Field Guide

Fishes

Showing 1 - 10 of 15 results
Orangethroat darter male in spawning colors, side view photo with black background
Darters
Etheostoma, Percina, Ammocrypta, and Crystallaria spp.
Darters have been described as the hummingbirds of the fish world: colorful, small, and quick. Missouri has about 44 different types of darters. They are most diverse in the fast, clear, rocky streams of the Ozarks.
Golden shiner male, side view photo with black background
Golden Shiner
Notemigonus crysoleucas
The golden shiner is a deep-bodied minnow with a greenish-olive back and a faint dusky stripe along the midline. It has a fleshy keel along the midline of the belly. It is widespread in Missouri.
Mooneye side view photo with black background
Mooneye
Hiodon tergisus
Mooneyes are silvery, flat-sided fishes with large eyes and prominent teeth on the jaws, roof of the mouth, and tongue. A fleshy keel runs along the midline of the belly. The eye is silvery and larger than the goldeye’s.
Redfin pickerel side view photo with black background
Grass Pickerel
Esox americanus vermiculatus
The grass pickerel is the most common and widely distributed pike in Missouri. It is also the smallest, seldom exceeding 10 or 12 inches in length.
Goldfish side view photo with black background
Goldfish
Carassius auratus
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.
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.
Longear sunfish, spawning male, side view photo with black background
Longear Sunfish
Lepomis megalotis
The longear sunfish is deep-bodied, slab-sided, with a moderate-sized mouth, the upper jaw nearly reaching the front of the eye. It is by far the most abundant and generally distributed sunfish over the southern half of Missouri.
Northern rock bass, or goggle-eye, side view photo with black background
Northern Rock Bass
Ambloplites rupestris
The northern rock bass, or goggle-eye, is thicker than most other sunfish, with a large mouth and very large eyes. It occurs in northern Ozark streams, tributaries of the middle Mississippi, and a portion of the southwestern Ozarks; sometimes in Ozark reservoirs.
Bluegill male in spawning colors, side view photo with black background
Bluegill
Lepomis macrochirus
The bluegill is one of the most abundant and popular panfishes in North America. This deep-bodied, slab-sided sunfish sports a black “ear flap” extending from the edge of its gill cover.
White bass side view photo with black background
White Bass
Morone chrysops
The white bass is one of the most important game fish in Missouri’s large impoundments. It inhabits the deeper pools of streams and the open water of lakes and reservoirs.
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.