The Bermuda killifish (''Fundulus bermudae'') is a small

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

which is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the islands of

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

in the western

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. It belongs to the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Fundulus ''Fundulus'' is a genus of ray-finned fishes in the superfamily Funduloidea, family Fundulidae (of which it is the type genus). It belongs to the order of toothcarps (Cyprinodontiformes), and therein the large suborder Cyprinodontoidei. Most of ...

'' in the

killifish A killifish is any of various oviparous (egg-laying) cyprinodontiform fish (including families Aplocheilidae, Cyprinodontidae, Fundulidae, Profundulidae and Valenciidae). All together, there are 1,270 species of killifish, the biggest family ...

and topminnow family,

Fundulidae Fundulidae is the family of topminnows and North American killifishes. Distribution The 46 species are native to North America as far south as Yucatan, and to the islands of Bermuda and Cuba, occurring in both freshwater and marine environments ...

. It can grow up to 12.9 centimetres in length and 21.4 grams in weight. The male is dark green with a yellow underside and a dark spot on the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

when spawning. The female is brown or olive in colour, paler below. It was formerly common in fresh and brackish ponds and marshes throughout Bermuda. It has a declined as a result of destruction and modification of its habitat by humans and was listed as a protected species in the Bermuda Protected Species Act of 2003. It is currently known from just seven ponds: Mangrove Lake, Trott's Pond, West and East Walsingham Ponds, Warwick Pond, Evan's Pond and an introduced population in Blue Hole Pond. The populations in Lover's Lake and Bartram's Pond are now thought to be a separate species, Lover's Lake killifish ('' F. relictus''). Some other populations of Bermuda killifish may also be separate species. Its

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...

diet includes green algae, molluscs,

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

s and

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s. Its

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

s include herons,

grey snapper The mangrove snapper or gray snapper (''Lutjanus griseus'') is a species of snapper native to the western Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts to Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda, and the Caribbean Sea. The species can be found in a wide varie ...

s and American eels, as well as the introduced

eastern mosquitofish The eastern mosquitofish (''Gambusia holbrooki'') is a species of freshwater fish, closely related to the western mosquitofish, ''Gambusia affinis''. It is a member of the family Poeciliidae of order Cyprinodontiformes. The eastern mosquitofis ...

and

red-eared terrapin The red-eared slider or red-eared terrapin (''Trachemys scripta elegans'') is a subspecies of the pond slider (''Trachemys scripta''), a semiaquatic turtle belonging to the family Emydidae. It is the most popular pet turtle in the United States, ...

References

* *Outerbridge, Mark E.; Davenport, John & Glasspool, Anne F. (2007
Distribution, population assessment and conservation of the endemic Bermuda killifishes ''Fundulus bermudae'' and ''Fundulus relictus''
''Endangered Species Research'', 3: 181-189.
Species Profile of Endemic Bermuda Killifish
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2269862

Bermuda killifish The Bermuda killifish (''Fundulus bermudae'') is a small fish which is endemic to the islands of Bermuda in the western Atlantic Ocean. It belongs to the genus ''Fundulus'' in the killifish and topminnow family, Fundulidae. It can grow up to 1 ...

Fish of the Caribbean Endangered fauna of North America