Image source: maurer416 | inaturalist.org
The ghost shiner is a North American species of freshwater fish. It is generally characterized as being a small bodied, silvery and fusiform shaped cyprinid. The current range extends from the Mississippi River basin in the southern United States to Ontario in southern Canada. Populations have been reported in eastern Kansas, southeastern Nebraska, western Oklahoma and south to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Populations are also present in Gulf slope drainages in Texas, Louisiana, and Mexico. In 1993, populations were found in southern Ontario. The trend in the United States is that the farther north the state is from the Gulf Coast, the less secure populations become. In Ontario, the population is apparently stable. The first population of Paranotropis buchanani in Ontario was discovered in the Thames River watershed in 1979. After the discovery, the Canadian Museum of Nature was checked for similar species of Paranotropis, and a specimen of Paranotropis buchanani was found to have previously been collected from Mollys Creek in 1972. The population in southern Ontario has been thought to have been introduced in the 1970s; however, recent studies suggest that it is native to Canada due to natural migration after deglaciation.
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