Below the Surface: Test Your Connecticut River IQ! | Estuary Magazine: For people who care about the Connecticut River

This article appears in the Fall 2025 issue

Test Your Connecticut River IQ!

By Steve Gephard and Sally Harold

It’s time for some fun! How much do you know about the river and its non-human inhabitants? Record your answers and calculate your score after reading the answers at the end of the column. Impress your friends! Be the envy of your family! Fantasize about fabulous prizes! (Some questions have more than one correct answer.)

Test Your Connecticut River IQ!

1 / 22

1) The largest tributary of the Connecticut River is:

a) Farmington River (Massachusetts and Connecticut)

b) Chicopee River (Massachusetts)

c) West River (Vermont)

d) Ammonoosuc River (New Hampshire)

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2) Where is the head of tide (the point furthest upstream where a river is still affected by tidal fluctuations)?

a) Essex, Connecticut

b) Middletown, Connecticut

c) Windsor, Connecticut

d) East Longmeadow, Massachusetts

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3) Where is the top of the saltwater wedge, typically (the uppermost town in which brackish water is normally found)?

a) Essex, Connecticut

b) Middletown, Connecticut

c) Windsor, Connecticut

d) East Longmeadow, Massachusetts

4 / 22

4) A true “Below the Surface” question: Where is the deepest part of the river?

a) Bodkin Rock, Middletown, Connecticut

b) Joshua Rock, Lyme, Connecticut

c) Junction with the White River, White River Junction, Vermont

d) Upstream of the French King Bridge, Erving/Gill, Massachusetts

5 / 22

5) Which of the following mussel species are found in the Connecticut River?

a) Eastern lampmussel

b) Tidewater mucket

c) Creek heelsplitter

d) Pink hogchoker

6 / 22

6) How was the tributary Eightmile River in Connecticut named?

a) It is located eight miles upstream of the mouth of the Connecticut River

b) It is eight miles long

c) The first white settler at the mouth of the river was Haight Myles, which was corrupted over time

d) The mouth is eight miles from the Salem Valley Ice Cream Farm, maker of an astounding peppermint stick ice cream

7 / 22

7) What is the object shown in the accompanying photo?

a) A mass of spadefoot toad eggs

b) A mass of coagulated PFAS from a stream near Bradley International Airport

c) A bryozoan

d) A native fungus that grows on dead wood such as logs in the river

8 / 22

8) What is the name of the fish in the photograph?

a) Slimy sculpin

b) Tessellated darter

c) Naked goby

d) Juvenile shortnose sturgeon

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9) Which towns contain portions of the Connecticut River that do NOT flow in a northerly direction at some time of most days?

a) Old Saybrook, Connecticut

b) Haddam, Connecticut

c) East Longmeadow, Massachusetts

d) Erving, Massachusetts

10 / 22

10) Can you name the turtle species in this photo?

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11) Which of these fish species is NOT found in the Connecticut River?

a) Pumpkinseed

b) Hogchoker

c) Dolly Varden

d) Creek chubsucker

12 / 22

12) How far upstream did Atlantic salmon migrate in the Connecticut River, historically?

a) Bellows Falls, Vermont

b) Sumner Falls, New Hampshire

c) Lyman Falls, New Hampshire

d) Beechers Falls, Vermont

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13) Which of these aquatic plants is native to the Connecticut River?

a) Celery grass

b) Phragmites

c) Water chestnut

d) Hydrilla

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14) Which is true about sea lampreys?

a) They were accidentally introduced into the river via the Farmington-Northampton Canal

b) Their backbones are often collected by medical researchers

c) They die after spawning

d) They were responsible for the extirpation of Atlantic salmon

15 / 22

15) Which of the following species of animals that live in the Connecticut River are listed as endangered under the existing federal Endangered Species Act?

a) Shortnose sturgeon

b) Atlantic sturgeon

c) Puritan tiger beetle

d) Dwarf wedge mussel

16 / 22

16) What do these four tributary rivers have in common: Farmington, Scantic, Deerfield, and Green?

a) All are named after famous Puritan preachers

b) Portions of their watersheds are in two states

c) All flow north for a portion of their course

d) Portions of them now flow underground

17 / 22

17) Which of these species is not anadromous?

a) Atlantic salmon

b) Blueback herring

c) American eel

d) Sea lamprey

18 / 22

18) Which of these fish species makes a nest for its eggs?

a) Sea lamprey

b) American shad

c) Fallfish

d) Yellow perch

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19) Which of these is NOT a fish species native to the Connecticut River?

a) White catfish

b) Yellow perch

c) White perch

d) Common shiner

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20) Which of these species spawn in the fall?

a) Sea lamprey

b) Blueback herring

c) Spottail shiner

d) Brook trout

21 / 22

21) Which of these Connecticut River dams does not have a fishway to pass fish?

a) Vernon

b) Bellows Falls

c) Wilder

d) East Ryegate

22 / 22

22) What is a shadblow?

a) Fish-flavored bubblegum

b) A type of cocaine favored by fish netters

c) A serviceberry tree

d) The act of an American Shad surfacing in the river and expelling air from its lungs

Your score is
The average score is 28%
0%

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