NYS Fish Species

Rainbow Trout

Order: Salmoniformes

Family: Salmonidae

• Native to the Pacific coast, prefer cool lakes and streams

• 20-34 inches in the Great Lakes

• Prefer cool lakes and streams

• Eat aquatic insects and fish

• Fun fact: Those that live in large lakes and spawn in streams are called steelhead (they look more silvery and grow much larger)

Brook Trout

Order: Salmoniformes

Family: Salmonidae

• Native to NY and live in cold, small-moderate sized lakes, streams, and ponds

• 5-15 inches in length (habitat dependent)

• Eat insects

Brown Trout

Order: Salmoniformes

Family: Salmonidae

• Native to Europe, prefer colder waters but tolerate warm better than Brookies

• 8-32 inches (habitat dependent)

• Eat aqautic insects and fish

• Fun fact: one of the most difficult trout species to catch

Lake Trout

Order: Salmoniformes

Family: Salmonidae

• Native to NY, live in deep, cold, well-oxygenated lakes

• 15-24 inches

• Long-lived, somes adults reaching 20 years old

• Eat zooplankton, insects, primarily fish

Atlantic Salmon

Order: Salmoniformes

Family: Salmonidae

• NY’s only native salmon, open, cold, deep lakes

• 12-30 inches

• Eat fish

• Fun fact: used to live in the ocean and migrate to freshwater to spawn, but landlocked populations that spend their entire lives in freshwater now exist

Chinook (King) Salmon

Order: Salmoniformes

Family: Salmonidae

• Largest Pacific salmon species, first introduced into the Great Lakes in 1873

• 30-48 inches

• Eat fish

• Fun fact: were extensively stocked in the 1960s to control overabundant alewife after

Coho (Silver) Salmon

Order: Salmoniformes

Family: Salmonidae

• Native to the pacific ocean

• 18-33 inches

• Eat fish

• Introduced into the Great Lakes in the 1960s

Sea Lamprey

Order: Petromyzontiformes

Family: Petromyzon

• Invasive in the Great Lakes, native to Atlantic Ocean

• 2-4 ft in length

• Parasitic, living off the body fluids of fish they attach to such as trout and salmon

• Fun fact: Larvae burrow in sand in quiet water for 4-5 years

Lake Sturgeon

Order: Acipenseriformes

Family: Acipenseridae

• Native to NY, prefer clean sand, gravel or rock bottom areas of large lakes and rivers

• 3-7 ft

• Eat leeches, snails, mussels, small fish and algae

• Fun fact: Fishing for any sturgeon species is strictly prohibited as every species in NYS is threated

Bowfin

Order: Amiiformes

Family: Amiidae

• Bowfin can live in waters with low oxygen levels and can even gulp air at the surface

• Resides in weedy, clear lakes and rivers

• 18-34 inches

• Eat crayfish and small fish

• Fun fact: a primitive ray-finned fish and the only recognized living representative of its ancient family

Longnose Gar

Order: Lepisosteiformes

Family: Lepisosteidae

• Native to NY, close to shore in weedy lakes and rivers

• 2-4 ft

• Eat small fish

• Fun fact: considered a “living fossil,” gar have been around for nearly 10 million years

Channel Catfish

Order: Siluriformes

Family: Ictaluridae

• 15-37 inches

• Native to NY, rivers and lakes with sandy or rocky bottoms

• Eat Worms, crayfish, insects and fish

• Fun fact: largest of the catfish/bullhead species in New York State, its forked tail makes younger fish easy to identify

Brown Bullhead

Order: Siluriformes

Family: Ictaluridae

• Native to NY, reside in still water with mud bottom

• 8-21 inches

• Eat pretty much anything

Chain Pickerel

Northern Pike

Muskellunge

Pumpkinseed

Redbreast Sunfish

Bluegill

Rock Bass

Black Crappie

Largemouth Bass

Smallmouth Bass

Walleye

Yellow Perch

White Perch

White Sucker

Common Carp

American Eel