Fallfish: #3 and 5 look nearly the same, except for the lateral stripe pigment which comes and goes. Big eye, blunt snout, small scales. What other chub-like minnow is possible there?
Cyprinella : At least 8 anal rays, maybe 9 - cant see the rear-most ones clearly . Does that help with satinfin vs spotfin distinction?
#2: I'm thinkin swallowtail shiner now. Bluntnose should have a lower, rounder, long-based dorsal fin, rather than tall and pointed like this guy.
Glad to see you aboard the Swallowtail train, good point about the tall dorsal. The 1st dorsal ray is still a problem but I think there's enough there to declare this fish a Swallowtail at this point
For #3/#5- If you're pretty sure it's a Chub, not a minnow/shiner, then it appears only Creek Chubs and Fallfish are around that area
Regarding the Satinfin/Spotfin- I read this actually from a NANFA article, the 1st sentence says it all, virtually indistinguishable while alive. However, Satinfin has 9 anal rays, Spotfin has 8. Also, the Satinfin often has more pigment all over the dorsal. I'm leaning to declaring it a Spotfin
Satinfin Shiner (Notropis analostanus) and Spotfin Shiner (Notropis spilopterus)
Since these two species are said by ichthyologists to be virtually indistinguishable in the field while alive, they are treated together here. Vague methods of distinguishing will be suggested.
Both species are members of the subgenus Cyprinella. They have usual Cyprinella attributes; streamlined shape; great speed and swimming ability; prominent diamond-shaped scales. They can also be identified by feel: it's as though they were made of metal. Males of the two species have several things particularly in common during breeding season: whitish or yellowish fins, pearlescent bodies, and rough tubercles on the snout. Females axe similar to each other, lacking high color.
The anal-fin ray count differs--satinfin 9, spotfin 8. C.L. Smith in Inland Fishes of New York State says the spotfin has 37-39 lateral-line scales, the satinfin 35-37. The most definite distinction Smith asserts, which the authors have not yet tested, is that satinfins have pigment scattered throughout the dorsal-fin membranes, while in the spotfins it is confined to the black dashes between posterior dorsal rays.
The authors of this summary have their own method of telling the species apart--blind instinct. But between them they usually agree, so there might be something to their guesswork. First, a major habitat clue: adult spotfins are more likely to inhabit small creeks, such as Kelly Run, Lancaster County, Pa.; adult satinfins, large ones. The habitat distinction is not 100-percent, however. Second, we have found satinfins only in the eastern part of this area--adjacent to the Delaware drainage, where we have never found spotfins (though both species are said to be there, too).
Now their looks: First, It appears that most fresh-caught spotfins are slightly trimmer than satinfins, possibly because they sometimes occur in great density; after a while in aquaria, spotfins fatten and the distinction blurs. Second, one is more conscious of greenish overtones to the bodily iridescence of spotfins, yellowish with satinfins. Both may develop yellowish fins. Aside from looks, in aquaria one author (BG) has found satinfins (males) slightly more assertive than spotfins.
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