Freshwater Fishes of Connecticut

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• Striped Bass

  Striped bass grow large and are arguably the most important inshore predator and sport fish in the state.

• Mimic Shiner

  Looking a lot like other shiners gave the mimic shiner its name.

• Pike and Pickerel

  Two native and one introduced pike species exist in Connecticut. All members of the family are predacious, primarily feeding on fish.

• 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.

• Pupfishes

  The pupfishes and killifishes are very similar and were once included in the same family.

• Banded Killifish

  Prefer shallow, still areas of lakes and ponds and slow-flow areas of larger rivers and streams.

• Longnose Sucker

  Recent attempts to find longnose suckers in Connecticut have failed.

• Silversides

  Two estuarine/marine species of silversides exist in Connecticut. Both are schooling fish that occasionally enter freshwater areas of coastal rivers and streams.

• Fathead Minnow

  A popular baitfish, fathead minnows can be found at low abundance almost anywhere in Connecticut.

• Fallfish

  Our largest minnow species, the fallfish, is misidentified by many as trout or "dace".