Freshwater Fishes of Connecticut

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• Common Shiner

  With no obvious and distinctive characteristics, the common shiner is one of the most difficult fish to identify.

• Blacknose Dace

  Blacknose dace are a native minnow that prefer the pools and rocky riffles of small headwater streams.

• Sunfishes and Freshwater Basses

  There are eleven sunfish species in Connecticut, only three of which are native.

• Temperate Basses

  All North American members of the family are important gamefish, and some support significant commercial fisheries.

• Pumpkinseed

  One of our most colorful freshwater fishes.

• Sturgeons

  Learn about these huge, prehistoric fishes that are threatened and endangered in Connecticut.

• White Crappie

  White crappie are so similar in appearance to black crappie that most Connecticut anglers probably do not recognize them as a separate species.

• Spottail Shiner

  Typically the most abundant fish species in larger rivers, the spottail shiner is a very important forage fish.

• Burbot

  The burbot is the only completely freshwater member of the cod family. Little is known of its life history in Connecticut.

• Ninespine Stickleback

  Ninespine stickleback males build little tunnel-shaped nests out of bits of vegetation.

• Mudminnows

  Mudminnows are a small family of the Northern Hemisphere that look similar to killifish and minnows, but are actually more closely related to pike.

• Rainbow Trout

  Rainbow trout seldom survive the summer in Connecticut and natural reproduction is rare.

• Codfishes

  Codfishes are characterized by having a single barbel on the middle of the chin.

• Atlantic Sturgeon

  Damn building, overfishing and pollution all likely contributed to the demise of Atlantic sturgeon in Connecticut.

• Kokanee

  Kokanee prefer relatively clear lakes with cold, well-oxygenated water.