What about freshwater fish ID?

[Ontario Diver]

Ummmm - is that an expert in the making of limnonade?

 

[Dee]

I was hitting the hi spots and keeping it simple. Of course, there's more to it than that. But honestly....how and why it does it isn't always as important to me as when it does it.

Yes, the water is green but it's clearer and less green where the grass grows, either on the lake edge or other areas in the lake. The low visibility is most often sediment roto-tilled by divers than algae.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I have done a lot of river observation, and find fresh water aquatic life fascinating. While I'm not sure it will help, Cat and Shellbird, you can try some of the old spearfishing techniques. Don't look directly at the fish, and don't swim directly toward them. Swim at a 45 degree angle, and peek under your fins and under your arm. A lot of the time, these fish are very aware of preditors, and something as big and noisy as a diver can be intimidating. I find that bass, especially, are very curious fish and while they are hard to approach, if you look behind you and around you, you will find that they tend to come back for a second look. Moving slowly and stopping can also be interesting. Also, while for people new to scuba it is not a good idea, holding your breath for a time can allow those smaller fish the opportunity to approach to check you out. Also, be sure to look up occasionally. There will be some types of fish that will check out your bubbles.

Concerning a text, the one I have been using for many years is:

Scott, W.B. and E.Jp Crossman, Freshwater Fishes of Canada, Bulletin 184, Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Ottawa, 1973, copyright Crown Copyrights reserved, Available by mail from Information Canada, Ottawa K1A 0S9, Catelog N,. Fs 94-184. "Bulletins of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada are designed to assess and interpret current knowledge in scientific fields pertinent to Canadian fisheries."

I have found that the descriptions include many locations in the United States . The Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus (Rafineoque)), for example, has a map that shows most of its range in the United States. This book has a "Description" of the fish, "Colour," "Systematic notes," "Distribution," "Biology," "Relation to man," "Nomenclature," "Etymology," and "Common names." My edition is nearly 1000 pages.

SeaRat

 

[JeffAustin]

The sunfish(which includes bass) and salmonoids(trout,etc...) have pretty good coverage, you know, like fishermans centerfolds! It's those little sticklebacks and baitfish that baffle me. I have fished for too many years to not be able to ID freshwater gamefish. Speaking of aquariums, I used to live on a lake that had green sunfish, about 4-6"long, they looked like cichlids,I'd catch one, put it in my aquarium for a couple of weeks, then rotate in a new fish. For the first week or so, when I would turn off the room lights, those fish would go berserk when they saw their own reflection in the glass, their gillplates would flare out and they would flush with color, especially the "lightning bolts" near the gills. Trout, in general, don't want anything to do with us divers, man, they can swim fast!!