4-H Fish Identification Project
This dichotomous key is based on the Key to the Freshwater Fishes of Virginia
written by Robert E. Jenkins and Noel M. Burkhead from the Department of Biology
at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia.
All fish species fact sheets come from Virginia Polytechnic Institute's Virtual
Aquarium website.
The objective of this key is to determine the exact identity of a fish from the Clinch watershed by providing a series of two options to you, the investigator. One description will not fit your fish, the other will be a possibility; click on it. When you reach a family or a species the name of the family or the species will be listed above the "Next" that links to that family or species. Latin names of families are given to the right.
Jaws absent |
Lamprey family Petromyzontidae
|
Jaws present |
|
All diagrams for this key were sketched by Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University's Department of Forestry web developer Andrew
Meeks.
Last updated: July 2001