SPRINGS FIELD GUIDE
GOLDen SHINER
FISH PROFILE
COMMON NAME
Golden Shiner
Scientific name
Notemigonus crysoleucas
FAMILY
Cyprinidae family
LENGTH
7-11 inches
DIET
Opportunistic omnivores – will eat anything small, including plankton, plants, insect, fish eggs, and snails
FISH PROFILE
COMMON NAME
Golden Shiner
Scientific name
Notemigonus crysoleucas
FAMILY
Cyprinidae family
LENGTH
7-11 inches
DIET
Opportunistic omnivores – will eat anything small, including plankton, plants, insect, fish eggs, and snails
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
Golden shiners’ distinguishing features are a crescent-shaped (curved) anal fin and a small, upturned mouth. Their bodies can be silver or gold in color, and their fins often have a reddish/orange tint. Full grown adults are typically 4-7 inches but can reach up to 11 inches. Their lateral line also dips down to where the pelvic fin meets the body and levels out until it reaches the caudal fin.
RANGE, HABITAT, AND BEHAVIOR
Golden shiners are common across the U.S. but are more prevalent east of the Mississippi River. They prefer calm, clear, vegetated backwaters of lakes and rivers, but occupy a wide variety of habitats, including springs. Golden shiners can be found in quiet waters and are therefore found in lakes, ponds, sloughs, and the least disturbed parts of rivers. They are tolerant of pollution, turbidity, and low oxygen content, but their most fascinating adaptation is their tolerance for unusually high temperatures of 40 °C (104 °F), the highest for North American minnows.
FUN FACTS
Like other minnows, Golden shiners can sense a substance called “schreckstoff,” which is released by minnows in distress and serves as an alarm system to others that there is a predator. One study found that golden shiners could detect and avoid the area where feces from snakes that had eaten other golden shiners was detected. Another common behavior to minnows and seen in golden shiners is “egg dumping,” where they leave eggs in the nest of a species that guards their own brood.
Golden shiners are commonly used as live bait to fish for bass.