Fishes
Media
![Goldfish side view photo with black background](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/field-guide/Goldfish_Carassius_auratus_8-11-13.jpg?itok=wiy69mgx)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Carassius auratus
Description
Goldfish are not native to North America. They often escape into the wild from bait buckets and other causes, but there are few self-sustaining populations in Missouri.
Media
![Southern redbelly dace male in spawning colors, side view photo with black background](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/field-guide/Southern_Redbelly_Dace_Phoxinus_erythrogaster_Spawning_Male_St_Francois_Co_6-6-13.jpg?itok=qTWxCAIs)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Notropis, Cyprinella, Hybognathus, Luxilus, and others
Description
Minnows — including shiners, chubs, stonerollers, dace, and carp — are members of the minnow family, the Cyprinidae. It is the largest of all fish families, and Missouri has about 70 species.
See Also
Media
![Photo of a three-toed amphiuma in an aquarium.](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/images/2015/01/three-toed_amphiuma_1-2-15.jpg?itok=kKqHJCWO)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Amphiuma tridactylum
Description
The three-toed amphiuma is an eel-like, completely aquatic salamander. It has very small forelimbs and hind limbs, each with three tiny toes. In Missouri it’s found only in the Bootheel region.
Media
![Photo of researcher holding a gilled siren](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/images/2011/05/siren_gills_05-15-11.jpg?itok=AGi1e2l8)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Siren intermedia nettingi
Description
The western lesser siren is an eel-like, aquatic salamander with external gills, small eyes, small forelimbs with four toes, and no hind limbs. In Missouri, it’s found mostly in the Bootheel and northward in counties near the Mississippi River.
About Fishes in Missouri
Missouri has more than 200 kinds of fish, more than are found in most neighboring states. Fishes live in water, breathe with gills, and have fins instead of legs. Most are covered with scales. Most fish in Missouri “look” like fish and could never be confused with anything else. True, lampreys and eels have snakelike bodies — but they also have fins and smooth, slimy skin, which snakes do not.