Spottail shiner

The spottail shiner or spottail minnow (Hudsonius hudsonius) is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae, the shiners, daces and minnows. It can be found as far north as Canada and as far south as the Chattahoochee River in Georgia. These shiners live in lakes, rivers, and creeks. They occupy the rocky or sandy shorelines and bottoms of the water. One of the defining features of a spottail shiner is the black spot found at the base of the caudal fin. These shiners generally spawn from late June through July.

Habitat

Spottail shiners are generally omnivorous fish that feed on plants, aquatic invertebrate, and zoobenthos. Zoobenthos are the invertebrates that occupy the benthos of the riverbeds and lakebeds. This shiner is said to feed on green algae, plant debris, vascular plants, water fleas, caddis flies, mayflies, nematocerans, and the remains of macroinvertabrates. Given the small size of the fish it does not usually prey on other fish species. The spottail shiner obtains much of its food by scavenging on the floor of the river, lakes, and streams that it occupies.

Given the small size of spottail shiners, many different species of fish prey upon them. Some predators include rainbow trout, coho salmon, chinook salmon, northern pike, walleye, brown trout, lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), and bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix).

The spottail shiner mainly competes with species that have the same diet and live in the areas. These competitors can include other species of shiners, yellow perches, or white perches.

There are certain abiotic factors that determine spottail shiners' habitat. The spottail shiner's highest activity levels are usually seen in areas where the pH value range between 5.6 and 6.6, maximizing at a pH value around 6.1. Spottail shiners generally live in waters that temperatures range from 10 to 50 °C (50 to 122 °F).

Distribution

Hudsonius species mainly live in streams and rivers but can be found in larger lakes. They can be found 3 to 60 feet (0 to 20 m) deep, on substrates of sand and gravel. The spottail shiner is one of more common species of the genus Hudsonius. Spottail shiners are native to Canada and the United States. They are found in the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Chattahoochee River and Altamaha River in Georgia, the Mackenzie River basin in Canada, northern Ohio, southern Illinois, the Hudson Bay, some lakes throughout Montana, and the Great Lakes. They can also be found in some lakes in the upper northeast region of the United States. These spottail shiners seem to have only occupied the areas of Canada and United States that they are currently distributed today, with the exception of Montana. It seems that the shiners have been introduced in lakes through Montana in order to become bait for some of the larger gaming fish such as the walleye.