lovers lake killifish
Fundulus relictus Able & Felley, 1988
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Lover's Lake killifish (Fundulus relictus) is a species of killifish endemic to the Atlantic archipelago of Bermuda, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. The Lover's Lake killifish is presumably descended from one or several colonization events by the F. heteroclitus - F. grandis species complex from the Atlantic coast of North America. It shares the island chain with the related Bermuda killifish, another killifish species also endemic to Bermuda, and was formerly synonymized with it. These two species are indistinguishable in the field, and differentiated by egg morphology and body measurements. Despite this, no pond in Bermuda has been found to contain multiple killifish species together. It has been suggested that there may be more distinct species of Killifish previously described as F. relictus. On average, the Lover's Lake killifish measures 5.1 centimeters long, growing up to 9.7 centimeters. Females are generally larger than males. The male is dark green with a yellow underside and a dark ocellus on the dorsal fin when spawning. The female is brown or olive in colour, paler below.
Wikipedia contributors, Lover's Lake killifish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:37:16.048310+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Fundulus relictus Able & Felley, 1988
- Name authority
- Able & Felley, 1988
- Common name
- lovers lake killifish
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Cyprinodontiformes
- Family
- Fundulidae
- Genus
- Fundulus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCyprinodontiformes
- familyFundulidae Günther, 1866
- genusFundulus Lacepède, 1803
- speciesFundulus relictus Able & Felley, 1988
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Fundulus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Fundulus albolineatus Gilbert, 1891 | FundulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| giant killifishFundulus grandissimus Hubbs, 1936 | FundulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| marsh killifishFundulus confluentus Goode & Bean, 1879 | FundulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| California killifishFundulus parvipinnis Girard, 1854 | FundulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Fundulus kansae Garman, 1895 | FundulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Fundulus lineolatus (Agassiz, 1854) | FundulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Fundulus olivaceus (Storer, 1845) | FundulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Fundulus notatus (Rafinesque, 1820) | FundulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| saltmarsh topminnowFundulus jenkinsi (Evermann, 1892) | FundulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| plains killifishFundulus zebrinus Jordan & Gilbert, 1883 | FundulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Fundulus blairae Wiley & Hall, 1975 | FundulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| golden topminnowFundulus chrysotus (Günther, 1866) | FundulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Able, K. W., & Felley, J. D. (1988). Bermuda Fundulus (Pisces: Fundulidae ) revisited: Taxonomy of the endemic forms. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 140. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:6K3HG. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.