The Fishes of North Carolina
By the NCFishes.com Team The Family Cichlidae, known collectively as cichlids, is a very diverse (about 1600 species) family of fishes indigenous to tropical and subtropical fresh and brackish waters of Mexico, Central and South America, the West Indies, Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent. Only one species, the Ro Grande Cichlid, Herichthys … Read more
By the NCFishes.com Team Three of our largest freshwater fishes are found in our coastal waters, rivers, and estuaries and even in our largest mountain river. These three species are: Shortnose Sturgeon, Acipenser brevirostrum, Lake Sturgeon, A. fulvescens, and Atlantic Sturgeon, A. oxyrinchus (NCFishes.com; Tracy et al. 2020). [Please note: Tracy et al. (2020) may … Read more
By the NCFishes.com Team Our native species of darters and perches are just as brightly colored as many fishes one would find in a pet shop, yet few people are aware of their existence. There are 38 species of darters and perches in North Carolina (Table 1), including several species found in only one river … Read more
By the NCFishes.com Team North Carolina is home to four species of livebearers (Table 1) (Tracy et al. 2020). [Please note: Tracy et al. (2020) may be downloaded for free at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/sfcproceedings/vol1/iss60/1.] The common name of the family – Livebearers – stems from the fact that a female gives birth to live young, rather than … Read more
By the NCFishes.com Team North Carolina is home to 3 of the 7 species of Elassoma known to occur in North America: Carolina Pygmy Sunfish, Elassoma boehlkei, Everglades Pygmy Sunfish, Elassoma evergladei, and Banded Pygmy Sunfish, Elassoma zonatum (Gilbert 2004; Snelson 2009; Tracy et al. 2020). [Please note: Tracy et al. (2020) may be downloaded … Read more
By the NCFishes.com Team Along North Carolina’s shore there are four families of flatfish comprising 36 species having eyes on the left side of their body facing upward when lying in or atop the substrate (NCFishes.com; Table 1; Figure 1). The families and species can be confusing to tell apart. The key characteristics provided for … Read more
By the NCFishes.com Team The waters along and off the coast are where you will find 18 of the 19 species within the Family Sciaenidae (Table 1) known from North Carolina. Until recently, the 19th species and the only truly freshwater species in this family, Freshwater Drum, was found approximately 420 miles WNW from Cape … Read more
By the NCFishes.com Team The Family Eleotridae is a small family of just three species inhabiting North Carolina’s shallow coastal waters. These species, unknown to most, are: Fat Sleeper, Dormitator maculatus, Largescaled Spinycheek Sleeper, Eleotris amblyopsis, and Emerald Sleeper, Erotelis smaragdus (NCFishes.com; Tracy et al. 2020). [Please note: Tracy et al. (2020) may be downloaded … Read more
By the NCFishes.com Team North Carolina is home to 3 of the 6 species of Temperate Basses, plus one hybrid (Table 1) (Tracy et al. 2020). [Please note: Tracy et al. (2020) may be downloaded for free at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/sfcproceedings/vol1/iss60/1.] The 4th North American species of Morone, M. mississippiensis, Yellow Bass, is found primarily in the … Read more
By the NCFishes.com Team (Written by Bryn. H. Tracy) This blog post is an update to Scott A. Smith’s original blog posting on Shad Identification, dated June 16, 2015. All links to the original post now redirect here. I grew up with this children’s poem, “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod”, written by Eugene Field (1850-1895, published … Read more