ABSTRACT
Early life stages of the mummichog have been used in experimental laboratories for many years. They are readily available and easy to handle and maintain, and therefore have been used extensively in basic developmental biology and in microscale aquatic toxicology. Numerous studies have been reported on responses to contaminants including metals, pesticides and other organics, and mixtures, with parameters including abnormal development, mortality, developmental retardation, hatching success and rate, and biochemical responses. The common killifish or mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus, is a small Cyprinodont fish which is very common in estuaries along the Atlantic coast from the Gulf of St. Lawrence region of Canada to northern Florida. In mammalian teratology, a field much more intensively studied than fish teratology, it has become clear that functional impairment is more subtle than the production of gross anatomical abnormalities. Embryos and larvae are often the most sensitive stages in an animal's life cycle.
