ROUGH SHINER
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Notropis baileyi
CHARACTERISTICS: The rough shiner has a deep, stocky, somewhat compressed body and a terminal, oblique mouth. Breeding males have a slight hump along the back between the dorsal fin and the back of the head. The lateral band is black with a yellowish cast. Above the lateral band, the sides are reddish brown with a slight yellow tint. Below the lateral band, they are yellow grading to a silvery white venter. All fins are yellow. Red and yellow variants of this species are known, the yellow form occurring in the western Mobile basin and the red form in eastern portions of that basin. See Suttkus and Raney (1955b) for original description.
ADULT SIZE: 2 to 3 in (50 to 75 mm)
DISTRIBUTION: Notropis baileyi is widely distributed throughout the Mobile basin. It is particularly abundant below the Fall Line in the Southern Red Hills, Lime Hills, and Fall line Hills. Substantial populations exist in the Bear Creek system of the Tennessee drainage in Escambia Creek, a tributary to the Conecuh River, and in Uchee and Halawakee creeks, which drain into the Chattahoochee. It is absent from sluggish, turbid streams that drain the Black Belt.
HABITAT AND BIOLOGY: This species prefers small to large flowing streams with sand and gravel substrates. Spawning occurs from early May to late September, peaking in May and June (Mathur and Ramsey, 1974a). Breeding aggregations have been observed over gravel nests of Nocomis and Campostoma (Johnston and Kleiner, 1994) and in depressions up to 2 feet deep in sandy substrates with a light silt cover. Mathur and Ramsey (1974b) record a diet of drift made up of terrestrial and aquatic insects and plant material. They attribute this species’ ecological success throughout its range to its opportunistic feeding habits, long spawning season, and high reproductive potential.
REMARKS: The type locality is Sawacklahatchee Creek, a Tallapoosa Rive tributary near Society Hill, Macon County, Alabama.
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: Suttkus and Raney described the rough shiner in 1955.
ETYMOLOGY:
Notropis means keeled back.
Baileyi is in honor of Reeve M. Bailey, professor emeritus and former curator of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
The copyrighted information above is from Fishes of Alabama and the Mobile Basin.
