FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
123 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous, record: Apparently none from salt or brackish water. 
(b) Specimens in present collection: From brackish water, Spesutie Island, Havre de Grace; Love 
Point; and Blackistone Island, Md. Highest recorded salinity, 15.66 per mille. 
37. Genus NOTEMIGONUS Rafinesque. Roaches 
Body strongly compressed; back and belly curved; belly behind ventrals forming a keel; 
head small, conic; mouth small, oblique; barbels wanting; pharyngeal teeth 5 — 5; alimentary 
canal short, not much longer than the body; scales moderate; lateral line complete, decurved; 
dorsal origin behind ventrals; anal fin rather long, with 13 or more rays. 
48. Notemigonus crysoleucas (Mitchill). Golden shiner; Shiner; “Dace”; Chub; Bream. 
Cyprinus crysoleucas Mitchill, Rept., Fish., N. Y., 1914, p. 23; New York. 
Stilbe americana Uhler and Lugger, 1876, ed. I, p. 171; ed. II, p. 145. 
Notemigonus crysoleucas Bean, 1883, p. 367; Smith and Bean, 1899, p. 182. 
Abramis crysoleucas Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 250, PI. XLV, fig. Ill; Fowler, 1912, p. 52. 
Head 4 to 4.75; depth 2.85 to 4.25; D. 9 or 10; A. 14 to 16; scales 46 to 52. Body in adult 
deep, rather strongly compressed, the back elevated and the ventral outline strongly decurved, 
more elongate and not as strongly depressed in young; head small, somewhat depressed above; 
snout short, blunt, its length 3.55 to 4.6 in head; eye 2.55 to 4.1; interorbital 2.25 to 2.9; mouth 
very oblique, the lower jaw slightly in advance of the upper; maxillary failing to reach anterior 
margin of eye; pharyngeal teeth in one row, usually with five teeth, occasionally with only four, 
each tooth with a prominent, nearly right-angled hook at the tip; scales moderate, rather deep in 
adult, 23 to 25 rows in advance of dorsal; lateral line complete, decurved; dorsal fin rather small, 
the anterior rays longest, reaching past the posterior rays when defiexed, the origin of fin a little 
nearer upper anterior angle of gill opening than base of caudal; caudal fin forked, both lobes pointed; 
anal fin rather long, the outer margin concave, its base 1.2 to 1.55 in head; ventral fin inserted 
nearly an eye’s diameter in advance of dorsal, reaching origin of the anal in the young, proportion- 
ately shorter in the adult; pectoral fins pointed, the upper rays longest, 1.05 to 1.3 in head. 
Color in adult bluish-green above, with metallic luster, gradually merging into bright silvery 
on lower part of sides; upper surface of head brownish; fins plain or sometimes yellowish and 
occasionally dusky. A gravid male, 6 inches long, had a pale yellow dorsal and caudal and bright 
yellow anal, ventral, and pectoral fins. Smith (1907, p. 89) describes a fish 7% inches long as having, 
in addition to the yellow color, crimson ventrals and the anal dull orange with a black margin. 
The young have less of the metallic luster and they have a distinct black lateral band, extending 
from the eye to the base of the caudal. 
Many specimens of this species were preserved, ranging from 33 to 215 millimeters (l^g to 
inches) in length. This minnow is locally very abundant, occurring in the tide waters princi- 
pally in the upper parts of Chesapeake Bay, whether fresh or brackish, and on various kinds of 
bottom, but more usually where vegetation is present. The adult of this minnow is readily recog- 
nized by the very oblique mouth, deep, compressed body, the long anal fin, the strongly decurved 
lateral line, and by the bright golden and silvery colors. The young, however, are not so readily 
distinguished, for they are not much deeper than other minnows of related genera, and they have a 
black lateral band like many of the species of this family. The strongly oblique mouth and the 
long anal fin serve as the most reliable characters in separating the young from related minnows. 
The scales in advance of the dorsal fin are somewhat reduced, from 22 to 25 rows crossing the back 
in front of the origin of the dorsal. In most of the related minnows the scales are larger, and fewer 
rows cross the back in advance of the dorsal fin. The peritoneum in this species is silvery with 
dusky punctulations. The air bladder is large and has a constriction a little in advance of the 
middle of its length, from which arises a very small _ tube, jvhich extends forward to the throat. 
The alimentary canal is about as long as the total length of the fish. 
The food in six specimens examined consisted of algae, fragments of higher plants, and debris. 
Many grains of sand, probably taken by accident, also were present in some of the stomachs 
examined. Linton examined five stomachs and found amphipods, mollusks, and debris. 
Spawning takes place during the spring. Gravid fish were taken at Havre de Grace, Md., 
on May 8 to 10, 1922. 
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