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The Sacramento Blackfish

Sacramento Blackfish is a California native associated with warm, often turbid fresh waters. Lakes, backwaters and sluggish river pools provide its recorded habitat.

Range and Identity

Orthodon microlepidotus occurs naturally in the Sacramento-San Joaquin, Pajaro and Salinas region and Clear Lake. Some additional waters have known or possible introduction histories. Those records should retain their origin context rather than be merged into one unqualified native range.

Habitat and Behavior

Adults inhabit lakes and slow river habitats, often in warm, turbid water. A backwater and a sluggish main-river pool can provide different forms of shelter from stronger current. The immediate conditions are more informative than a broad river-versus-lake category alone.

Food and Life History

The upper reference is fifty-five centimeters total length, with thirty-five centimeters given as a common size. The checked summary does not establish an independent maximum mass or detailed feeding proportions. A migration route is not inferred merely from occurrence in connected river and lake environments.

Field Note

Keep introduction uncertainty where the source includes it. A fish can be securely identified in a waterbody even when the historical origin of that population remains less certain.

All Lakes With Sacramento Blackfish

Browse lakes and reservoirs with documented Sacramento Blackfish records, listed alphabetically. Records do not establish current abundance or public access. Check the evidence and managing authority for the water you choose.

Showing 1–24 of 479 lakes · Page 1 of 20

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