Rough Fish Identification

Longnose Gar


Common Names - gar, garfish


Description - They are olive-brown or deep green along the back and upper sides, with silver-white bellies. There are a few irregular, large dark spots on the body. The young display scattered spots over both sides, the upper and lower jaws and on their ventral fins. The longnose is generally distinguished from other gars by its longer, more slender body, and especially by its longer, narrower snout. The snout is twice the length of the rest of the head.

Florida Gar


Common Names - gar, garfish, spotted gar


Description - They have irregular round, black spots on the top of the head and over the entire body and on all the fins. Other gars, except for spotted gars, have spots on the fins and usually on the posterior part of the body. They can be distinguished from other gars, such as spotted gars, by the distance from the front of the eye to the back of the gill cover. In Florida gars, the distance is less than two-thirds the length of the snout. In spotted gars, the distance is more than two-thirds the length of the snout. Other characteristics of Florida gars include a shorter, broader snout with a single row of irregularly spaced sharp teeth on both upper and lower jaws and no bony scales on the throat. The coloration is olive-brown along the back and upper sides with a white-to-yellow belly. The young sometimes have dark stripes along back and sides.

Spotted Gar


Common Names - gar, garfish, Florida gar


Description - Spotted gars are almost identical to Florida gars. These species are the only two gars that have dark spots on the top of the head as well as over the entire body and on all the fins. They can be distinguished by the distance between the front of the eye and the rear edge of the gill cover. If the distance is more than two-thirds the length of the snout, it is a spotted gar. If the distance is less than two-thirds the length of the snout, it is a Florida gar. Spotted gars have a single row of teeth in each jaw and has a much broader snout than that of the longnose gar. Spotted gar also have bony scales on their throat. The coloration generally is darker than that of Florida gars, some fish being almost black, depending on the color of the water.

Alligator Gar


Common Names - gar, garfish



Description - They are one of the most distinctive freshwater fish species. Alligator gars are the largest of all gar species with a head that looks very much like an alligator's. They can be distinguished from all other gars species by the two rows of teeth in the upper jaw, their short-broader snout, and their size when fully grown. The body is long, slender, and olive or greenish brown (sometimes black) along the back and upper sides with white to yellow bellies. The sides are mottled toward the head with large black spots toward the rear and on the rear fins. The young have a light stripe along their back from tip of snout to upper base of caudal fin.

American Eel


Common name - American Eel (pencil eel, yellow eel, black eel, silver eel, Boston eel, Atlantic eel or common eel)


Description - The body is extremely elongated (snakelike), with a very long dorsal fin that is confluent with the anal fin. Pelvic fins are absent and tiny scales are embedded in the skin giving eels a smooth feel. The adult color is a yellow-brown with pale underbelly.

Golden Shiner

Common name - Golden Shiner


Description - A golden hue with reddish fins is typical of this species that has a small soft-rayed dorsal fin and like other shiners has a lateral line (the series of sensory holes along the side of a fish) that dips downward.

Eastern Mosquito Fish

Common names - Mosquito fish (gambusia, pot belly).


Description - A diminutive silver-colored, live-bearing minnow that is common throughout Florida. A greenish tinge is sometimes noted especially when looking down on the back of the fish. It has a small up-turned mouth and the area over and behind the head is somewhat flattened.

Atlantic Sturgeon


Common name - Atlantic sturgeon


Description - Sturgeon in general are easily recognizable by the bony plates on their bodies and barbels (whiskers) on their chin. Sturgeon are among the oldest living species of fish and retain many primitive characteristics typical of fish during the age of the dinosaurs. Almost two dozen species of sturgeon can be found in the Northern Hemisphere, of which seven occur in North America. The Gulf race (subspecies?) of Atlantic sturgeon have a V-shaped snout with two pairs of barbels and two rows of plates in front of the vent. The back is typically blue black with a white or cream colored belly.

Shortnose Sturgeon


COMMON NAMES - Shortnose sturgeon


DESCRIPTION - Sturgeon are primitivefishes, with a heterocercal tail (the upper lobe is much longer than the lower lobe) like many sharks. The body is covered with 5 rows of large bony plates. These fish have a tube-like mouth located on the underside of the head. The mouth protrudes several inches when the fish is feeding. Shortnose sturgeon range in color from grayish-olive to brownish above, shading to white on the belly. Shortnose sturgeon have wider mouths (inside the lips; the width is greater than 60 percent of the distance between the eyes, while Atlantic sturgeon have small mouths that measure 50 percent or less) and the snout is more U-shaped in the shortnose than in the Atlantic.

Bowfin


Common Names - mudfish, mud pike, dogfish, grindle, blackfish, cottonfish, swamp bass, cypress trout


Description - The bowfin is the only living representative of an ancient family of fishes. It has an air-bladder which functions somewhat like a lung, and they are often seen near the surface of the water gulping mouthfuls of air. They are easily recognized by its flattened head; long, stout body; large mouth full of small, sharp teeth; long dorsal fin that extends along most of the back; and rounded tail. The pelvic fins are set far back on the belly near the middle of the body and the pectoral fins are low on the sides so that the overall appearance is one of three sets of fins in a row; the pectorals behind the head, the pelvics near the midbody, and the anal fin near the tail. Also, two short tube-like barbels are located near the nostrils. The body is olive-green above, shading to pale yellow or cream on the belly. Several dark brown, horizontal bars are often evident on the cheeks. Males have a dark spot with a bright orange halo, on the upper part of the tail fin. The spot is absent or inconspicuous on females.

American Shad


COMMON NAMES - White shad


DESCRIPTION - Green or greenish blue with metallic luster on back; silvery sides; body compressed; upper jaw with a smaller or larger median notch; lower jaw not protruding beyond upper jaw, teeth missing in examples greater than 8 inches; adipose eyelid present, chest and abdomen with bony scutes; pectoral fin without a free axillary process; cheek deeper than long; sometimes with a few spots on sides behind shoulder spot.

Skipjack Herring


COMMON NAMES - Skipjack herring (skipjack shad)


DESCRIPTION - A typical herring or shad it is silvery colored with a small dorsal fin, deeply forked caudal fin and small mouth. The lower jaw on a skipjack extends in front of the upper jaw and the fish is very compressed (flattened side to side). There is no dark marking on the shoulder.

Quillback


Identification: As their common name implies, these silvery, deep-bodied fish resemble common carp. However, both carpsuckers may be distinguished from carp by the absence of barbels, and lack of spines in dorsal and anal fins of the carpsuckers. In both carpsuckers, the mouth is situated on the underside of the head and the snout extends forward beyond the jaws; also, the first ray of the dorsal fin may be very long, forming an elevated filament. Quillback and highfin carpsuckers are very similar in appearance, but they may be separated by looking at the lower lip. The quillback does not have a nipple-like knob at the middle of the lower lip, while the highfin carpsucker has a small nipple at this location. Both carpsuckers may be distinguished from other Florida suckers by body shape. The carpsuckers have deep, slab-sided bodies, while our other suckers are more elongate or somewhat cylindrical in shape.

Highfin Carpsucker


Identification: Along with its cousin, the quillback, the highfin carpsucker superficially resembles the common carp. However, both carpsuckers may easily be separated from carp by the absence of barbels and lack of spines in dorsal and anal fins of the two carpsuckers. Both carpsuckers have the mouth positioned on the underside of the head and the snout extends forward beyond the jaws. In addition, the first ray of the dorsal fin may be very long, forming an elevated filament. Quillback and highfin carpsuckers are quite alike in appearance, but may be separated by looking at the lower lip. The highfin carpsucker bears a small, nipple-like structure, or knob, at the middle of the lower lip, while the quillback lacks this nipple. Both carpsuckers may be distinguished from other Florida suckers by body shape. Carpsuckers are deep-bodied and compressed from side-to-side, while other Florida suckers are more elongate or somewhat cylindrical. General body color is silvery or brassy on the sides, with the upper surfaces somewhat darker and the lower body white or yellowish.

Lake Chubsucker


Identification: The lake chubsucker and its close relative, the sharpfin chubsucker, are chubby, heavy-bodied fish, but although they are somewhat compressed from side-to-side, they are not nearly so slab-sided as the carpsuckers and also lack the long, elevated dorsal fins of the latter. The remaining Florida suckers, the spotted sucker, and the three redhorses, have much more elongate and streamlined body shapes than the chubsuckers. In addition, while the mouth of the chubsuckers is located somewhat beneath the head, the mouth of the spotted sucker and the redhorse suckers is definitely positioned beneath the head in a down-turned fashion. Adult males have a bilobed (two-lobed) anal fin. In Florida, this species can only be confused with the sharpfin chubsucker, with which it occasionally occurs in the western Panhandle. As its name suggests, the sharpfin chubsucker has a much more pointed dorsal fin than does the lake chubsucker, the dorsal fin of which is somewhat rounded in profile. General body coloration of lake chubsuckers is dark bronze, brown or olive on the upper surfaces and lighter bronze over the sides, with the undersides whitish.

Sharpfin Chubsucker


Identification: The sharpfin chubsucker is superficially similar to the lake chubsucker, with which it is occasionally found. As the common name implies, the dorsal fin is sharply pointed, while that of the lake chubsucker is rounded in profile. Usually the first ray of the dorsal fin is longer than the base of this fin, while the first ray is usually shorter than the fin base of the lake chubsucker. Both of these chubsuckers are robust, oblong and somewhat compressed fishes; however, they are not nearly as deep-bodied or slab-sided as the carpsuckers and they have shorter dorsal fins (containing less than 20 rays) than the carpsuckers. Conversely, most other Florida suckers (spotted sucker and several redhorse suckers) are much more elongate and slenderer than the chubsuckers, and although the mouth of the chubsuckers is slightly below the head, it is not nearly as far beneath the head as that of the spotted sucker and the redhorse suckers. The anal fin of the male sharpfin sucker is not bilobed as is that of the male lake chubsucker.

Spotted Sucker


Identification: This species and the redhorse suckers (genus Moxostoma) may be readily separated from other suckers (the carpsuckers, Carpiodes, and chubsuckers, Erimyzon) by their elongate, cylindrical bodies and distinctly sucker-like mouths located well on the underside of the head. Spotted suckers and the redhorse suckers have protrusible lips which they employ to pick up food from the bottom and it is these extendable lips which provide them with the amusing local name of buglemouth bass. Spotted suckers may be identified by the presence of eight to twelve parallel rows of dark spots which run along the sides of the body. Overall body coloration is brassy or bronze, with the upper back shading to olive or brownish and the bottom being gray or white. Breeding males may have two dark bands running along the sides, separated by a pinkish or reddish band along the midline of the sides.

River Redhorse


Identification: This robust, cylindrical sucker may be separated from other similar suckers by its red tail fin. The dorsal and other fins may also be red or reddish. The dorsal fin has a straight or slightly concave margin and the tail fin has a pointed upper lobe which usually is slightly longer than the rounded lower lobe. Crescent-shaped dark spots may be visible on the scales of the back and sides. Overall body color is olive to brownish across the back, with silvery or bronze sides and a white underside.

Blacktail Redhorse

Identification: The blacktail redhorse may be readily separated from all other suckers by the color pattern of the tail fin. The lower lobe of the tail fin is bordered lengthwise by a white band. Above this white edge is a parallel black band which extends from the base of the tail to the rear edge of the fin. Otherwise, this elongate, cylindrical, moderately compressed sucker superficially resembles the spotted sucker, river redhorse and greyfin redhorse. General body coloration is bronze to brownish over the back, with silvery sides and a white bottom. Color of all fins, except the tail, varies from reddish to white.

Grayfin Redhorse


Identification: As its name implies, this sucker has plain dusky or gray fins. Other Moxostoma suckers, the blacktail redhorse and river redhorse, have distinctively colored fins. The lower portion of the tail fin is black and white in the blacktail redhorse, and the tail fin is red in the river redhorse. In addition, neither of these two suckers occur together with the grayfin redhorse. The grayfin redhorse does somewhat resemble the spotted sucker, with which it does co-occur. However, the spotted sucker is readily identified by the numerous black spots along its sides.

Them river red horse taste real good pickled and smoked. great post greg