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Mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) Mummichogs are a common small fish often used as bait for catching larger fish like juvenile bluefish. Mummichogs have blunt, flattened heads and at full size are about 5 inches long. Males are a dark olive green color and have silvery vertical stripes or whitish spots along their bodies. Females are slightly larger than males, paler in color, with less visible stripes. Mummichogs typically feed from the water’s surface during the day and, in order to make feeding easier, have mouths that are turned slightly upwards. They grab pieces of aquatic plants or insect larvae off the top of the water but will also eat mollusks and crustaceans off the sea floor. Importantly for humans, mummichogs feed on mosquito larvae and have been used as a control method against mosquitoes. Mummichogs are themselves an important food source for larger fish and sea birds. The spawning season for mummichogs lasts from spring to fall. Males will change color during the spawning season and develop blue spots on the body and a whitish yellow belly. They spawn during the highest spring tides and deposit eggs in areas that will remain dry until the next highest spring tide two weeks later. The eggs are left on plants or in empty shells and begin to develop out of the water. After they are washed back into the ocean, they finish developing.

Mummichogs are found in shallow water areas such as saltwater marshes and tidal creeks, and they have an amazing ability to survive in a huge range of water temperatures and salinities. Due to their tolerance of a variety of water conditions, mummichogs are also able to live in highly polluted water that may even be toxic to other fish. Mummichogs are often seen in huge schools of hundreds of individuals. In fact, their Native American name translates to “they go in great numbers.” During the winter, some mummichogs move to areas with moving water that will not freeze over and some stay in the area but burrow into the mud and wait for the water to warm.

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