# what was this fish? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-fish/315377 "2005-08-03T00:34:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-fish/315377/1 "2005-08-03T00:34:43Z")
Was at a cottage this weekend and while swimming around I came across schools of these tiny (about 2-3 inch) fishes which Im curious to identify. The body was an almost metalic green, but the tail was an amazing red. The lake I was at is supposedly only stocked with perch and bass (of some sort or another). Was this baby bass? ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-fish/315377/2 "2005-08-03T01:18:19Z")
I don’t have an answer for you but I wanted to point out that questions like this are a lot easier to answer if you give some hint as to your actual location. Like what continent this cottage was on. ---
**Author:** ![rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-fish/315377/3 "2005-08-03T12:49:02Z")
whoops sorry. That’ll teach me to post while half asleep. Ok, the lake was a small spring fed body of water in the Kawarthas area of Ontario (just south of Algonquin park). The fish in the lake, or so I was told, were all introduced by a forest ranger several years back and are supposedly only perch and bass (don’t know what kind but based on pics I looked at online I THINK they may be small mouth bass). The fish I am refering to are, as I said, about 2-3 inches in length and a very nice green with almost a blue sheen depending on the light. The tail, however, is red or maybe crimson-ish. I assume they are probably the young of the bass, but I have not been able to find pics online to verify. I guess a better way of posting the question would have been, “do baby bass have red tails?” The lake is just teeming with these red tailed fish along the shore, and there were just schools of the bass in the deeper areas, heck some of the fish would come up to my feet (guess they looked like wiggling little grubs). Lots and lots of fish. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-fish/315377/4 "2005-08-03T13:05:35Z")
[You mean like this?](http://www.kfaonline.com/HTML/KFA%20Site/NewSite/FishDetails/Bass.html) or perhaps [this](http://www.kfaonline.com/HTML/KFA%20Site/NewSite/FishDetails/Walleye.html) or [this?](http://www.kfaonline.com/HTML/KFA%20Site/NewSite/FishDetails/Esocids.html) ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-fish/315377/5 "2005-08-03T13:12:01Z")
Up in your area, it may be a type of sucker called the _[Shorthead Redhorse](http://fn.cfs.purdue.edu/anglingindiana/fishesofindiana/Suckers/Shorthead_redhorse.htm)_. ---
**Author:** ![rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-fish/315377/6 "2005-08-03T17:29:39Z")
Well from An Arky’s link I think pretty much assures me that the large fish are Small mouth bass, and I’m fairly certain the smaller fish were the bass young. HOWEVER, the description given says that they have tri-coloured tails that are yellow. These were definitely red. And very bright red to boot. So much so that I’m thinking about putting a few in an aquarium. Very pretty. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-fish/315377/7 "2005-08-03T17:39:34Z")
We have the exact fishes you are talking about in the lake we have a cabin on in Northern Vermont. Very pretty, I’d always assumed they were juvenile trout, but I do not know. I’ll watch this thread for pics…I haven’t seen them yet in the linked photos. ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-fish/315377/8 "2005-08-03T20:28:04Z")
I don’t think they would be juvenile trout, those are [very distinctive](http://www.fishingnet.com/jpgimages/general/parrr.jpg). Although the young brook trout may have a reddish tail, there are all sorts of other colors and markings, rather than a simple green/blue sheen.