Fish Iowa - Fish Species - Ironcolor shiner

Species Information

Characteristics

Body is terete and slightly compressed laterally. Color ranges from olive-green to straw on the back, shading to white beneath with a sharp, distinct lateral stripe which starts on the chin and snout then continues along the body to the caudal fin. A distinct feature is the obvious, dark pigment on the inner borders of the jaws, the floor and roof of the mouth, and the oral valve. An unusual feature is the scaleless breast in front of the pectoral fins. The terminal mouth has an oblique angle, and no barbel is present. Hooked, pharyngeal teeth on slender arches are arranged in a 2, 4-4, 2 pattern. The incomplete lateral line, interrupted with more than 10 unpored scales, has 32 to 36 scales. Dorsal, anal, and pelvic fins have 8 rays, while the pectoral fins have 12 to 14 rays.

Foods

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Expert Tip

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Details

The Ironcolor Shiner lives in clear, acidic, tannin-stained, sluggish streams and rivers with low to moderate gradients, abundant vegetation and clean sandy bottoms. It has occasionally been taken in soft-bottomed swamps next to large rivers. In the Mississippi Alluvial Basin Aquatic Subregion, it is only found in clean, clear and calm ditches choked with submerged aquatic plants. In Iowa, the Ironcolor Shiner was found in a vegetated reach of a large river with a mud and sand bottom.

Adults reach only about 2-inches long.