Fish Study 



161 



"I'm only wishing to go a fishing." 



THE SHINER 



Teacher's Story 



"This is a notat-orthy and characteristic lineament, or cipher, or hieroglyphic, or 

 type of spring. You look into some clear, sandy bottomed brook where it spreads into a 

 deeper bay, yet flowing cold from ice and snow not far off, and see indistinctly poised 

 over the sand on invisible fins, the outlines of the shiner, scarcely to be distinguished 

 from the sands behind it as if it were transparent."- -THOREAU. 



HERE are many species of shiners and it is by no means 

 easy to recognize them nor to distinguish them from 

 chub, dace and minnows since all these belong to one 

 family; they all have the same arrangement of fins and 

 live in the same water; and the plan of this lesson can 

 with few changes be applied to any of them. 



Xever were seen more exquisite colors than shimmer 

 along the sides of the common shiner (Xotropis corn- 

 utus}. It is pale olive-green above, just a sunny brook-color; this is 

 bordered at the sides by a line of iridescent blue-purple, while the shining 

 silver scales on the sides below, flash and glimmer with the changing hues 

 of the rainbow. The minnows are darker than the shiners; the horned 

 dace develops little tubercles on the head during the breeding season 

 which are lost later. 



The body of the shiner is ideal for slipping through the water. Seen 

 from above it is a narrow wedge, rounded in front and tapering to a point 

 behind; from the side, it is long, oval, lance-shaped. The scales are large 



