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Western golden shiner 



The golden shiner is widely distributed throughout 

 eastern United States and westward to the Dakotas and 

 Texas. The western form, auratus , is most common west 

 of the Allegheny Mountains and north of Arkansas and 

 is the only subspecies occurring in the Lake States. 

 This species prefers lakes but is also common in the 

 quiet sections of some of the larger rivers, frequenting 

 densely vegetated bays and shoal«. 



The golden shiner has a long spawning season 

 extending from June into August in Michigan and from 

 early May to August in Minnesota. The eggs, which are 

 adhesive and stick to plants, are commonly scattered 

 ovfer filamentous algae and less frequently over rooted 

 aquatic plants. In Minnesota this shiner reaches a 

 size for pike bait in the fall of its first year. The 

 female grows faster and larger than the male. This 

 species may mature in 1 year in warm regions at a 

 length of 25 inches, but in most of the Lake States it 

 probably does not mature before the s econd year. 

 Members of this species are known to have lived for 8 

 years. A maximum length of 10 inches has been reported. 

 In Michigan and Iowa this species has been produced at 

 a rate of more than 200,000 an acre in fertilized ponds. 



The golden shiner is omnivorous. The young feed 

 on algae and entomos tracans . The adults have been 

 known to eat young fishes, insects, plankton, crusta- 

 ceans, protozoans, algae, diatoms, and mollusks. Some 

 stomachs contain nothing but insects; seme, nothing 

 but plankton; others, 95 percent algae; a few had more 

 than 75 percent amphipods; and three contained 5 percent 

 arachnids. The food percentages in golden shiner 

 stomachs examined by a number of workers are as follows: 

 insects, 35.0; plankton, 28.5; algae, 13.8; plants, 5.3; 

 amphipods, 0.4; mollusks, 1.9; arachnids, 1.4; bryo- 

 zoans, 1.4; rotifers arid protozoans, 0.2; and crusta- 

 ceans, 12.0. 



