MUDMINNOW

any of several hardy fishes, family Umbridae, found in cool, mud-bottomed ponds, lakes, and streams of Europe and North America. Somewhat pikelike fishes with rounded snouts and tails, mudminnows are about 7.5 to 15 cm (3 to 6 inches) long. They frequently bury themselves, tail first, in the mud; they can survive in water too low in oxygen to support other fishes. The several species are of the genera Umbra and Novumbra. In North America the eastern mudminnow (U. pygmaea) is sometimes called rockfish, and the central mudminnow (U. limi) mudfish or dogfish. Mudminnows are often used as bait and sometimes kept in home aquariums.