Dipnetting

Paintedhand Mudbug

Scientific Name: Lacunicambarus polychromatus

Description: A large greenish-brown crayfish with red claws

Range: southern ends of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, northern Florida, Illinois, and southern Ontario.

Habitat: As a species of burrowing crayfish, they live in muddy lowlands, partially drained wetlands, and ditched streams

Size: about 3¼-4 inches in length

Calico Crayfish

Scientific Name: Faxonius immunis

Description: Resembles other Faxonius Crayfish, such as the Virile Crayfish, differentiated by a notch in the finger of it's claw

Range: Most of Eastern North America(Southern Canada and Northern America) and parts of Europe as well(due to an indivual escaping the aquarium trade)

Habitat: slow-flowing bodies of water, such as streams, ponds, marshes and roadside ditches

Size: about 1.75 to 3.5 inches in length

Big Water Crayfish

Scientific Name: Cambarus robustus

Description: A large and robust crayfish that is ussually a brown color and lacks the spots or colored claws that other crayfish(such as Virile and Calico Crayfish) have

Range: Southern Ontario and most of the american north east(New York, Michigan, etc)

Habitat: Fast moving rivers and lakes

Size: about 5-8 inches (Based on personal experiance as I can't find a length on google where it only gives the carapace length which is 2 inches)

Personal Note: One of my absolute favorite Crayfish to catch because they are the biggest crayfish in my area and look really cool, I even caught a pinkish colored one

Fathead Minnow

Scientific Name: Pimephales promelas

Description: dull olive-grey in appearance, with a dusky stripe extending along the back and side, and a lighter belly. There is a dusky blotch midway on the dorsal fin

Range: across North America from Chihuahua, Mexico, north to the Maritime Provinces and Great Slave Lake drainage of Canada

Habitat: In all sorts of freshwater habitats such as lakes, streams, and ponds. They have a surprising tolerance for low oxygen water, meaning they can handle lower oxygen habitats as well, such as wetlands

Size: about 2-3 inches in length

Fun Fact: The males during mating season grow fleshy stubs on their face called turbicles, which they use to fight off other males

Central Stoneroller

Scientific Name: Campostoma anomalum

Description: Rounded snout overhanging a crescent-shaped mouth, a hard ridge of cartilage on the lower lip, and irregular patches of dark colored scales on the sides of the body. Breeding males have orange fins and grow turbacles, similar to other minnows

Range: A large portion of the eastern, central, and midwestern United States, along with some isolated populations in Canada and Mexico

Habitat: Midwaters and bottoms of freshwater streams and rivers but it is a tolerant species which means it can be found in almost any stream

Size: about 3-6.5 inches in length

Fun Fact: Their names comes from the way they build their nests, during late winter, the males will begin using their noses to roll stones along the bottom of the river to build bowl-shaped nests in calmer waters

Virile Crayfish

Scientific Name: Faxonius virilis

Description: As juviniles, they are mostly a brown color with spots on their carapace and spots that go down their tail. Once they get older, their carapce turns a rusty-red color and they get their distinctive blue claws

Range: It's native to the southern ontario and much of the north-eastern USA but it's invasive to other parts of the USA and it's also invasive to Europe as well, where it is highly invasive

Habitat: lakes, streams, and wetlands

Size: about 3-6 inches in length(The biggest I've caught was about 6in but on average, the adults I catch are about 4in)

Personal Note: Virile Crayfish are shockingly resiliant, as compared to the other native species in my area, I can practically find them anywhere. For example, I recently visited a local, very urban creek, and I thought that there's no way that any fish or aquatic life live there. I was proven wrong when I spotted 2 crayfish in there, both of them being Virile Crayfish

River Chub

Scientific Name: Nocomis micropogon

Description: A robust minnow, dark olivaceous above to dusky yellow below, with orange-red fins, large scales, a large slightly subterminal mouth, and a small barbel at the corners of it's jaws

Range: Most of the Great Lakes and Appalachian regions

Habitat: Clear, medium to large creeks and rivers with moderate to swift current

Size: about 5-13 inches in length(I was very surprised when I went to google and learned they can get to 13 inches long as most of the ones I've caught are are 5-7 inches in length but that seems to be a rare occurance)

Personal Note: River Chubs, just like other Minnows, the males go undergrow a transformation during the spring to get ready for breeding and just like the Stonerollers, these males build nests. They build these nests by litterally picking the stones up with their mouths, which I find very cool. I haven't caught any breeding males before but I really do hope I do soon. Unrelated, I did catch one with scoliosis

Golden Shiner

Scientific Name: Notemigonus crysoleucas

Description: The back is dark green or olive, and the belly is a silvery or brassy white. The sides are silver in smaller individuals, and in clear or turbid water, but golden in larger ones living in stained water.

Range: Throughout the eastern half of North America

Habitat: They perfer quiet waters and are therefore found in lakes, ponds, sloughs, and ditches

Size: about 2.8-14.4 inches in length(14.4in seems to be a very uncommon max but in the wild and on average, they seem to hit 2.8-7.9 inches)

Fun Fact: It is the sole member of its genus

Northern Clearwater Crayfish

Scientific Name: Faxonius propinquus

Description: A small crayfish that is ussually a dark to light brown color, a noticable feature of it are it's orange tipped claws and a triangular stripe/marking that runs down the tail, which is unlike the Virile Crayfish which has spots instead(This is the usual but I have caught one that was a bluish-grey color)

Range: Southern Ontario, Quebec(St.Lawerence area), and North-Eastern States such as New York and Ohio

Habitat: Clear, rocky-bottomed streams, rivers, and lakes

Size: about 2-4 inches in length(The ones I ussually catch seem to be around the 3 inch range, they're a lot smaller compared to Virile Crayfish and Big Water Crayfish)

Personal Note: This was the very first species of crayfish that I caught and it really got me into dipnetting

Common Shiner

Scientific Name: Luxilus cornutus

Description: Silvery colored (sometimes bronze) and has an olive back with a dark dorsal stripe

Range: Found all across North America

Habitat: Rocky pools in small to medium rivers

Size: about 4-6 inches in length(The ones I catch tend to be smaller than that, being about 2-3 inches)

Personal Note: The ones I catch are ussually pretty small and they are a very boring looking fish, it is pretty much the default fish. One cool thing is the time I saw a ton of them school, it really is a sight to behold

Redside Dace

Scientific Name: Clinostomus elongatus

Description: Brightly colored, with a wide red stripe extending from the head to the dorsal fin, running along the middle of the body.[4] A bright yellow stripe generally extends from the head to caudal fin above the red lateral stripe. The back of this fish is generally dark, ranging from green to dark blue

Range: Most abundant in Pennsylvania, especially in the upper parts of the Susquehanna River drainage. Populations also exist in Southern Ontario

Habitat: Slow-moving, cool, and clear headwaters of river systems

Size: about 2.6-4.7 inches in length

Fun Fact: This fish is also known as an indicator species, which means that the population of this species in a stream can be used to determine the water quality.

Northern Pearl Dace

Scientific Name: Margariscus nachtriebi

Description: Body dark olive gray above, often with black herringbone lines, dark stripe along back; many small black and brown specks (absent in western populations) on silver side; white, yellow or red below; black stripe along side, black caudal spot on young; stripe vague on adult. Breeding male has bright orange-red lower side, pale yellow stripe along belly and many small tubercles on head

Range: Atlantic, Hudson Bay, Great Lakes, and Mississippi River basins in south Canada and north USA from Atlantic Coast to south Northwest Territories, east British Columbia, and Montana; south to New York, Wisconsin and Iowa. Isolated population in upper Missouri River basin in South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming

Habitat: Cool, clear headwater streams, bog drainage streams, ponds and small lakes, and in stained, peaty waters of beaver ponds

Size: about 2.5-4.7 inches in length

Fun Fact: In some B.C. lakes northern pearl dace are involved in a three-way hybrid swarm with finescale and northern redbelly dace. Given the propensity of hybrids between the latter two species to give rise to all female, diploid and triploid clones, the three-way cross might produce some interesting offspring

Common Logperch

Scientific Name: Percina caprodes

Description: Pale yellow, olive, or greenish base with 15-20 narrow, dark vertical bars that run across it's body. Their bodies are long and slender with a distinctly pointed, conical snout

Range: St. Lawrence River system in Quebec, and as far south as the Rio Grande system in southern Texas and northern Mexico. Westwards, logperch are most heavily distributed in the Mississippi River drainage system, and their range extends eastward in freshwater habitats all the way to the Atlantic Ocean

Habitat: Clear, shallow to medium-depth waters, typically favoring rivers, streams, and lakes with sandy or gravelly bottoms

Size: about 7-8 inches in length

Fun Fact: Unlike most darters which are solitary, logperch can form schools consisting of over a hundred individuals in deep river pools

Greenside Darter

Scientific Name: Etheostoma blennioides

Description: Elongated body with a long and rounded snout. The dorsum is greenish-brown, with six or seven dark quadrate saddles and the sides with five to eight dark green, typically U- or W-shaped blotches. Breeding males have intensely bluish-green nasal and oral areas and sometimes black on the head

Range: Ohio River Basin, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario

Habitat: Gravel riffles of large creeks to medium rivers and often are found in swift waters over large boulders and large rubble

Size: about 2.5 and 4.5 inches in length

Personal Note: I have only caught 1 of these from the time I visited Brantford, They look quite similar to Rainbow Darters when they're out of color

Iowa Darter

Scientific Name: Etheostoma exile

Description: Has a small mouth and snout with scaled opercles and cheeks, two dorsal fins, one which is a spinous-rayed fin and another soft-rayed fin. Its caudal fin is squarish and the pectoral fins and pelvic fins are located close to each other behind the gills

Range: North to central Canada, east to New York, and south to central Illinois

Habitat: Cool, clear water over a sand or organic-matter substrate

Size: about 1.4 to 2.5 inches in length

Fun Fact: It lacks a swim bladder, causing it to sink and dart along the bottom

Rainbow Darter

Scientific Name: Etheostoma caeruleum

Description: Three dark spots on the back, and blue and orange in the dorsal and anal fins

Range: Throughout the eastern United States, specifically throughout the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley regions

Habitat: Creeks and small to medium-sized rivers

Size: About 2 to 3 inches in length(Matches what I've observed)

Personal Note: I love catching these guys, they're really colorful and beautiful even out of season

Johnny Darter

Scientific Name: Etheostoma nigrum

Description: Small, slender fish with brown to yellow scales, paler sides, and whitish bellies. They have no bright colors and generally just have brown or black markings on a lighter tan background. These markings are usually a series of black "w" or "x" shapes along their sides running along their lateral lines.

Range: Saskatchewan and Colorado to the Atlantic seaboard and from Hudson Bay south to the Gulf Coast drainage systems

Habitat: Prefer clear water with sandy and gravelly bottoms. They like slow-moving water, but can be found in moderately cloudy, moving water, as well

Size: About 2.8 to 3.9 inches in length(I ussually catch really small ones, like 1.5 - 2 inches)

Personal Note: I first caught one of these in West Virginia and it's such a funny looking fish, esspecially it's face

Fantail Darter

Scientific Name: Etheostoma flabellare

Description: Brown to olive coloration and dark spots that run latterally down their body. They have a spiny dorsal fin and a wide fanshaped tail

Range: Eastern North America, from the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basins to South Carolina and northern Alabama

Habitat: Smaller streams that have cobbles and flat stones

Size: About 1.5 to 3 inches in length(I ussually catch them at about 2 inches in length)

Personal Note: This is the first species of darter I ever caught so it holds a special place in my heart

Western Blacknose Dace

Scientific Name: Rhinichthys obtusus

Description: Tan to dark brown backs, lighter sides, and cream colored undersides. Dark blotches are sporadically scattered across the sides and back. A distinctive dark colored mid-lateral stripe from the tip of the snout to the caudal peduncle is present. They have a relatively long snout as well

Range: Upper Mississippi, Ohio, and Great Lakes drainages, from as far north as south-central Canada to northern Alabama and Georgia and east to eastern Lake Erie

Habitat: Young daces prefer to inhabit shallower, quiet pools with silty bottoms while more mature daces prefer streams with consistently high turbulence patterns and plenty of places to hide

Size: About 2 to 4 inches in length(I've never caught one that was 4 inches, ussually they're about 2 or 3 inches)

Personal Note: They look really similar to longnose daces and it's pretty difficult to distinguish between the two, esspecially when I've seen these two species school together sometimes

Longnose Dace

Scientific Name: Rhinichthys cataractae

Description: Dorsal side is dark green to black, the lateral side is darkish to silvery with mottling often present, and the ventral side is pearly. Both adult males and females may have bright orange-reddish colouration at the base of pectoral, pelvic, and anal fins and on the upper lip

Range: Rocky Mountains in Northern Mexico to the Mackenzie River near the Arctic Circle

Habitat: Shallow, fast-flowing, rocky-bottomed streams and river riffles

Size: About 2.4 to 3.9 inches in length(Ussually I catch ones that are about 2.5 inches)

Personal Note: They are very common in the river in my city, I've caught like 10 in one swing

Brindled Madtom

Scientific Name: Noturus miurus

Description: Light brown, with dark dorsal splotches along the tip and two conspicuous saddle marks just behind the dorsal fin. The dorsal fin has a dark, spotted blotch on the tip and is located between the pectoral and pelvic fins

Range: Across eastern North America, Southern Ontario to Lousiana

Habitat: Slow-moving, warm water, and clear streams, rivers, and lakes

Size: About 4 to 5 inches in length

Fun Fact: In areas where habitats have been disturbed, they have been documented interbreeding with other madtom species, such as the Tadpole Madtom

Mottled Sculpin

Scientific Name: Cottus bairdii

Description: Flattned, wide body, with eyes on top, a large head, and large pectoral fins. Ussually a brownish or gray color with dark splotches

Range: Northern Canada down to the Mobile and Tennessee River drainage systems. Also commonly found in streams in the Rocky Mountains along with many streams found throughout the Midwest United States

Habitat: Fast riffle areas with clear substrates

Size: About 3 to 6 inches in length(6 inches is the max but the average is 3-4 inches)

Fun Fact: Females lay eggs on the ceiling of a nest (usually under a rock or log), and the male stays behind to fertilize and guard them

Brook Silverside

Scientific Name: Labidesthes sicculus

Description: Translucent green or olive body with a distinct, bright silver stripe along the sides. Slender, Pencil-thin body with a flattened, beak-like snout containing tiny teeth

Range: All across Canada and America

Habitat: Clear, warm, slow-moving waters, including lakes, ponds, and large rivers

Size: About 2.5 and 4 inches in length(5 inches is the max)

Fun Fact: Brook silversides are well-known for jumping out of the water to catch insects

Brook Stickleback

Scientific Name: Culaea inconstans

Description: Tapered body with a slim caudal peduncle and a fan-shaped tail, 5-6 dorsal spines, colouring is grayish or olive green with a varying amount of indistinct mottling

Range: Southern half of Canada and the northern part of the eastern United States. Also has been introduced to Europe with a population in Finland

Habitat: Shallow, cool, clear, and well-vegetated water bodies, including small streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, and spring-fed areas

Size: About 2 inches in length(I don't think I've caught one smaller than this)

Personal Note: They have a really unique shape, which makes them easy to ID. I learned that males turn completely black during mating season, so I now want to catch one during mating season. Another interesting behaivor is how the males use a glue-like substance from their kidney's to glue debris together to make nests, which is very unique for this unique looking fish. I also caught one via plastic bottle while at the beach.

Banded Killifish

Scientific Name: Fundulus diaphanus

Description: Narrow, elongated bluish-gray or olive-colored body with a darker dorsal surface and white or yellowish underparts extending to the anal fin

Range: Widely distributed throughout eastern North America

Habitat: Shallow and quiet areas of clear lakes, ponds, rivers, and estuaries with sandy gravel or muddy bottoms and with abundant aquatic vegetation

Size: About 2 - 5 inches in length(5 inches is the max and the average is 2 - 4 inches in length)

Fun Fact: The cousins of the Banded Killifish, the Mummichog, were the first fish sent to space in 1973. Male Banded Killifish, get a blue patch near their anal fin

Central Mudminnow

Scientific Name: Umbra limi

Description: Robust body with a rounded tail fin and dark mottled coloring and a prominent, dark vertical bar is present at the base of the tail

Range: Quebec to Manitoba in Canada and south to Tennessee and Arkansas in the US

Habitat: Slow-moving water around ponds, lakes, and streams

Size: About 2 - 4 inches in length

Fun Fact: They can gulp air using a specialized gas bladder, similarly to how Gar do. They bury themselves tail-first in the mud during the winter to hibernate through the winter

Slimy Sculpin

Scientific Name: Cottus cognatus

Description: Wide, toad-like head with bulging eyes and a slender, tapering body. Breeding males turn dark gray to black and develop a distinctive orange edge on their first dorsal fin

Range: Great Lakes, southeast Minnesota, northeast Iowa, southwest Wisconsin and northeast Canada. They've also been found in eastern siberia

Habitat: Cold rocky streams or lakes

Size: About 2.5 - 3.6 inches in length

Fun Fact: They secrete a layer of mucus as a defense mechanism, hence why they're called Slimy Sculpins

Blackstripe Topminnow

Scientific Name: Fundulus notatus

Description: Horizontal black stripe that runs the length of its body along its sides. The fish has a small mouth that turns slightly upward, and has a flat-topped head with a multi-coloured spot on it

Range: Southern drainage of lakes Erie and Michigan and also the Mississippi drainage basin between Illinois and the Gulf of Mexico.

Habitat: Slow-moving or quiet, low-gradient streams, rivers, sloughs, and swamps in central North America

Size: About 2 - 2.8 inches in length

Fun Fact: In Canada, they are only found in a roughly 60 kilometre stretch of the Sydenham River in southwestern Ontario, giving them one of the smallest ranges of any fish in Canada

Tadpole Madtom

Scientific Name: Noturus gyrinus

Description: Dark brown back with a lighter brown color on their sides and a yellow or white stomach. The pelvic and pectoral fins of adults are heavily covered in melanophores responsible for pigmentation, and the dorsal and anal fins contain fewer melanophores. There are also bands of melanophores on both the upper and lower jaws creating a dark horizontal streak along the side. Chin barbels vary from white to being lightly covered with melanophores. The tadpole madtom possess dark nasal and maxillary barbels and white mandibular barbels

Range: Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan, and can be found in the Assiniboine, Saskatchewan, Souris, Red, English, Winnipeg, and Nelson rivers. In the US, ranges from Texas to Florida and north along the Atlantic coast to New York

Habitat: Areas with little to no current. They typically inhabit swamps and marshes, as well as lakes and slow moving streams and rivers 0.1-1.5 meters deep and 12-24 meters wide. They also prefer habitats with turbid water; a soft mud, sand or gravel bottom; and thick vegetation

Size: About 2 - 3 inches in length(Can max out at 5 inches)

Fun Fact: Tadpole Madtoms have two sharp spines near their chest fins. These spines can release a mild venom, which they use to deter predators

Stonecat

Scientific Name: Noturus gyrinus

Description: Tan to grey-brown dorsally, white or pale yellow ventrally, with a straight-edged, non-forked tail

Range: St. Lawrence-Great Lakes, Hudson Bay (Red River), and Mississippi River basins

Habitat: moderate-to-fast-moving, shallow, rocky riffles in rivers and large creeks

Size: About 4 - 8 inches in length(Can max out at 12 inches but the ones I catch are ussually 6 inches with the biggest being 8 or 9 inches)

Personal Note: The first Stonecat I caught was in Brantford and since then I've caught a ton in my local river. I mainly catch babies, which are nearly identical to tadpoles. Stonecats are also the largest species of madtoms, which is pretty cool