Distribution of Fishes in the Red River of the North Basin on Multivariate Environmental Gradients
Cyprinidae
Spotfin Shiner
Cyprinella spiloptera (Cope), the spotfin shiner, was listed as Notropis
whipplii by Woolman (1896) and Hankinson (1928) who both reported it from the
Sheyenne River at Lisbon (Figure A19). Recent collections are primarily from the
Red, Sheyenne, and Otter Tail Rivers where it has often been abundant in
samples. Site collections of 60 or more individuals are not uncommon, and as
many as 430 specimens were taken at a site on the Red River in 1994. The
spotfin shiner is primarily a large-river species and has preferred reaches within
the RRV ecoregion, where it has been reported at 22% of the sites (Table 4).
Figure A19. Distribution of the spotfin shiner in the streams of the Red River of the North basin.