The Banded Topminnow was first described by Valenciennes in 1846. The species name of cingulatus translates to provided with girdles. There are also light color red dots along the back intermixed with the vertical strips. The unpaired fins along with the ventral fins have a light orange color that intensifies to almost a red when in breeding condition. In some males the throat area becomes a very dusky charcoal black when in breeding condition.
Females tend to be more yellow-green with small dark brown spots on the upper sides.
Some have very faint bars similar to the males. All unpaired fins are colorless except for some faint spots close to the body. There is a color morph of this fish found in the panhandle of Florida that has a distinct pink cast to the body and the fins have a much more rosy color, turning a bright pink-red when breeding. This color morph seems to breed true , with juvenile showing this coloration in F1 stock. This is a medium size Fundulus with the top size, for both sexes being about 5 to 8 cm.