Fish of the Week!

Latest Episodes:

Freshwater Drum: Thank Your Lucky Stones Mar 20, 2023

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The Freshwater Drum (AKA "sheepshead") has a song to sing and a story to tell. Fishermen Drew Geving and Josh Knuth of Native Fish for Tomorrow recall their favorite memories of this accessible, widespread and sometimes underappreciated fish. Whether it's their strange sounds reverberating through your aluminum canoe, or their "lucky stones" or a tasty campfire fillet, we hope you get hooked (in a good way).

You might also like S2:E25 about the percussive Red Drum. Jay Shelton is our guest.

Read more: https://www.fws.gov/story/freshwater-drum-great-grunting-gaspergoo

Char-dcore Dolly Varden: Isolated Arctic Dwarfs Mar 13, 2023

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Meet the little Dolly Varden char that eke out their living in the perennial springs of Northeast Alaska. Here, these amazing freshwater oases hold the key to survival for fish. Randy Brown, a Fish Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Alex Huryn from the University of Alabama join as guests.

The All-Female Amazon Molly Mar 06, 2023

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Amazon mollies are an all-female fish named after the tribe of warlike women in Greek mythology. However, the females do require sperm, so they do have to convince males of other related species to mate with them. What's in it for these males? How did this come to be?? Listen and find out with special guest Dr. Ingo Schlupp, Presidential Professor from the University of Oklahoma and Director of the International Stock Center of Livebearing Fishes.

Yellow Perch: Friday Fish Fry Feb 27, 2023

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Yellow Perch enthusiast Erin Huggins joins us to talk about "the people's fish" (it's a real beauty). We hope you're hungry and ready to hear about a Midwest tradition: the Friday fish fry!

Lionfish! Not Your Mane Squeeze Feb 20, 2023

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You: minding your business. Lionfish: corners you with flamboyant fins, shoots a jet of water at your lateral line. You: discombobulated. Lionfish: strikes. You: toast. Lionfish: moves on to its next victim. We're celebrating the scientists, lionfish hunters, cooks and consumers doing their part to make a dent in the invasive lionfish situation. Learn all about this beautiful, venomous, invasive species with guests Rachel Bowman and Holden Harris.

California Killifish: Wee King of the Salt Marsh Feb 13, 2023

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Meet a serious player in the salt-marsh ecosystems of the Pacific coast! You'll find the Cali Killi migrating with the tides and feeding everything from Least Terns to California Halibut. Drew Talley from the University of San Diego helps shed light on a small but hugely important fish and what it's teaching us about California's remaining coastal wetlands.

Sacramento Perch: California's Heritage Sunfish! Feb 06, 2023

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Meet the only Centrarchid endemic to California! This underappreciated and intriguing game fish continues to swim under the radar in its native California. Guests Peter Moyle (UC Davis) and Max Fish (California Department of Fish and Wildlife) bring Sacramento Perch to the conversation about all the fish!

Razorback Sucker: Colorado River Livin' Jan 30, 2023

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Looking sharp! Maybe the "razor" of this Colorado River fish serves as a keel. Or perhaps it deters another local fish (the Colorado Pikeminnow) from an easy meal. Whatever its purpose, we're a sucker for this big, long-lived, wetland-loving fish with the vermicelli-looking larvae. Our guest Tildon Jones joins from our Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program in Utah.

Rainbow Trout! Jan 23, 2023

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Taste the rainbow, or just enjoy its opportunistic and adventurous spirit! Learn the fate of a family of misfortunate shrews in Alaska; where rainbows fall on the fish family tree; and ponder why some members of the species get "called to sea."

Opah! Warmest Fish in the Cold Blue Sea Jan 16, 2023

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This polka-dotted piscine anomaly is the only fish known to science capable of whole-body endothermy. Dr. Nick Wegner from our sister agency NOAA Fisheries joins us to discover the secrets of the amazing opah.

Read more: https://www.fws.gov/story/opah-warmest-fish-cold-blue-sea