Notemigonus crysoleucas

Invasion History

First Non-native North American Tidal Record: 1964
First Non-native West Coast Tidal Record: 1964
First Non-native East/Gulf Coast Tidal Record:

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General Invasion History:

Golden Shiners (Notemigonus crysoleucas) are native to eastern North America from Nova Scotia to southern Manitoba, and Florida to Texas (Page and Burr 1991; USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2014). They are widely used, and commercially raised and sold as a baitfish, and have also been introduced to reservoirs as a forage fish. Golden Shiners are among the top 10 most widely introduced fishes across the western United States (Moyle 2002; Schade et al. 2005; USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2018). They are established in the Columbia River and San Francisco Bay estuaries (Cohen and Carlton 1995; USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2018). Golden Shiners have been introduced to US states outside their native range, from Montana to Washington, and New Mexico to California (USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2018).

North American Invasion History:

Invasion History on the West Coast:

Golden Shiners were stocked as forage fish throughout California starting in San Diego County in 1891, and further dispersed by fishermen discarding bait. In 1950, they were planted in Clear Lake, in the San Francisco Bay watershed, and by 1964, they were found in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Dill and Cordone 1997). They are now very abundant in freshwater-tidal parts of the Delta, and occasionally occur in brackish Suisun Bay (Cohen and Carlton 1995; Matern et al. 2002). In two 1992-1999 surveys, they were the 5th or 6th most abundant species in freshwater portions of the South Delta (Feyrer and Healy 2003; Grimaldo et al. 2012), and common in other surveys (3-5 % of abundance, 1980s vs. 2000s, Brown and Michniuk 2007).

The Golden Shiner appears to be a recent introduction to the Columbia River. Sixteen fish were caught in a survey of the Columbia Slough, in Portland (Van Dyke 2009), and one fish was caught near the mouth of the Columbia, in Youngs Bay, near Astoria, in 2011 (USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2018). This fish was not reported in previous lists for the Columbia River and the Portland area (Hughes and Gammon 1987; Farr and Ward 1992; Sytsma et al. 2004). There are some earlier records from scattered introductions in Oregon and Washington, but mostly in isolated lakes outside of the Columbia River basin.

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Description

Golden Shiners (Notemigonus crysoleucas) are small to mid-sized freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae. Fish of the family Cyprinidae, the carp and minnow family, have a single dorsal fin, abdominal pelvic fins, and a lateral line. They lack true spines in their fins. Adult Golder Shiners have a strongly laterally compressed body, and a strongly decurved lateral line. There is a scale-less keel along the ventral midline from the pelvic fins to the anal fin. There are 7-9 dorsal rays and 8-19 (usually 11-14) anal rays. There are 44-54 lateral scales. Adults occasionally reach 260-300 mm, but a more typical size is 144 mm. The color of adult fish varies from silver to brassy gold, with clear to yellowish fins (Page and Burr 1991; Murdy et al. 1997; Moyle 2002; Froese and Pauly 2018). Juvenile Golden Shiners are much slenderer, with a brownish back, a dusky stripe on the sides, extending from the eye to the snout, and silvery belly. They can be confused with the many Eastern and Midwestern shiners of the genus Notropis (Page and Burr 1991). Wang (1968) shows this color pattern in a 24 mm juvenile from the San Francisco estuary. The lateral band disappears at ~120 mm length (Jones et al. 1997).

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Taxonomy

Ecology

General:

Golden Shiners (Notemigonus crysoleucas) are small to mid-sized freshwater fish. Males and females are nearly identical, but males develop a more intense golden color on their body and fins. They take between seven months and three years to mature, but most reach maturity in the second year at 50-70 mm (Jones et al. 1978). The spawning season varies with latitude but is March-August in California and the mid-Atlantic US, at 20-27 C (Jones et al. 1978; Wang 1986; Moyle 2002). Fish spawn in schools, with females dropping their eggs on submerged vegetation or debris, and males fertilizing them. The eggs are 1.0-1.4 mm in diameter and adhesive. Females will sometimes lay their eggs in the excavated nest of a Largemouth Bass, which is then guarded by the male bass (Moyle 2002). This increases the chance of survival of the eggs and larvae. Females may carry up to 200,000 eggs (Jones et al. 1978). The eggs hatch in 3-4 days at 17 to 24 C. Larvae remain on the bottom until the yolk sac is absorbed, and then swim in schools close to shore (Moyle 2002).

Golden Shiners have a native range of about 20 degrees of latitude, which includes cold-temperate to subtropical climates, and a wide range of habitats including lakes, slow-flowing streams, large rivers, swamps, and estuaries. They prefer relatively warm, still, or slow-flowing waters, with dense vegetation (Jones et al. 1978; Wang et al. 1986; Moyle 2002). These fish tolerate low oxygen levels (Moyle 2002). Golden Shiners have been collected at 14 PSU in Chesapeake Bay (Hildebrand and Schroeder 1928). Foods include zooplankton (especially the cladoceran, Daphnia spp., small flying insects, benthic invertebrates, algae, and occasionally, small fishes (Hildebrand and Schroeder 1928; Moyle 2002). Golden Shiners are vulnerable to large predatory fishes. In a survey in the San Francisco estuary, one was found in the stomach contents of a Largemouth Bass (Nobriga and Feyrer 2007). They are widely raised and used as bass bait (Dill and Cordone 20007).

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Habitats

General Habitat	Fresh (nontidal) Marsh	None
General Habitat	Grass Bed	None
General Habitat	Coarse Woody Debris	None
General Habitat	Swamp	None
General Habitat	Nontidal Freshwater	None
General Habitat	Tidal Fresh Marsh	None
General Habitat	Salt-brackish marsh	None
Salinity Range	Oligohaline	0.5-5 PSU
Salinity Range	Mesohaline	5-18 PSU
Tidal Range	Subtidal	None

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Life History

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Tolerances and Life History Parameters

Minimum Temperature (ºC)	0	Based on geographical range
Maximum Temperature (ºC)	35	Froese and Pauly 2014
Minimum Salinity (‰)	0	This is a freshwater fish
Maximum Salinity (‰)	14	Field, Hildebrand and Schroeder 1928
Minimum Reproductive Temperature	20	Jones et al. 1978
Maximum Reproductive Temperature	27	Jones et al. 1978
Minimum Length (mm)	50	at maturity (Jones et al. 1978)
Maximum Length (mm)	305	Jones et al. 1978
Broad Temperature Range	None	Cold temperate-Subtropical
Broad Salinity Range	None	Limnetic-Mesohaline

General Impacts

The Golden Shiners (Notemigonus crysoleucas) have been widely reared and sold in the United States as a bait fish, and sometimes deliberately stocked as a forage fish in order to support populations of game fishes, particularly Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides). They have a positive economic importance to the bait industry but could have negative effects in lakes and reservoirs, if unchecked by predators. Golden Shiners can deplete the zooplankton populations in a lake, which could limit recruitment of gamefishes, although more often they do not reach the level of abundance needed to support an increased gamefish population (Dill and Cordone 1997). In one case, introduction of Golden Shiners to a fishless lake led to a trophic cascade, in which depletion of the zooplankton led to algal blooms and reduced water clarity (Richardson et al. 2016). However, specific impacts of Golden Shiners have not been reported from the San Francisco or Columbia estuaries. Dill and Cordone (1997) considered the value of its introduction to California to be debatable (Dill and Cordone 1997).

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References

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