Freshwater Fishes of Connecticut
Page 4 of 8
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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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Introductions of green sunfish have been implicated with adverse impacts on other fish species.
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Mullets are torpedo-shaped fishes with horizontal mouths.
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Yellow perch are one of the state’s most popular panfishes. They actively feed during the winter, making them a staple for ice anglers.
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The white sucker is arguably our most important fish species.
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Anadromous alewives are important forage fish for large gamefish such as striped bass and bluefish as well as many other animals, including osprey and marine mammals.
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They were first observed in Connecticut in the early 1980s at a few disjunct sites in the lower Housatonic and upper Quinebaug River drainages. Populations are expanding in both of these drainages, and individuals have recently been discovered in the Connecticut River drainage as well.
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Connecticut’s smallest pike species. They are typically mistaken for small chain pickerel by anglers.
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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.”
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The channel catfish is the state’s largest catfish species.
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The summer/fall recreational fishery for hickory shad is gaining in popularity.
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Often confused with the snakehead, the bowfin is an introduced fish that has grown rapidly in abundance since 2003.
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With no obvious and distinctive characteristics, the common shiner is one of the most difficult fish to identify.