22 replies to this topic

[Mike]

Minnow ID for my brother, he is almost hooked. Turkey Run State Park by Terre Haute, Indiana. 

 

His e-mail to me:

 

"Hi Mike,

 

I went to Turkey Run today with Lori to do some hiking.  But I also brought my fishing rod and some micro hooks!  I found a tiny feeder creek connected to Sugar Creek and fished for some minnows that were sitting there in the current.  They all looked like the same kind of fish and after I caught 2 of them (photos attached) I got bored with them.  To me, they look just like the regular crappie minnows you buy at the bait shop!  Can you tell what kind they are?

 

Obviously, I want to add them to my species list.  Oh no - you have gotten me interested in the Species Hunter website and in catching minnows!!  Darn it!

 

Tom"

 

The size of the mouth is confusing me, can someone please tell us what it is for sure.

 

I will have him keeping an aquarium next.

 

Thank you 

 

Mike

Attached Files

•  TomminnowA.html   488.5KB   12 downloads
•  TomMinnowB.html   488.5KB   6 downloads

[Mike]

I will try posting them again. They look like they are the same species to me too.

Attached Files

•  TomMinnowY.jpg   84.85KB   0 downloads
•  TomMinnowZ.jpg   70.73KB   0 downloads

[Mike]

I am wanting to call it a Spottail Shiner Notropis hudsonius, but I don't like the mouth shape it just looks too big.

 

Also it would be out of the Spottail Shiners range.

[mattknepley]

Good job hooking your brother! I'm not sure about elsewhere, but the Spottails here have a very pronounced lateral line which I don't see in the photo. The thick part of the body looks "chubbish" to me, but not the elongate back half. Don't know what to make of that. Am curious about these guys too. Many minnow-type fish baffle me; they do the same thing to me that most sparrows do when I'm birding. Eventually I just write most of 'em off as "unknown, interesting critter"...

[Sean Phillips]

Not sure but definitely not a spottails, spottails I catch via hook and line in Erie are much more silvery and have a smaller mouth. Maybe a juvenile chub of some kind...

[Evan P]

Looka like a Creek Chub to me!

[Dustin]

Those look like little creek chubs to me.

[BenCantrell]

Creek chub.

[Michael Wolfe]

Habitat helps to. He said "tiny feeder creek" so creek chub is the best bet.

[Josh Blaylock]

I'll 5th Creek Chub

[Mike]

I thought about Creek Chubs but it is hard to see if there is a spot on the dorsal fin in his photos, also the main reason I dismissed them was I thought the tail had to big of a fork in it.

 

Then again I never caught a Creek Chub that small and I am terrible at identifying minnows so I am most likely wrong.

 

 

Thank you everyone

[Sean Phillips]

The striped doesn't look solid enough to be a creek chub IME, but coloration obviously varies with the area so I'm probably just used to how my local Semotilus appear.

[BenCantrell]

The creek chubs we caught in KY last weekend looked pretty much the same.

 

[Dustin]

Looks just like mine here in SC as well.

[Abrams96]

I'd have to say Hornyhead chub juvies from my experience.

[Casper]

Creek Chub again.  Look how the scales are compressed near the head.  A good starter fish for an aquarium.  Interesting and TOUGH.

Add some Stonerollers.

[Sean Phillips]

Creek Chub again.  Look how the scales are compressed near the head.  A good starter fish for an aquarium.  Interesting and TOUGH.
Add some Stonerollers.

+1 on a great fish to start with. I've had my three for almost a year and they never show any signs of disease or weakness. Just make sure to keep the tank covered well, I had four but one bursted through a closed lid with a stapler on top of it and I didn't find it for several hours when I got home.

[gerald]

Casper's got the best characteristic:  small crowded scales behind the head, only 1/2 as big as scales on the rear part of the body.  Creek chub's dorsal spot and lateral stripe can come and go with mood, substrate color, age, etc.  The scale size gradation from head (small scales) to tail (larger scales) is also a good characteristic for distinguishing Catostomus commersoni from other similar sucker genera (Moxostoma, Scartomyzon).

[BenCantrell]

Here are some photos of young Nocomis chubs for comparison.  The scales are not crowded up near the head.

 

 

[Michael Wolfe]

Nocomis mouths are also much smaller than creek chubs huge omnivorous nutrient intake port.