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Highscale Shiner
Notropis hypsilepis
Leuciscidae · freshwater water fish
2 minute read · Species guide

About Highscale Shiner
The highscale shiner (Alburnops hypsilepis) is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish in the family Leuciscidae, the shiners, daces and minnows. It is endemic to the United States where it is found in sandy-bottomed tributary streams of the Chattahoochee and Flint river systems in Georgia and eastern Alabama. They were also historically found in the uppermost reaches of the Savannah river drainage.
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 bottom feeding and 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 clay or silt, 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.
Recorded spawning months are Mar, Apr, May, Jun for the source’s reporting region (AL). 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 5.1 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 2.5 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.
Native range
Apalachicola River drainage, Georgia and eastern Alabama; possibly native to the upper Savannah River drainage, northeastern Georgia (Lee et al. 1980 et seq.; Page and Burr 1991).
Introduction history
Unknown; possible bait bucket release.
Range
Where it lives
Share of records by state
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 hypsilepis
- ITIS TSN
- 163449
- WoRMS AphiaID
- 1014043
- GBIF key
- 2362255
Common questions about Highscale Shiner
What is the scientific name of Highscale Shiner?
Does Highscale Shiner live in fresh water or salt water?
Where has Highscale Shiner been recorded in the United States?
Closest relatives
Other Notropis species
Same family