Non-Game Fish Habitat Information

The following Fish Life History Spreadsheet was primarily designed for project reviewers using the Bureau of Endangered Resources Natural Heritage Inventory (NHI) database. All fish on the NHI Working List are included. The spreadsheet provides quick access to aspects of fish life history that should be considered when evaluating in-stream and near-shore projects that could potentially impact fish and aquatic habitat. We recommend that you pay particular attention to the spawning calendar, water body type and microhabitat preferences. These will help you evaluate the likelihood of a fish's presence at a site and allow you to provide project proponents with timing restrictions or other incidental take avoidance measures to protect these species. If after using the spreadsheet you still have questions about a project's likelihood to impact the species, particularly if the species is listed as endangered or threatened, please contact Bob Hay by e-mail or call him at (608) 267-0849.

Be aware that this spreadsheet contains some data gaps. We hope to update this periodically, as new information becomes available. Current state status of the species is listed after the species name as either threatened (THR) or endangered (END).

Printable Version of Nongame Fish Habitat Information [PDF 149KB]

Common Name (Scientific Name)	Spawning Calendar	Water Body Type	Environmental Parameters
			Micro- habitat	Turbi- dity	Current	Substrate	Vegeta- tion	Spawn Temp/ Misc.
American Eel (Anguilla rostrata)	Spawns in ocean, not in WI waters	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Banded Killifish (Fundulus diaphanus)	June to Mid August	large lakes and med to large streams	bays and quiet backwaters	clear	quiet	gravel, sand, silt, marl, clay, detritus, and cobble	none to sparse	70-73°F
Black Buffalo (Ictiobus niger) THR	mid May to mid June	large rivers	sloughs, backwaters, & impoundments	varies	strong	varies, silt		21°C
Black Redhorse (Moxostoma duquesnei) END	late May to early June	only in WI and Eau Claire Rivers at Wausau		clear	strong	gravel, bedrock, sand, low silt		55-73°F
Blue Sucker (Cycleptus elongatus) THR	mid May to mid June	large deep rivers	deep impoundments, probably only spawn in Mississippi River		moderate to strong	gravel or cobble		50-60°F
Common Name (Scientific Name)	Spawning Calendar	Water Body Type	Environmental Parameters
			Micro- habitat	Turbi- dity	Current	Substrate	Vegeta- tion	Spawn Temp/ Misc.
Bluntnose Darter (Etheostoma chlorosoma) END	mid May to mid June?	Mississippi River only	oxbows, ponds, sloughs, and pools	sluggish	mud, clay, mixed sand and mud	sparce to moderate vegetation		10- 15.6°C
Crystal Darter (Crystallaria asprella) END	mid May to mid June?	large rivers	extensive sandy riffles, bars and pool bottoms	clear to moderate	moderate to strong	sand		they lay eggs on plants or plant debris
Gilt Darter (Percina evides) THR	late May to late June	med to large streams	deep riffles and pools	clear	strong	silt free with cobble and small boulders		63-68°F
Goldeye (Hiodon alosoides) END	May to first week July	large rivers	connected small lakes, ponds and marshes	turbid	quiet	mud		50-55°F
Gravel Chub (Erimystax x-punctatus) END	mid May to mid June	shallow medium to large rivers	riffles and fast runs		strong	pea-gravel		60°F
Common Name (Scientific Name)	Spawning Calendar	Water Body Type	Environmental Parameters
			Micro- habitat	Turbi- dity	Current	Substrate	Vegeta- tion	Spawn Temp/ Misc.
Greater Redhorse (Moxostoma valenciennesi) THR	May or June	medium to large rivers	impoundments and large lakes	clear		sand, gravel, boulders		61-66°F
Lake Chubsucker (Erimyzon sucetta)	mid May to early July	weedy lakes and their associated marshy streams	lakes, oxbow lakes, sloughs	clear to moderate	quiet	cobble, sand, boulders, mud, silt	dense with organic debris	59-72°F
Lake Herring (Coregonus artedi)	early Nov to Mid December	deep inland lakes						2-6°C
Least Darter (Etheostoma microperca)	late April, July		overflow ponds, pools, lakes, and streams	clear	sluggish	gravel, sand, silt, boulders, mud, clay	dense vegetation, filamentous algal beds	56-60°F, 54-73°F
Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis) THR	late May to mid July, sporadic to Aug	shallow streams, occasional in lakes		clear	quiet		in or near vegetation	74-77°F
Common Name (Scientific Name)	Spawning Calendar	Water Body Type	Environmental Parameters
			Micro- habitat	Turbi- dity	Current	Substrate	Vegeta- tion	Spawn Temp/ Misc.
Mud Darter (Etheostoma asprigene)	mid May to June	large low gradient rivers	sloughs, overflow areas, riffles, pools and lower ends of tributaries		moderate	mud, sand, clay, gravel, bedrock		23.3-25°C
Ozark Minnow (Notropis nubilus) THR	May, July or August	small to medium streams of low gradient		clear		cobble
Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) THR	late April to early June	large rivers and their lakes				gravel, cobble		spawn during high flows, 50-61°F
Pallid Shiner (Notropis amnis) END	late May to June?	large lowland rivers, Mississippi River only	sloughs and impoundments		quiet to sluggish	sand, mud		10°C with rising water levels
Pirate Perch (Aphredoderus sayanus)	May	medium to large rivers	creeks, oxbows, overflow ponds, sloughs, marshes, and pools		quiet	sand, soft muck covered with organic debris.	often found in brush and veg.	virtually nothing is known
Common Name (Scientific Name)	Spawning Calendar	Water Body Type	Environmental Parameters
			Micro- habitat	Turbi- dity	Current	Substrate	Vegeta- tion	Spawn Temp/ Misc.
Pugnose Minnow (Opsopoedus emiliae)	Mid June, Mid July	lakes and low gradient rivers	impoundments, sloughs		quiet	mud, sand, cobble, silt, and clay	weedy areas
Pugnose Shiner (Notropis anogenus) THR	Mid May, July		glacial lakes and streams of low gradient	shoals	clear	sand, mud, gravel, or marl.	often in weedy areas	70-84°F
Pygmy Whitefish (Prosopium coulteri)	November and December	Lake Superior	deep water around 46 to 71 meters deep					2-6°C
Redfin Shiner (Lythrurus umbratilis) THR	early June, Mid August	low gradient streams	pools	turbid		silt, cobble, boulders, sand, detritus		=70°F from KS
Redside Dace (Clinostomus elongatus)	May to early June	small streams adjacent to pastureland or meadows	pools and riffles	clear to moderate		cobble, sand, clay, silt, bedrock		64°F
River Redhorse (Moxostoma carinatum) THR	mid May to June	large rivers	impoundments and pools		moderate to strong	over clean gravel		68-74°F
Common Name (Scientific Name)	Spawning Calendar	Water Body Type	Environmental Parameters
			Micro- habitat	Turbi- dity	Current	Substrate	Vegeta- tion	Spawn Temp/ Misc.
Shoal Chub (Macrhybopsis aestivalis) THR	May, June, Sporadic in Aug							20-23.3°C from northern MI
Silver Chub (Macrhybopsis storeriana)	June, July	large, low gradient rivers	riffles, pools, sloughs		moderate to strong	sand, mud, clay, gravel	no veg. to moderate	64-73°F
Skipjack Herring (Alosa chrysochloris) END	does not spawn in WI waters	migrates to rivers far to south	open water, large river lakes and below dams	clear	strong
Slender Madtom (Noturus exilis) END	late May, June	streams and wide rivers		clear	moderate to strong	gravel and boulders interspersed with fine sand		18.9-22.8°C
Common Name (Scientific Name)	Spawning Calendar	Water Body Type	Environmental Parameters
			Micro- habitat	Turbi- dity	Current	Substrate	Vegeta- tion	Spawn Temp/ Misc.
Starhead topminnow (Fundulus dispar) END	June, July		shallow backwaters	clear to moderate	quiet		prefers abundant submerged aquatic plants
Striped Shiner (Luxilus chrysocephalus) END	late May to June	only in lower Milwaukee River	runs and shallow pools	clear to moderate	moderate	cobble, boulders, silt, sand, mud, bedrock	often associated with dense aquatic vegetation	=64°F
Weed Shiner (Notropis texanus)	late June to July	medium streams and large rivers	sloughs, lakes,		still to sluggish	sand, mud, clay, silt, detritus, gravel, boulders		18°C
Western Sand Darter (Etheostoma clarum)	late June to July	medium to large rivers		clear to moderate	moderate to strong	extensive sand flats

Compiled by James Bigham, 2003.

Printable Version of Non-Game Fish Habitat Information [PDF 149KB]

Last Revised: November 14, 2005