The sand shiner (''Notropis stramineus'') is a widespread North American species of freshwater fish in 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 ...

. Sand shiners live in open clear water streams with sandy bottoms where they feed in schools on aquatic and terrestrial insects, bottom ooze and

diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising sev ...

Distribution

The sand shiner is extremely widespread, known from central part of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and southern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The range stretches from

Saint Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. "Laurel wreath, laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the Persecution of Christians, perse ...

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

and

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 ...

basins which are part of the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. The range also stretches south to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

; west to

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

; Trinity River to

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

and

, and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

.Hubbs, C., R. J. Edwards, and G. P. Garrett. 1991. An annotated checklist of the freshwater fishes of Texas, with keys to identification of species. ''Texas Journal of Science'', Supplement 43(4):1–56

Name

The genus name ''Notropis'' means keeled back and specific epithet ''stramineus'' means of straw, making reference to the fish's overall pale amber body color. ''Neotropis ludibundus'' is a

senior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnae ...

of ''N. stramineus'', however, the specific name ''N. stramineus'' is conserved and ''N. ludibundus'' is suppressed.Mayden, R. L. and C. R. Gilbert. 1989. ''Notropis ludibundus'' (Girard) and ''Notropis tristis'' (Girard), replacement names for ''N. stramineus'' (Cope) and ''N. topeka'' (Gilbert) (Teleostei: Cypriniformes). ''Copeia'' 1989(4):1084–1089.

Physical characteristics

Sand shiners have a compressed, slender body covered in

leptoid scale A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as ...

s, more specifically

cycloid scale A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as w ...

s which are generally round and lack a tooth-like cteni. They have a subterminal mouth position (the end of the snout projects only slightly past the mouth) and a homocercal tail (the vertebral column does not enter the

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

).Page, L. M., and B. M. Burr. 1991. A Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North America, north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 432 pp. Sand Shiners usually have seven anal soft rays, fewer than 10

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

soft rays, and fewer than 45

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

scales. They have no spinous rays meaning none of their rays are hard. Their

pharyngeal teeth Pharyngeal teeth are teeth in the pharyngeal arch of the throat of cyprinids, suckers, and a number of other fish species otherwise lacking teeth. The

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

total length of a Sand Shiner is about 44 mm with a maximum length of approximately 82 mm.Etnier, D. A., and W. C. Starnes. 1993. The Fishes of Tennessee. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, 681 pp.Hugg, D.O. 1996 MAPFISH georeferenced mapping database. Freshwater and estuarine fishes of North America. Life Science Software. Dennis O. and Steven Hugg, 1278 Turkey Point Road, Edgewater, Maryland, USA

/ref> They have a silvery head and sides with a dark middorsal strip extending to the

.Sublette, J. E., M. D. Hatch, and M. Sublette. 1990. The Fishes of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 393 pp At the base of the

are two distinct black dashes separated by a clear space when viewed from above. Their back scale (zoology), scales are an olivaceous color and are outlined with

melanophores Chromatophores are cells that produce color, of which many types are pigment-containing cells, or groups of cells, found in a wide range of animals including amphibians, fish, reptiles, crustaceans and cephalopods. Mammals and birds, in contrast, ...

. Each pore within the

lateral line system The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

, is also accented with paired

which creates the appearance of a thin midlateral strip. The abdomen is a whitish color with indistinct spots at the base of the

. During

spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquati ...

, colors intensify in males.

Habitat

The sand shiner requires clear water with a sandy, gravel-rubble bottom in order to survive.Tanyolac, J. 1973. Morphometric variation and life history of the cyprinid fish'' Notropis stramineus'' (Cope). ''Occ. Pap. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kans.'' 12:1–28.Platania, S. P. and C. S. Altenbach. 1998. Reproductive strategies and egg types of seven Rio Grande Basin cyprinids. ''Copeia'' 1998(3):559–569. It is irregularly distributed amongst streams of diverse sizes and inhabits a wide variety of habitats within the medium to large streams and rivers but is rarely found in upland areas.Lee, D. S., Gilbert C. R., Hocutt C. H., Jenkins R. E., Callister D. E., and Stauffer J. R. 1981. ''Atlas of North American Freshwater Fishes: North Carolina'', North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, 1981, c198

/ref> Sand Shiners tend to seek areas deeper than 20 cm which have little to no Aquatic plant, aquatic vegetation and a slow-moving

current Currents, Current or The Current may refer to: Science and technology * Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas ** Air current, a flow of air ** Ocean current, a current in the ocean *** Rip current, a kind of water current ** Current (stre ...

. Habitats with

acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...

ic or

alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a base (chemistry), basic, ionic compound, ionic salt (chemistry), salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as ...

conditions are avoided, however, in the Southwest, pH values of around 8.0 are common in streams which Sand Shiners occupy. Habitat locations change slightly throughout the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

s. During

season in August, sand shiners form large schools in shallow water which has a slight current and a sandy bottom. In the fall, concentrations of sand shiners are found in deep pools. In late summer and fall, the sand shiners tend to move into shallow water over a rubble bottom during dusk.Starett, W. C. 1950a. Distribution of the fishes of Boone County, Iowa, with special reference to the minnows and darters. ''American Midland Naturalist'' 43(1):112–127.Mendelson, J. 1975. Feeding relationships among species of ''Notropis'' (Pisces: Cyprinidae) in a Wisconsin stream. ''Ecol. Monogr.'' 45:199–230.

Diet and feeding behavior

Sand shiners are

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutri ...

fish, feeding on aquatic and terrestrial insects, bottom ooze and diatoms and are often observed in large schools which frequently feeding in shallow waters.Koster, W. J. 1957. Guide to the Fishes of New Mexico. Univ. New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Overall, this species is an opportunistic feeder primarily taking bottom particulate matter, as well as plant material and terrestrial and aquatic insects. More explicitly, their summer diet consists of bottom ooze (68% of volume), aquatic nymphs and

larvae A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

, Ephemeroptera nymphs, Tricoptera larvae, adult terrestrial insects, adult and emerging Ephemeroptera,

dipterans Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced m ...

, corixids, and a small amount of plant matter.Becker, G. C. 1983. Fishes of Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1052 pp. During late summer, sand shiners show more surface-oriented feeding behaviors, feeding on adult aquatic and terrestrial insects.Gillen, Alan L. and Thomas Hart. 1989. Feeding Interrelationships Between the Sand Shiner and the Striped Shiner. Ohio J. Science, Ohio 71-76. These feeding habits are similar to the closely related

Cape Fear shiner The Cape Fear shiner (''Notropis mekistocholas'') is a North American species of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is endemic to the central part of the state of North Carolina in the southeastern United States, and is only found in th ...

and swallowtail shiner.

Conservation status

Populations of sand shiners in the

southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

are currently stable. They are not listed as endangered by the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

or any

state governments A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

.Warren, L. W., Jr., B. M. Burr, S. J. Walsh, H. L. Bart, Jr., R. C. Cashner, D. A. Etnier, B. J. Freeman, B. R. Kuhajda, R. L. Mayden, H. W. Robison, S. T. Ross, and W. C. Starnes. 2000. Diversity, Distribution, and Conservation status of the native freshwater fishes of the southern United States. ''Fisheries'' 25(10):7–29. The state of

provides limited protection as precipitous decline in

Pecos River The Pecos River ( es, Río Pecos) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexico ...

may becoming a potential threat. This decline is partially as a consequence of water management practices.Matthews, W.J. 1987. Geographic variation ''Cyprinella lutrensis'' (Pices: Cyprinidae) in the United States, with notes on ''Cyprinella lepida''. ''Copeia'' 1979: 70–81.

Reproduction

The total reproductive period of sand shiners extends from May or June through August with slight variation in time of

depending upon

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

. The peak of activity occurs in July and August when water temperature is high (27- 37

°C The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The ...

) and there is minimal rain and runoff allowing for lower water levels.Summerfelt, R. C., and C. O. Minckley. 1969. Aspects of the life history of the sand shiner, ''Notropis stramineus'' (Cope), in the Smokey Hill River, Kansas. ''Transactions of the American Fisheries Society'' 3:444–453. Summerfelt and Minckley hypothesis

during the hot-dry portion of the summer is adaptive for survival as it may enhance the survival of the young. The sand shiner is a broadcast spawner that lays

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...

adhesive Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation. The use of adhesives offers certain advant ...

eggs, suggesting that the sand shiners

is not correlated with flow spikes. Eggs are laid in shallow water over sandy substrate in which the eggs rapidly settle to and attach to loose gravel, failing to become

buoyant Buoyancy (), or upthrust, is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the weight of a partially or fully immersed object. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus the pr ...

. Following hatching, most growth is achieved during the first year of life. A length of 10.5 mm has been reported for the size of the sand shiner at time of scale formation. Once fish reach age I or II,

can occur with the former being more numerous.

Fecundity Fecundity is defined in two ways; in human demography, it is the potential for reproduction of a recorded population as opposed to a sole organism, while in population biology, it is considered similar to fertility, the natural capability to pr ...

varies from 150 to 1,000 eggs per female per year. There is an increase in

fecundity Fecundity is defined in two ways; in human demography, it is the potential for reproduction of a recorded population as opposed to a sole organism, while in population biology, it is considered similar to fertility, the natural capability to pr ...

with standard length (or age) of the fish. Egg

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid for ...

ranges from 0.75 to 0.95 mm.Coburn, M. M. 1986. Egg diameter variation in Eastern North American minnows (Pisces: Cyprinidae): correlation with vertebral number, habitat, and spawning behavior. ''Ohio Journal of Science'' 86(3):110–120 On average, the sand shiner has a

longevity The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always d ...

of three summers.

References

* Robert Jay Goldstein, Rodney W. Harper, Richard Edwards: ''American Aquarium Fishes''. Texas A&M University Press 2000, , p. 94 () * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1887818

Sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

Freshwater fish of Mexico Freshwater fish of the United States Fish of the Eastern United States Fish of the Western United States Fish of the Great Lakes Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope Fish described in 1865