The common shiner (''Luxilus cornutus'') is a freshwater fish of the family
Cyprinidae
Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest verte ...
, found in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. It ranges in length between 4 and 6 inches, although they can reach lengths of up to 8 inches.
Description
The common shiner is silvery colored (sometimes bronze) and has an "olive back with a dark dorsal stripe."
The common shiner is a freshwater fish found in North America. Adults inhabit rocky pools in small to medium rivers. They can live to be approximately 6 years old.
They are considered sexually mature by 7.4 cm. Breeding males have a pinkish tint over most of their body and small bumps or tubercles on their head.
In comparison with ''
Notropis'', the common shiner's head, eyes, and mouth are large.
Life history
The common shiner can be found in cool clear creeks and small to medium rivers, usually in the faster pools near
riffles and in the shallow littoral of ponds and lakes.
They usually concentrate on pools. Its preferred water temperature is 21.9 °C.
The common shiner reaches sexual maturity by 1–2 years of age, and produces between 400 and 4000 eggs per year. Common shiners spawn in spring between May and June, at temperatures of 16-26 °C. Common shiners often spawn over the nest of a
creek chub
''Semotilus'' is the genus of creek chubs, ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. The term "creek chub" is sometimes used for individual species, particularly the common creek chub, ''S. atromaculatus''. The creek chub species of minnows can ...
,
river chub, or
fallfish
The fallfish (''Semotilus corporalis'') is a North American freshwater fish, a chub in the family Cyprinidae. The fallfish is the largest minnow species native to Eastern North America.
Description
Average specimens generally measure about in ...
, although some males will make their own small nests.
Gravel
Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone.
Gravel is classifi ...
in
riffles is also possible.
Spawning males are territorial and will often engage in fights with other males.
Once the eggs are ready the male guards the nesting site.
Common shiners are known to
hybridize
Hybridization (or hybridisation) may refer to:
*Hybridization (biology), the process of combining different varieties of organisms to create a hybrid
*Orbital hybridization, in chemistry, the mixing of atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals
*Nu ...
with other shiner species.
Common shiners live for about 4-6 years.
Diet
The common shiner eats "terrestrial and aquatic insects, vegetation, and other fishes."
Predators
Predators of the common shiner include fish (such as the
smallmouth bass and
chain pickerel
The chain pickerel (''Esox niger'') is a species of freshwater fish in the pike family (family Esocidae) of order Esociformes. The chain pickerel and the American pickerel (''E. americanus'') belong to the ''Esox'' genus of pike.
Taxonomy
French ...
) and birds (i.e.
mergansers and
kingfishers).
References
Luxilus
Taxa named by Samuel L. Mitchill
Fish described in 1817
Freshwater fish of North America
Minnows
{{Notropis-stub