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 TitleUnique in so many ways
Common Name of Fishpirate perch
Scientific Name of FishAphredoderus sayanus
Image Caption and Creditthere are lots of photos on web.. who knows what is copyright?
Description of Why This Fish Is Important/Interesting

Pirate perch are unique taxonomically, morphologically, reproductively, and ecologically.

They are the only species in their family, Aphredoderidae. The anus and the genital openings are located in the throat. The eggs once released move into the gill chamber and then are spit out into vegetation where they develop. Pirate perch live in swampy low flow areas including flooded bottom land hardwood forests where they can tolerate hypoxic and briefly anoxic conditions by skimming oxygenated water from the surface. They are noctunal predators that have an unusual if not unique chemical camouflage ability to hide from prey. Pirate perch are among the top most interesting fishes of North America.

Website or Journal Article for More InformationResetarits Jr., William J.; Binckley, Christopher A. (2013). "Is the pirate really a ghost? Evidence for generalized chemical camouflage in an aquatic predator, pirate perch Aphredoderus sayanus" (PDF). The American Naturalist. 181 (5): 690–699. and Poly, W.A. & J.E. Wetzel (2003). "Transbranchioral spawning: novel reproductive strategy observed for the pirate perch Aphredoderus sayanus (Aphredoderidae)". Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters. 14 (2): 151–158.
Your NameMark Konikoff