US Bureau of Reclamation Rene Reyes American Shad, The American shad is a migratory species found along the Atlantic coast of North America from Newfoundland to Florida. These fish “hear” better than other fish. They have fine sensory hairs in their otoliths (similar to the ear bone), a network of water filled channels in their heads, and a swim bladder that extends up into their brain. Together, these unique features allow the shad to be extremely sensitive to movement in the water and predators. Common length for female adult shad is 24.3 in male adult shad is 19.7 inches. The maximum reported size of an American shad is 29.9 inches and 12 pounds and 2 ounces. The American shad’s body is blue or green in color along the top of its body with silvery sides. 
USGS/Noel Burkhead The pumpkinseed is the jewel of the sunfish family, with a round, flat body splashed with orange, yellow, blue and green spots, a face marked with wavy white lines, and a dark orange crescent on the back of its dark gill cover (commonly called an ear flap). Surprisingly, its name refers not to its color, but to its body shape which resembles the seed of a large squash. It likes weedy ponds and deep wetlands. The pumpkinseed favors insects, insect larvae, crustaceans, and small fish and is usually found under cover, such aquatic vegetation or submerged vegetation. Adult pumpkinseed average 6 inches in length and are wide spread and its population is stable. 
USGS Chris Appleby The Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) is a hero at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens as they help control the mosquito population. They are small livebearing fish found in mostly in fresh and brackish waters. Their range extends from the Gulf coast and lower western Mississippi drainage from western Alabama to the Rio Grande and north to southern Kansas and Illinois. These fish have been introduced around the world in an effort to control disease carrying mosquitos. While they do find mosquitos tasty, there have been impacted by native fish in many parts of their introduced range. 
USGS/Eric Szkodny Largemouth bass are a favorite species for recreational fishing. These fish inhabit clear, vegetated lakes, ponds, swamps, and the backwaters of pools, creeks and rivers. Adult largemouth bass use submerged aquatic vegetation as cover to ambush prey and juvenile or young largemouth use aquatic weeds, tree limbs or submerged log or stumps as cover to escape predation. Adult largemouth bass feed on small fish, crayfish, insects and frogs. Largemouth bass are voracious eaters, with many different animals becoming prey to this fierce eater. 
USGS/M.E. Brown Goldfish are very well known for being household pets. They are not always bright gold/orange. Wild populations vary in color from gold to olive green or even creamy white. They have a life span is 6 to 7 years, with a maximum of 30 years recorded. As children, you may have received or won a goldfish at a local fair. After the newness wears off, goldfish require more work than many are willing to do. Many people think that letting their goldfish loose into a local pond or river is a harmless and humane way to get rid of them. But that’s not the case. When goldfish are released in to local waterways they become an invasive species that can live for up to 25 years and do real harm to the water quality and wild fish communities. When they are released into the wild, goldfish can grow to the size of football and weigh up to four pounds! These voracious eaters carry parasites, foul the water, and uproot native plants and animals.Help your fish find a home with someone who will care for them. Fish adoption is a real thing!
US Fish & Wildlife Service The American eel is the only species of freshwater eel found in North America. It is a valuable food source for larger fish and fish-eating birds, as well as people. Eels are catadromous, meaning they primarily live in rivers and estuaries, but migrate out to the ocean - the Sargasso Sea, to spawn. American eels are an elongated fish, with fairly small fins. They use their whole body to swim in undulating motions. They are covered with a mucous layer, making them very slick. Female American eels can grow up to 4 feet in length, while males only reach 1.5 feet. They can weigh up to nine pounds. Eels hunt at night, feeding on crustaceans, small insects, worms and other fish. 
NOAA "Mummichog" is a Native American word meaing "going in crowds," and mumichogs crowd the ponds and marsh! Often used as bait for fishing, the mummichog (also called mud-minnow) is stout-bodied with a flattened head, rounded or squared-off tailfin, pointed teeth and a lower lip that juts out beyond the upper one. This fish grows to be five to six inches long, with females larger than males. These opportunistic feeders eat a range of items, including algae, plants, insects and insect larvae, worms, small crustaceans and mollusks, the eggs of their own species, other fish and carrion. Their predators include larger fish, wading birds and seabirds. They are able to consume up to 2,000 mosquito larve in a single day and help limit the mosquito population! 
USGS Kaitlin Kovacs The large fish that you often see jumping out of the water are Common Carp. Carp are not native to the United States and are one of the top 100 most invasive species in North America. This is because it is one of the most widely distributed fish species in North America and they can tolerate a variety of environmental conditions and habitat types in the 48 states. It was introduced into the Midwest as game fish in the 1880s. Adults are 15-30 inches and weighs 5-10lbs. Females can lay up to 100,000-500,000 eggs in single spawn. Carp cause harm because their feeding uproots shallowly rooted plants muddying the water which causes declines of aquatic plants needed by waterfowl and fish. Carp are highly tolerant of poor water quality and often become abundant in areas where few other fish species will live. 
US Fish & Wildlife Service Many people who enjoy fishing remember catching their first fish, and it most likely was a bluegill. Bluegill are also called bream, brim, sunny, or copper nose. The namebluegill comes from the bluish region on the cheek and gill cover. They are a deep, slab-sided (tall and flat) fish with a small mouth. The common length for bluegill is 7.5 inches with the maximum reported length being 16 inches. The heaviest bluegill ever weighed 4 pounds 12 ounces. A male bluegill will sweep or fan out a 6 to 12 inch diameter dish-shaped nests. Once the bluegill nest has been established, the female will enter the nest and deposit her eggs. Bluegill can live up to 11 years with average lifespan of 5 to 8 years. The bluegill is a common host fish for freshwater mussels. The fish provides the mussel with a place to live (usually on their gills) for the first part of its life.
USGS Noel Burkhead Similar to the bluefish, the redbreast sunfish is laterally compressed or flattened however, it has a more elongated body than other sunfishes. The redbreast's body is a bluish-green that fades into a bright orange-yellow belly in females and a deep orange-red belly in males. Both males and females have vertical rows of red-brown to orange spots on the sides of the body. The operculum or gill cover has a distinguishing long black lobe. Blue lines can be found on the face or cheek area of the redbreast sunfish. The average length of redbreast sunfish are 2-9 inches and they grow to 3-8 ounces. Their lifespan is approximately 8 years. The redbreast sunfish can be found areas with slow-moving or sluggish water such as pools and backwaters of streams and rivers and upstream reaches of reservoirs. They feed predominantly on aquatic and terrestrial insects, crayfish, mollusks and other fish. 
USGS Noel Burkhead
USGS/Konrad P. Schmidt The Banded Killifish is a small freshwater fish. The color is variable with sex and season, but the fish is usually tan to green above, with white to yellow, below, with dusky olive-yellow fins and 10-20 greenish brown bars. Banded Killifish are native to Atlantic drainages from South Carolina to the Gaspe Peninsula, with a limited range on the west coast of Newfoundland, and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence and upper Mississippi drainages. Banded Killifish inhabit shallow fresh and brackish waters over a wide range of temperatures. Their preferred habitats are the shallow margins of lakes, ponds and sluggish streams, often near dense vegetation. They often swim in schools, just below the surface. The food of Banded Killifish feed on insect larvae and microcrustaceans. The gut contents often contain plant material, but this may be consumed incidentally. Banded Killifish are common baitfish and likely prey for larger fishes and fish-eating birds.
USGS/Douglas Facey White perch grow seven to ten inches in length and rarely weigh more than one pound. They have a silvery, greenish-gray body with faint lines on the sides; a whitish belly; and a highly domed, gray or blackish black. Their lower jaw is slightly projecting. Adults eat small fish, insects, debris, and fish eggs and larvae. Juveniles feed on tiny zooplankton, including insects and crustaceans. Preadators include other fish and birds. The white perch is considered to be semi-anadromous because it does not travel all the way from the ocean to its spawning grounds in freshwater rivers. Spawning runs begin when water temperatures increase in late March. Adults move upstream to fresh or slightly brackish streams and rivers. As they grow, juveniles migrate downstream to brackish waters. White perch can live as long as 17 years.
USGS/Great Lakes Fishery Commission The sea lamprey is a fish that is native to the Atlantic Ocean. Petromyzon means sucker of stone and marinus means of the sea. Sea lampreys range throughout the eastern United States and western Europe coasts, as well as the Great Lakes. Sea lampreys are unique from many other fish species in that they do not have jaws or other bony structures. Instead, they possess a cartilaginous skeleton and a large oral disk filled with sharp, horn-shaped teeth that surround a toothed tongue. The oral disk allows them to attach and the toothed tongue allows them to rasp a hole into the side of a host fish and feed on its blood. Sea lampreys spend 12 to 18 months in the parasitic stage, where they feed on other fish. The tongue is located in the center of the oral disk and has two sets of plates that form cutting edges, or teeth. Sea lampreys almost exclusively consume blood. Preferred habitat consists primarily of silt with sand and detritus as secondary components. Parasitic sea lamprey are attached to, and feed on, fish in lake and ocean environments. 
USGS/Susan Trammell Northern snakehead fish are typically brown with dark, irregular blotches. They have long, thin dorsal fins (the fins located on their backs) and sharp teeth. A specialized chamber next to the snakehead's gills enables it to absorb oxygen by taking big gulps of air through its mouth. This adaptation makes it possible for northern snakehead fish to survive for up to four days on land, though this has only been observed in juveniles. Northern snakeheads can also enter torpor, a state of inactivity, which allows them to survive in very low temperatures and under the ice. Northern snakeheads can exceed 33 inches in length and can weigh up to 19 pounds. Northern snakehead fish are native to China, Southern Siberia, and North Korea. They are an invasive species in North America. In 2002, they were discovered in the U.S. in Maryland and North Carolina. They had likely been imported to fish markets, then unlawfully released. Snakehead fish prefer to live in shallow ponds, swamps and slow-moving streams that have a lot of plants and muddy surfaces. They can also be found in canals, reservoirs, lakes and rivers. Their ability to adjust to various depths, temperatures and oxygen levels allows them to survive in many different types of aquatic environments. Northern snakeheads have an average lifespan of 10 years but have been documented living as long as 15 years. Northern snakeheads are aggressive, carnivorous fish with dagger-like teeth. Juveniles eat small fish, while adults can eat fish that are up to 33% of their own body length, such as loach, bream and carp. Adults will also eat dragonfly larvae, beetles and frogs.
USGS/Sam Stukel The channel catfish has been called a swimming tongue. They have taste buds spread over their entire body with most around their gills and whiskers. Channel catfish are a popular recreational fish. The common length for channel catfish is 22 inches with the longest maximum reported length at 52 inches. Male channel catfish turn dark during spawning season and develop a thick pad on the top of their heads. Female channel catfish require cool water and short day lengths during the winter months for proper egg development. Channel catfish spawn, depending on the latitude, during the months of April through July, when temperatures reach 72 to 73 degrees Fahrenheit.The spawning catfish pair will dig a depression on the bottom of the river or stream, which is then guarded by the male catfish. Egg incubation will take around seven days, depending on the water temperature. The range of channel catfish extends from southern Canada into northern Mexico. They are found within the central drainages of the United States. 
NOAA/Chesapeake Bay Program
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Last updated: August 16, 2024