Field Guide

Fishes

Showing 41 - 50 of 60 results
White crappie male, side view photo with black background
Crappie, White
Pomoxis annularis
The white crappie, a popular panfish, has silver sides with 5 to 10 often faint vertical bars. The upper jaw reaches past the middle of the eye. It is more abundant and widespread than the black crappie.
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.
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.
Striped bass side view photo with black background
Striped Bass
Morone saxatilis
Primarily a marine species native to the Atlantic Coast of North America, the striped bass has been successfully stocked into several reservoirs in the United States. A silvery, elongated fish with prominent dark, horizontal stripes along the sides.
Shovelnose sturgeon side view photo with black background
Shovelnose Sturgeon
Scaphirhynchus platorynchus
The shovelnose sturgeon's snout is flattened and shovel-shaped; the barbels are fringed, and the bases of the barbels are positioned to form a straight line.
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.
Sauger side view photo with black background
Sauger
Sander canadensis
The sauger is closely related to the walleye. In Missouri, it's found mostly in the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and suitable tributaries, plus the Eleven Point River. It prefers flowing water and often swift current.
Sturgeon chub side view photo with black background
Sturgeon Chub
Macrhybopsis gelida
The sturgeon chub is a small minnow adapted for life in the murky, swift-flowing water of big rivers — the Missouri and lower Mississippi. A Species of Conservation Concern, it prefers sand or gravel substrates.
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.