Fish-Hawk.Net

G,day, eh.

I need some help ID'ing this here minnow.
I'm in school for a fish and wildlife technician course and we need to catch 15 species of baitfish for a project.
Anyway, I tossed my minnow trap there over my Mach break and caught this little minnow.

I think it's an Emerald Shiner but i'm just not sure.
Caught it in sturgeon lake (Kawartha Lakes)
Entered the trap between sunset and 3am, shallow about 2-3 feet of water, medium currant in water. Substrate was detritus, decaying leaves aquatic vegetation, lots of scuds and aquatic sowbugs present. Bait was bread and dead frozen minnows. The temperature was about 5.c ending off in a cold snap of about -5- -15.

Iv'e looked through my text books over and over again. Closest I can get is either an Emerald Shiner or Sand Shiner.
Going to be taking it to school on Tuesday to look at under the microscopes.

Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Could be a sand shiner

Dorsal and pelvic fins don't appear to be offset, so almost certainly a sand shiner. If the dorsal fin is slightly behind the pelvic fins, emerald shiner

Alrighty then. Thanks for the help ya'll.

Gotta be a Sand Shiner. I figured t couldn't have been an Emerald.
Key ID features fit with the Sand.

That was a tough one. Even my text book says it's one of the toughest bait fish to ID.

Thanks again. Much obliged.

G,day. Just wanted to post an update on this minnow.

I took it into school and my aquatics teacher helped me key it out and ID it.
He put it under the microscope and counted all the rays on each fin and counted the lateral line scales.
After an exciting 30 minutes... He discovered it was a Brassy Minnow (Hybognathus hakinsoni).

Just so people know it wasn't a sand shiner.