Fish Identification

Updated

April 2014

Migratory Fish

American Eel

Catadromous: lives in freshwater and spawns in saltwater, the Sargasso Sea.

American Shad

Anadromous: Lives in saltwater and spawns in freshwater.

Atlantic Sturgeon

Length: Max 15 feet.

Weight: Max 800 pounds.

Age: Max 60 yrs.

Sea Lamprey

Sea Lamprey on Lake Trout.

Paddlefish

Sunfish Family

Largemouth Bass

PA State Record11 lbs. 3 oz.

Smallmouth Bass

PA State Record8 lbs. 8 ozs.

Rock Bass

White & Black Crappie Bass

Bluegill

Longear Sunfish

Red-spotted Sunfish

Green Sunfish

Catfish

Brown BullheadPA State Record:4 lbs. 10 oz.

Channel Catfish

Weight: Max 40 to 50 pounds.

PA State Record:35 lbs. 2.5 oz.

Flathead CatfishLength: Max 61 inches

Weight: World record 123 lbs. 9 oz.

PA State Record:48 lbs. 6 oz.

Minnows

Blacknose Dace

Fathead Minnow

Creek Chub

Common Carp

The largest carp caught by an angler was in Bordeaux, France weighing 94 pounds.

PA State Record:52 lbs.

Suckers

White Sucker

Northern Hog Sucker

Pike Family

Chain Pickerel

Northern Pike

Muskellunge

Tiger Muskellunge

Temperate Bass

Striped Bass

Perch

Yellow Perch

Walleye

Trout

Brook TroutOfficial State Fish of Pennsylvania.State Record: 7 lbs.

Genetically a Char not a trout.

Rainbow Trout

Introduced from the Rocky Mountain states in the early 1900’s.

PA State Record:15 lbs. 6.25 oz.

Steelhead Trout

Anadromous version of Rainbow Trout.

Male

Female

Golden Rainbow Trout

Pennsylvania record Golden Trout was 13 pounds.

Not a Palomino

West Virginia Fish Hatchery in 1954 foundone female with the genetic mutation

First Stocked in 1967.

Tiger Trout – Cross between a Brown Trout & a Brook Trout.

Officially discontinued in 2005.

Brown TroutIntroduced from Germany in 1886.

PA State Record:19 lbs. 10 oz.

Exotic Fish

Catfish