Fundulus catenatus
Northern Studfish
NS
G5
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Cyprinodontiformes
Fundulidae (Topminnows)
Fundulus
Fundulus catenatus (Northern Studfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Characters
Body shape: elongated.
Distribution
North America: USA: upper East Fork White River system in Indiana; upper Salt and Kentucky River drainages in Kentucky; upper Green, middle and lower Cumberland, and Tennessee River drainages; west of Mississippi River ; southwestern Mississippi in Mississippi and Gulf Slope drainages.
Habitat Associations
Freshwater. benthopelagic.
Biology
Inhabits margins, pools and backwaters of creeks and small to medium rivers. Most commonly found in shallow sandy backwaters of clean rocky creeks. 18 cm max TL (Ref. 5723). Adult feeds on aquatic insect larvae and snails (Ref. 10294). Not a seasonal killifish. Is very difficult to maintain in aquarium (Ref. 27139).
Max length: 20.0 cm TL; common length: 16.5 cm TL.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-01-30. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial.
References
Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr (1991) A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 432 p.
Etnier, D.A. and W.C. Starnes (1993) The fishes of Tennessee. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. (pls. check date).
Huber, J.H. (1996) Killi-Data 1996. Updated checklist of taxonomic names, collecting localities and bibliographic references of oviparous Cyprinodont fishes (Atherinomorpha, Pisces). Société Française d'Ichtyologie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France, 399 p.
Comments On Fundulus catenatus