''Pimephales'', commonly known as the bluntnose

minnow Minnow is the common name for a number of species of small freshwater fish, belonging to several genera of the families Cyprinidae and Leuciscidae. They are also known in Ireland as pinkeens. Smaller fish in the subfamily Leusciscidae are c ...

s (a term used locally to refer to '' Pimephales notatus'' specifically), is a genus of

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 ...

fish 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 th ...

. All of the four species are small fish, with ''P. notatus'' being the largest at 11 cm. (about 4.3 in.) These minnows can be found all over North America and are commonly used as fish bait.

Species

* '' Pimephales notatus'' (

Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; October 22, 1783September 18, 1840) was a French 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ultimat ...

, 1820) (bluntnose minnow) * ''

Pimephales promelas Fathead minnow (''Pimephales promelas''), also known as fathead or tuffy, is a species of temperate freshwater fish belonging to the genus '' Pimephales'' of the cyprinid family. The natural geographic range extends throughout much of North A ...

, 1820 (fathead minnow) * '' Pimephales tenellus'' ( Girard, 1856) (slim minnow) * '' Pimephales vigilax'' ( S. F. Baird & Girard, 1853) (bullhead minnow)

References

* Fish of North America Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque {{Leuciscinae-stub