The banded topminnow (''Fundulus cingulatus'') is a North American

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does in ...

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 famil ...

belonging to the genus ''

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 o ...

'' of the 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 ...

Taxonomy

The genus name ''

'' comes from ', meaning bottom, from the fish's habit of swimming near muddy bottoms. The species name cingulatus, also derived from Latin means "girded". The banded topminow was first described by American zoologist Achille Valenciennes in 1846, when it was sighted near Charleston, South Carolina. The common name, "banded topminnow", refers to the distinct olive-green bandings found along their sides.

References

Taxa named by Achille Valenciennes Fish described in 1846 Fundulus {{Cyprinodontiformes-stub