The purpose of this course is to develop participant fish identification skills and knowledge of regional freshwater fish species. Participants will learn an overall system for identifying fish. Characteristics of major taxonomic groups within each family will provide the basis to approach species-level identification. Although emphasis will be placed on the families Cyprinidae, Percidae, Centrarchidae, Catostomidae, and Ictaluridae, specimens from 25 North American freshwater fish families will be available for study. This course is "hands on" and lab-intensive. Field exercises will provide fresh specimens for identification.

1. Date
November 16 – November 20, 2015
Location
NCTC, Shepherdstown, WV
Instructors
Stuart Welsh (WVU)
Dan Cincotta (WVDNR)
Who Should Attend
Natural resource professionals needing fish
identification skills for tasks such as
ecological research projects, predator-prey
studies, or assemblage-level biomonitoring
using fish.
Course Length
4.5 days
College Credit
2 semester hours
Tuition
Tuition for FWS, NPS, and BLM is prepaid.
Tuition is $1,195.00 for participants from
other agencies and organizations.
To Register
DOI employees: Log In to DOI Learn, enter
the course title in the search box, click
scheduled classes, click submit request.
Non-DOI employees: If you do not have a
DOI Learn account, please contact Matthew
Patterson for instructions on how to create an
account.
Course Contact
Matthew Patterson, 304/876-7473
matthew_patterson@fws.gov
Fish Identification
CSP 2220
Course Description
The purpose of this course is to develop participant fish identification skills and
knowledge of regional freshwater fish species. Participants will learn an overall
system for identifying fish. Characteristics of major taxonomic groups within each
family will provide the basis to approach species-level identification. Although
emphasis will be placed on the families Cyprinidae, Percidae, Centrarchidae,
Catostomidae, and Ictaluridae, specimens from 25 North American freshwater fish
families will be available for study. This course is "hands on" and lab-intensive.
Field exercises will provide fresh specimens for identification.
Objectives
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:
 Identify unknown fish by following methods as described in the course;
 Use proper fish collection labeling and preservation techniques;
 Discuss the benefits of using a combination of reference sources for fish
identification;
 Use distributional maps as an aid to fish identification;
 Use dichotomous keys;
 Discuss identification tricks-of-the- trade; and
 Correctly obtain morphometric information needed for fish identification.
Matthew Patterson (USFWS)
Student Comments about Fish ID
“This class changed the methodology that we
use to monitor our eel restoration sites. After
taking this class we feel much more confident
in our ability to ID fish.”
“Fantastic course, the instructors were
excellent”
“Great balance of lecture, lab and field
components”