Freshwater Fishes of Connecticut

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• Redfin Pickerel

  Connecticut’s smallest pike species. They are typically mistaken for small chain pickerel by anglers.

• Catfishes and Bullheads

  Catfish and bullheads have eight barbels around the mouth: two off the snout, two off the corners of the mouth, and four under the chin. These long barbels give the impression of whiskers, hence the name “catfishes.”

• Channel Catfish

  The channel catfish is the state’s largest catfish species.

• Hickory Shad

  The summer/fall recreational fishery for hickory shad is gaining in popularity.

• Bowfin

  Often confused with the snakehead, the bowfin is an introduced fish that has grown rapidly in abundance since 2003.

• Common Shiner

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

• 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.

• Striped Killifish

  This is the largest killifish species in Connecticut and the least tolerant of fresh water.

• Chain Pickerel

  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.

• American Shad

  In 2003, the American shad was designated Connecticut’s “State Fish.”

• Killifishes

  Both marine and freshwater killifishes are distributed throughout Central and Eastern North America from southern Canada to the Yucatan, including Cuba and Bermuda.

• Common Carp

  Learn all about common carp, one of Connecticut's biggest and hardest fighting fish!

• Warmouth

  Warmouths can be distinguished from other sunfishes by feeling for the patch of small teeth on the tongue.

• Hogchoker

  Apparently during Colonial times, “hogchokers” fed to pigs proved difficult to swallow.