The yellow shiner (''Notropis calientis'') is a species of

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

in the genus ''

Notropis ''Notropis'' is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae. They are known commonly as eastern shiners.''No ...

''. It is endemic to

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 ...

where it is found in the

Rio Lerma The Lerma River ( es, Río Lerma) is Mexico's second longest river. It is a river in west-central Mexico that begins in Mexican Plateau at an altitude over above sea level, and ends where it empties into Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest lake, near ...

Rio Grande de Santiago Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

and

Rio Pánuco Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

in central Mexico. It forms a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

within the genus ''Notropis'' with the

Ameca shiner The Ameca shiner (''Notropis amecae'') is a species of cyprinid fish in the family Cyprinidae. The Ameca shiner was described in 1986 from upper parts of the Ameca River drainage in Jalisco, Mexico. Although already feared extinct by 1969, and li ...

and the now-extinct

Durango shiner The Durango shiner (''Notropis aulidion'') is an extinct species of freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae. It was found only in Mexico. The Durango shiner was native to the Rio Tunal, which forms the headwaters of the San Pedro Mezquital River ...

Description

The yellow Shiner is a small fish with a deep, broad body which is at its deepest just in front of the origin of the

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 ...

and which has an extended caudal peduncle which is twice as long as it is deep. It has a brown back with a silver belly, the difference between the two being quite marked, although there is a subtle dark band running from the snout to the caudal peduncle which is darker at its ends. The females have deeper bodies and are darker than the males. It has a whitish chin and 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 ...

and dorsal fin are dusky in color while the other fins are lighter. Their color changes to a brilliant, golden-yellow in the breeding season. The snout is blunt and rather rounded, they have small eyes, and an oblique terminal mouth which contains a few small hooked teeth. The

anal 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 ...

has seven or eight rays; the dorsal fin has nine rays, with the second, third, and fourth rays being longer than the others; the

is forked with rounded lobes. All of the fins are rather rounded in shape. The

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 ...

is incomplete and ends at the rear edge of the

pectoral 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 ...

s. The body is covered with large scales. These fish grow to a maximum length of and the females are larger than the males.

Distribution and habitat

The yellow shiner is endemic to Mexico where it is found on the western

Mexican Plateau The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano ( es, Altiplanicie Mexicana), is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. Averaging above sea level, it extends from the US-Mexico border ...

where it is a widespread species being found on the drainage systems of the Rio Lerma, Rio Grande de Santiago, Rio Pánuco, and

Lake Cuitzeo Lake Cuitzeo () is a lake in the central part of Mexico, in the state of Michoacán. It has an area of . The lake is astatic, meaning the volume and level of water in the lake fluctuates frequently. It is the second-largest freshwater lake in Mexic ...

. In this region they occur in springs, spring fed lakes and small mountain streams.

Biology

The behaviour of yellow shiners is almost unknown and more research is required.

Conservation

The yellow shiner has not been evaluated by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

but it should be considered as near threatened as there has been a considerable degradation in habitat quality in the 20th Century and they are preyed upon by a number of species of introduced fish including

guppies The guppy (), also known as millionfish and rainbow fish, is one of the world's most widely distributed tropical fish and one of the most popular List of freshwater aquarium fish species, freshwater aquarium fish species. It is a member of the ...

tilapia Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...

, sunfish and species of

black bass Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have of ...

. The Durango shiner, a close relative to the yellow shiner with a highly restricted range, is considered to be extinct.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q543423 Notropis Shiner, Yellow Shiner, Yellow Taxa named by David Starr Jordan Taxa named by John Otterbein Snyder Fish described in 1899 Lerma River Río Grande de Santiago Pánuco River