Field Guide

Explore the Field Guide to learn about more than 350 species of birds, fish, insects, algae, invertebrates, mammals, plants, reptiles and amphibians that live in the Chesapeake Bay region.

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Showing: 10 of 19

Atlantic Silverside

Menidia menidia

The Atlantic silverside is a small forage fish with a silver band along either side of its body. It can be found in schools in the Bay, and is an important part of many larger fishes’ diets.

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Fish

Bay Anchovy

Anchoa mitchilli

The bay anchovy is a small, translucent fish that lives in schools throughout the Chesapeake Bay. It is the most abundant fish in the Bay.

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Fish

Blennies

Suborder: Blennioidei

Blennies are small, brightly colored fish that live in the Chesapeake Bay year-round, mostly among oyster reefs.

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Fish

Gobies

Family: Gobiidae

Gobies are small, secretive fish that live in the Chesapeake Bay year-round, mostly among oyster reefs.

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Fish

Hogchoker

Trinectes maculatus

The unusually-named hogchoker is a small, flat fish with a brown, rounded body. It is abundant year-round throughout the Chesapeake Bay.

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Fish

Inshore Lizardfish

Synodus foetens

The inshore lizardfish has an elongated body, pointed snout and large mouth with sharp teeth. It can be found in the Bay as far north as Annapolis in the west and the Chester River in the east.

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Fish

Lined Seahorse

Hippocampus erectus

The lined seahorse is a unique fish with a curled tail and horse-like head. It lives among underwater grasses in the shallow waters of the middle and lower Chesapeake Bay.

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Fish

Lumpfish

Cyclopterus lumpus

Lumpfish are saltwater fish, generally living in the North Atlantic but occasionally coming as far south as the Chesapeake Bay. They have a skin-covered fin that gives them a high crest on their backs, and they have three rows of bony protrusions on their sides.

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Fish

Northern Stargazer

Astroscopus guttatus

The northern stargazer is a strange-looking fish with a speckled, flattened body and a large head. It lives at the bottom of the lower Chesapeake Bay in deep, open waters.

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White dots on the fish's face sitting on a sandy bottom
Fish

Oyster Toadfish

Opsanus tau

The oyster toadfish is a bottom-dweller that lives year-round in oyster reefs and other shallow parts of the Chesapeake Bay.

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Fish