Fishes
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Catostomus commersonii
Description
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.
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Scientific Name
Moxostoma erythrurum
Description
The golden redhorse is a smaller-bodied sucker with large scales and a short dorsal fin. It occurs in Ozark and northeast Missouri streams.
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Scientific Name
Moxostoma macrolepidotum
Description
The shorthead redhorse is the most widely distributed redhorse sucker in Missouri, occurring nearly statewide. No other Missouri redhorse is as adaptable in its habitat requirements. Many specimens have a pea-shaped swelling on the upper lip.
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Scientific Name
Luxilus cornutus
Description
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.
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Scientific Name
Notemigonus crysoleucas
Description
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.
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Scientific Name
Pimephales promelas
Description
The fathead minnow has a blunt, rounded snout, rounded fins, a dusky stripe along the side, and a spot at the base of the tail fin. It is most abundant in pools of small prairie creeks because it tolerates rather high temperatures, extreme turbidity, and low oxygen.
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Scientific Name
Chrosomus erythrogaster (formerly Phoxinus erythrogaster)
Description
The southern redbelly dace has two dusky stripes separated by a broad golden stripe along the side. The bellies of males turn brilliant red in spring. It lives in small creeks and spring branches of the Ozarks with permanent flow of cool, clear water and a gravel or sand bottom.
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Scientific Name
Cyprinella lutrensis
Description
The most abundant and widely distributed minnow in the prairie region of north and west Missouri, the red shiner inhabits a variety of habitats, from riffles to quiet pools.
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Scientific Name
Hiodon tergisus
Description
Mooneyes are silvery, flat-sided fishes with large eyes and prominent teeth on the jaws, roof of the mouth, and tongue. A fleshy keel runs along the midline of the belly. The eye is silvery and larger than the goldeye’s.
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Scientific Name
Hiodon alosoides
Description
Goldeyes are silvery, flat-sided fishes with large eyes and prominent teeth on the jaws, roof of the mouth, and tongue. A fleshy keel runs along the midline of the belly. The iris of the goldeye is golden.
See Also
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Scientific Name
Amphiuma tridactylum
Description
The three-toed amphiuma is an eel-like, completely aquatic salamander. It has very small forelimbs and hind limbs, each with three tiny toes. In Missouri it’s found only in the Bootheel region.
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Scientific Name
Siren intermedia nettingi
Description
The western lesser siren is an eel-like, aquatic salamander with external gills, small eyes, small forelimbs with four toes, and no hind limbs. In Missouri, it’s found mostly in the Bootheel and northward in counties near the Mississippi River.
About Fishes in Missouri
Missouri has more than 200 kinds of fish, more than are found in most neighboring states. Fishes live in water, breathe with gills, and have fins instead of legs. Most are covered with scales. Most fish in Missouri “look” like fish and could never be confused with anything else. True, lampreys and eels have snakelike bodies — but they also have fins and smooth, slimy skin, which snakes do not.