BC Fish Identification

1
BC Fish Identification

• DO NOT MEMORIZE PICTURES. Learn techniques for
  ID. Pics will be different on the exam
• Lab exam March 24/26
• Bell Ringer
• ID from slides, pictures, descriptions (i.e.
  habitat, life cycle, etc..), no preserved samples
• Also, info from all other labs

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Salmonids

• Class
• Osteichthyes
• Order
• Salmoniformes
• Family
• Salmonidae

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Salmonids

• Adipose fin
• Most have parr marks as juveniles
• No spines

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Salmonidae, Coregoninae (Whitefish)

• Silvery
• Large scales
• Blunt rostrum
• Deeply forked tail
• Adipose fin
• Slightly sub-terminal mouth

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Salmonidae, Thymallinae (Grayling)

• Big dorsal fin
• Blunt rostrum
• Very distinctive
• Adipose fin

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Salmonidae, Salmoninae (Salmon, Trout, Char)

• Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus species)
• 13 anal fin rays
• No spots on dorsal fin (juveniles)
• Dark spots on light body

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Pink Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha)

• Parr
• No parr marks
• Small
• Round head
• Adults
• Greenish with dark spots
• Males grow a large hump

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Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)

• Parr
• P.M.s narrower than the spaces between them, and
  evenly spaced bisecting lateral line
• Long leading ray on anal fin
• Adults
• Red with green back
• Dark spots on top ½ of caudal fin
• No hump
• White gums

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Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta)

• Parr
• Faint P.M.s evenly spaced above lateral line
  (some may cross)
• Adults
• Purple tiger stripes
• Female gets purple streak along lateral line

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Sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka)

• Parr
• Staggered parr marks above the lateral line
• Adults
• Red with a green head
• No spots
• Male gets a slight hump

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Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)

• Parr
• P.M.s wider than the spaces between them
• No long leading ray on anal fin
• Adults
• Dark in colour
• Spots on back and all of caudal fin
• Black gums

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Oncorhynchus trout

• 2 species
• 8-12 anal fin rays
• Spots on dorsal fin (juveniles)
• Dark spots on light body

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Rainbow/Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

• Maxilla extends to (not past) rear margin of eye
• No hyoid teeth
• No colouration on lower jaw
• Rainbow non-anadromous
• Steelhead anadromous

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Cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki)

• Maxilla extends past rear margin of eye
• Hyoid teeth
• Red slash under jaw

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Salmo trout

• 2 species
• Both species introduced
• Dark spots on light body

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Brown trout (Salmo trutta)

• Dark spots with light halos
• Square tail
• Adipose fin may be orange/red, especially in
  juveniles
• Large dark spots on opercle

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Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

• Silvery
• X-shaped, irregular dark spots on body (no halos)
• Dark spots on opercle
• Narrow caudal peduncle
• Juveniles have red spots between P.M.s

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Char (Salvelinus species)

• Light spots on dark body
• White leading edges on ventral fins

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Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)

• Very little colour (black and white)
• Irregular shaped spots (vermiculations), light on
  dark background
• Tapered rostrum

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Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)

• Colourful
• Red spots with blue halos
• Vermiculations
• Square caudal fin

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Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma)

• Red or blue spots, no halos, no vermiculations
• No color patterns on dorsal or caudal fins
• Coastal

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Bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus)

• Very similar to Dolly Varden
• Interior

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Other BC fish families

• Know only how to ID to family

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Lampreys (Petromyzontidae)

• Long, worm-like
• Round sucking disk with circular rows of teeth
• Young are called ammocoetes, and are benthic
• Adults are parasitic on other fish

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Sturgeon (Acipenseridae)

• Sub-terminal mouth
• Rows of bony plates (scutes)
• Heterocercal tail

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Herring (Clupeidae)

• No lateral line
• Deep body
• Row of dark spots
• No adipose fin
• Deeply forked tail

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Minnows (Cyprinidae)

• Highly variable
• Generally small-bodied
• Generally deeper-bodied than sucker
• Mouth usually terminal
• Anal fin usually far from caudal fin (gap)
• Pelvic fins usually inserted anterior to leading
  edge of dorsal fin
• always exceptions!!

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Suckers (Catostomidae)

• Generally more torpedo-shaped than minnows
• Anal fin usually close to caudal fin (small gap)
• Pelvic fins usually insert posterior to the
  leading edge of the dorsal fin
• Usually have distinctive lips

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Catfish (Ictaluridae)

• Adipose fin!
• Leading ray on fins is spinous
• Barbels (sensory appendages on face)

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Smelt (Osmeridae)

• Adipose fin!
• Supra-terminal mouth
• Long and narrow
• Silvery

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Cod (Gadidae)

• Elongate dorsal and anal fins
• Single barbel on chin

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Sculpins (Cottidae)

• Big head
• Large anterior, tapering to small posterior
• Big pectoral fins

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Sticklebacks (Gasterosteidae)

• Up to 9 single spines on back
• Brackish water species

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Bass (Centrarchidae)

• Dorsal fin has fused spinous and soft-rayed
  sections

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Pike (Esocidae)

• Duckbill
• Dorsal fin far back on body

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Perch (Percidae)

• 1 spinous and 1 rayed dorsal fin, separated by a
  gap