Common Fish Families of Michigan

Phylum Chordata, Subphylum Vertebrata

    Class "Agnatha" - jawless fish (lampreys, hagfishes)

         *Family Petromyzontidae - lampreys

        - anadromous or fresh water, eel-shaped jawless fishes
        - large, circular surrounding mouth, adapted for sucking, and by their single "nostril" on the top of their head. Parasitic species
            use sucker to attach themselves on fish
        - lacks scales, jaws, gill covers and paired fins
        - seven gill clefts openings extend behind eyes
        -.always spawn and lay eggs in brooks and rivers
        - ammocoete (larval stage) most of their lives (3-7 years), undergo a metamorphose to become an adult
        - adults either carnivorous (usually invertebrates) and/or parasitic (suck blood of other fishes), or nonfeeding
        - some species are anadromous, move to sea for 1-2 years until mature, then return to rivers to reproduce and generally die
        - many species sensitive to water pollution

    Class Osteichthyes - bony fishes

        Order Lepisosteiformes (gars)

         Family Lepisosteidae - gars

        - long cigar-shaped fishes, olive above, gray below
        - thick, ganoid (diamond-shaped) scales
        - beak-like jaws with sharp, pointed teeth
        - can use atmospheric oxygen, and may bask on the surface
        - habitat: large streams and rivers, backwaters, also shallow, weedy lakes;         usually near vegetation
        - food: predators
 

         Order Amiiformes (bowfins)

         Family Amiidae - bowfins

        - primitive fish, retains rounded heterocercal tail
        - lunglike gas bladder
        - underside of head with large, bony gular plate
        - one living species (Amia calva) of formerly diverse group
        - habitat: sluggish waters, such as lakes, swamps, sloughs, pools, and backwaters of lowland streams, usually near vegetation
        - reproduction: in spring, male builds circular nests among weeds, guards eggs and young
        - food: fishes, crayfish

         Order Clupeiformes (herring-like fishes)

         *Family Salmonidae - trouts and salmon

        - fishes with long body with many small cycloid scales
        - with adipose fin
        - large fishes, important sport and commercial fishes
        - many species migratory (anadromous), often spawning in same streams where they were hatched
        - habitat: cool to cold, well-oxygenated streams and lakes (often cooler than 21C)
        - food: insects, plankton, and bottom organisms
 

         Family Umbridae - mudminnows

        - small, red-brown fishes with oblong body, with faint vertical bars
        - blunt snout, scaled head, and rounded tail with dark bar at its base
        - no lateral line, no adipose fin
        - burrow into mud when alarmed, resistant to adverse conditions (even freezing)
        - habitat: soft-bottomed sluggish or stagnant water
        - food: insects, crustaceans, some vegetation

         *Family Esocidae - pikes

        - large, distinctive long cylindrical body, with forked caudal fin
        - duck-billed snout, sharp teeth
        - many cycloid scales
        - dorsal and anal fins located far back on body, opposite each other
        - no adipose fin
        - habitat: vegetated waters of pools or sluggish sections of streams, also lakes and swamps
        - food: fish and frogs, voracious predators and fighting behavior make them popular sport fishes

         Order Cypriniformes - minnows, suckers, catfishes

           *Family Cyprinidae - minnows and carps

        - largest family of freshwater fishes
        - usually small in size
        - no adipose fin
        - generally have thin lips (stonerollers (Campostoma) has horny edge extending to edge of lower lip, used to scrape algae, but different in shape from that of suckers (Catostomatidae))
        - lack teeth in mouth, but have 1-3 rows of teeth on comb-like row in throat
        - habitat: widespread in lentic and lotic waters
        - food: usually carnivores on small crustaceans and insects; some are herbivores
 

            *Family Catostomatidae - suckers

        - suckers in mouth, usually behind point of the snout
        - thick and large lips, protrusible premaxillae, used to “vacuum” and ingest invertebrates
        - no adipose fin
        - teeth located in throat in single comb-like row
        - spawn in spring
        - individuals often move in large schools
        - habitat: rivers, lake beds; because of large size and abundance, suckers often account for a large amount of biomass in streams and lakes
        - food: insects and other invertebrates on bottom

            *Family Ictaluridae - catfishes, madtoms

        - small to large fishes
        - 4 pairs of barbels (“whiskers”) around the mouth
        - no scales
        - adipose fin
        - stout spines at dorsal and pectoral fin origins; glandular cells in skin surrounding fin spines of madtoms are venomous, resulting in painful reaction
        - usually bottom feeders and active at night
        - some species of commercial food and aquaculture value
        - spawning usually in spring and summer

        Order Perciformes - perches, sunfishes, sculpins

            *Family Percidae - perches and darters

        - second most diverse family (after Cyprinidae) of North American freshwater fishes
        - all but several species are darters, which are some of our most colorful fishes
        - small in size (about 10 cm), several (walleye, yellow perch) are large (over 0.5 m) and are popular sport fishes
        - 2 dorsal fins, separate or slightly joined
        - ctenoid scales
        - most have lost gas bladder, dart about bottoms of streams and lakes
        - habitats: most darters found in clean sand and gravel runs of streams and small rivers; others in rivers and lakes
        - food: small crustaceans and insects

            *Family Centrarchidae - sunfishes and bass

        - thin, oblong or circular bodies
        - dorsal fins are completely joined
        - no adipose fin
        - males make shallow depression for nest, guard eggs and fry
        - food: macroinvertebrates and fish
        - habitat: lentic and lotic waters, usually of warmer temperatures
        - colorful and popular game fishes

            *Family Cottidae - sculpin

        - largely a marine group, a few freshwater species, dark and drab color
        - small fish with large mouth, wide body that tapers to slender, compressed caudal peduncle
        - large fanlike pectoral fins
        - 1-4 preopercular spines (at front of gill cover)
        - thoracic pelvic fins with 1 hidden spine and 3-4 rays
        - no or few (ctenoid) scales
        - 2 dorsal fins, 1 long spineless anal fin
        - habitat: streams and lakes, often rocky substrates

            Family Gasterosteidae - sticklebacks

        - unique for their separate dorsal spines followed by normal dorsal fin
        - scaleless
        - extremely narrow caudal peduncle
        - males build elaborate nests of plants and sticks held together by kidney secretion, guard eggs and young
        - habitat: shallow vegetated areas of lakes, ponds, and mud-bottomed substrates of sluggish streams, also creeks and small rivers over sand or mud
        - food: small insects and crustaceans