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About This Quiz
Even though the Earth looks like a big, watery sphere from space, over 99 percent of all the water on Earth is actually unusable to us. Whether it's salt water, frozen water, polluted water or water that's hidden away underground, the portion that gets left over for us and the freshwater fish of the world is incredibly low. In fact, only 0.3 percent of the freshwater in the world is found in surface lakes, swamps, and rivers. That's what makes it all the more amazing that there are thousands and thousands of species of freshwater fish out there when really they don't have a ton of real estate to work with.
Since we as humans have always lived closed to sources of freshwater out of necessity, it's no surprise that we have a long history of fishing for the critters that live in that same water. Freshwater fish have been a part of the survival of the human race since the beginning. Surely with all that history, you must be able to identify at least a few of the little guys (and not-so-little guys) that share our water with us, right? If you think you know your freshwater friends, there's one sure way to prove it — take this quiz and see how many you can identify!
Rainbow trout
Northern pike
Northern pike are hefty fish that can exceed 60 pounds. Fishers prize them for their size and the challenge of catching one. Commercial fisheries have tried to farm like with no success since they won't eat artificial food. The pike just likes to hunt.
Rita rita
Musky
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Lamprey
Muskellunge
Blue catfish
Alligator gar
The alligator gar is an intimidating looking creature with a mouthful of teeth and a size that would make anyone think twice. The largest reported size of one of these monsters was about 10 feet, making it the sort of thing you want to avoid when you're swimming.
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Steelhead
Lake trout
Black crappie
Black crappies are fairly prominent throughout North America, and if there's water with fish in it, it's probably suitable for crappies to live in. The difference between a black crappie and a white crappie isn't so much the color as the dorsal spines. White crappies have six while black have seven or eight.
Goby
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Sailfish
Neon tetras
Neon tetras are often one of the beginner fish that people get when they start a home aquarium. They're so popular that over 1.5 million of these tiny fish are imported into the US every single month.
Green gouramis
Bettas
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Warmouth
Sturgeon
Walleye
Chinook salmon
Chinook salmon are anadromous and will live in freshwater, saltwater and brackish at different points in time. During spawning, a chinook salmon will migrate upwards of 2,000 miles from the ocean to the Upper Yukon River.
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Rainbow trout
Ironically, a rainbow trout only has a red band of color down its side rather than a full rainbow of color. It's is pretty eye-catching, so the name stuck. There are species such as the golden rainbow trout which have bright yellow-gold coloration with red stripes and pink coloration as well.
Sockeye salmon
Sunfish
Killifish
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Mountain sucker
Red-finned char
Humpback chub
The humpback chub gets its name from that curious lump above its head on its back. There are currently only six self-sustaining populations of the Chub in the Colorado River Basin.
Paddlefish
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Oscar
Oscars are the kind of fish that don't do well with strangers, so if you have them, they can only live with other oscars. That said, they're considered to be rather smart for fish, and there are even videos of some that have been taught to do aquarium tricks. Fun!
Guppy
Pleco
Yellow perch
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Bluegill
Coho
Lake herring
Lake herring can be found in the Great Lakes of North America and are fished both recreationally and commercially. Their population had been in decline for some years, but they're now making a comeback up in Lake Superior.
Red snapper
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Largemouth bass
Competitive largemouth bass fishing is a worldwide industry. The fish have been introduced around the globe, and competitions for fishing them can be found not just in North America but Japan, Australia, Korea, Italy and other countries as well.
Lake trout
Blue catfish
Monkfish
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Whitefish
Rock bass
Muskellunge
Muskellunge, better known as muskies, is the largest member of the pike family and are very popular with sports fishers as a result. If you're looking to pull in a big freshwater fish in North America that's going to be a challenge, this beast which can get up to six feet is what you want.
Mollies
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Goby
Angelfish
Angelfish are fairly common in home aquariums thanks to how easy they are to keep. They're omnivorous, so feeding them is usually not difficult, and they tend to get along with other fish species so long as the aquarium doesn't get too crowded.
Silver loach
Bettas
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Moapa dace
The moapa dace comes from the Moapa River in Nevada. Their habitat is currently limited to 10 square kilometers, which is why the species is considered at risk. In 1979, the Moapa Valley Refuge was established as the first refuge ever to help conserve an endangered fish species.
Killifish
Danio
Yellow perch
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Rainbow smelt
Gourami
River trout
Barramundi
The barramundi gets its name from an aboriginal Australian word that means "large-scale river fish." The fish can be found throughout Northern Australia and Southeast Asia. They are what is known as sequentially hermaphroditic, so after one spawning males may become females. That means older larger specimens are likely female.
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Gourami
Zander
Zander are known as pike-perch and European walleye and have been intentionally introduced to many lakes and rivers throughout Europe as a sports fish. They are pretty robust fish and will compete with native species as well as interbreed with them, so the fear is that they could essentially dominate any native population where they're introduced.
Snakefish
Pearl Dace
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Dark sleeper
Golden loach
Ide
Ide fish are a member of the carp family found in lakes and rivers. They're large for carp, getting up to around 10 or 12 pounds, which makes them a fairly common target for sports fishing. Everyone likes a big fish, after all.
Ice trout
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Yellow perch
Rock bass
Rock bass look like a smaller version of their cousins, the largemouth bass. They're not particularly large fish, as the record was only about three pounds, but they can be fished all year and make for a pretty easy catch even for new anglers and kids, which is why they're popular.
Brown trout
Bluegill
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Warmouth
Discus
Gourami
Razorback sucker
The razorback sucker has been listed as an endangered species since 1991. They can also live for upwards of 40 years, which seems pretty impressive for a fish. Most of the current populations of Razorbacks are supplemented by farm-raised fish, and only one population in Lake Mead is still wild.
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Walleye
Green sunfish
Sunfish, including the green sunfish, shouldn't be mistaken with ocean sunfish, which are quite different looking creatures. Freshwater green sunfish are easily mistaken for perch or bass as they're in the same family. They're actually considered a nuisance fish in states like Florida and New Jersey.
Paddlefish
Rita rita
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Swordtail
Rainbow smelt
Japanese eel
Golden dojo loach
The golden dojo loach fits in well with most fish in an aquarium, and they lend themselves well to the overall environment by feeding on the sludge that falls to the bottom. Loaches lack scales, which also means that you shouldn't add any chemicals to a tank with loaches in it unless it's specifically designed for scaleless fish.
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Sturgeon
Yellow perch
Walleye
Walleye are one of the most popular fish in North America for sports fishers. Walleye also have remarkable eyesight, which is exceptional even in low-light conditions. Thanks to that, they're known for being a good hunter at both dusk and dawn.
Gourami
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Black crappie
Lake herring
Chain pickerel
Yellow perch
Yellow perch are farmed commercially and are also a popular sport fish thanks to the fact they're easy to manage, don't put up much of a fight and are pretty tasty as far as fish go.
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Rock bass
Lake sturgeon
Lake sturgeon are some of the biggest fish you can catch throughout North America. At six feet long and in the neighborhood of 200 pounds, it's not hard to see why fishers prize them. Oddly enough, they were once considered nuisance fish because they destroyed fishing gear.
Japanese eel
Gourami
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Indian flying barb
Rainbow smelt
Weakfish
Blue catfish
Blue catfish can grow to be 150 pounds and are pervasive throughout lakes and rivers from Canada all the way down to Guatemala. In some places, they're actually considered invasive nuisance fish. They're also able to manage brackish waters, so they have a lot of places to choose from.
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Killifish
Killifish are brightly colored, hardy little aquarium fish that do well in communities with most other fish so long as they aren't violent. That's a weird caveat to put on a fish, though, because what fish would do well with violent fish?
Fourspine strickleback
Rita rita
Bloater
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Paddlefish
Gourami
Betta
Betta fish are some of the most popular aquarium fish in the world. Their bright colors and flashy-looking fins make them a striking addition to any home set up. The only downside is the reason they're sold in individual cups — bettas have rage issues and will actively try to kill other bettas.
Swordtail
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Mountain suckers
Japanese eel
Fourspine stickleback
The fourspine stickleback is a menacing looking little guy that only grows to four or five centimeters in length and has some impressive spikes sticking out all over its body, which is where it gets its name.
Neon tetra
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Giant gourami
Giant gourami are from Southeast Asia and can get to be over two feet in length. They're useful in garden ponds to keep weed growth down as they eat a lot of plant life, and they're also farmed as food because they don't have all those annoying, tiny bones that some fish have.
Devils Hole pupfish
American shad
Cherry barb
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Zebra danios
Pacific lamprey
Paddlefish
Mountain sucker
The mountain sucker has quite a wide range across America, but it can also be found around the Rocky Mountains, including in rivers up at altitude. It gets its name because it can live in the mountains and it also sucks up its food from the bottom of the river.
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Paddlefish
The paddlefish is a weird looking beast that can live for over 50 years. The eggs of the paddlefish have been used as a stand-in for sturgeon caviar if you're looking for a cheaper alternative that tastes more or less the same.
Chain pickerel
Rita rita
Alligator gar
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Platys
Danios
Swordtails
Swordtails are a popular aquarium fish thanks to their bright colors and their unique, pointy tail. They're native to Central and North America and in the wild tend to be a little less spectacularly colored. The captive-bred fish are bred specifically to get bright colors, though.
Weakfish
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Oscars
Humpback chub
Indian flying barb
Rainbow smelt
Rainbow smelt traditionally moved into freshwater to spawn before heading back to saltwater to live out their fishy lives. When they were introduced to the Great Lakes they adapted a little too well, and now they actually can't go back to the ocean.
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Dark sleeper
Dark sleeper is both the name of a bass lure and a fish you'll find in Japan. The fish is a crafty little thing that can control light reflecting scales on its body to either reflect or absorb light, making it incredibly hard to see on the bottom of a river or stream.
Angelfish
Blue catfish
Muskellunge
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Zander
Warmouth
Devils Hole pupfish
The Devils Hole pupfish doesn't just have a fantastic name, it has kind of an amazing story. The fish lives in one spot, appropriately called Devils Hole in Nevada. It's a limestone pool, and there are only about 200 of the fish in a 20 square meter area. That's the world's entire population.
Red loach
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Warmouth
Warmouth bass are a fairly aggressive species of bass, hence the name. When the female lays eggs, the males will guard them against any other fish for up to several days after they hatch. After that, the little guys are on their own.
Steelhead
Bloater
Redgill
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Black crappie
Lake herring
Brown trout
Chain pickerel
Chain pickerel are a close relative of the northern pike and are one of the larger sports fish you can find in North America. They're also popular for eating, but only if you have the patience to debone one since they're chock full of little bones.
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Zebra danio
Indian flying barb
The Indian flying barb can be found across India and various parts of Asia. It gets the flying part of its name thanks to a remarkable talent it has for jumping. If you keep them as an aquarium fish, make sure you have a lid.
Angelfish
Discus
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Blue catfish
Lahontan cutthroat trout
Lahontan cutthroat trout have one of the best names in fish history, and they also have a sad history. They were once so abundant in the Tahoe-Truckee Watershed that people fished them up by the bucketful assuming the supply would last forever. They were added to the endangered species list in 1970.
Moapa dace
Chinook salmon
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American eel
The American eel is one of those fish that splits its time between freshwater and saltwater. Unlike most species, it seems to work in reverse. It lives most of its life in freshwater and heads out to sea to spawn.
Humpback chub
Paddlefish
Spiny needlefish
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Gourami
Carp
Alligator gar
Rita rita
Rita rita is actually the scientific name for the whale catfish found throughout India, Nepal, Pakistan and other regions of Asia. It can grow up to 48 inches or so in length and is heavily fished for food.
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