Field Guide

The white sucker has fine scales and a short dorsal fin. The lips are covered with small bumps. A small-creek fish that occurs nearly statewide, but absent from the Bootheel lowlands and the southeastern Ozarks.

The central mudminnow is is the only mudminnow that occurs in our state, and it is rare, occurring only in a few marshy locations near the Mississippi River. Mudminnows are closely related to the pikes.

The common shiner is mostly found in central and west-central Missouri in short, direct tributaries of the Missouri River. It is very similar to the striped shiner but lacks dusty sprinkles of pigment on its chin and (except for breeding males) lacks dark lines on the upper part of the body.

The golden shiner is a deep-bodied minnow with a greenish-olive back and a faint dusky stripe along the midline. It has a fleshy keel along the midline of the belly. It is widespread in Missouri.

The cypress minnow, like its Bootheel swampland habitat, is in danger of vanishing from Missouri. On the forward part of this fish's side, note the distinct cross-hatched pattern made by the dark-edged scales.

In our state, the duskystripe shiner is only found in the White River system of southwest and south-central Missouri. It prefers swift, clear headwater streams. The dark stripe along the side extends from nose to tail with a lighter-colored band above it.

The creek chub is a slender, fine-scaled minnow with a black blotch at front of the dorsal fin and a black spot at the base of the tail fin. It is found nearly statewide and is most abundant in small headwater creeks.