52 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



Notropis cornutus (Mitchill) 

 Common Shiner (Figs. 27 and 60) 



Cyprinus cornutus Mitchill, Amer. Monthly Magazine, Vol. I, p. 289, 1817 (Wallkill River, 

 New York). 



Notropis cornutus (Mitchill) — Jud.\y, Univ. Colo. Studies, Vol. II, p. 113, 1903 (Boulder; 

 Longmont); Juday, Bull. U.S. Fish Com. for IQ04, p. 227, IQ05 (Boulder; Longmont). 



Notropis megalops (Rafinesque) — Jordan, Bull. U.S. Fish Com., Vol. IX, p. 8, 1889 (Denver). 



Body moderately elongate (young) and quite compressed (adults), and in 

 adults moderately deep; depth 4.25 (young) to 3.2 (adult), head 4.25 to 3.7 in 

 the length to the base of the caudal; head short and rather chubby; eye large, 4 

 to 5 in the head, about i . s in the snout and 2 in the interorbital distance; mouth 

 large, slightly oblique, angle of the mouth not reaching the anterior margin of the 

 eye; nostril large and prominent, situated on the dorsal surface of the head about 

 one-half of the diameter of the eye in front of the eye; dorsal lin short, of 8 rays, 

 base of the first ray nearer to the tip of the snout than to the base of the caudal, 

 about on a level with the ventrals; pectorals short, not reaching the ventrals; 

 ventrals barely if at all reaching the anal opening; anal fin of about the same length 

 as the dorsal, of 9, sometimes 10 rays; caudal peduncle moderately deep, its least 

 depth about 2.5 (young) to 2 (adult) in the head; caudal fin broad and deeply 

 forked; scales large, those on the sides with the exposed portion much deeper than 

 long, 6 or 7, 37-45, 3 or 4, 16 or more in front of the dorsal; lateral line complete 

 strongly decurved in the pectoral region; length 9 inches or less, average adults 

 about 4 inches in length. 



Color olivaceous dorsally, shading to almost white below, sides silvery, with 

 a bluish iridescence; mid-dorsal region especially in the young with a narrow 

 rather well-defined, dusky stripe; lateral line region with a broad dusky lateral 

 stripe, sometimes quite prominent, but in adults usually much interrupted and 

 poorly defined ; top of the head dark bluish green ; dorsal and caudal fins dusky. 

 Sides of breeding males much blotched with salmon pink and dusky emerald green; 

 dorsal, caudal and anal fins broadly margined with rose pink; pectorals and ven- 

 trals cream color with suffuse pink along the rays; anterior margin of the pec- 

 torals dusky blue; top of the head with numerous horny tubercles; throat and 

 under parts of the head pearly white; sides with a steel-blue iridescence. 



The common shiner ranges over the whole of the United States east of the 

 Rocky Mountains excepting the southern portion of the Mississippi Valley, and 

 through lower Canada. It is often the most abundant fish in the small clear 

 streams of the central states. From an economic standpoint the shiner is of little 

 importance except as its young are eaten by other more valuable fishes. Large 

 specimens are, however, often eaten, as this species readily takes any sort of 

 still bait. By some it is recommended as live bait for bass. 



Notropis cornutus spawns in late spring. Like that of most of the other 



