Freshwater
Page 5 of 9
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Also called “calico bass,” crappie grow quickly and are a popular food and sport fish.
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Blueback herring and alewives are so similar that the color of the gut lining (peritoneum) is the only sure way to tell them apart.
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It is unclear how or when bluntnose minnows arrived in Connecticut.
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Blacknose dace are a native minnow that prefer the pools and rocky riffles of small headwater streams.
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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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Rarity and difficulty with identification cause the blackspotted stickleback’s whereabouts in Connecticut to be unclear.
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Black bullheads are very difficult to distinguish from brown bullheads. It is unclear whether the few individuals reported in Connecticut represent self-sustaining populations.
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This primitive family has a diverse fossil record, but only one species still exists.
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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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Rainbow trout seldom survive the summer in Connecticut and natural reproduction is rare.
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Connecticut’s smallest pike species. They are typically mistaken for small chain pickerel by anglers.
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In Connecticut, the redbreast sunfish typically outnumbers other sunfish species only in river environments.
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One of our most colorful freshwater fishes.
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Two native and one introduced pike species exist in Connecticut. All members of the family are predacious, primarily feeding on fish.
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Where numerous, rainwater killifish are thought to be an effective control of mosquito larvae.