''Pimephales'', commonly known as the bluntnose

minnow Minnow is the common name for a number of species of small freshwater fish, belonging to several genus, genera of the family Cyprinidae and in particular the subfamily Leuciscinae. They are also known in Ireland as wikt:pinkeen, pinkeens. While ...

s (a term used locally to refer to '' Pimephales notatus'' specifically), is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Leuciscidae Leuciscidae is a family of freshwater ray-finned fishes, formerly classified as a subfamily of the Cyprinidae, which contains the true minnows. Members of the Old World (OW) clade of minnows within this subfamily are known as European minnow ...

, the shiners, daces and minnows. This fishes in this genus are found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. All of the four species are small fish, with ''P. notatus'' being the largest at 11 cm. (about 4.3 in.) These minnows can be found all over North America and are commonly used as fish bait.

Species

''Pimephales'' contains the following species: * '' Pimephales notatus'' (

Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; 22 October 178318 September 1840) was a French early 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ult ...

, 1820) (bluntnose minnow) * '' Pimephales promelas''

, 1820 (fathead minnow) * '' Pimephales tenellus'' ( Girard, 1856) (slim minnow) * '' Pimephales vigilax'' ( S. F. Baird & Girard, 1853) (bullhead minnow)

References

* Pogonichthyinae Fish of North America Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque {{Leuciscinae-stub