The video below, taken in late June by metro Atlanta resident Mark Rosseter, shows yellowfin shiners spawning in a Decatur creek over a gravel nest made by bluehead chubs or bluefin stonerollers.
The bluehead chubs are the bigger fish glimpsed in the video. The bluefin stonerollers are also larger but have a black band on their dorsal fin.
Yellowfins — the smaller, flashier minnows — are “nest associates” that primarily spawn over nests built by bluehead chubs. All of these fishes are native to Georgia.
Yellowfin shiner up-close (Special from DNR)
Which begs the question, what’s going on in creeks near you?