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South Carolina Shiner ID help

Started by Guest_moxostoma_* , Jul 25 2010 04:58 PM

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8 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_moxostoma_*

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Posted 25 July 2010 - 04:58 PM

New to South Carolina and I got these out of the Broad River, near Columbia. I'm pretty sure the first one (first two pictures) is a whitefin shiner, Cyprinella nivea. Please confirm or contest my ID if you are confident you know.

Any ideas on the third/fourth picture fish (both pics are of the same fish)??? Smaller (female?) whitefin shiner, or something else? It looks more slender to me, and has a conspicuous spot on near the caudal base. I was thinking spottail shiner maybe??? Help!

Attached Files

P7240016.JPG 2.22MB 1 downloads
rfwhiteshiner.jpg 54.42KB 0 downloads
P7240027.JPG 2.09MB 2 downloads
P7240025.JPG 2.12MB 2 downloads

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#2 Guest_Dustin_*

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Posted 26 July 2010 - 08:05 AM

The first shiner is definitely a whitefin, C. nivea. I shocked the Congaree just below the Broad there and got tons of these a couple years ago. The second is more difficult. Our spottail shiner is very different from the one found in most of the rest of the country and the fish in the picture does look similar. There is also a chance of this being a coastal shiner with the trangular caudal wedge thougg given the habitat of that area spottail is much more likely. I would be happy to go out with you next time and help with the ID's on these guys. They are so much easier in hand. I work in Columbia and live in Lexington so it would be easy for me to sneak away.

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#3 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 26 July 2010 - 02:58 PM

I agree with Dustin (always a safe bet). Second fish could be either spottail or coastal shiner, but I'd lean more toward spottail based on the mouth, oval eye, and pale color. Coastal shiners I see in NC usually have more pigment that doesn't fade out that much on the lips, lateral stripe, and anal fin base. Of course a hook may change all that.

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#4 Guest_fritz_*

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Posted 27 July 2010 - 08:14 AM

spottail - see some dashes along lateral line.

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#5 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 27 July 2010 - 10:14 AM

I think both spottail and coastal can have black dashes along lateral line (and many other Notropis).
For example, see coastal shiner photo on page 162 in Freshwater Fishes of South Carolina by Rohde et al. 2009.
|;>)

spottail - see some dashes along lateral line.

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#6 Guest_fritz_*

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Posted 27 July 2010 - 03:27 PM

I think both spottail and coastal can have black dashes along lateral line (and many other Notropis).
For example, see coastal shiner photo on page 162 in Freshwater Fishes of South Carolina by Rohde et al. 2009.
|;>)

busted!

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#7 Guest_moxostoma_*

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Posted 27 July 2010 - 08:42 PM

Ok, so I went back and got a half dozen or so that looked just like this one. Now these look like textbook spottail shiners to me, but they also look different than the fish in question, posted above...