WORK IN PROGRESS
Still to do:
- identify whether each fish has an especial salt marsh affiliation.
This is a first cut on compiling a list of fish that could be affected by sea-level rise or SLR's affects on coastal salt marshes. This list is planned to have fish that spend a notable part of their lives in the estuaries of N.J. (not the accidentals or rarely seens). By reaching to similar habitats within the same general climate zone, this list is probably good for most of the shoreline from the Outer Banks to Cape Cod.
Fish of N.J.'s bays and estuaries
Procedure
The checklist that Ken Able developed [JCNERR] for the Jacques Cousteau NERR site is the primary source used to determine which fish spend time in NJ's estuaries.
NOAA's web sites for Essential Fish Habitat [NOAA EFH] were used to supplement the primary source. If NOAA said a fish had estuarine habitat I included it.
Peterson's Field Guide [P.Fish] was used to verify information and as the source for fish sizes.
- NOAA EFH = Essential Fish Habitat (by estuaries), sea also EFH for managed species
- JCNERR = Ken Able's Mullica River/Great Bay fish checklist
- P.Fish = Peterson Field Guides Atlantic Coast Fishes (Robins, Ray, and Douglas 1986)
Habitat color key
Fish that are often found in salt marshes or tidal creeks, and are not just estuarine. These habitat determinations have not yet begun.
Links column
JCNERR or NOAA EFH are listed if either is a source for determining that a species is estuarine.
Other sites which have information about the specific fish are linked. NOAA and NJDEP focus on the important commerical/recreational fish. FishBase tries to be comprehensive in its worldwide coverage of fish biology. Wikipedia, like always, can be hit or miss.
- NOAA = NE US Status of Fishery Resources, Species List
- NJDEP = 2008 recreational fishing regs.
- FishBase = FishBase reference page for the species
- Wikipedia = Wikipedia (to the family, genus, or species level)
The critters
| Common name | Latin name | Looks like (click for all images) |
Estuarine for | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black sea bass | Centropristis striata |  to 30 cm |
EF |
NOAA EFH JCNERR NOAA NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| Summer flounder (Fluke) | Paralichthys dentatus | to 94 cm | EF |
NOAA EFH JCNERR NOAA NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| Atlantic Butterfish | Peprilus triacanthus | to 30 cm | EF |
NOAA EFH JCNERR NOAA FishBase Wikipedia |
| Bluefish | Pomatomus saltatrix | to 110 cm | EF |
NOAA EFH JCNERR NOAA NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| Winter flounder | Pseudopleuronectes americanus | to 64 cm | EF |
NOAA EFH JCNERR NOAA NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| Scup | Stenotomus chrysops | to 46 cm | EF |
NOAA EFH JCNERR NOAA NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| American shad | Alosa sapidissima | to 75 cm | EF |
JCNERR NOAA NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| American eel | Anguilla rostrata | to 150 cm | EF |
JCNERR NOAA NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| Weakfish | Cynoscion regalis | to 91 cm | EF |
JCNERR NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| Striped bass | Morone saxatilis | to 180 cm | EF |
JCNERR NOAA NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| Pollock | Pollachius virens | to 110 cm | EF |
JCNERR NOAA NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| Cobia | Rachycentron canadum | to 180 cm | EF |
NOAA EFH NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| King mackerel | Scomberomorus cavalla | to 170 cm | EF |
NOAA EFH P.Fish NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| Spanish mackerel | Scomberomorus maculatus | to 83 cm | EF |
NOAA EFH P.Fish NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| Tautog | Tautoga onitis | to 91 cm | EF |
JCNERR NJDEP FishBase Wikipedia |
| Blueback herring | Alosa aestivalis | to 40 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Hickory shad | Alosa mediocris | to 60 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Alewife | Alosa pseudoharengus | to 40 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| American sand lance | Ammodytes americanus P.Fish calls the ASL Ammodytes hexapterus, but FishBase says A.h. is the Pacific Sand Lance. |
to 23.5 cm (FishBase) | EF |
JCNERR FishBase Wikipedia |
| Bay anchovy | Anchoa mitchilli | to 10 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Fourspine stickleback | Apeltes quadracus | to 6.3 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Silver perch | Bairdiella chrysoura | to 30 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Atlantic menhaden | Brevoortia tyrannus | to 35 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Atlantic sea herring | Clupea harengus | to 45 cm | EF |
NOAA EFH NOAA FishBase |
| Conger eel | Conger oceanicus | to 230 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Sheepshead minnow | Cyprinodon variegatus | to 7.5 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Gizzard shad | Dorosoma cepedianum | to 50 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase Wikipedia |
| Smallmouth flounder | Etropus microstomus | to 13 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Banded killifish | Fundulus diaphanus | Freshwater fish, occurs occasionally in brackish (P.Fish) |
JCNERR FishBase Wikipedia |
|
| Mummichog | Fundulus heteroclitus | to 12.5 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Spotfin killifish | Fundulus luciae | to 4 cm | Common in salt marshes (JCNERR) |
JCNERR FishBase Wikipedia |
| Striped killifish | Fundulus majalis | F/M, to 18 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Threespine stickleback | Gasterosteus aculeatus | to 10 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Naked goby | Gobiosoma bosc | to 6 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase Wikipedia |
| Lined seahorse | Hippocampus erectus | to 15 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| American plaice | Hippoglossoides platessoides | to 82 cm | EF |
NOAA EFH NOAA FishBase |
| Spot | Leiostomus xanthurus | to 36 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Rainwater killifish | Lucania parva | to 4 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase Wikipedia |
| Inland silverside | Menidia beryllina | to 10 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase Wikipedia |
| Atlantic silverside | Menidia menidia | to 15 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Northern kingfish | Menticirrhus saxatilis | to 46 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Atlantic croaker | Micropogonias undulatus | to 50 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| White perch | Morone americana | to 48 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Striped mullet | Mugil cephalus | to 91 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase Wikipedia |
| White mullet | Mugil curema | to 38 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase Wikipedia |
| Smooth dogfish | Mustelus canis | to 150 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Grubby | Myoxocephalus aenaeus | to 18 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase Wikipedia |
| Striped cusk-eel | Ophidion marginatum | to 25 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Oyster toadfish | Opsanus tau | to 38 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Northern searobin | Prionotus carolinus | to 38 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Striped searobin | Prionotus evolans | to 45 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Atlantic mackerel | Scomber scombrus | to 56 cm | EF |
NOAA EFH NOAA |
| Windowpane flounder | Scophthalmus aquosus | to 45 cm | EF |
NOAA EFH JCNERR NOAA FishBase |
| Northern puffer | Sphoeroides maculatus | to 36 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Northern sennet | Sphyraena borealis | to 46 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase Wikipedia |
| Atlantic needlefish | Strongylura marina | to 61 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Northern pipefish | Syngnathus fuscus | to 30 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Cunner | Tautogolabrus adspersus | to 38 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Permit | Trachinotus falcatus | to 114 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Hogchoker | Trinectes maculatus | to 20 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
| Red hake | Urophycis chuss | to 52 cm | EF |
NOAA EFH JCNERR NOAA FishBase |
| Spotted hake | Urophycis regia | to 40 cm | EF |
JCNERR FishBase |
NOTES. 1 This web site has general information for the purposes of sea-level rise planning, and it should not be relied upon to be up-to-date or comprehensive about fishing regulations.
Further information
NOAA
The line art fish illustrations are both beautiful and in the public domain.
The NOAA site on Essential Fish Habitat is an incredible resource on fish life stages and fish habitat.
NJDEP
Fish Game & Wildlife is the part of DEP that regulates and manages wildlife, including the commercial and recreational fish catch.
FG&W's checklist of marine fish is acknowledged to be based on Ken Able's.
Just as there is a link to recreational fishing regulations at the top of the page, commercial regs also exist.
Jacques Cousteau Nat'l Estuarine Research Reserve
JCNERR's strikertracker biology pages have a lot of great info, including Common Fishes of the Great Bay: A field guide, in addition to being the home of Ken Able's checklist.