FAMILY CYPRINIDAE 157 



NORTHERN COMMON SHINER 



Notropis cornutus frontalis (Agassiz) 



The northern common shiner (Figure 25E) is a large, slender, steel- 

 blue minnow with gilt lines. The spring males are tuberculate and 

 have bright rosy bellies and lower fins. This minnow reaches about 8 

 inches in length. The scales are 6-41-3. The teeth are 2, 4 — 4, 2. The 

 scales of adults often assume a roughened appearance. 



This subspecies ranges from Saskatchewan to Quebec and southward 

 to Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa, and through the northern part of the 

 Ohio basin. It is very common in the collections from lakes and streams 

 over Minnesota and Wisconsin (Greene, 1935) . It is one of the most 

 important bait minnows in Minnesota. 



Notropis percobroTnus (Cope) 



This minnow is pale without any red color. It closely resembles 

 .v. atherinoides but differs in many details. The body is elliptical rather 

 than oval in shape. The eye is smaller (about four times in the depth 

 of the head instead of three times) , and is located in the center of the 

 head dorsoventrally rather than a little above the center dorsoventral- 

 ly. The length of the head is usually greater than one-fourth the 

 standard length. The lips are not pigmented as much as in A'^. atheri- 

 noides. 



This minnow was identified by Hubbs (1945) from material col- 

 lected by the University of Minnesota from a small stream at Lake 

 City, Minnesota and from the Mississippi River at Whitman, Minne- 

 sota. Hubbs gives its range as extending from the Red and Arkansas 

 river systems on the Great Plains of Oklahoma and Kansas to the 

 Mississippi River in Tennessee, northward to the Missouri River sys- 

 tem in the Dakotas and up the Mississippi River to Lake Pepin. 



COMMON EMERALD SHINER 



Notropis atherinoides atherinoides Rafinesque 



This species (Figure 25G) has a compressed, elliptical body and a 

 short, blunt snout. It has a greenish back and silvery sides. There are 

 about 38 scales in the lateral line. The teeth are 2, 4 — 4, 2. 



The common emerald shiner is distributed throughout most of the 

 Mississippi drainage, Lake Erie, and parts of southern Canada. Greene 

 (1935) reported it from the larger streams and lakes of Wisconsin. In 

 Minnesota it is commonly found in the Mississippi, Lake of the Woods, 

 and Lake Superior drainages. This species is very common in Lake of 

 the Woods and was reported as very common in Red Lake River by 

 Woolman (1895). 



This minnow shows a preference for lakes and is not uncommon in 



