Highfin Shiner: Facts & Habitat

About Highfin Shiner

The highfin shiner (Hudsonius altipinnis) is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae, the shiners, daces and minnows. It is endemic to the United States, where it is found in the lower Roanoke River drainage from southeastern Virginia, south in Piedmont and Coastal Plain areas to the middle Savannah River drainage in South Carolina.

Native and introducedFresh3 states

Article text: Wikipedia contributors, Highfin shiner (source revision). Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Diet and feeding

The FishTraits compilation records these diet categories for this species: algae or phytoplankton; invertebrates or larval fish. These are broad categories, not a claim that every individual consumes every example in a category.

Reported feeding positions include surface or water-column feeding. The compilation combines published observations; diets can vary with age, locality, and available food.

Habitat preferences

Reported habitat associations include streams and small rivers, creeks.

The source records associations with sand, gravel, cobble. An association indicates reported use, rather than an exclusive requirement.

Reproduction and parental care

The compilation reports a representative maturity age of 1 years. Its maturity field summarizes mean, median, or modal estimates, usually for females; male estimates can be used when female data are unavailable. It is not a fixed age at which every fish first breeds.

Batch or serial spawning has been reported somewhere in the species’ range. This does not establish the same spawning pattern for every population.

Recorded spawning months are Mar, Apr, May, Jun for the source’s reporting region (VA). This is a regional calendar, not a range-wide schedule.

The reproductive-guild classification includes spawning on open substrates without guarding the brood.

Size and recorded longevity

FishTraits reports a maximum total length of 6.1 centimetres. Some entries use an estimated asymptotic length; this value should not be treated as a certified record catch.

Recorded longevity in the compilation is 2 years. Wild observations were preferred, but captive records were accepted where wild records were unavailable, and unspecified records were assumed wild. The value is not a guaranteed wild lifespan or an aquarium life expectancy.

Range

Where it lives

86.8%of mapped records

Share of 1,076 GBIF observation records with a state location, across 3 states. The orange dots are USGS stream-survey sites where this species was caught.

A blank area on the dot layer usually means nobody sampled there, not that the fish is absent. Turn on “every survey site” to see where the survey looked.

Share of records by state

The USGS stream survey caught it at 139 of its sites, in 3 states. That survey and the GBIF records are two different counts of two different things, so the site keeps them apart.

Habitat

Water and movement

Water: WoRMS records this species in fresh water.
USGS NAS habitat: Freshwater
US status: Native transplant — native to part of the United States, moved to other waters inside it.
Migration: Undetermined

Classification

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Superclass: Actinopterygii
Class: Teleostei
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Leuciscidae
Genus: Notropis
Species: Notropis altipinnis
ITIS TSN: 163423
WoRMS AphiaID: 1461256
GBIF key: 2362260

Common questions about Highfin Shiner

What is the scientific name of Highfin Shiner?

The scientific name is Notropis altipinnis, in the family Leuciscidae. Classification follows ITIS.

Does Highfin Shiner live in fresh water or salt water?

WoRMS records this species in fresh water.

Where has Highfin Shiner been recorded in the United States?

GBIF has observations in 3 states, with the most records in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia. The map shows observation records, which do not establish the complete natural range.

Closest relatives