Golden Shiner?

I was fly fishing this evening, and about 10 minutes after sunset I pulled in this guy, which I had never seen before. I took some hurried photographs (the fish were biting like crazy...fading light and no flashlight...), but I didn't really pay much attention other than a mental note that it looked vaguely carp-ish, had some reddish tinge to its lower fins and it was a silvery color in real life.

After looking at my photographs and comparing to Peterson's guide and some images online my best guess is Golden Shiner. The dorsal fin does seem to start behind the pectoral fins, and the photos look similar to what I've seen online. Any thoughts?





Caught in a still cove of a small lake in central Missouri.

Edited by rndouglas, 10 August 2010 - 10:02 PM.

Golden shiners can be tricky, especially when they're either really big or really tiny. I know a couple of folks that should know better who have been temporarily fooled by small Notemigonus... but those are best told over beer! It's really amazing just how different fish can look at different sizes, but a combination of several characters is usually enough to quickly nail it down: slab-sided, a long-based and falcate anal fin, a small and slightly upturned mouth, and a lateral line that dips far down on the body. The only other critter that's close is the non-native rudd (Scardinius erythropthalmus), but they usually have distinctly red fins and a scaled abdominal keel (hard to see on photos!) as well as a couple of other meristic characters.

Also, for identification purposes it's often better to leave a fish in shallow water on its side or supported by your hand so that the fins stay spread, rather than doing the "on the grass" photo... though I realize this is often difficult with feisty fish or when you're trying to dig a camera out of a pocket or pack! You often get better color, and as a bonus it's also easier on the fish.

I'm not super pleased with these photos by any means. I probably would have taken more time if the fishing hadn't been so darn good!

Also, from my searching I can't find anything suggesting that Rudd have found their way to Missouri yet?

Golden shiners can be tricky, especially when they're either really big or really tiny. I know a couple of folks that should know better who have been temporarily fooled by small Notemigonus... but those are best told over beer! It's really amazing just how different fish can look at different sizes, but a combination of several characters is usually enough to quickly nail it down: slab-sided, a long-based and falcate anal fin, a small and slightly upturned mouth, and a lateral line that dips far down on the body. The only other critter that's close is the non-native rudd (Scardinius erythropthalmus), but they usually have distinctly red fins and a scaled abdominal keel (hard to see on photos!) as well as a couple of other meristic characters.

I understand the difficulty telling smaller shiners apart. I can easilly distinguish a large fallfish and common shiner, but tiny ones puzzle me.

As for golden shiners, I say that is likely a golden. They have a distinctive spade shape to their body that I haven't seen in any other cyprinid.