Wildlife in Full Color - Ohio Department of Natural Resources

COLOR in Fishh e n y o ut h i n k o fcolorful fish, youmight think of brightlittle darters, or acolorfully named fish like the rainbowtrout. There aren’t very many colorfulfish, right? Wrong! All fish are colorful,but they are not all brightlyor vibrantly colored. Fishhave several color adaptationsfor living life underwater. Likeall of the other wildlife in Ohio, fishuse color for survival, protection, andfinding a mate.THE COLOR OF SURVIVALHave you ever looked into a pool of acreek or the edge of a pond and thought,“there’s nothing in there!” Finding fishunderwater is tricky, but here’s a hint– stay still. Smaller fish, like minnowsin a creek, will hold still when they seeanything moving in or above the water.Once you are still and they feel safe, theywill begin moving again. Why was it sohard to see them when they were still?You guessed it, camouflage keeps themfrom being seen.Many fish have similar camouflagepatterns. When you look at a fish, theirtopside is dark-colored, banded, ormottled. This helps them blend in whensomething (or someone) is looking downat them from above. The dark color helpsthem blend into the dark depths of thewater or the bottom of the creek or lake.When you look at the underside, or thebelly of a fish, you will see that it is lightcolored.This helps them blend in whensomething is looking up at them frombelow. The light color of their bellieshelps them blend into the light color ofthe sky and the light above water.