The golden redhorse (''Moxostoma erythrurum'') is a species of

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

fish endemic to

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

and

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and the

Midwestern The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

, southern, and eastern

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It lives in calm, often silty or sandy waters in

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s, small to large

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s, and lakes. A bottom-feeder, it feeds on microcrustaceans, aquatic

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

detritus In biology, detritus ( or ) is organic matter made up of the decomposition, decomposing remains of organisms and plants, and also of feces. Detritus usually hosts communities of microorganisms that colonize and decomposition, decompose (Reminera ...

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

, and small

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

s. The golden redhorse spawns in the spring.

Geographic distribution

The golden redhorse can be found in freshwater habitats across 25 different states in the eastern half of North America. There are populations located in the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

, and the lower

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

. The fish can also be found in the Great Lakes, excluding Lake Superior, and the Lakes’ basin, as well as in the Lake of the Woods. The

Mobile Bay Mobile Bay ( ) is a shallow inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. T ...

drainage basin in the states of Alabama, Georgia, and southeastern Tennessee also contains the golden redhorse. In Mississippi there is an isolated population in the southwestern part of the state. Some suspect that it is a relict population, meaning the range of the fish was once much larger than it is today. They were introduced into the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, but the date of this introduction is unknown. A golden redhorse was seen in this river in 1953, but was never seen there again until 1971. In Canada, the golden redhorse is endemic to Manitoba and Ontario. The fish can be found in the Red River of the North, a river which eventually empties into

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

. Coincidentally, the Red River in Texas also houses the golden redhorse.

Physical characteristics

Golden redhorses average around long and weigh between , although some can reach up to and . The golden scales decorating its sides gave the fish its name. They have olive colored backs, white bellies, and slate gray tail fins. Their body is fusiform in shape, allowing them to fight against currents in streams to capture their prey. The mouth of the fish is in the inferior position. The dorsal fin is slightly concave and the caudal fin is notched. It has a single anal fin and paired pelvic and pectoral fins. The pelvic fins are in the abdominal position, while the pectoral fins are located in more of a thoracic position. It has a lateral line system consisting of 39 to 42 scales which is used to detect movement and vibrations in the surrounding water.

Habitat

Golden redhorses can be found in freshwater streams, creeks, and rivers with varied substrates. In pools they are generally found over sand and silt. Occasionally they have been seen living in lakes or larger reservoirs that are fed by a stream or river. Compared to other redhorse species the golden redhorse is not very sensitive to poor environmental conditions.

Diet

The diet of the golden redhorse consists of a variety of small, aquatic creatures. They consume larval insects, small mollusks, microcrustaceans, and other aquatic invertebrates. Like most other members of the sucker family,

Catostomidae The Catostomidae are the suckers of the order (biology), order Cypriniformes, with about 78 species in this family (biology), family of freshwater fishes. The Catostomidae are almost exclusively native to North America. The only exceptions are ' ...

, detritus and algae are also staples of the golden redhorse's diet. It is a bottom-feeding species that is able to use its protrusible mouth to suck up food objects from the stream bed.

Reproduction and life cycle

The golden redhorse can live at least 17 years and becomes sexually mature at age 3–5. They spawn in the spring once water temperatures are between 17–22 °C. When this occurs depends on the geographic location, but spawning usually happens at night during April or May. Spawning most often occurs in a runs or

riffle A riffle is a shallow landform in a flowing channel. Colloquially, it is a shallow place in a river where water flows quickly past rocks. However, in geology a riffle has specific characteristics. Topographic, sedimentary and hydraulic indica ...

s within the main stream, but some individuals may move into smaller, more well protected tributaries. The spawning streams are gravel bottomed, as their benthic, bottom-dwelling young prefer to hide beneath the stones after they hatch from their adhesive eggs. Golden redhorses provide no parental care to their offspring. The young often form large schools and feed together along the stream bottom. Some schools may include a mixture of different redhorse species.

Relationship with humans

The golden redhorse is a game fish, and is being increasingly pursued by rod-and-line anglers. The golden redhorse is also pursued by 21st century

bowfishing Bowfishing is a fishing technique that uses specialized archery equipment to impale and retrieve fish. A bowfisher will use a bow or crossbow to shoot fish through the water surface with a barbed arrow tethered to a line, and then manually retr ...

that produces tons of wanton waste, where fish are targeted with bow and arrows at day or night in unregulated fashion. For example in Minnesota, 21st century bowfishing redhorse waste, exclusively from tournaments, exceeds that of statewide commercial harvest by more than 200 times. Modern regulation and management for species like golden redhorse are overdue. For indirect anglers on rod-and-line, the golden redhorse is often caught by accident when anglers fish on the bottom for

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

. Fishing for members of the sucker family usually occurs in the early spring when the water temperature reaches 42 °F. Fishing several inches off the stream bottom with simple worms as bait is a good method to catch suckers.

Gigging Gigging is the practice of hunting fish or small game with a Trident, gig or similar multi-pronged spear. Commonly harvested wildlife include freshwater Catostomidae, suckers, saltwater flounder, and small game, such as frogs. A gig can refer t ...

for suckers is another common practice. This is done using a multi-headed spear at night, often with a mounted light on the bow of the boat. The golden redhorse can be cooked,

smoked Smoking is the process of flavoring, browning, cooking, or preserving food, particularly meat, fish and tea, by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. In Europe, alder is the traditional smoking wood, but ...

pickled Pickling is the process of preserving or extending the shelf life of food by either anaerobic fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar. The pickling procedure typically affects the food's texture and flavor. The resulting food is called ...

. The

IGFA The International Game Fish Association (''IGFA'') is the leading authority on angling pursuits and the keeper of the most current world record fishing catches by fish categories. Fishermen who are sport fishers and anglers are careful to follow ...

record for the species stands at caught from French Creek in

Franklin, Pennsylvania Franklin is a city in and the county seat of Venango County, Pennsylvania, United States, located at the confluence of French Creek and the Allegheny River. The population was 6,097 in the 2020 census. Franklin is part of the Oil City microp ...

in 1997.

References

External links

NatureServe - Moxostoma erythrurum
{{Taxonbar, from=Q287368 Moxostoma Fish described in 1818 Freshwater fish of North America Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque