Fish Skeleton ID

[JasonsPlecosCichlids]

While out Pheasant hunting this past Friday I found this in a field, possibly from a flood because I found several out in the middle of nowhere and there is a creek that runs along the field.

Skeleton was about 18" long without a head but the tail is what has me stumped. The tail are plates it seems like. I haven't checked out every single skeleton yet of the fish of Ohio but curious to see if anyone knows and can show me the same skeleton of said fish.

This was found in Deer Creek, Ohio.

 

[MoNsTeR FiS]

All I can say is it is a fish.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[Chub_by]

Looks like a trout to me

 

[Moontanman]

I was going to say bowfin but I'm not sure how common they are in your neck of the woods...

 

[MN_Rebel]

All fish have that. Good luck with narrowing it to one specific species. Could be a northern pike, a trout, a sucker, a bass or a gar. But based on where you found the skeletons (floodplains), try narrowing it to the species who spawned in floodplains last spring. Carps, buffaloes, northern pikes, suckers, bowfins and gars are most likely culprits since they all spawned in floodplains. Since you found more skeletons suggested a large group of spawning fishes got trapped so we can rule out bowfins as they do not spawn in groups. My money is on either northern pike or suckers.

 

[JasonsPlecosCichlids]

Not a Pike, here is a skeleton of pike and not all fish have a tail like that, you don't see it on this Pike and I have yet to see a fish with a tail structure like this from what I searched for the past few days.

 

[JasonsPlecosCichlids]

All fish have that. Good luck with narrowing it to one specific species. Could be a northern pike, a trout, a sucker, a bass or a gar. But based on where you found the skeletons (floodplains), try narrowing it to the species who spawned in floodplains last spring. Carps, buffaloes, northern pikes, suckers, bowfins and gars are most likely culprits since they all spawned in floodplains. Since you found more skeletons suggested a large group of spawning fishes got trapped so we can rule out bowfins as they do not spawn in groups. My money is on either northern pike or suckers.

These are fish that have recently died from when the water went over the bank. I found one here and one there.

 

[MN_Rebel]

Jason, most times the caudal fins are usually gone or broken up when they are decomposed or eaten by the wildlife. I've seen the tail structure like that in many fish species before and it can be found in most fish species. By the way, thank you for provide a pic of a northern pike skeleton to support my argument. As you can see, there are similarities in both pictures. The shape of tail structure is same to the northern pike and it can be same said for other fishes.

It's clearly that this skeleton cannot be identified without any skulls attached.