Are there fish in the Hudson River?

Saving the River's Fish. For schools of migratory shad, sturgeon, river herring, blue crab, menhaden and striped bass, the Hudson is an unimpeded corridor from the Atlantic to their ancestral spawning grounds.



The Hudson River is a vibrant and diverse ecosystem home to over 200 species of fish, ranging from small killifish to massive Atlantic sturgeon that can grow up to 8 feet long. Common species found in the river include striped bass, white perch, American shad, and various types of catfish and sunfish. In 2026, the river continues to serve as a critical nursery for migratory "anadromous" fish that live in the ocean but return to freshwater to spawn. However, while the fish are plentiful, there are significant health advisories regarding their consumption due to historical industrial pollution, specifically PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and mercury. The New York State Department of Health generally advises that children and women of childbearing age should not eat any fish from the Hudson, while others are restricted to one meal per month of specific species like striped bass or yellow perch. Despite these restrictions, the river is a popular spot for "catch and release" fishing, and the continued presence of these fish is a testament to the decades of environmental cleanup efforts that have slowly restored the river's water quality and biodiversity.

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The short answer is “Yes!” The long answer is that it depends on when and where. Issues like sewage outflow and algal blooms keep many areas along the Hudson from being swimmable, particularly after rainfall.

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Crabs, turtles and many types of fish can be found along the whole length of the river. Near the sea, even starfish, lobsters and sea horses can be found!

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For Your Health- In 1976, the Upper Hudson River was closed to fishing due to extremely high amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in fish. These levels posed a high risk of possible harmful health effects in humans. Since 1976, the manufacture of PCBs has been banned and their use phased out.

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Atlantic salmon in the United States were once native to almost every coastal river northeast of the Hudson River in New York. But dams, pollution, and overfishing reduced their population size until the fisheries closed in 1948.

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In July, a shark is reported in the Hudson River off 42nd Street. Police as far north as Poughkeepsie are warned.

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While there are orange individuals in the Hudson, these tend to be easy pickings for predators; one study of the diet of ospreys along the Hudson found that goldfish were a common prey of this fish-eating hawk. Thus the goldfish we catch are more likely to be olive green or brown than orange or gold.

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Other ongoing pollution problems affecting the river include: accidental sewage discharges, urban runoff, heavy metals, furans, dioxin, pesticides, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Numerous factories that once lined the Hudson River poured garbage and industrial waste directly into the river.

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A 53-year-old swam the entire length of the Hudson River as part of his life's work: The mission isn't complete Lewis Pugh, a 53-year-old endurance swimmer, holds a unique distinction: he is the only person to have completed long-distance swims in all the world's oceans.

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