Other Common Names:

State Record:

Identifying Features:

Brook trout have a dark olive body with a brownish to greenish back and light worm-like markings. The sides are pale with several small blue-bordered red spots. The lower fins have dark and light edges.

Typical Adult:

Length: Up to 18 inches (sometimes up to 34 inches)
Weight: Up to 3 pounds (may reach 14 pounds)
Life span: Up to 15 years

Habitat:

Brook trout live in clear and cold streams, lakes, and ponds, often with access to sea, but are mostly found in the headwaters of spring-fed streams. The preferred water temperature is 53-56 °F.

Feeding Behavior:

Brook trout feed on tiny larval insects, small fish, and occasionally, field mice and snakes.

Reproductive Behavior (Spawning):

When: Late summer and fall
Preferred Water Temperature: 40-49 °F
How: The female digs several redds (depressions) in a gravel bed in the headwaters of a small stream. Adults do not guard the nest.

Did You Know:

Prime brook trout habitat has been lost to stream channelization, dam building, pollution, and streambank erosion caused by overgrazing and deforestation.

A sea-run brook trout is known as a "salter" or "sea trout."

A brook trout in the Great Lakes that migrates up its tributaries to spawn is known as a "coaster."

Other Common Names: Striper, Rockfish, Linesides

State Record: 60 pounds

Identifying Features:

Striped bass have a dark, olive-green to bluish-black back and silvery-white sides and belly. There are 7 to 8 black, unbroken, horizontal stripes along the side.

Typical Adult:

Length: Up to 35 inches (sometimes up to 48 inches)
Weight: Up to 37 pounds (sometimes up to 100 pounds)
Life span: Up to 9 years

Habitat:

Striped bass are an anadromous species of fish. Anadromous fish inhabits both fresh water and salt water, depending on the time of year. Striped bass live in the Atlantic and Pacific coastal waters and the Gulf of Mexico but enter freshwater streams to spawn. The preferred water temperature is 65-75°F.

Feeding Behavior:

Striped bass feed on threadfin, gizzard shad, crustaceans, insects, and bottom organisms. The heaviest feeding times are at dawn and dusk.

Reproductive Behavior (Spawning):

When: Spring
Preferred Water Temperature: 55-60 °F
How: Adults swim up tributary streams and spawn below dams or natural obstructions such as rock formations. The female deposits eggs in light to moderate current. The moving water keeps the eggs afloat until they hatch. Adults do not guard the eggs.

Did You Know:

Up to 50 striped bass may spawn together.

Striped bass move in packs or schools to feed, with all members tending to feed at the same time.