Dichotomous Key

Update to the “Minnow” Species (Families Cyprinidae, Xenocyprididae, and Leuciscidae) Diversity in North Carolina

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By the NCFishes.com Team The recognition by ichthyologists of Koi , Cyprinus rubrofuscus, as a separate species from Common Carp, Cyprinus carpio, its distribution across North Carolina, and the posting of the blog on Koi (https://ncfishes.com/koi-cyprinus-rubrofuscus-lacepede-in-north-carolina/) necessitated an update to the Identification Key to the Barbs and Carps, Asian Carps, and Minnows (Families Cyprinidae, Leuciscidae, … Read more

Update to the American Sole (Family Achiridae) Diversity in North Carolina

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By the NCFishes.com Team On May 10, 2021, we posted a blog on the American Sole (Family Achiridae) diversity in North Carolina (https://ncfishes.com/american-sole-family-achiridae-diversity-in-north-carolina/). Since then, we re-examined all of the material from North Carolina and South Carolina at the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences and discovered that all vouchered specimens of Lined Sole, … Read more

Recent Publications on the Freshwater Fishes of North Carolina

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By the NCFishes.com Team Two new identification keys to the freshwater fishes of North Carolina have been recently published by the North American Native Fishes Association (http://www.nanfa.org/) in their journal American Currents: Tracy, B.H., S.A. Smith, J.L. Bissette, and F.C. Rohde. 2021. Ahead by a whisker: freshwater catfish (Family Ictaluridae) diversity in North Carolina. American … Read more

A Summary of the Freshwater Fishes of North Carolina

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By the NCFishes.com Team This is the last blog in the series focusing on the freshwater fishes of North Carolina, which was launched on June 17, 2020 (https://ncfishes.com/identification-of-north-carolina-freshwater-fishes/). In some respects, this last blog should have been the first, but learning about fishes is never along a straight stream, unless it is in a channelized … Read more

Anchovy (Family Engraulidae) Diversity in North Carolina

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By the NCFishes.com Team Engraulidae is a small family comprising six species in North Carolina (Table 1). Their common name, anchovy, is possibly from the Spanish word anchova, but the term’s ultimate origin is unclear (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anchovy, accessed December 18, 2020). North Carolina’s anchovies range in size from about 100 mm Total Length for Bay Anchovy … Read more

Needlefish (Family Belonidae) Diversity in North Carolina

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By the NCFishes.com Team The waters along and off the coast are where you will find all five species within the Family Belonidae known from North Carolina (Table 1). One of the five species, Atlantic Needlefish, is also found upstream in the lower Piedmont (more about that later). Because of their superficial resemblance to the … Read more

American Sole (Family Achiridae) Diversity in North Carolina

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By the NCFishes.com Team Along North Carolina’s shore there are three families of flatfish comprising five or six species having eyes on the right side of their body facing upward when lying in or atop the substrate (NCFishes.com; Tracy et al. 2020; Table 1; Figure 1). Please note: Tracy et al. (2020) may be downloaded … Read more

Mullet (Family Mugilidae) Diversity in North Carolina

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By the NCFishes.com Team North Carolina is home to three species of mullets: Mountain Mullet, Dajaus monticola, Striped Mullet, Mugil cephalus, and White Mullet, Mugil curema (Tracy et al. 2020; NCFishes.com). [Please note: Tracy et al. (2020) may be downloaded for free at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/sfcproceedings/vol1/iss60/1.] The family name, Mugilidae, is derived from the Latin, mugil, meaning … Read more

New World Silverside (Family Atherinopsidae) Diversity in North Carolina

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By the NCFishes.com Team Atherinopsidae is a small family comprising six species in North Carolina (Table 1). The common name, silversides, refers to a distinct silver stripe on the side, which often reflects sunlight like a mirror when these fishes turn near the water surface (Rohde et al. 2009). Silversides are generally delicate, slender, laterally … Read more

Goby (Family Gobiidae) Diversity in North Carolina

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By the NCFishes.com Team What exactly are gobies? To a freshwater-centric ichthyologist, gobies look like the marine equivalent of our freshwater darters (Family Percidae, https://ncfishes.com/freshwater-fishes-of-north-carolina/). In fact one of the species is named Darter Goby, Ctenogobius boleosoma, because of its resemblance to Tessellated Darter, Etheostoma olmstedi. But to the more widely learned and marine-centric  ichthyologists, … Read more