Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection
Freshwater Fishes of Connecticut
Page 5 of 8
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Make a home aquarium with the beautiful native and introduced freshwater fishes of Connecticut!
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Although central mudminnows look superficially like minnows or killifish, they are actually more closely related to pickerel and pike.
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Creek chubsucker populations have reportedly declined in streams that are subject to siltation.
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Their abundance makes them very important forage fish for many marine predators such as striped bass, fluke and seabirds.
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Families of Connecticut Freshwater Fishes
Learn the defining characteristics of Connecticut's freshwater fish families!
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Smelt are important forage fish for large pelagic predators such as striped bass in estuaries and brown trout in lakes.
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Also known as “tidewater” silverside. They are less common than and very difficult to distinguish from the Atlantic silverside without magnification.
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Sculpins are sensitive to environmental degradation, requiring good-quality, coldwater streams to survive.
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Sculpins have a flattened head, large frog-like mouth and eyes, a scaleless body, and large fan-shaped pectoral fins.
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A small family limited to marine waters of the Western Hemisphere.
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Introductions of green sunfish have been implicated with adverse impacts on other fish species.
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The brown bullhead is Connecticut’s most widely distributed and only native catfish species. They are good to eat, but are typically underutilized by anglers.
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The chain pickerel is Connecticut’s largest native freshwater predatory fish. Before the introduction of bass, it was the top predator in the state’s lakes and ponds.
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Bluegills often inhabit shallow areas and are very easy to catch on a variety of small lures or baits (especially worms).
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Rock bass have relatively large mouths, so are commonly caught by anglers seeking larger gamefish.