Results: The Most Famous Fish You May Not Know About It

The mummichog is the most famous fish that you've likely never heard of. These little fish live along the east coast of North America in some of the most contaminated waterways on Earth. Have you ever heard of the mummichog?

In 1973, they became the first fish in space aboard Skylab 3. The fish took some time to re-learn how to swim in zero gravity, but otherwise adapted enthusiastically to their new, out-of-this-world home. This humble fish — best known for putting up with polluted water — ended up in orbit by being easy to work with in the lab. Scientists naturally gravitate towards convenient animals like rats and fruit flies to use in experiments. The mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus, is one such model organism. In the scientific community, researchers generally assume that discoveries made in model organisms will translate into the workings of other organisms. For example, research relies on mummichogs because they encounter episodes of low oxygen in the wild. They're an excellent option to explore how animals could change their physiology to coping with low oxygen, and how those strategies vary across situations. The fact that mummichogs are easy to keep in a lab setting, and that we know a lot about them already were valuable bonuses. Mummichogs, referred to affectionately as chugs, are the darlings of physiologists, developmental biologists, geneticists, toxicologists and many other "-ologists." They're shipped in a box, easily kept in the lab, and are ridiculously tolerant of extreme environments. Do you now want to see this cute little organism get a Nobel Prize for Science?