Mountain shiner

Appearance

The normal length of the species is typically 6 cm but it has been recorded that the maximum length to me 7.5 cm, which was a male. The peak of their mating season is between the months of May and June.
The threat of the species is more localized than any other type of threat. However, on a wide-range threat level no threat is actually known to the "Lythrurus lirus". Currently the species is on a low conservation concern and is not in any dire significant need of managing or monitoring at the moment.

Distribution

The species of the genus "Lythrurus" are commonly found in small streams that are distributed mainly in drainages of the Gulf Coast, locations in the Mississippi Valley, and the Piedmont region of the Atlantic Seaboard. The mountain shiner normally located above the Fall Line in Tennessee region, and prefers freshwaters that are of temperate climate. The geographical range which it inhabits is from 38°N to 33°N. Now, the exact population size is not known, however, it is assumed to be fairly large. The temporal variation of population size could be subjected to extrinsic factors. An example of this for the population size variance would be the annual, seasonal and even daily level changes that occur in aquatic systems. These fluctuations are a possibly explanation of why there are sometimes subpopulations that are isolated from other populations within the same river or streams. These fluctuations would explain the distribution of some of the populations to be scattered within the regions that it inhabits and also the same rivers and streams of different populations.

Habitat

It prefers benthopelagic freshwater. These waters are typically clear flowing, riffle-type creeks, streams or small rivers. Which these types of waters can range from sand-gravel to rubble-boulder bottoms, and contains moderate levels of gradients. The mountain shiner and the redfin shiner are considered "sister taxa". Since these two species are sister taxa it is safely assumed that they both have similar feeding habits and most likely feed on the same organisms.

Now the competition of the mountain shiner consists of mainly of the other species within the same subpopulation of "Lythrurus" and also other species like darters that are located within the same region. The main predators of this species are larger taxa of fish, which include the different species of trout.

Evolution

Little data has been recorded on the life history, specifically, but data has been collected on its size, spawning and migrating patterns. The mountain shiner is a native species to North American and is not documented in other countries. According to a paper done by Shmidt, he states that the maximum length for most species in the "Lythrurus" genus is less than 70mm. For the mountain shiner specifically, the average adult size is between 35-55mm. However, some male specimens have been documented to reach a maximum size of 75 mm. This rare maximum length could be due to the environment as well as nutrients that are available and maybe limited pressure from predators within the aquatic system.

The typically mating season for the mountain shiner is in between the time span of May and can end between the months of June/July, depending on location. Now the species does make seasonal migrations throughout the year. However these migrations are not of extensive distances. They travel approximately less than 200 km from their original location. The locations that they will migrate to are normally for either breeding or are winter grounds for hibernation.