral base; least depth of tail base >13% SL; tail fin bluntly rounded; small smooth scales, 33-37 midlateral rows, 26-32 around the body; lateral line reduced to a series of pits along side of body.

Female pale olive above, with 1-3 narrow black stripes along side and up to several narrow black bars on tail base. Male dark olive, with 10-15 narrow dark bars, a dark blotch above pectoral fin base, often a dark spot at rear of dorsal fin.

Reaches 15 cm.

Bays, estuaries and coastal marshes; brackish and marine.

Depth range: 0-1 m.

New Hampshire to SE Florida.