Help me identify my mystery Driveway fish

[echoezra]

Hey, someone from Amherst! haha im from windsor/tecumseh but got family by you. I am definitely interested in this. Good idea catching it and keeping it! I dont recognize it at all!

Hey, local. yep, check your driveway, if we ever get a spring. Lol.

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[echoezra]

Has his dorsal fin always been bent over and dark like that? Between the darkening, slightly humped back and the fin, he looks like he may have some health issues if he is a shiner of some type. It is a very tiny chance, but he could be a cutlip minnow (not likely as they are threatened).

Cutlip Minnow - Ontario Government, Ministry of Natural Resources

Really hard to say what he "normally" looks like because he's spent the majority of the last couple years hiding under the driftwood log with his bestie, my kuhli loach. He usually only came out when the lights were off, and moves in lightning fast bursts. Lol.

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[echoezra]

He is more likely a fathead minnow. The spots on his face are probably tubercles (they show up in breeding season, as does the darker pigment). I grew up in a serious fishing family, so minnows kind of interest me (geek alert). Scroll down through this link. It is a Wisconsin site but Ontario has many of the same fishes.

Fishes of Wisconsin

Well, isn't that funny. I've paused on images of fathead minnows dozens of times (mainly just because of the name) buy none of them looked quite right, but this link with the picture showing the darker head and tuburcles has to be one of the closest images I've seen so far. I wish all the species had detailed pages like that. Still not quite the same shape, with his dramatically arched back, but the rest has me thinking that maybe this is it, maybe the arch is a fluke thing, from being cramped under the log all the time or something. maybe. But we have a distinct possibility here. I will stalk him with my camera and see if I can get some less blurry shots to match up with these pictures. In the meantime it's confirmed my hope that these spots are normal (tuburcles and not some disease), and maybe hopefully the white filmy looking patch going on on his back is supposed to be there too (they mentioned a spongey thing about changes during breeding season)
Thank you very much for this link!

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[ArtistGardener]

You're welcome. I love researching and mysteries!

 

[Mattyfelts]

Hey, local. yep, check your driveway, if we ever get a spring. Lol.

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haha! hold on we might get it for 3 days then winter for another week.

 

[echoezra]

Anyway just thought I'd update you guys who were following along, Driveway passed away last week. He/she must have been turning about 2 years old. I guess that's a pretty typical lifespan for fathead minnows, in the wild at least. I'll miss the goofy little guy. Always checking the puddles on the way back from the mailbox.

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[Coryluv]

I'm sorry for your loss. He was a great little fish.

 

[echoezra]

Thanks.

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[Autumnsky]

Hi, I am still following the saga. Sorry about the loss of your little fish, he likely lived longer because you raised him even if he hadn't ended up on your drive way in a otherwise natural life.

I think some bait shops sell a type of minnows like that you might want to check it out.

It is funny about looking in your driveway for fish , I am sure I would be too.

 

[ArtistGardener]

Interesting saga will live on beyond your little mystery fish . . . a story to tell for years to come.