Rosyface shiner facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Rosyface shiner |
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The rosyface shiner (Notropis rubellus) is a small, shiny fish that lives in fresh water. It belongs to the minnow and carp family, called Cyprinidae. You can find this fish naturally in eastern North America.
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What Does It Look Like?
The rosyface shiner is a small fish, growing up to about 9 centimeters (3.5 inches) long. It has a sleek, torpedo-shaped body. Its sides are silvery and shimmer with blue and green stripes. Its fins are clear, almost see-through.
This fish has fins on its belly area, near its stomach. It has a pointed nose and a mouth at the very front. Its tail fin is shaped like a fork. When it's time to breed, male rosyface shiners get bright red colors on their face, head, and behind their gills. Female fish might also show a little bit of red color.
Where Does It Live?
The rosyface shiner is found in the eastern parts of the United States and southern Canada. You can see them from eastern Wisconsin and around the Great Lakes area all the way to New York. They also live south in the upper Ohio River.
You can find them along the Appalachian Mountains and Cumberland Plateau down to Tennessee. They also swim in rivers like the James River and Rapidan River, which flow into the Atlantic Ocean.
Its Home (Habitat)
Rosyface shiners are freshwater fish. They like to live in large or medium-sized streams. These streams must have clear water and currents that flow quickly. The bottom of their stream homes usually has clean gravel or small rocks. They often hang out in or near "riffles," which are shallow, fast-moving parts of a stream.
These fish do not like streams that are always cloudy or muddy. They don't travel far from their homes. In the winter (around mid-November), they move to deeper, calmer pools. Then, in mid-March, they return to the faster-moving riffles.
What Does It Eat?
The rosyface shiner is an omnivore, meaning it eats both plants and animals. It mostly eats insects, like caddisfly larvae and mayfly nymphs. It also eats other small insects, fish eggs, algae, and tiny plant-like organisms called diatoms.
These fish are known to eat insects that fall onto the water's surface. They also catch flying insects by jumping out of the water! They will also feed on food found in the middle of the water. One study found that many rosyface shiners had full stomachs in late April and May, before they laid eggs. After laying eggs in mid-June, even more of them had full stomachs.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
Before they lay eggs, groups of male and female rosyface shiners swim in circles between two pools. The females usually lead the group, with the males following behind. They lay their eggs in a shallow, fast-moving part of the stream called a riffle.
They choose spots over gravel at the bottom of the riffle, where the water is only 1 to 3 inches deep. They make small, round nests, about 5 to 12 inches wide. Fish will vibrate together over a nest for about 5 to 6 seconds. Then they rest for 30 seconds and repeat this for about 5 minutes. After that, they go back to the pool and repeat the whole process every 10 minutes.
Both male and female rosyface shiners can start having babies when they are one year old. A one-year-old female can lay about 600 eggs. Older females, around three years old, can lay about 1,175 eggs. Rosyface shiners usually live for about three years.
