Northwest Dive Club

These little guys are all over the place under the dock at Mike's, mingling with the rest of the various kind of perch, but we've never seen black ones before. When the light hits them just right (unlike in the photo below) it seems like we can see the two yellow bars characteristic of the shiner perch, and they seem to be rather aggressive toward other shiners. But we've never seen coloring like this before. Is it a seasonal thing, are they some sort of mutation, are they trying to be gangsta, anybody know? We didn't bring any of our books with us...

This was the best picture we could get. Those guys do NOT want to hold still.

Hi Dave,

Male Shiners turn very dark (almost black) during breeding season. They also get quite aggressive (but don't we all?).

Reproductively yours,
Alex

Totally agree with what Alex said, and that's been my observation too. Here's a really bad pic from Sund Rock North Wall of one of them. Come to think of it, I see more of these black colored ones in Hood Canal than other places, or maybe I've just noticed them there - happened to be there at the right time of year.

- Janna

Thanks. I had a hunch it was something like that, because when in doubt, look to sex...