The taillight shiner (''Notropis maculatus'') is a species of freshwater fish in the

cyprinid 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 ...

family. It is commonly found in the south-eastern USA.

Distribution and habitat

The taillight shiner is found in the lower

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

basin, parts of

Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River (North Carol ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, Sabine River in Texas, and throughout Florida, with the exception of the southern tip. Their habitat consists of shallow, slow moving pools, rivers, lakes or swamps, usually containing some aquatic plant life. They have been classified as least concern by the IUCN due to their wide distribution and large populations.

Appearance and behaviour

The taillight shiner has a long thin body and a rounded snout. Adult fish are typically 2-2.5 inches long. They have pale yellow colouring on their back, silvery white colouring on their belly and silvery stripes on their sides. They have a black spot at the base of their tail fin. During breeding season, the males have blackish colouring on the fins, and are suffused with pink or red on body, head and fins. It is a

schooling A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

species that feeds on

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

, insects and algae. It completes its entire life cycle in one year. Spawning begins in March, extends into early October and occurs near logs or similar objects. They prefer to spawn in water temperatures of 23–32 °C (73–90 °F). They reach maturity in 6–9 months, depending on the water temperature at the time of spawning. The female will typically lay between 72–408 eggs.Cowell, B. C. and B. S. Barnett. (1974)
Life history of the taillight shiner, ''Notropis maculatus'', in central Florida.
''American Midland Naturalist'' 91(2), 282–93. They have been observed to occasionally practice oral grasping behaviour in order to maintain stationary in flowing water.Adams, S. R., et al. (2003)
Oral grasping: A distinctive behavior of cyprinids for maintaining station in flowing water.
''Copeia'' 2003(4), 851–857.

Distribution and habitat

Appearance and behaviour

References

External links

Further reading