Yeah, There Are Lots Of Silver Shiners In The Flint River

I went out this afternoon with the Ichthyology class to our Flint River site with a primary goal of catching more silver shiners. My guess was that they would be in the slightly deeper flowing water over sand just below the riffles we usually work, and sure enough, we caught 16 very quickly (along with a 6-inch smallmouth bass). I kept 9 of these fish, 3 in ethanol and 6 in buffered formaldehyde, as vouchers of their existence. In one net alone we caught 12, at which point we stopped. So, once again, we found what is one of the most abundant species in the river but has been unreported as being present. Just like most fishes the silver shiner has a very specific habitat preference, described above, and when we set up a seine in that habitat there was obviously no shortage of the species. This is the second well-documented site for this species in Alabama, along with Sugar Creek off of the Elk River. They probably also are present in the Paint Rock River, based on a credible report from Matt in Maryland. None of this is surprising that they're present in these northern tributaries to the Tennessee River, it's only surprising that what is probably a common species in these places has gone unreported for so long. But, that's the state of ecological work in Alabama, it's a very rich area for biodiversity but is still surprisingly unexplored.