Field Guide

Fishes

Showing 11 - 18 of 18 results
Black crappie, male in spawning colors, side view photo with black background
Crappie, Black
Pomoxis nigromaculatus
The black crappie is a popular panfish. It is deep bodied and slab sided. The sides are silver with an irregular pattern of dark speckles. The upper jaw is long, reaching past the middle of the eye.
Longnose gar side view photo with black background
Longnose Gar
Lepisosteus osseus
The longnose gar has a longer, narrower snout than our other three gars and is the most widely distributed gar in Missouri.
Walleye side view photo with black background
Walleye
Sander vitreus
MDC has been stocking walleye, a popular game fish, in lakes and reservoirs including Stockton, Lake of the Ozarks, Bull Shoals, and numerous other reservoirs.
Alligator gar side view photo with black background
Alligator Gar
Atractosteus spatula (formerly Lepisosteus spatula)
The alligator gar is Missouri's largest gar and has a distinctively short, broad snout. Populations are declining. This fish once occurred in the Mississippi River at least as far upstream as the mouth of the Illinois River and in major tributaries.
Shorthead redhorse side view photo with black background
Shorthead Redhorse
Moxostoma macrolepidotum
The shorthead redhorse is the most widely distributed redhorse sucker in Missouri, occurring nearly statewide. No other Missouri redhorse is as adaptable in its habitat requirements. Many specimens have a pea-shaped swelling on the upper lip.
Southern redbelly dace male in spawning colors, side view photo with black background
Minnows
Notropis, Cyprinella, Hybognathus, Luxilus, and others
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.
Largemouth bass side view photo with black background
Largemouth Bass
Micropterous salmoides
The largemouth bass is a large, slender, elongated, streamlined sunfish with a very large mouth. It thrives in warm, moderately clear waters with little or no current. It occurs statewide in lowland lakes, artificial impoundments of all sizes, permanent pools of streams, and quiet backwaters of large rivers.
Channel catfish side view photo with black background
Channel Catfish
Ictalurus punctatus
The channel catfish is the official Missouri state fish. It is pale with dark spots and is found statewide in a variety of habitats, preferring large, rather turbid streams with low or moderate gradients.
See Also
Photo of a three-toed amphiuma in an aquarium.
Three-Toed Amphiuma
Amphiuma tridactylum
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.
Photo of researcher holding a gilled siren
Western Lesser Siren
Siren intermedia nettingi
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.