Yellowfin Bighead

[Yellab]

Spotted an exotic fish on the river last evening. It was in with a school of "regular" bigheads and stood out like a sore thumb. Obviously it became top priority and I made a good shot to bring it in. Thought you guys might like to see these photos.

[goose h8r]

Nice fish but my eyeballs hurt now.

[Sorny]

you should mount it, or maybe you allready did?

Nice fish!

[Sorny]

you should submit a pic and a small story to James for the first news letter with that sucker!

[THans]

looks like bighead, but tastes like tuna. cool fish corey!

[HailCall]

Whattttt That thing is crazy looking congrats

[muddy river]

That's sweet. Nice job!

[Scott G.]

That is a freak of nature!!! Nice....

[obert1]

you should mount it, or maybe you allready did?

They are easier to mount if you wait til they are completely dead.

Great fish Cory, that is very cool. I think for sure that should be a headliner on the newsletter and be on the BON website.

[Yellab]

Actually, I don't think it was vastly different colored than this fish. It was funny how the sunlight would really make it yellow, but in the shade, the body wasn't nearly as bright. The head and fins remained bright yellow in any light.

[Eric]

Some of those "lake" bigheads get orange-looking, I gotta wonder if that fish did not flood out and wash into the river earlier this year. NICE!

[goose h8r]

Its not a lake thing, cause I know of several Orange Bigheads that get shot every year.

I probably has more to do with the hybrid Silver/bigheads that are seen more and more. Yellabs fish has silver characteristics(the keel), the other fish pictured is questionable if it was full strain bighead due to the keel and last I heard a DNA sample was requested.

[Yellab]

I was thinking more along the lines of the hybrid scenario as well. When I looked at the fish I didnt really notice the silver characteristics, but I also had 500 bigheads witin 100 yards of me and was more interested in getting back in there for another one. However, when I went back and looked at this photo, hybrid was my first thought.

[whisker]

From USGS

The yellow bigheads have a form of albinism. Sometimes it is only on part of their body, but I've seen it usually as a whole fish thing. The fish looks yellow because the yellow pigment that is always there shows up because the dark pigment (melanin) is not being produced.

Again, no need for more "DNA testing" to differentiate hybrids,....just look at the gill rakers. Quick, easy, and inexpensive.

[whisker]

For those that might have missed it, I'll show the pictures again

From the USGS:

Look at the gill rakers for the best identification. Purebred silvers will have a hard, sponge-like filtration apparatus on the front of the gill arch, and the leading edge of the structure is almost always a smooth curved line. Bighead carp will have structure like a comb with very long, straight, teeth. You may find that most of the "silver carp" in your area are actually hybrids, if the dominant year class is dominated by the progeny of only a few silver carp spawners in the presence of a lot of bighead carp spawners. Also, if you get a "bighead carp" that jumps into your boat, I almost guarantee it will be a hybrid.


Bighead and Silver carps can be easily distinguished from each other by the distinctive morphology of their gill rakers. The gill rakers of hybrids are generally intermediate in their development between the two species, but usually appear more similar to one of the parental species. In one form, the gill rakers appear more like those of Bighead Carp, but will be clubbed or wavy, sometimes with small branches . In the form that appears more like the gill rakers of Silver Carp, the gill rakers are incompletely fused, giving a ragged appearance . In this form, the gill rakers can usually be separated with a light touch, unlike with the filtration apparatus of pure Silver Carp. Like most hybrid fishes , many characteristics are intermediate between the parental species. These include the ratios of head or gut length to body length, and the length of the extension of the pectoral fin past the insertion of the pelvic fin.

Easy field identification:

Left = Bighead / Center = Hybrid / Right = Silver