Unknown Minnow species.

[KegRiver]

Does anybody here know much about Minnow species in Alberta?

A buddy and I found a stream we thought looked good for trout and since we could see some sort of fish feeding at the surface we dropped in a couple of hooks.

What we caught were minnows. But nothing I'd ever seen before. Most of them had distinct black spots on them but no other obvious colors.
The black spots were sparse near the head with more closer to the tail.
Some had a lot of spots, some only a few.

At first I thought they might be a juvenile Grayling or Trout.

The body outline was reminiscent of a trout but they lacked the adipose fin of a Trout and the tail was more like a Grayling's tail then a trout's tail, however they lacked the large dorsal fin of a Grayling.

All were under 4 inches long.

I showed one to the local warden but he had no idea what it might be.

I could post a photo if someone thinks they know what they are, of if someone has a really good minnow reference book.

[huntsfurfish]

Does anybody here know much about Minnow species in Alberta?

A buddy and I found a stream we thought looked good for trout and since we could see some sort of fish feeding at the surface we dropped in a couple of hooks.

What we caught were minnows. But nothing I'd ever seen before. Most of them had distinct black spots on them but no other obvious colors.
The black spots were sparse near the head with more closer to the tail.
Some had a lot of spots, some only a few.

At first I thought they might be a juvenile Grayling or Trout.

The body outline was reminiscent of a trout but they lacked the adipose fin of a Trout and the tail was more like a Grayling's tail then a trout's tail, however they lacked the large dorsal fin of a Grayling.

All were under 4 inches long.

I showed one to the local warden but he had no idea what it might be.

I could post a photo if someone thinks they know what they are, of if someone has a really good minnow reference book.

Posting a pic would be helpful for ID

[Lornce]

Please post pictures. There are more than a dozen minnow species or Minnows in Alberta. Sort of sounds like either a Leopard Dace, or young Trout.

[huntsfurfish]

Pearl Dace

[.243dude]

Need a pic.
I caught this guy on the weekend. I think it’s a Pearl Dace?
Not sure though.

[huntsfurfish]

Need a pic.
I caught this guy on the weekend. I think it’s a Pearl Dace?
Not sure though.

I believe you are correct.

[AlbertanGP]

??? (https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/827753e7-5a26-4dd1-90c2-d3fe937f5002/resource/f50bb0e7-5227-4f1d-952d-0bf3210c67ab/download/blackspot-feb-2015.pdf)

We see this a lot in the fish in Swan Lake. Not sure if it's the type of spot you're referring to though. It does say it occurs in some native shiners.

[Red Bullets]

Keg- try looking for your mystery minnows on this site. It has pictures of all the minnows.

http://www2.dnr.cornell.edu/cek7/nyfish/Cyprinidae/cyprinidae.html

[pikeman06]

We used to call those ones " big minnows".

[KegRiver]

I finally got the photos of my mystery minnow.

https://i.imgur.com/BrnjDTd.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/11vZiMP.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/vvtgipO.jpg

[AlbertaCutthroat]

Looks like a lake chub full of parasites.

[KegRiver]

Looks like a lake chub full of parasites.

I believe you nailed it.

A search for information on Lake chub turned up a lot of interesting information that fits what I observed.

First, they look about right.
Second, they are said to be the most widespread and most northern minnow species. Ranging from the Mackenzie delta to Colorado.

And even more interesting, Canada.ca says they are prone to infestations of something called blackspot parasite.

When I looked up blackspot parasite I found photos like this;

https://gf.nd.gov/gnf/conservation/images/disease/photo-black-spot.jpg

The black spots sure look the same to me.