Fishes of Minnesota Mapper: An interactive online mapping tool
The Fishes of Minnesota Mapper was designed for biologists, educators and their students, naturalists, anglers and other individuals who seek Minnesota fish distribution data for research, planning, presentations and recreation.
With Fishes of Minnesota Mapper you can...
- Access a large, historical collection of fish data combined from various sources, including: MN and WI Departments of Natural Resources, MN Pollution Control Agency, James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Excel Energy/Minnesota Power and private consultants
- Query the database using a variety of criteria (Filters) and view the resulting tabular data records
- Generate fish species lists for Minnesota lakes and streams
- Create maps showing the distribution of various fish species across Minnesota
- Download data as a tabular file (.csv) for Excel or as an Arcview shapefile (.shp) for GIS mapping and analysis
Please note: This database contains fish records collected over a long time period and over many different surveys using a variety of sampling methods. Note that absence of a fish species in a particular waterbody doesn't guarantee that the species doesn't occur there, only that it wasn't recorded during the survey(s) performed. Similarly, presence of a species at the time a survey was performed doesn't guarantee that the species still occurs there. Additionally, due to the many different gears and efforts used, comparisons of population abundance among surveys or waterbodies are generally not valid (with the exception of data from MnDNR Fisheries Lake Survey, which uses standardized gear and methods).
We strive to improve the Fishes of Minnesota Mapper and we welcome your comments regarding how to make it more user-friendly, including suggestions for additional features. We would also appreciate receiving digital images and locations of rare species, non-native species or new occurrences of any species in Minnesota’s 12 regional drainages.
Please contact us at: [email protected]
FAQs | how to use | map icons | metadata | data sources & dates
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