The lakes with the most native fish species in north America

[BilletHead]

          I figured our members that do the species thing know this but for most here myself included I think this is pretty neat.

The Lakes With the Most Native Fish Species in North America

  I see a picture with a mistake in the description 🤪

[fishinwrench]

40 in Okeechobee ?     I'd like to challenge that...... Are they including dozens of weird minnow species or something ?  

[BilletHead]

4 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

40 in Okeechobee ?     I'd like to challenge that...... Are they including dozens of weird minnow species or something ?  

               I bet so. @Johnsfolly @Ham what kinda minnows are in Okeechobee? 

[Johnsfolly]

2 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

40 in Okeechobee ?     I'd like to challenge that...... Are they including dozens of weird minnow species or something ?  

They didn't say most native game fish but all native fish species. So that total does include minnows, shiners, etc. Some minnows would be bluefin killifish, least killifish, Seminole killifish, hardy silversides, inland silversides, American flag fish, golden topminnows, eastern mosquitofish, golden shiners. Sunfish would be warmouth, bluegill, coppernose bluegill, redear sunfish, redbreast sunfish, spotted sunfish, florida largemouth bass, and black crappie. Might be one or two species of pygmy sunfish. Certainly a darter species. White catfish. FL gar and ruddy bowfin. These are off the top of my head. There are more than a few invasive competing with those native species. Okeechobee is a huge lake.

[Al Agnew]

There are more species in several Ozark rivers than in any of these lakes.  For instance, the Meramec River has more than 100 native species.  When you think about it, lakes are just one habitat, while rivers have a diversity of habitats, from the tiny clear creek-like conditions near the headwaters to big, slow, mud-bottomed, murky river habitat near the lower ends.  So they have much more diversity of fish species.

[tjm]

5 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

lakes are just one habitat,

That's a pretty simplistic view. A lake with over 800 miles of shoreline varying in depth and temperature comprised of varying geological characters and having dozens of feeder streams, each with it's own chemical makeup, must have  hundreds of discrete habitats just along the shore; and of course the shallows along the shore are distinctly different than the >50' depths.  Lake Michigan for example has approximately 1,640 miles of shore and is over 280' deep; hardly a single habitat when it comes to evolving plants and animals. It's like saying that the  Meramec is a single river so it comprises a single habitat. 

[WestCentralFisher]

The term "lake" with the Great Lakes imo is almost deceiving, especially if comparing them to any other natural lakes or impoundments in North America. They are for all intents snd purposes freshwater inland seas. 

I am fortunate enough to have two different good friends with large boats on two very different pieces of Lake Michigan, one on Big Bay de Noc in the UP, the other in the northern lower peninsula. And it's crazy how different it is! Up in the UP, it's working shallow dropoffs and weed-lines for smallies, a type of fishing that is actually pretty recognizable and understandable to me except the smallies feel a little bit too big for a Missouri kid. It just feels vaguely wrong and sinful somehow.

But at least we're fishing based on actually reading the water, and most importantly without any electronics doo-dads. Any fish I catch with the aid of an electronic doo-dad feels like it has a major asterisk, if only because I don't understand how they work, and it always vaguely feels to me like I caught fish with some form of magical assistance.

I'll note, this is a purely personal stance, and I have no opinion on how or whether anyone else fishes with electronic doo-dads. Just not my cup of tea. 

The other friend, it's trolling for salmon in impossibly deep water, and lots of electronic doo-dads are involved and I assume without them we'd be lost. I do not 100% consider whatever this is to be fishing in the same sense as what I do back home, but whatever it is still a hell of a lot of fun, and whenever he invites me I get pretty excited about it.

[tjm]

I've always thought that "sea" described salt water, and that  "lake" was a naturally occurring large body of water. I can't help being slightly irritated by use of "lake" to describe reservoirs or ponds, although it's fairly common nowadays.     

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

21 hours ago, BilletHead said:

          I figured our members that do the species thing know this but for most here myself included I think this is pretty neat.

The Lakes With the Most Native Fish Species in North America

  I see a picture with a mistake in the description 🤪

Found it.   Cant beat it.  

[Johnsfolly]

7 minutes ago, Daryk Campbell Sr said:

Found it.   Cant beat it.  

Boom ba da Boom!