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The Bridle Shiner is a small minnow with a slender, somewhat laterally compressed body, whose length seldom exceeds 60 mm. It has a small terminal mouth, and its upper jaw extends back to the lower edge of the eye. Mature individuals have a straw-coloured dorsal surface, and silvery sides with a green-blue iridescence, as well as a silvery-white ventral surface. A black lateral band extends from the snout to the tail. The Bridle Shiner lives for only two years and spawns only once, in its first or second year. It is sexually dimorphic (difference between males and females) during the breeding season which occurs in the spring and the summer. During this period, males turn a bright yellow or gold on the lower sides, and the first five or six pectoral rays become edged with brown.
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