SIXTY-TWO SPECIES OF FISHES FROM LAKE ERIE 
343 
DESCRIPTION 
A very significant field character in the specimens at hand is the golden tinge 
which covers more or less of the whole body, always deep through head region, on 
all fins, and caudal peduncle. The profile of the head is quite concave above in the 
younger stages, and the upper lip is on a level with the upper margin of pupil. 
18.0 -millimeter stage . — Total length, 18.0; standard length, 14.5; length to vent, 
9.6; length of head, 4.0; snout, 0.6; diameter of eye, 1.5; greatest, depth before vent, 
3.2; depth behind vent, 2.1; length to dorsal, 8.0 millimeters. Myomeres, 20 (21) 
before vent plus 17 behind. Dorsal I (rudimentary), 8; anal I (rudimentary), 11-12; 
all fins rather long. Characterized by comparatively short head (although propor- 
tionately larger than in later stages) with pointed snout; small, terminal, oblique 
mouth barely reaching front of large eye. Body slender, elongate, somewhat com- 
pressed, especially slender in tail region. Dorsal higher than long, situated in middle 
of body opposite space between ventrals and anal; anal longer than dorsal; caudal 
long and deeply forked. 
Vertebrae in stained specimen, 21 plus 19. The character of the head, as de- 
scribed above, is diagnostic. 
Pigmentation. — Brownish-black chroma tophores appear thickly on both jaws, 
top of head, dorsal aspect extending down over the sides and in a broad lateral band 
from head to caudal. Below the surface they occur abundantly in the abdominal 
region. There is a double series on ventral aspect from vent backward, and all fins 
are pigmented. A brilliant golden tinge completely covers some specimens, and all 
are colored thus about the head, the fins, and caudal peduncle. 
The 24-millimeter specimen, which is fully scaled, shows a fleshy keel on the belly 
behind the ventral fins, over which the scales do not pass. In this stage, too, the 
head is becoming conic. 
BREEDING , 
The golden shiner spawns from May until early summer. 
25. Hyborliynclius notatus (Rafinesque). Blunt-nosed minnow. 
RECORD OF CAPTURE 
The blunt-nosed minnow is common in sheltered bays of Lake Erie and in the 
larger streams and ponds near-by. The eggs and young described here were taken 
in Sister Creek on July 13, 1928, from a nest guarded by a male H. notatus (described 
under Breeding, p. 347). 
