Family: CYPRINODONTIDAE, Pupfish, Pupfishes, Killifishes

FAMILY CYPRINODONTIDAE

PUPFISHES, KILLIFISHES

Body moderately deep and chubby; head flattened; snout short and blunt; front nostril not tubular; covering of eye not continuous with skin of head;  mouth wide, oblique, at front, protrusible; teeth compressed, 3-pointed in all genera except Cubanichthys; eye large, at side; gill rakers poorly developed; 1 dorsal fin short, with/without 1 spine, 10-18 rays, at mid-body, its origin before anal fin origin; anal fin 8-13, all rays branched; pectoral fin short, 13-20 rays, low on side; pelvics small, 6-7 rays, on belly under pectoral rays, well behind pectoral base; tail fin bluntly rounded; body with large, smooth scales; head scaly; lateral line reduced to a series of pits along side of body.

A family with 9 genera and ~100 species; found from the US  to northern S America and the Antilles, as well as N Africa and the Mediterranean; most are freshwater but 9 species from 5 genera enter brackish water in our area.