Sunday, June 7, 2020

Golden

Pictured: a golden shiner caught whilst fishing for sunfish at a small lake in one of the Omaha suburbs. I must have landed a dozen of the distinctive minnows that morning. (Oddly, even though Ellie was fishing alongside me using very similar flies, she caught plenty of bluegills but not a single shiner.)


The golden shiner is recognisable not only by the gold-coloured scales of larger specimens (smaller ones are silver) but by the distinctive downward curve of the lateral line.


The golden shiner is very similar in appearance to a European species, the rudd, and apparently closely related as well, as the two species can hybridise where they occur together. Golden shiners are native to eastern North America but have been widely introduced elsewhere because of their popularity as bait; they are also kept as ornamental fish in small ponds.

The Fish Book put out by the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission states that golden shiners, though bony, can be good eating. Ellie and I were doing C&R, so I'll take their word for it.

Since it's been a while, let's have some music. From the 1987 film Athens, GA: Inside/Out, "Golden" by Dreams So Real.



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