There are many different varieties of fish in Kansas; some of which I will be writing about below. I will be giving you some information about them, why they are so interesting and I felt the need to share them with you. I hope you enjoy learning about certain Native Kansas Fish!

As you probably already know, every State has an official fish. The State fish of Kansas is the Channel Catfish. As stated by Wikipedia, “It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a ‘channel cat.’”  The Channel Catfish is the most fished type of catfish each year which has it’s advantages and disadvantages. An advantage is that keeps the population under control so they don’t take over the lakes, ponds, and rivers of Kansas, though a disadvantage is that eventually if we aren’t careful they may be put on the endangered animals list. Channel catfish are omnivores, which means that they eat meat and plants. Some of their favorite foods for when you are fishing or just in general include chicken liver, crickets, nightcrawlers (earthworms), shad, freshwater drum, crawfish, frogs, bullheads, and sunfish. They have a wide pallet!

Another interesting kind of fish in Kansas is the Spotted Sucker. Wikipedia stated in their text, “The spotted sucker (Minytrema melanops) is a species of sucker (fish) that is native to eastern North America,” which includes Kansas. As you probably guessed, Spotted Suckers eat organic matter, but it wasn’t always what they ate. When they are younger and still considered larvae they eat zooplankton which is a type of plankton that inhabit freshwater bodies of water and the ocean. When they are older, the Spotted Suckers begin to drift farther down in the river and start eating organic matter instead of zooplankton. Now the Spotted Suckers are considered bottom feeders which are fish that eat organic matter such as algae. Spotted Suckers tend to usually inhabit deeper areas of small to medium size rivers. Those rivers that they inhabit tend to have a gravel, sand, or clay bottoms.

The last type of fish I am going to be telling you about is actually a lot of fish species.  First, I will tell you about Paddlefish which are a very interesting kind of fish that live in Kansas. They have a large, paddle-like noses and tend to be fairly large as adults. Secondly, I will be telling you about different kinds of bass in Kansas. Bass that live in Kansas include Largemouth, Smallmouth, Spotted, Striped, and White Bass. Also, there are many kinds of Catfish; another common species in Kansas. Certain kinds are Blue, Channel, and Flathead Catfish. Bonus kinds of fish in Kansas are, Crappie, Bluegill, Sunfish, Perch and Trout.  

I hope by reading this article you learned something about some of the Native Kansas Fish including, Bass, Catfish, Paddlefish, Channel Catfish, Spotted Suckers, Crappie, Sunfish, Trout, Perch and Bluegill. Maybe the next time you go fishing or visit a river or lake you can see these fish.  Below, I have some links and resources that you can look at if you would like some bonus information about fish in Kansas. 

Links and Resources:

http://ksoutdoors.com/Fishing/Where-to-Fish-in-Kansas

http://ksoutdoors.com/Fishing/Fish-ID-Gallery

http://www.kansas.com/sports/outdoors/article151909327.html

https://www.takemefishing.org/kansas/fishing/

http://www.kansasriverkeeper.com/river-atlas/conservation-priorities/fish-conservation