Northern studfish
| Northern Studfish | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cyprinodontiformes |
| Family: | Fundulidae |
| Genus: | Fundulus |
| Species: | F. catenatus |
| Binomial name | |
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Fundulus catenatus (D. H. Storer (), 1846) |
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The northern studfish (Fundulus catenatus) is the largest of the killifish and is native to the southcentral United States.
The mean length for adults is 3 to 6 inches (7.6 to 15.2 cm). Northern studfish are sexually dimorphic. Males have horizontal rows of bright orange spots on light blue background and a bright orange tail margin followed by a nearly black band during breeding season. Females are more cryptic colored in shades of beige and olive. Their body shape is elongate and narrow and lacks a lateral line. Northern studfish have spineless fins and both the anal and dorsal fins are large.
Upper East Fork White River system, Indiana; upper Salt and Kentucky River drainages, Kentucky; upper Green middle, and lower Cumberland, and Tennessee River drainages, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi; West of Mississippi River (primarily Ozark and Ouachita uplands) in central and southern Missouri, southeastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma and southern Arkansas; southwestern Mississippi in the Mississippi drainage (Coles Creek, Homochitto River, and Buffalo Bayou) and Gulf Slope drainage (Amite River and Pearl River). Live bait buckets and releases of aquarium pets has caused expansion of the native distribution of this species.
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Wikipedia