Citations:Notropis

English citations of Notropis

• 1817 December 10th, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, “Museum of Natural Sciences” in The American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, volume II, № iii (January 1818), article vi, § 16: ‘Descriptions of two new genera of North-American Fishes. Opsanus and Notropis.’, page 204/2:

  II. N G Notropis. Holobranchial abdominal. Body elongated compressed, back carinated nearly strait, belly not carinated, scarcely bowed, a lateral line and a longitudinal silver band; vent nearer the tail than the head. Head oval compressed, convex above, mouth diagonal large, jaws without teeth, the lower longer and mobil, the upper extensible: eyes very large: gill cover large, smooth valviform, three branchial rays. One dorsal fin opposed to the interval between the anal and abdominal fins, which have nine rays. // Observations. The generic name means carinated or keeled back. It forms a remarkable new genus, belonging to the third natural order Gastripia or the abdominals, the sixteenth natural family Cyprinia, and the second sub-family Gymnopomia, (see Analysis of Nature,) together with the genera Cyprinus, Atherina, Hydrargyra, &c. It differs from the first by the compressed body, carinated back, lateral band, large mouth, deep cleft gill-cover, &c. and from the two last genera by the three branchial rays, nine rays to the abdominal fins, want of teeth, &c. // Notropis Atherinoides. Head silvery, brown above: body pale fulvous transparent, with a broad silver band; lateral line in the band: fins whitish, dorsal, and anal, with eleven rays, the first very short, tail slightly forked. // History. This new fish was discovered in Lake Erie by Gov. De Witt Clinton, who had the kindness to present me with many specimens; they are now deposited in the Lyceum of Natural History. I have ascertained that they belonged to a new genus, next to Atherina, and the specific name which I have adopted implies such an affinity. Those fishes come on the shores of Lake Erie, and even in the river of Niagara, in the spring, in great shoals; but they are so small that they are scarcely noticed, and escape through the common nets; their usual size being from one to two inches, and very thin and slender: they are called Minny or Minnew, together with twenty different other species of fish, and often considered as the young of other fishes. They live in the depth of the lake at other seasons, and are probably common all over the great lakes. Their eyes are exceedingly large, occupying nearly the whole foreside of the head, the lips are very thin and membranaceous, the nostrils large, the gill cover is nearly round, and split above to the eyes; they have small thin broad scales, the rays of the fins are scarcely articulated simple and brittle: the pectoral fins have about fifteen rays, and the caudal fin about twenty-four.