Pallid shiner

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Pallid shiner
Hybopsis amnis Pallid Shiner.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Cyprinidae
Subfamily: Leuciscinae
Clade: Pogonichthyinae
Genus: Hybopsis
Species:
H. amnis
Binomial name
Hybopsis amnis
(Hubbs & Greene, 1951)
Synonyms
  • Notropis amnisHubbs & Greene, 1951
  • Notropis nocomis Evermann, 1892

The pallid shiner (Hybopsis amnis) is a small freshwater minnow in the family Cyprinidae. Its synonym is Notropis amnis. [2] They are native to North America and can be found in the Mississippi watershed. The pallid shiner is considered a rare fish in its northern distribution but not in its southern distribution. The pallid shiner was first discovered in the early 1900s in the St. Croix river north of Taylor Falls, and its population has been declining since. [3] Little is known about their feeding and reproductive habits.

Contents

Physical description

The pallid shiner is a small silver fish with very little pigmentation on its fusiform body and like most fishes, it is laterally flattened. [4] The only marking on its body is a thin lateral stripe that extends from its head to its tail. The scales on its body are composed of round lateral scales called cycloid scales. It has a slightly subterminal mouth and no adipose fin. Like other members of the family Cyprinidae, the pallid shiner is a toothless fish and has no stomach. Instead they chew their food using gill rakers on their gills and pharyngeal teeth. [5] Its caudal fin is white and is forked with pointed tips. [4] The dorsal fin of the pallid shiner is high and has eight soft rays. [6] The pelvic fins are abdominal. [4]

Geographic distribution

Today the pallid shiner can be found in the Mississippi river basin from southern Wisconsin and Minnesota to Louisiana. [1] Specifically its distribution is from the Mississippi valley north to the St. Croix river in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Its southern distribution is to the Amite river in Louisiana and west to the Guadalupe river in Texas. [7] The pallid shiner is very rare in its northern distribution and there are more abundant populations in its southern distribution. Historically the pallid shiner was abundant in the state of Missouri, but the populations there declined greatly. [8]

Distribution of the Pallid Shiner fish in United States Distribution Pallid Shiner.png
Distribution of the Pallid Shiner fish in United States

Habitat

As mentioned before, the pallid shiner is distributed in many rivers. These rivers are typically medium to large rivers. They can also be found more downstream of sand and gravel bars in streams. [3] Pallid shiners prefer slow moving waters and quiet waters over sand and silty bottoms. [1] Because of increased human activity in the rivers that they are found, sedimentation has become more of a problem for the pallid shiners.

Conservation status

The pallid shiner is listed as least concern because, although its distribution and abundance have been reduced, the number of subpopulations and populations are still relatively large and have not declined greatly. [1] Until recently the pallid shiner was thought to have become regionally extinct in Illinois, but was then rediscovered in the Kankakee River. [8] It has been affected by sedimentation and increased human activity in the rivers that it is found in. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Notropis</i> Genus of fishes

Notropis is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae. They are known commonly as eastern shiners. They are native to North America, and are the continent's second largest genus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridle shiner</span> Species of fish

The bridle shiner is a member of the minnow family (Cyprinidae). This species has been identified as being of Special Concern by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sand shiner</span> Species of fish

The sand shiner is a widespread North American species of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae. Sand shiners live in open clear water streams with sandy bottoms where they feed in schools on aquatic and terrestrial insects, bottom ooze and diatoms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palezone shiner</span> Species of fish

The palezone shiner is a rare species of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is native to Alabama and Kentucky in the United States. It once occurred in Tennessee, but it has been extirpated from the state. There are two populations remaining. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pugnose shiner</span> Species of fish

The pugnose shiner is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Notropis. It is in the family Cyprinidae which consists of freshwater carps and minnows. Cyprinidae is the largest fish family which consists of about 369 genera and 3,018 species. Its distribution has been decreasing due to the removal of aquatic plants in order to create swimming beaches and boating access in freshwater lakes and is now mostly found in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

The bigeye shiner is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Notropis. This fish is a slender, silvery minnow with a dusky lateral stripe and a maximum total length of about 80 mm. Its distinct characteristic is its large-diameter eyes. It is a common species in upland streams of the middle Mississippi River system. Bigeye shiners prefer warm, quiet pools with clear water and silt-free substrates. Siltation, channelization, and gravel dredging are all threats to bigeye shiner populations. During spawning season, typically late April to August, bigeye shiners have several clutches of eggs. State agencies and the EPA have both played a role in the surveying of bigeye shiner populations. Populations have decreased in Ohio due mostly to habitat destruction. In addition to habitat destruction by humans, habitat alteration of the small streams and dried pools has also had a significant effect on abundance. Rivers and streams should not be channelized or modified in any way, which is becoming an increasingly popular trend in urban locations. Agricultural areas and properties within the watershed should adhere to regulations to prevent runoff into the streams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackchin shiner</span> Species of fish

The blackchin shiner is an abundant North American species of freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae. Described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1865, it is not a well-known species. It is a close relative of the blacknose shiner. Chiefly occurring now in the Great Lakes and occasionally in upper Mississippi River drainages, the blackchin once ranged commonly as far south as Illinois and Ohio. This fish resides over sandy bottoms in cool waters that provide a lot of cover for the small minnow. Omnivorous, it eats worms and small arthropods as well as plant material. Blackchin shiners are unique because of their anatomical features, such as the black coloring, the incomplete lateral line, and a distinctive dental arrangement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ozark minnow</span> Species of fish

The Ozark minnow is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Notropis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weed shiner</span> Species of fish

The weed shiner is a North American species of freshwater fish in the cyprinid genus Notropis. Prior to 1958, this species was named Notropis roseus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mimic shiner</span> Species of fish

The mimic shiner is a species of North American cyprinid freshwater fish in the genus Notropis. The genus Notropis is commonly known as the eastern shiners. It is native to areas of the Hudson Bay drainage, Great Lakes drainage, much of the Mississippi River basin including areas of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and regions of the Gulf of Mexico extending from Mobile Bay to the drainage of Texas. However, this particular species can be found in other places such as the Atlantic Coast drainage in Connecticut and Housatonic rivers. This genus is usually characterized by almost all having a complete lateral line, 8 dorsal fin rays, a premaxillae protactile, and a silvery or speckled peritoneum. As the common name indicates, this species is difficult to classify in the wild because it looks similar to many other shiners. In fact, some even hypothesize that this species is actually a complexity of many cryptic species. While this is the case, it is important to take more caution to not misidentify this species and to understand its impact on introduced areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silverjaw minnow</span> Species of fish

Silverjaw minnows are part of the family Cyprinidae, which includes carps and minnows. With over 300 known species, there are more species of minnows native to North America's fresh waters than any other fish. Minnows can be hard to distinguish because many look alike. All minnows have one dorsal fin, ventral fins near the anus, a lateral line system, and smooth, round cycloid scales. Their jaws lack teeth, but they have one to three rows of pharyngeal teeth to grind food. Defining physical characteristics such as the number and type of fin rays, type of scales, and pattern of pharyngeal teeth are used to distinguish minnows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghost shiner</span> Species of fish

The ghost shiner is a North American species of freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae. It is generally characterized as being a small bodied, silvery and fusiform shaped cyprinid. Notropis buchanani is morphologically similar to and often mistaken for the Mimic Shiner, which is evident by its former classification as a subspecies of Notropis volucellus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ironcolor shiner</span> Species of fish

The ironcolor shiner is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish from the family Cyprinidae, the minnows and carps. It is a widespread species in streams and rivers in eastern North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red shiner</span> Species of fish

The red shiner or red-horse minnow is a North American species of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae. They are deep-bodied and laterally compressed, and can grow to about three inches in length. For most of the year, both males and females have silver sides and whitish abdomens. Males in breeding coloration, though, have iridescent pink-purple-blue sides and a red crown and fins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blacktail shiner</span> Species of fish

The blacktail shiner is a small freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae native to the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilt darter</span> Species of fish

The gilt darter is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, a darter from the subfamily Etheostomatinae, part of the family Percidae, which also contains the perches, ruffes and pikeperches. It can be found in a number of states in the Mississippi River drainage of the United States although it has been extirpated from some river systems in which it was at one time present, mostly due to siltation and pollution problems. Males are more colorful than females and can grow to a length of about 9 cm (3.5 in). It is a benthic fish that feeds primarily on small aquatic insect larvae. Males form territories during the breeding season in late spring and early summer. Spawning typically takes place at the upper ends of riffles with sandy and gravelly bottoms interspersed with larger cobbles. Some organisations are endeavouring to conserve populations of the gilt darter and re-introduce it to states where the fish has been extirpated but suitable habitat still exists.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 NatureServe 2013. Hybopsis amnis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Retrieved on 02 May 2015.
  2. Phillips, Gary L., Schmid, William D., and Underhill, James C. 1982. Fishes of the Minnesota Region. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis, MN. pg. 133
  3. 1 2 Hybopsis amnis Hubbs and Greene. 1951. Species Profile: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
  4. 1 2 3 Pallid Shiner, University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute, 2013. Retrieved 2015-04-23
  5. Cyprinidae, Carps and Minnows. Encyclopedia of Life. . 2010. Retrieved 2015-05-07.
  6. Eddy, S., and J. C. Underhill. 1974. Northern fishes, with special reference to the Upper Mississippi Valley. Third edition. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 414 pp.
  7. Kwak, T.J. 1951. Ecological characteristics of a northern population of the pallid shiner. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 120:106-115.
  8. 1 2 Skelly, T. M., and Sule, M. J. 1983. The pallid shiner, Notropis amnis Hubbs and Greene, a rare Illinois Fish. Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science. 76:131-138.