Sand Shiner

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Sand Shiner
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Cypriniformes Family: Cyprinidae Genus: Notropis Species: N. stramineus
Binomial name
Notropis stramineus Cope, 1865

The Sand Shiner, Notropis stramineus, is a species of ray-finned fish in the Cyprinidae family. It is extremely widespread, known from central part of the United States and southern Canada in a range that stretches from Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River to Montana, Colorado, and Texas. The fish is silvery with a thin black stripe down its side and is goldish along its spine. The Sand Shiner requires clear water with a sandy bottom in order to survive. It occurs in large streams and lakes where there is enough current to keep the bottom clean from silt. It spawns from May to August when waters reach a temperature of about 21 to 37 °C. It normally lays about 340 eggs and scatters them over clean sand. This species is omnivorous, feeding on aquatic and terrestrial insects, bottom ooze and diatoms. It is similar to the closely related Cape Fear Shiner and Swallowtail Shiner.

[edit] References

Sand Shiner (Notropis stramineus). Inland Fishes of New York. Retrieved on 2007-12-10.