>I understand that the Red SHINER is marketed as the RAINBOW DACE and
>sometimes as the RAINBOW DANIO and that I own 2 males. Depending on
>lighting and angle of view these have silver/blue/violet bodies and pinkish
>red/pastel orange fins.
>But i have also heard of redFIN shiners, RAINBOW SHINERS, and I think
>another fish called a rainbow dace (henceforth refered to >as "TURE rainbow
>dace).
>also, an explanation of exactly what the differnce is between a dace, a
>shiner, and a chub.
>and for that matter, how does the north american fish called shiners, dace
>and chub, compare to the europeon fish that they are named after?
There's no easy explanation for common names- they're confusing as heck.
There's also no consistent application of shiner, dace, and chub, except
that shiners are USUALLY shiny, dace USUALLY have small scales and are
small, and chubs USUALLY have big mouths and coarse (large) scales. Common
names are suggested by the describer, and "officially" decided upon by a
committee, which has led to the loss of some of the most interesting common
names available... like "blob" and "hog molly."
I echo Brian's sentiments on Page and Burr's field guide- it's an excellent
starting point for fish ID.
As for relationships between North American and Eurasian cyprinids, most
North American minnows are part of a group called "phoxinins," while our
single representative of a predominantly European group called "leuciscins,"
the golden shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas) is more closely related to
European minnows like rudd, and roach, and bleak, etc.
hope this helps,
Dave
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