Our Organization

Mission and Team

Species: Fundulus catenatus
Photo Credit: Isaac Szabo

Our Story

The Fundulid Working Group is a young organization that recently spun out of the Goodeid Working Group. We share the goal of connecting universities, zoos, aquariums, and other conservation projects alike with dedicated aquarium hobbyists, but in the context of the family Fundulidae. Outside of a select few species, Fundulids as a whole don't receive much attention in the conservation space, nor the aquarium hobby. We aim to make a change on both fronts, by pursuing study of Fundulid species in need, and by spreading more common species through the aquarium hobby.

Many of the Fundulid species that are in trouble, have close relatives that can and should be kept in the hobby. While we pursue planning and permitting to work with the imperiled species, we hope to crowdsource data and observations from hobbyists keeping those surrogate species. The more experienced breeders we have testing things out and sharing info, the more likely we are to construct consistent propagation protocols for ex situ conservation organizations to follow if a species hits a major setback. With each propagation protocol constructed, vetted, and published, an additional species has an extra line of defense against extinction.

We plan to play as many angles as possible through collaboration with hobby organizations, traditional conservation institutions, universities, and corporate sponsors. The future for these species is to be found together, with conservation through collaboration.

Have questions? Want to join the fight? Contact us.

Meet the Team

Jackson Booth
Jackson Booth
Academia Outreach Coordinator
Secretary
Lucania interioris Species Lead

Jackson Booth is one of the founders of the Fundulid Working Group and has worked for Conservation Fisheries since 2025. Jackson's career started like many others, focusing on sportfish (Walleye) in New York, but then he discovered the many overlooked non-game species while completing his Master's and found his calling. Despite growing up with copious amounts of rain, his current interests focus on desert fishes (and of course Fundulids and other killies). On the rare occasion he's not thinking about, photographing, or raising fish, Jackson is typically backpacking, camping, or hanging out with his very patient wife and cat.

Will Mutsch
Will Mutsch
Corporate Sponsor Coordinator
Treasurer
Permitting and Licensing Coordinator
Fundulus euryzonas Species Lead

Will Mutsch is one of the Founders of the Fundulid Working Group. His background is in the financial services industry but has a passion for fish and wildlife conservation. Currently he focuses on Risk assessment and insurance for agriculture operations including aquaculture but has also worked for aquarium supply dealers and at his Alma Mater the University of Georgia in their Entomology department. He currently serves on the board of the Atlanta Area Aquarium Association and has travelled around the United States and foreign countries for fish collecting and professional conferences. Like his counterparts, he is an avid aquarist who maintains a multitude of killifish species but also engages in sport fishing as well.

Gabe Oleinik
Will Mutsch
Hobby Outreach Coordinator
Web and Social Media Admin
Fundulus bifax Species Lead

Gabe is a founding chair of the Fundulid Working Group and manages the organization's online presence as well as forging connections in the aquarium hobby space. Being a long time hobbyist who arrived in the conservation space through non-traditional means himself, he sees the disconnect between traditional conservation and the hobby as a problem to be solved. He aims to help lead the charge on bridging the two in the interest of collaborative conservation. Gabe has a very wide experience and varied interests both in and outside of the fish world, and he's bringing a lot of that variety of knowledge and skill together to help protect Fundulids through many means.