Fish of Pa

1. Fish of Pa http://dsf.chesco.org/ccparks/lib/ccparks/trout.jpg.jpg

2. Bowfin • Bowfin’s the body is covered with heavy scales, and its head is covered with bony plates. They have a olive-green color on the back ,which is lighter on the side ands yellowish on the bottom. • Life History: Bowfins spawn in the spring. The male watches over the young fry. • Watershed:Lake Erie, and Delaware, Ohio and Susquehanna River watersheds.

3. Rainbow Smelt • Identification: The rainbow smelt is a small, slender, silvery fish, with a large mouth and strong teeth. The rainbow smelt’s color is rainbowlike, ranging from pale to dark-olive on the back, to purple and pink on the sides, and shading to dark-blue and violet near the belly, which is whitish. • Life history: Rainbow smelt spawn early in the spring. Smelt run upstream into the mouths of small creeks to spawn at night, or they deposit their eggs along the lake shore. • Watershed: Lakes, Delaware River

4. Burbot • Identification: The hindmost dorsal fin and the anal fin are long and nearly equal in length. A rounded tail fin separates both of these long fins. A pair of pelvic fins is located in the throat region in front of the large pectoral. • Life history:The Burbot is one of only a few Pennsylvania freshwater fishes to spawn in midwinter. They spend most of this time in lake shallows or stream channels. • Watershed: The only Pennsylvania populations occur in Lake Erie and the Allegheny River headwaters.

5. Lake Sturgeon • Identification:Lake sturgeons reach seven feet long, with olive-brown to gray on the back and sides, white underparts, and dark-brown to gray fins. The rows of bony scales on the top and sides are the same color as the body. • Life history: Sturgeons can live 50 to 100 years or more, depending on the species. The lake sturgeon doesn’t spawn until it is about 15 years old. • Watershed: Lake Erie http://www.fishalberta.com/01season/Sturg/027.jpg

6. SpottedGar • Identification: The spotted gar is usually olive-green on its back and silvery-white on the belly. There are large, dark spots on the top and sides of the head, and on the upper part of the body. • Life history: Spotted gars also spawn in the spring, with large groups of males and females appearing over riffles and in the shores. • Watershed: the Mississippi watershed, and lower Great Lakes. http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/images/spottedgar.jpg http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfruf/images/bio4950/lampetra_american_brook_lamprey.jpg

7. http://www.coolwaterfish.com/SPsilverredFS.jpg White Sucker • Identification: White suckers have a stout cylindrical or tube-shaped body. The upper part of the head and back is olive-brown, shading to light-yellow. There is a dull, silvery sheen on the scales on the sides, and the belly is whitish. • Life history: In spring, when water temperatures reach about 50 degrees, white suckers make their spawning runs, or migrations. They sometimes enter small gravel-bottomed streams by the thousands. • Its natural range is from northern Canada to Florida, throughout the uplands of eastern North America, and west to the Plains region Redhorse Sucker Identification: They are solid-bodied, cylindrical fish, with strong, smooth scaling reflecting silver or gold. The head has no scales. The redhorse’s back is gray to olive-brown. Life history: The redhorses spawn in spring, with most migrating upstream to shallow rubble or gravelly shoals in fast water. Black redhorses gather in the pools above the spawning shoals before spawning, sometimes leaping out of the water . Allegheny River, Potomac River, Delaware River

8. Sculpins Mottled Sculpin • Identification: Sculpins are small, camouflaged fish reaching four or five inches in length. Sculpins are compressed top to bottom, tapering quickly from a robust head to a narrow tail. • Life history: The eggs are laid on the underside of the rock, in a sticky mass. They hatch in two or three weeks. The male guards the nest as the eggs develop. Slimy and Potomac sculpins spawn similarly. • Watershed: The Spoonhead Sculpin is only found in Lake Erie in Pa, the mottled sculpin is found in all of the state’s watersheds http://www.nanfa.org/NANFAregions/oh/Ohio0802/sculpin1.jpg Spoonhead Sculpin http://fwp.mt.gov/content/getItem.aspx?id=4778&maxwidth=475

9. Trout • Identification: Rainbow trout are silvery-gray to dark-green on the back and sides. They have a pinkish or reddish lateral stripe, sometimes with lavendar or orange overtones. • Life history: Spawning takes place when the water temperature is about 50 degrees, over gravel beds with good water flow. Rainbow trout move upstream to find the proper spawning area. Rainbows in lakes seek tributary streams. • Watershed: throughout Pennsylvania’s watersheds. Rainbow Trout Brown Trout identification: Brown trout are brownish in overall tone. The back and upper sides are dark-brown to gray-brown, with yellow-brown to silvery lower sides. Life history: Brown trout spawn in the fall, a little later than brook trout, when water temperatures are in the mid-40s to high 40s. Watershed: throughout Pennsylvania’s watersheds.

10. Brook Trout • Identification: The brook trout’s general body color is dark-green. Looking closer, its back is dark olive-green or gray-green, mottled with dark, squiggly or wormlike markings from head to tail. • Life history: Brook trout spawn in the fall, from mid-September through November and may travel to upstream headwaters to find the right spawning spot. • Watershed: throughout Pennsylvania’s watersheds. http://www.alleghenyfront.org/img/contrib/greenriverbrook.jpg

11. Perch • Identification: It has distinctive “tiger stripes” along its sides. The thin stripes are dark-olive or black on the pale-yellow or greenish-yellow body, crossing the fish’s back and extending toward its belly. • Life history: They swim from deep water offshore to sandy shallows or gravelly shoals, where a few to several hundred males gather in schools. • Watershed: Ohio River watershed and Lake Erie and tributary streams. Walleye Logperch Walleyes Identification: Walleyes have a long, roundish body, a forked tail and sharp canine teeth in their jaws. The large eye is glassy and reflects light at night. Life history: Walleyes travel, feed and spawn in schools. They range widely in their home lakes or rivers. Watershed: throughout Pennsylvania’s watersheds.

12. http://aquanic.org/images/photos/ill-in/bluegill.jpg SunFish • Identification: Rock bass are robust fish, not as flattened from the sides as most other sunfish. They are an overall dark-olive to golden-brown, mottled and shading lighter on the sides. The belly is whitish. • Life history: Rock bass spawn in spring or early summer, usually May or June, when the water temperature reaches 60 to 70 degrees. • Watershed: Ohio River Great Lakes Atlantic Ocean Susquehanna River and Delaware River. Bluegill Rock Bass Identification: Generally, the bluegill has an olive to brownish back, with sides that shade to brownish, orange and even pink. Life history: Bluegills spawn during a longer period than most sunfish, from May, when the water temperature reaches 67 degrees, until August. Watershed: throughout Pennsylvania’s watersheds.

13. http://www.wayneswords.com/images/tmrecord.jpg Pike • Identification: The northern’s back and sides are dark yellow-green or gray-green, shading to whitish undersides • Life history: Northerns spawn very early in spring, when water temperatures are from 40 to a little over 50 degrees, just after ice-out. • Watershed: Ohio and Allegheny River watersheds, and to Lake Erie Northern Pike Male Tiger Musky Identification: Its general color is dark gray-green on the back, a lighter green on the sides, with dark, equally spaced side bars giving the fish its “tiger” name. Life History: Tiger muskies are produced for stocking by mixing of eggs and milt of the fish’s muskellunge and northern pike parents. Watershed: throughout Pennsylvania’s watersheds.

14. Delaware Bluntnose Minnow Common Carp Identification: Green with black horizontal stripe Life history: Bluntnose minnows live in streams and rivers but sometimes seek out quiet waters. Watershed: only in Delaware watersheds Identification: Carp can be confused with feral goldfish, except that the carp grows much larger and has two pairs of soft, fleshy barbels around its mouth. Life history: After rains have swelled their home river over its banks, they may move into flooded fields to deposit eggs on submerged plants. Watershed: Erie Ohio Potomac Susquehanna Delaware

15. http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/bridle.html Ohio Popeye Shiner Longnose Dace Identification: On the upper sides and back, the longnose dace is reddish brown to dark-olive. Life history: Longnose dace usually spawn in the spring, from April into June. Spawning sites include areas over gravel or sand in fast water. Watershed: found In all Pa’s watersheds Identification: Popeye shiners do not develop a distinctive breeding color; the body on the sides and venter is olive brown above and silvery Life history: preferred habitat of shallow gravel flats and flowing pools in small rivers and large streams Watershed: only in Ohio

16. http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/bridle.html Lake Erie Emerald Shiner River Shiner Identification: Stocky, slightly compressed body Dorsal fin origin above back half of pelvic fin base. Life history: Mature by age 1 or 2 Watershed:Erie Ohio Identification: emerald green back with a distinctive silver lateral band and a white belly, mouth is large, terminal and oblique, elliptical body shape and slab-sided Life history: Spawning occurs late May to early August in water 20-23°C Watershed:Erie Ohio

17. http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/bridle.html http://rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/fish/notropisvol.html Mimic Shiner Bridle Shiner Susquehanna Identification: whitish belly ,scales on back have a light pigment edge giving the fish a cross-hatched appearance Life history: Feeds at mid-depth on insect larvae, terrestrial insects, zooplankton, algae and other plant debris Watershed: Susquehanna Erie Ohio Identification: Black side stripe that circles the snout and extends onto tail fin base .Straw back, lower side and belly straw with silver flecks. Life history: Spawning occurs late May to mid-July in water 14.4-26.7°C Watershed:Susquehanna Delaware

18. Potomac River Chub Spottail Shiner Identification:Identification: The back is olive-brown, shading to silvery on the sides above a pale-yellowish belly Life history: Males hold stones in their mouths and build nests of mounds that can reach a diameter of 24 inches. Watershed: Erie Ohio Potomac Susquehanna Delaware Identification: very pale olive silvery sides and belly large prominent spot at the base of the tail, dorsal, and anal fins. Life history: Spawning appears to take place in June or July over sandy bottom and at the mouths of streams. Watershed: Erie Ohio Potomac Susquehanna Delaware

19. http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/bridle.html Genesee Tonguetied Minnow Grass Carp Identification: Its color is olive to silvery-white, and it has large scales that are dark-edged, with a black spot at the base. Life history: They grow rapidly, to more than 10 pounds in just two years. Watershed: found In all Pa’s watersheds Identification: Stocky body, moderate body form Dorsal fin origin usually behind pelvic fin Broadly rounded or slightly pointed snout, inferior mouth Life history: Spawning occurs May to June at water temperatures of 14-21°C Watershed: Ohio Genesee