47 replies to this topic

[NatureBoy]

I'm back, with some final identification requests!  

 

here are my four guesses: 

 

1. Creek Chub

2. Golden Redhorse

3. Spotfin Shiner, or Silverjaw Minnow

4. Emerald Shiner (or Silver)

 

thanks for any assistance!

Attached Files

•  possible Creek Chub.jpg   43.47KB   1 downloads
•  Golden Redhorse.jpg   38.42KB   1 downloads
•  spotfin shiner or silverjaw minnow (2).jpg   81.01KB   1 downloads
•  emerald or silver shiner.jpg   49.84KB   1 downloads

[Dustin]

Creek chub and emerald/silver shiners are correct.  The sucker is a white sucker.  The scales get smaller and more crowded near the head.  The other shiner appears to be a Cyprinella of some sort.  Spiloptera maybe?

[Matt DeLaVega]

Dustin once again has steered you in the right direction. Your Cyprinella is spilopera or whipplei. I can't tell from the photo. If the anal fin were clear we could make an educated guess, but the ray count can overlap. Spiloptera are more common. If the notropis were larger it would be a bit easier. I think it is an emerald, there does not appear to be much pigmentation around the nostrils like you see in silvers, but that could be size or stress.

[Betta132]

After reading this thread, I'm left wondering how many people have spent their career catching minnows and counting fin rays to see if they might possibly have found a new species. Is that a job? 

[gerald]

There's a bit more to it than counting fins rays, but yeah - thats one aspect of what ichthyologists do to determine new species.

[NatureBoy]

Betta - I suspect if I would have gone a different direction for a career, I would be yet one more person down in the trenches, collecting things like minnows, darters, etc. and studying population differences (counting rays, etc.). That stuff really interests me!

 

thanks everybody, this brings my "stream unit" to a close. we collected, photographed and released nearly 20 species of darters, shiners, minnows, chubs, etc. My students are more aware of what exists in their home town (and the beauty and importance of keeping our natural waterways protected and clean). 

 

now, it's on to birds.......

[Matt DeLaVega]

That is a fairly impressive species count.

[smbass]

I'm late to the party but you guys mostly got these all right anyways... The Notropis are both silver shiners Notropis photogenis. Too long and thin to be emerald. Emeralds are slab sided and silvers are round in cross section. I always tell people to take them and roll them in their fingers to ID these two. Silvers roll emeralds don't. That particular area has a lot of silvers, emeralds are found more commonly a little more downstream in the basin in the mainstem Scioto. Emeralds like bigger water than silvers. The trout-perch is a cool find, known to be in the area but still just a cool fish to catch, so odd looking. Your other shiner is a spotfin shiner Cyprinella spiloptera. Same sort of deal with them about stream size. The Steelcolor C. whipplei (only two in that group in Ohio) are much more common further downstream in the basin in the mainstem Scioto River and they are pretty much all spiloptera up in the tribs like Alum Creek. Also spiloptera has a faint gold stripe on the side that whipplei lacks. Anal fin ray count in the books is pretty worthless with these two, there is a lot of overlap. The pimephales are notatus not vigilax, vigilax is bulkier bodied and had no nice black stripe like notatus.

 

Nature boy...

 

Nice photos, and nice to see someone local out in the streams. You wouldn't happen to be in the OSU fish ID class that I have been joining in on the lab field trips for?