Name:
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- Notropis, from the Greek, "back keel"
- dorsalis, from the Latin, "of the back"
- Common Name
- Other common names include: Gilbert`s Minnow, Central Bigmouth Shiner
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Taxonomy:
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- 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
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Description:
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- A common midwestern minnow
- Length to 3"
- Weight
- Coloration
- olive-yellow on back
- silvery on sides and belly
- mid-dorsal stripe, running along the top of the body, continuous around
the base of the dorsal fin
- no pigment around the vent or at the base of anal fin
- Body
- slender, flat-bellied, and hump backed
- lateral band not present
- lateral line has about 35 scales, complete with paired markings called
"mouse tracks" at each pore
- scales in front of the dorsal fin are smaller, crowded, and exceed 16 in
number.
- dorsal, anal, and pelvic fins of 8 rays
- pectoral fins of 14-15 rays.
- Head
- quite large
- eyes appear to focus upward when viewed from above
- mouth horizontal, on bottom of head and overhung by the snout
- lacks barbel
- pharyngeal teeth hooked, on slender arches in a 1, 4-4, 1 pattern
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Identification:
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Distribution:
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- Wyoming and Colorado, east through Minnesota and Missouri, to New York
and Pennsylvania.
- Not known from the Lake Superior drainage.
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Habitat:
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- Typically sand bottom streams.
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Foods:
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- Bottom feeder consuming aquatic insects, detritus, and plant material
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History:
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Uses:
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- One of the most important forage fishes and an important bait minnow.
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Reproduction:
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Comments:
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Links:
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Last updated on 18 October 1999
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