150 Fishes to Celebrate 150 Years
This list is still in progress and being added to weekly. Check back again soon!
150 Fishes to Celebrate 150 Years
In 2020, the American Fisheries Society will celebrate its 150th Anniversary. As part of the celebration, the Society will be calling attention to 150 fishes. We solicited nominations of fishes for the list by the Society’s membership.
The 150 Fishes list is a celebration of the biodiversity of freshwater and marine fishes of North America. These fishes will help tell the story of fish and fisheries of the continent. They may illustrate unique life histories, beauty, conservation issues, and challenges of managing and conserving these animals and their habitats. These fishes represent our native biodiversity, but also illustrates how invasives and our own human nature have had impacts on our aquatic resources. Hence, this list will primarily focus on native species but may include non-natives when they tell a compelling fisheries story. From the stories of these fishes, the Society and the public can learn to better appreciate these amazing natural resources and be challenged to ensure that future generations will be able to experience these fishes in their native settings.
Nomination Process
Fish nominations are now closed.
Circulation Process
The 150 Fishes list will reside at the 150th Anniversary Website, information about individual fish from the list will be circulated through various social media platforms throughout the year.
This list is meant to be a fun for members and informative for the public. It is unlikely we will be able to include all nominations. We acknowledge that every fish has a story. There may be opportunities to discuss all the nominated fishes in the future.
FULL LIST OF NOMINATED FISH
| Catchy Title | Mound-builders are keystone stream fishes |
|---|---|
| Common Name of Fish | Bluehead Chub |
| Scientific Name of Fish | Nocomis leptocephalus |
| Image of Fish |  |
| Image Caption and Credit | A male Central Stoneroller interferes with a spawning clasp between a male and female Bluehead Chub while other Central Stonerollers feed on chub eggs as they are being deposited. Meanwhile, Mountain Redbelly Dace Chrosomus oreas may be seen around the nest (Brandon Peoples). |
| Description of Why This Fish Is Important/Interesting | Throughout the Atlantic and Gulf Slope drainages of the eastern United States, chubs Nocomis spp. (Family Cyprinidae), including Bluehead Chub, construct conspicuous gravel mounds for spawning. Nocomis nests are also used for spawning by numerous other cyprinids, collectively termed “nest associates”. Interactions on Nocomis nests can be complex; some nest associate species may truly deposit eggs, whereas other species may simply be feeding on the eggs. Furthermore, some species, such as Central Stoneroller Campostoma anomalum, may do both. Nest-associative spawning can be an important driver of stream fish community structure, especially in silted streams where reproduction of nest associates might not otherwise prove successful. |
| Website or Journal Article for More Information | Peoples, B.K., P. Cooper, E.A. Frimpong and E.M. Hallerman. 2017. DNA barcoding elucidates cyprinid reproductive interactions in a southwest Virginia stream. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 146(1): 84-91, DOI: 10.1080/00028487.2016.1240105 |
| Your Name | Eric Hallerman |