The flathead catfish, also called by several common names including mudcat or shovelhead cat, is a large species of North American freshwater catfish in the family Ictaluridae. It is the only species of the genus Pylodictis. Ranging from the lower Great Lakes region to northern Mexico, it has been widely introduced and is an invasive species in some areas. The closest living relative of the flathead catfish is the much smaller widemouth blindcat, Satan eurystomus.
Alosa is a genus of fish, the river herrings, in the family Clupeidae. Along with other genera in the subfamily Alosinae, they are generally known as shads. They are distinct from other herrings by having a deeper body and spawning in rivers. Several species can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Also, several taxa occur in the brackish-water Caspian Sea and the Black Sea basin. Many are found in fresh water during spawning and some are only found in landlocked fresh water.
The sauger is a freshwater perciform fish of the family Percidae that resembles its close relative, the walleye. The species is a member of the largest vertebrate order, the Perciformes. It is the most migratory percid species in North America. Saugers have two dorsal fins; the first is spiny and the posterior dorsal fin is soft-rayed. Their paired fins are in the thoracic position and their caudal fin is truncated, which means squared off at the corners, a characteristic of the family Percidae. Another physical characteristic of saugers is their ctenoid scales, which are common in advanced fishes. Saugers have a fusiform body structure, and as a result are well adapted predatory fishes and are capable of swimming into fast currents with minimal drag on their bodies. They may be distinguished from walleyes by the distinctly spotted dorsal fin, by the lack of a white splotch on the caudal fin, by the rough skin over their gills, and by their generally more brassy color, or darker color in some regions. The typical sauger is 300 to 400 g in weight.
Lake Apopka is the fourth largest lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is located 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Orlando, mostly within the bounds of Orange County, although the western part is in Lake County. Fed by a natural spring, rainfall and stormwater runoff, water from Lake Apopka flows through the Apopka-Beauclair Canal and into Lakes Beauclair and Dora. From Lake Dora, water flows into Lake Eustis, then into Lake Griffin and then northward into the Ocklawaha River, which flows into the St. Johns River. Multiple parks or nature trails are present around the lake including Magnolia Park, Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, Ferndale Preserve, Oakland Nature Preserve, Dr. Bradford Memorial Park, and Newton Park, named for A. B. Newton.
The American gizzard shad, also known as the mud shad, is a member of the herring family of fish and is native to large swaths of fresh and brackish waters in the United States of America. The adult has a deep body, with a silvery-green coloration above fading to plain silver below. The gizzard shad commonly resides in freshwater lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and streams but can also reside in brackish waters, as it does on the Atlantic coast of the United States. Their range is across most of the continental United States, although they typically go no further north than New York and no further west than New Mexico. They are a large part of many of the ecosystems they inhabit and can drive changes in phyto- and zooplankton, thereby indirectly affecting other planktivorous fishes. The gizzard shad has been widely used as a food source for game fish, with varied success in management and effectiveness.
Throughout much of the tropics, tilapiine cichlids native to Africa and the Levant have been widely introduced into a variety of aquatic systems. In the U.S. states of Florida and Texas, tilapia were originally introduced to curtail invasive plants. In an effort to meet the growing demand for tilapia, humans have farmed these fish in countries around the world. Capable of establishing themselves into new ponds and waterways, many tilapia have escaped aquaculture facilities across much of Asia, Africa, and South America. In other cases, tilapia have been established into new aquatic habitats via aquarists or ornamental fish farmers.
The skipjack herring is a North American, migratory, fresh- and brackish water fish species in the herring family Clupeidae. The name skipjack shad comes from the fact that it is commonly seen leaping out of the water while feeding. Other common names include blue herring, golden shad, river shad, Tennessee tarpon, and McKinley shad. The skipjack shad is restricted to the Gulf of Mexico drainage basins. Skipjack are found in clear to moderately turbid water in areas with flow. Because they are a migratory species, dams often impede their reproduction. Records suggest that this species was much more abundant in the Upper Mississippi River basin before it was impounded. Currently, skipjack is most abundant in the Upper Mississippi River below the mouth of the Ohio River. They are known as an "early-run" species as they migrate to spawn in the early spring.
Tenualosa is a genus of fish in the family Dorosomatidae. When subfamilies are recognized, it is placed in the subfamily Alosinae or Dorosomatinae.
The threadfin shad is a small pelagic freshwater forage fish common in lakes, large streams and reservoirs of the Southeastern United States. Like the American gizzard shad, the threadfin shad has an elongated dorsal fin, but unlike the gizzard shad, its mouth is more terminal without a projecting upper jaw. The fins of threadfin shad often have a yellowish color, especially the caudal fin. The back is grey to blue with a dark spot on the shoulder. D. petenense is more often found in moving water, and is rarely found deep in the water column. It occurs in large schools, sometimes with gizzard shad, and can be seen on the surface at dawn and dusk. The threadfin shad may reach lengths of 8 in (200 mm), but only rarely. This fish is very sensitive to changes in temperature and dissolved oxygen, and die-offs are frequent in late summer and fall, especially when water temperature drops to 42°F. The threadfin shad is a favorite food for many game fishes, including striped bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and catfish. This fish is widely introduced throughout the United States as a forage for game fish.
The blueback herring, blueback shad, or summer shad is an anadromous species of herring from the east coast of North America, with a range from Nova Scotia to Florida. Blueback herring form schools and are believed to migrate offshore to overwinter near the bottom.
Sardinella richardsoni is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Sardinella from the South China Sea in the northwest Pacific.
Clupanodon thrissa, the Chinese gizzard shad, is a species of gizzard shad from the Northwest Pacific, occurring from Korea to Thailand and possibly the Philippines. It is the only species currently recognized in its genus.
Gonialosa is a genus of gizzard shads that are found in the rivers of South and Southeast Asia. There are currently three described species.
Konosirus punctatus is a species of fish in the family Dorosomatidae. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Konosirus. Its common names include dotted gizzard shad and konoshiro gizzard shad. It is native to the northwestern Pacific Ocean, where it occurs along the Asian coastline.
A planktivore is an aquatic organism that feeds on planktonic food, including zooplankton and phytoplankton. Planktivorous organisms encompass a range of some of the planet's smallest to largest multicellular animals in both the present day and in the past billion years; basking sharks and copepods are just two examples of giant and microscopic organisms that feed upon plankton. Planktivory can be an important mechanism of top-down control that contributes to trophic cascades in aquatic and marine systems. There is a tremendous diversity of feeding strategies and behaviors that planktivores utilize to capture prey. Some planktivores utilize tides and currents to migrate between estuaries and coastal waters; other aquatic planktivores reside in lakes or reservoirs where diverse assemblages of plankton are present, or migrate vertically in the water column searching for prey. Planktivore populations can impact the abundance and community composition of planktonic species through their predation pressure, and planktivore migrations facilitate nutrient transport between benthic and pelagic habitats.
The Alabama shad is an anadromous species of clupeid fish endemic to the United States where it breeds in medium to large flowing rivers from the Mississippi River drainage to the Suwannee River, Florida, as well as some other Gulf coast drainages. The biology of this fish is little known but it has become increasingly rare. The International Union for Conservation of Nature rated it "near threatened" in 2020 and the United States National Marine Fisheries Service has listed it as a Species of Concern. A principal reason for its decline is thought to be the many locks and dams blocking access for the fish to up-river spawning grounds.
The Bloch's gizzard shad, also known as gizzard shad, hairback, long-finned gizzard shad, long-ray bony bream and thread-finned gizzard shad, are a widespread and common, small to medium-sized anadromous fish found in all marine, freshwater and brackish waters throughout Indo-West Pacific, towards eastward of Andaman Sea, South China Sea and the Philippines to Korean peninsula. Single specimen recorded from waters of South Africa. It was described by Marcus Elieser Bloch in 1795.
Anodontostoma chacunda or Chacunda gizzard shad is a small species of gizzard shad found in both fresh and marine waters. The fish is from the family Clupeidae.
