Clear Lake's physical attributes have allowed for many different native fishes to call the lake home. Often these native species evolved into lake adapted sub-species. The following list shows the native fish species of Clear Lake. For more information on a species click on its common name to visit its California Fish Website species page.
Common Name | Scientific Name |
| California roach | Lavinia symmetricus |
| Clear Lake hitch | Lavinia exilicauda chi |
| Clear Lake splittail* | Pogonichthys ciscoides |
| Clear Lake tule perch | Hysterocarpus traskii pomo |
| hardhead* | Mylopharodon conocephalus |
| Pacific lamprey* | Lampetra tridentata |
| prickly sculpin | Cottus asper |
| rainbow trout/steelhead | Oncorhynchus mykiss |
| Sacramento blackfish | Orthodon microlepidotus |
| Sacramento perch | Archoplites interruptus |
| Sacramento pikeminnow | Ptychocheilus grandis |
| Sacramento sucker | Catostomus occidentalis |
| thicktail chub* | Gila crassicauda |
| threespine stickleback | Gasterosteus aculeatus |
*Species is considered to be extinct from the lake.
Note that some links for Clear Lake adapted sub-species go to general species pages.
Selected References
Jordan, D. S., and C. H. Gilbert. 1895. List of the fishes inhabiting Clear Lake, California. Pages 139-140 in Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission. Vol. XIV, for 1894. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., USA. [select Vol. 15 1895. This is a large file that may be slow to load]
Stone, L. 1876. Report of operations in California in 1873. A. Clear Lake. Pages 377-381 in Part III. Report of the Commissioner for 1873-4 and 1874-5. United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, Washington, D.C., USA.
Thompson, L. C., G. A. Giusti, K. L. Weber, and R. F. Keiffer. 2013. The native and introduced fishes of Clear Lake: A review of the past to assist with decisions of the future. California Fish and Game 99(1):7-41