Content tagged with "Fishes"

Missouri’s southeastern lowlands are home to a fantastic array of plants and animals found nowhere else in the state. The Sabine shiner is one of them—in Missouri, it’s known only from a short stretch of the Black River in Butler County.

Because it so closely resembles the endangered pallid sturgeon, the shovelnose sturgeon is treated as an endangered species, and it is illegal to harvest it for commercial purposes in Missouri.

Like all Missouri catfish, this species has smooth, scaleless skin and barbels (“whiskers”) around the mouth. In this species, the adipose fin forms a low, keellike ridge connected to the tail fin, rather than a flaplike lobe. All madtoms have sharp, sawtoothed pectoral spines that have a mild venom. Being stung or pricked by one of the spines cause a burning pain similar to a bee or wasp sting.

Has a long, flattened head without eyes (the only other Missouri fish that lacks eyes is the Ozark cavefish). Unpigmented, resulting in a whitish-pink appearance due to blood vessels under the skin.