Cypress minnow facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cypress minnow |
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The Cypress minnow (Hybognathus hayi) is a small, freshwater fish. It belongs to the carp family, called Cyprinidae. This fish lives only in the United States. You can find it in rivers like the Mississippi and Ohio. It also lives in other rivers that flow into the Gulf of Mexico.
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What Does the Cypress Minnow Look Like?
The Cypress minnow is a sturdy, silver-colored fish. It has fairly large eyes. Its mouth is small and points upwards. The scales on its sides have dark edges. These edges create a clear diamond-shaped pattern. This fish does not have barbels, which are whisker-like feelers.
Its back is yellowish-olive with a dark or greenish-golden stripe. This stripe is wider than the base of its dorsal fin (the fin on its back). The back also has emerald spots. Its sides are silvery and do not have any dark stripes. The belly is plain. The fins do not have any special markings. When male minnows are ready to breed, they grow small bumps called tubercules on their bodies. Adult Cypress minnows are usually about 3 to 6 inches (7.6 to 15.2 cm) long.
Where Do Cypress Minnows Live?
The Cypress minnow is found only in the United States. It lives in the Ohio and Mississippi River basins. You can find it from southwestern Indiana to southern Illinois, and south to Louisiana. It also lives in the Escambia River in Florida and Alabama. Another place it calls home is the Sabine River in Texas.
What Kind of Home Do They Like?
Cypress minnows are lowland fish. This means they live in lower areas, not mountains. They prefer the calm, slow-moving backwaters of large rivers. They also like oxbow lakes, which are U-shaped lakes formed when a river changes course. They like areas with sand, silt, and plant debris on the bottom. They stay away from places where the water flows too fast.
How Do Cypress Minnows Live?
The Cypress minnow has a very long intestine. This long gut suggests that it eats mostly plants. A study in Kentucky showed that these fish eat sand, decaying plant matter (detritus), algae, and other plant materials.
Cypress minnows become ready to have babies when they are about one year old. At this age, they are usually 2 to 3 inches (5.0 to 7.6 cm) long. They seem to lay their eggs in the spring. Like other fish in their family, they probably scatter their eggs over the bottom of the water. The parents do not take care of the eggs or the young fish.
Are Cypress Minnows in Danger?
The Cypress minnow is not a very common fish. It has been described as rare or found only in certain spots. Its numbers have gone down a lot in some parts of its range. This includes states like Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Florida, and Arkansas. However, it never lived in large numbers in these states to begin with.
Cypress minnows were first found in Indiana in the early 1940s. They are known from only four places there. They were recently found again in Missouri and Illinois. It's possible that Cypress minnows have disappeared from the southern bend of the Tennessee River in Alabama. But in the main parts of their habitat, recent studies show that their populations are staying steady. Overall, their numbers are probably stable or slowly decreasing.
See also
In Spanish: Hybognathus hayi para niños
