Golden shiners detect water movement through their lateral line and probably also rely on visual cues to find food and avoid predators. Little is known about other ways they sense their environment or forms of communication.
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; chemical
Golden shiners are fairly common and are not currently protected by law.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Golden shiner eggs hatch when the water temperature reaches 20 degrees Celsius (Cross, 1967). Larvae have a yolk-sac and remain near the bottom until the sac is absorbed. These larvae average 4.2 mm in length. Larvae 5-10 mm in length remain near the water surface at the edge of the littoral zone. Larvae 10-30 mm in length organize into schools amd inhabit vegetated areas of the littoral zone (Faber, 1980). Females grow faster than males and reach larger sizes (Cooper, 1936).
Golden shiners have been widely indroduced outside of their native range because they are used as bait and are sometimes released from bait buckets.
Golden shiners are an important bait species for game fish, helping to ensure healthy populations of economically important fish species. They are also used as a standard in toxicology bioassesments (Dobie, Meehan et al, 1956).
Golden shiners feed on zooplankton and phytoplankton, keeping plankton levels below eutrophication levels. Pleistophora ovarie, an obligate intracellular parasite, causes egg mortality and reduced egg production in golden shiners. They are also important as prey of larger, predatory fish in the ecosystems in which they live.
Commensal/Parasitic Species:
Golden shiners are omnivorous and crepuscular planktivores. Their diet mainly consists of zooplankton, phytoplankton, and microcrustaceans. They pick off plankton one at at time and generally occupy slower moving waters. Additionally, Odonata nymphs form a minor portion of their diet.
Animal Foods: insects; aquatic crustaceans; other marine invertebrates; zooplankton
Plant Foods: phytoplankton
Foraging Behavior: filter-feeding
Primary Diet: planktivore
Golden shiners, Notemigonus crysoleucas, are widely distributed throughout North America. Their native range includes the Atlantic drainage basin from Nova Scotia south to southern Texas, the Great Lakes basin, and the Mississipi River drainage basin from Alberta Canada, to Wyoming, Montana and Oklahoma.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
Golden shiners occupy a variety of deep water habitats, including vegetated lakes, ponds, swamps and pools of creeks and small to medium rivers to a depth of 10 m (Luna 2005). As they feed primarily on zooplankton and phytoplankton, they are typically found in slow moving or stagnant waters (Magnin, Murawska and Clement, 1978).
Range depth: 10 (low) m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; freshwater
Aquatic Biomes: lakes and ponds; rivers and streams
Wetlands: swamp
Other Habitat Features: riparian
Adult golden shiners typically reach an age of 3 to 6 years. The maximum age reached by this species is 8 years.
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 8 (high) years.
Typical lifespan
Status: wild: 3 to 8 hours.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 6 hours.
Golden shiners are thin, deep bodied minnows with small, upturned mouths. During the breeding season, males turn a deep golden color. A greatly decurved lateral line and a fleshy pre-anal keel distinguish golden shiners from other members of the minnow family (Cyprinidae) (Dobie, Meehean, and Washburn, 1948). Golden shiners are relatively small, and reach a maximum length of 30 cm (Page and Burr, 1991).
Range length: 30.0 cm (high) cm.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: male more colorful
Golden shiners form schools as a way to decrease their individual likelihood of being taken by the many larger fish species that prey on them.
Golden shiners typically spawn from May through August. Spawning aggregations form and spawning occurs over algae or aquatic plants. Once released, the eggs stick to vegetation.
Mating System: polygynandrous (promiscuous)
Eggs are incubated for a period of 4 to 7 days, and maximum fecundity is 200,000. Golden shiners are repeat spawners and may spawn 4 to 5 times per season (Manusuet and Hardy 1967). Sexual maturity generally occurs at 1 year, however some do not mature until the second year, especially in cooler waters (Dobie, Mehean and Washburn, 1948).
Breeding interval: Golden shiners may spawn 4-5 times during a season.
Breeding season: Golden shiners typically spawn from May through August.
Range number of offspring: 200000 (high) .
Range gestation period: 4 to 7 days.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 3 (high) years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 1 years.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 3 (high) years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 1 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (External ); broadcast (group) spawning; oviparous
Golden shiners invest no parental care in their eggs or young after egg-laying.
Parental Investment: no parental involvement; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female)
The golden shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas) is a cyprinid fish native to eastern North America. It is the sole member of its genus. Much used as a bait fish, it is probably the most widely pond-cultured fish in the United States. It can be found in Quebec, and its French name is "Mené jaune" or "Chatte de l'Est".
It is the only North American member of the Old World clade within subfamily Leuciscinae.[2]
Though it has been known to reach lengths of 30 cm (12 in), in the wild the golden shiner is usually between 7.5 and 12.5 cm (3.0 and 4.9 in) long. The body is laterally compressed (deep-bodied). The back is dark green or olive, and the belly is a silvery white. The sides are silver in smaller individuals, but golden in larger ones. There can be a faint dusky stripe along the sides. The anal fin is large and has 8-19 rays, while the dorsal fin comprises almost always 8 rays. Scales are relatively large and easily lost when the fish is handled. The mouth is small and upturned. Two characteristics can distinguish the golden shiner from all other minnows: (1) the lateral line has a pronounced downward curve, with its lowest point just above the pelvic fins; and (2) there is a fleshy keel lacking scales on the belly between the pelvic fins and the base of the anal fin. The lack of scales on the keel is important to differentiate the golden shiner from the very similar-looking rudd, Scardinius erythrophtalmus, a European species that has been introduced in a few places in North America.[3] The rudd also has a midventral keel, but that keel bears scales. Golden shiner and rudd can in fact hybridize[4] and hybrids have a few scales on their midventral keel.
The golden shiner is found throughout the eastern half of North America, north to the St Lawrence River, Great Lakes, and Lake Winnipeg, and west to the Dakotas and Texas. Because of its use as bait, it has also been introduced in many places outside this native range.[5]
Golden shiners prefer quiet waters and are therefore found in lakes, ponds, sloughs, and ditches. They are sometimes found in the quietest parts of rivers. They like weedy areas. They are fairly tolerant of pollution, turbidity, and low oxygen content. They can also tolerate temperatures as high as 40 °C (104 °F), which is unusually high for a North American minnow.[6]
Golden shiners are omnivorous and crepuscular planktivores.[7] They eat zooplankton, phytoplankton,[7] microcrustaceans,[7] insects, plants, and algae. They can feed at the surface, in mid-water, or at the bottom. They can locate prey visually, or filter-feed on high-density zooplankton without resorting to visual cues.[8] They are themselves food for all manner of game fish such as trout and bass, hence their popularity as bait fish.
In the southern parts of their range, golden shiners can start reproducing at one year of age; in Canada, first breeding is more commonly at three years of age. Females lay up to 200,000 sticky eggs each amid vegetation. There is no parental care. Occasionally, like a few other minnows, golden shiners can deposit their eggs in the occupied nests of pumpkinseed, largemouth bass or bowfin (the latter two can be predators of shiners).[9][10][11] This behaviour is called egg dumping and resembles the brood parasitism of birds such as cuckoos, inasmuch as the shiner eggs will benefit from the parental care that pumpkinseed, largemouth bass, and bowfin provide to the content of their nests. In contrast to parasitism by cuckoos, however, the parent's eggs do not suffer from the presence of parasitic eggs, and may actually benefit from a dilution effect when predators attack the brood.[12]
Golden shiners live in large groups (shoals) that roam widely. Several laboratory studies have shown that the movements of a shoal can be determined by a minority of individuals at the front of it. For example, an individual that knows when and where food is available within a large tank can lead many other fish to the right place at the right time of day.[13] If all fish have similar knowledge, there is still a tendency for some individuals to be found always at the front of a moving shoal, possibly because they are intrinsically hungrier and more motivated to find food.[14] Small fish are also found more often at the front of a shoal than larger fish, again possibly because they are more motivated to find food.[15]
Like other minnows, golden shiners are sensitive to the release of an alarm substance, or schreckstoff, contained within special skin cells. If a predator catches and bites into a minnow, the skin is broken, the substance is released, and other minnows in the vicinity can detect the substance and react to it by leaving the area. The substance can also survive intact in the feces of a predator, and minnows can thus detect the presence of a minnow-eating predator through the presence of its feces. In the laboratory, golden shiners were found to react strongly to water that contained feces from snakes that had eaten other golden shiners, but not nearly as much to water laden with feces from snakes that had eaten green swordtails, a fish that does not possess an alarm substance.[16]
Like other fishes, golden shiners have a good daily time sense and can anticipate the arrival of food when this food is made available at the same time of the day or night.[17][18] They can also do this when there is more than one mealtime a day.[19] This anticipation is expressed as swimming and positioning towards the food source, and other naive individuals can perceive this and join the anticipating fish in the hope of sharing its food.[20]
Golden shiners are also capable of time-place learning (associating different places with different times of day). They can be taught to feed in one part of an aquarium in the morning and a different part in the afternoon; or to feed in one part in the morning, a different part at mid-day, and back to the first part in the afternoon.[21]
Researchers have found that long-term exposure of golden shiners to methylmercury can cause disadvantageous effects in the function of the nervous, reproductive, immune, and endocrine systems as well as in behavior.[22] For example, golden shiners exposed to methylmercury showed a decline in reproduction through the inhibition of hypothalamus, pituitary, and gonadal function.[23] Many fish showed higher concentrations of the chemical in the brain compared to the rest of the body.[24] Fish exposed to high amounts of mercury showed signs of delayed shoaling after exposure to predators.[24] These fish took up to nearly three times longer to return to pre-exposure behaviors compared to other groups exposed to lower amounts of mercury.[24]
Studies have also seen relationships between tissue damage and exposure to mercury by examining macrophage aggregates in different fish tissues.[22] Using histological analysis, a positive correlation was seen between the total area of macrophage aggregates and total mercury concentration of muscle tissues in the spleen of both male and female golden shiners.[22]
The golden shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas) is a cyprinid fish native to eastern North America. It is the sole member of its genus. Much used as a bait fish, it is probably the most widely pond-cultured fish in the United States. It can be found in Quebec, and its French name is "Mené jaune" or "Chatte de l'Est".
La carpita dorada o sardinilla de quilla (la especie Notemigonus crysoleucas) es un pez ciprínido nativo del este de Norteamérica e introducido a todo el continente. Es el único miembro de su género Notemigonus.
Presenta en su lomo colores verde a sombreado oliva, en el vientre plateado blanco y en los costados dorado o plateado. Puede tener una banda lateral borrosa oscura, y la línea lateral tiene pronunciadas curvas, con los puntos más bajos cerca de las aletas pélvicas. La prominente aleta anal está inervada en la mitad y tiene de 11-15 rayas, mientras que la aleta dorsal posee 8 rayas. Se conocen ejemplares de 3 dm.
Primariamente se alimentan de zooplancton; un estudio en el Lago Claro de California mostró que el zooplancton constituía el 95% de su dieta. También comen insectos, filamentos de algas. Y son predados por salmónidos truchas y lubinas.
Prefieren aguas calmas, raramente aparecen en cursos correntosos, pero sí se han encontrado en una amplia variedad de hábitats con ese único requerimiento, como diques, pantanos, grandes lagos. Les gusta más el agua clara con densas matas de vegetación, pero pueden lidiar con polución, turbiedad y bajo contenido de oxígeno.
Es muy utilizado como señuelo. Posiblemente es el más cultivado en los Estados Unidos; alcanza rápidamente el tamaño deseado.
Datos: Q968614
Multimedia:
Especies: Notemigonus crysoleucas
La carpita dorada o sardinilla de quilla (la especie Notemigonus crysoleucas) es un pez ciprínido nativo del este de Norteamérica e introducido a todo el continente. Es el único miembro de su género Notemigonus.
Notemigonus crysoleucas Notemigonus generoko animalia da. Arrainen barruko Actinopterygii klasean sailkatzen da, Cyprinidae familian.
Notemigonus crysoleucas Notemigonus generoko animalia da. Arrainen barruko Actinopterygii klasean sailkatzen da, Cyprinidae familian.
Notemigonus crysoleucas
Le méné jaune (Notemigonus crysoleucas) est une espèce de poissons d'eau douce de la famille des cyprinidés originaire d'Amérique du Nord. C'est le seul membre de son genre, Notemigonus. Le méné jaune est surtout utilisé comme appât, c'est probablement le poisson le plus élevé aux États-Unis.
Notemigonus crysoleucas
Le méné jaune (Notemigonus crysoleucas) est une espèce de poissons d'eau douce de la famille des cyprinidés originaire d'Amérique du Nord. C'est le seul membre de son genre, Notemigonus. Le méné jaune est surtout utilisé comme appât, c'est probablement le poisson le plus élevé aux États-Unis.
Amerikinės kuojažuvės (Notemigonus) – karpinių (Cyprinidae) šeimos žuvų gentis.
Amerikinės kuojažuvės (Notemigonus) – karpinių (Cyprinidae) šeimos žuvų gentis.
