Introduced Species

Some of Clear Lake's earliest human impacts are tied to the introduction of non-native fishes, dating back to the early 1870s. Clear Lake served the late 19^th Century as a "testing ground" for fish introductions, often with little regard for native species (Dill and Cordone, 1997). Certain introductions have played a key role in determining the structure of the Clear Lake ecosystem. For example, Clear Lake is a top rate fishery for introduced largemouth bass, bringing in anglers for tournaments and recreation alike. The introduction of western mosquitofish and Mississippi silversides was viewed as biological control agents to combat the Clear Lake gnat, yet also provide forage for larger piscivores. There are currently 21 introduced fishes still present in 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
black crappie	Pomoxis nigromaculatus
bluegill	Lepomis macrochirus
brown bullhead	Ameiurus nebulosus
brown trout	Salmo trutta
common carp	Cyprinus carpio
channel catfish	Ictalurus punctatus
fathead minnow	Pimephales promelas
Florida black crappie	Pomoxis nigromaculatus
Florida largemouth bass	Micropterus salmoides floridanus
golden shiner	Notemigonus crysoleucas
goldfish	Carassius auratus
green sunfish	Lepomis cyanellus
lake trout*	Salvelinus namaycush
lake whitefish*	Coregonus clupeaformis
Mississippi silverside	Menidia audens
Mud/Grass pickerel*	Esox americanus vermiculatus
northern largemouth bass	Micropterus salmoides
pumpkinseed	Lepomis gibbosus
redear sunfish	Lepomis microlophus
smallmouth bass	Micropterus dolomieu
threadfin shad	Dorosoma petenense
western mosquitofish	Gambusia affinis
white catfish	Ameiurus catus
white crappie	Pomoxis annularis
yellow perch*	Perca flavescens

*Unsuccessful introduction or thought to be absent from the lake

Selected References

Dill, W. A., and A. J. Cordone. 1997. History and status of introduced fishes in California, 1871-1996. Fish Bulletin 178:1-437.

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