I just ordered "Fishes of Alabama" and "Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes" off Amazon. I am a bit ashamed to admit I know more about SA and CA fish than I do about the ones found in my backyard. The field guide is a second edition that includes invasive species.
Every US Fish (900 species):
- Thread starter Oddball
- Start date
I also picked up the "Fishes of Alabama" book. I also got the Crayfishes of Alabama poster. It's being offered for free at AL.com. Just pay $3 for shipping.
If i'm not mistaken i can see a picture of the common european tench on there. I was unaware you guys had tench in the US.
This species was imported into North America from Germany by the U.S. Fish Commission in 1877 apparently for use as a food and sport fish (Baird 1879). The Commission apparently spent several years learning to culture tench, for it was not until well into the 1880s that the agency started to seriously distribute the species in the United States. According to Baughman (1947), the Commission planted more than 138,000 tench across North America during the period 1886 to 1896. By the end of that period, the Commission had provided tench to at least 36 different states. Shortly thereafter, the agency discontinued working with tench and turned over their hatchery ponds to the rearing of bass (Baughman 1947). The U.S. Fish Commission stocked tench into lakes and ponds in the Pacific states, including Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, in 1895 (Smith 1896). Additional introductions occurred in Washington when tench exhibited at the 1909 Worlds Fair, held in Seattle, were dumped into a large pond on the University of Washington campus. Some of these fish later were transferred to Lake Washington; the population eventually spread to Lake Union (Wydoski and Whitney 2003). Although most tench introductions were the result of intentional stockings, some introductions were the result of escape from holding facilities. In 1889, many of the fish, including an estimated 25 tench, held in federal ponds in Washington, D.C., escaped into the Potomac River during a flood (McDonald 1893). However, tench had been introduced to the Potomac River prior to that date. For instance, Smiley (1889) recorded the taking of tench from that river during March 1887. Evermann and Kendall (1895) reported the escape of tench from the Neosho fish hatchery into Spring Branch near Neosho in southwestern Missouri. Baughman (1947) discussed the escape of tench into the Olentangy River of Ohio after the banks of an artificial lake collapsed in 1898. Schwartz (1964) stated that tench had escaped from commercial ponds into creeks in Maryland. Tench were first brought to California in 1922. At that time, specimens obtained in Italy were illegally released into a private reservoir near Half Moon Bay, San Mateo County; the species was later spread to other California waters by ranchers (Shapovalov 1944; Dill and Cordone 1997).
