Notropis cornuta
Common Shiner

Name:

• Notropis, from the Greek, "back keel"
• cornuta, from the Latin, "horned"
• Common name because it's, well, common.
• Other common names include: Creek Shiner, Dace, Eastern Shiner, Hornyhead, Redfin Shiner, Rough-head, Silver Shiner, Silverside, Skipjack

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom Animalia
• Phylum Chordata, animals with a spinal chord
• Subphylum Vertebrata, animals with a backbone
• Superclass Osteichthyes, bony fishes
• Class Actinopterygii, ray-finned and spiny rayed fishes
• Subclass Neopterygii
• Infraclass Teleostei
• Superorder Ostariophysi
• Order Cypriniformes, minnows and suckers
• Family Cyprinidae, carps and minnows
• Genus Notropis, the eastern shiners
• Also known as Luxilus cornutus

Description:

• One of the largest of the native shiners.
• Length
• up to 8"
• averaging 2½"-4"
• Weight
• Coloration
• olive-green with bluish reflections on back and sides
• belly silvery
• breeding males tinted with pink over their entire body with dusky dorsal and tail fins.
• one of a few minnow species having dark pigmentation behind scattered scales, giving the appearance of missing scales.
• Body
• stout and robust
• moderately compressed laterally
• scales along the sides elevated, diamond shaped in appearance
• broad mid-dorsal stripe, along the top of the back, subtended by 2 or 3 narrow, parallel stripes
• dorsal and pelvic fins of 8 rays
• pectoral fins of 15-17 rays
• anal fin usually of 9 rays
• Head
• head, eyes, and mouth seem noticeably large in comparison with similar species
• mouth large, terminal, and nearly horizontal
• no barbel
• pharyngeal teeth strongly hooked, on sturdy arches in a 2, 4-4, 2 pattern

Identification:

Distribution:

• Saskatchewan to Quebec, south to Colorado, Kansas, and the Gulf Coast.

Habitat:

• Both warm and coldwater streams; in the latter, it may be found in the same waters as trout.
• Prefer clear water and reach their greatest abundance in the upstream tributaries of major interior rivers.

Foods:

• Both plant and animal material.
• Feeds at or just below the water surface, primarily on insects.

History:

Uses:

• Common and readily caught, it is a popular bait minnow
• Important forage for game fish.
• Takes a fly readily and is often caught by beginning fly fishermen.

Reproduction:

• Spawns in spring in riffles over gravel, with some males excavating their own small nests. Commonly spawns over the nest of a Creek Chub or River Chub as well.
• Hybridizes regularly with other minnow that spawn at the same time.

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Last updated on 17 October 1999