Big Ole Horse ID

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absentx
Big Ole Horse ID
<p>Friend showed me this beautiful redhorse on Instagram last night and it has been fun watching the ID argument ensue. You can&#39;t see the tail fin so that makes it a bit harder.</p> <p>I think it is a brutus Silver that is just a bit darker colored than normal. It has the skinny mouth and I am pretty sure I can count 15 rays on the dorsal fins. Thoughts?</p> <p><br /> Having trouble posting the image so I&#39;ll link to it:</p> <p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BD6231pGk5e/?taken-by=eric_haataja">https://www.instagram.com/p/BD6231pGk5e/?taken-by=eric_haataja</a></p>
roughfish29
roughfish29's picture
Yeah big silver for sure man.
Yeah big silver for sure man. Haha I love some of the comments from the "fisheries biologists" saying it's a greater.
absentx
I was thinking the same thing

I was thinking the same thing!!

Hengelaar
Hengelaar's picture
Whoa, that is a beautiful Sil

Whoa, that is a beautiful Silver, though. Hard to tell how big it is from that pic, but it's a stunner, that's for sure.

 

My favorite is the guy who says he's seen bigger in Spain.

Fishn sure is neat

absentx
I have to imagine its a 24 to

I have to imagine its a 24 to 26 inch fish...Pretty tall body and large head. Maybe in the 28 range?

Definitely concensus as a Silver though right?

TonyS
TonyS's picture
Yep

100% tubby Silver

Kokanee killer
Kokanee killer's picture
Wow

Huge silver and I didn't have to go to some ivy league school to know it

good fishing

absentx
Exactly. Put down the text bo

Exactly. Put down the text books kids! Get out there and actually chase some redhorse.

TaleSpinner
TaleSpinner's picture
For tose of us new to redhors

For those of us new to redhorse, what about it marks it as a silver?

Life list goals for 2023: Silver Redhorse, Greater Redhorse, and River Redhorse

Hengelaar
Hengelaar's picture
Hey TaleSpinner, you can chec

Hey TaleSpinner, you can check out the Species Pages on this site, to study up on the different Redhorses and their identifying features. Lots of great info there. Also, one of our intrepid members, Gunnar, made one hell of a cool cheat sheet.

Fishn sure is neat

Graceclaw
Graceclaw's picture
This isn't super helpful for

This isn't super helpful for ID'ing with this picture, but this is a nice tool for ID'ing your own catches (though don't be afraid to post a thread asking for ID help):

http://moxostoma.com/redhorse-id-downloads/

One of the primary ways of telling redhorse apart is their tail color, which isn't apparent in this picture. Silvers have (surprise surprise) silver tails.

Once you've seen a few redhorse, you'll start to be able to tell the differences in their head and dorsal fin shapes as well- that's what gave it away as a Silver to me (though I'm still a newbie myself). In this case ,the fact that it's so large is helpful as well- only three species of redhorse can get as big as that one: River, Greater, and Silver. Based on head shape you can tell it's not a River or Greater, so it must be a Silver.

I'm sure someone else will pop in and amend my information if any of it is incorrect.