BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Rhinichthys cataractae
Longnose Dace
| Scientific Name: | Rhinichthys cataractae (Valenciennes, 1842) | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | Longnose Dace | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea, and W.B. Scott. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 20. 183 pp. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | F-RHCA | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Aug 2015) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S5 (Jul 2025) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Yellow | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2005) | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Spawns in spring and summer. Eggs hatch in about 7-10 days at 15.6 C. Sexually mature generally at age II (Becker 1983, Scott and Crossman 1973). Maximum lifespan 5 years. | ||||||||||
| Global Ecology Comments: | Home range averaged less than 14 m of stream length in North Carolina (Hill and Grossman 1987). | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
Y / N / N / na / |
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| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Characteristic of clean, swiftly flowing, gravel or bouldery creeks and small to medium rivers; also in inshore waters of lakes over gravel or boulder bottoms. May move offshore to deeper water in summer in warm lakes. Rests under stones when inactive. Spawns probably in riffles over a gravelly bottom, sometimes over or near river chub nests. Also spawns in shallow, pebble-bottomed, wave-swept shorelines of lakes. Fry occupy quiet shallow protected margins of streams, move into swift water within 6 weeks. | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Invertivore: Adult, Immature
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Eats mainly benthic insects, especially Diptera and mayflies (Becker 1983, Scott and Crossman 1973); also eats algae and plant material (Sublette et al. 1990). Terrestrial insects and fish egs common in diet of adults from Lake Michigan (see Sublette et al. 1990). | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: |
Nocturnal: Adult, Immature
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| Global Phenology Comments: | Study in southern Alberta found that foraging occurs at night (Culp 1989). | ||||||||||
| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 8/ / | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | Widest range of any North American minnow; generally distributed north of 40 degrees north latitude from coast to coast; north to the Arctic Circle in the Mackenzie River drainage; south in the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia, south through the Rocky Mountains into the Rio Grande drainage of Texas and northern Mexico, and south along the Atlantic coast to Virginia; common in northern U.S., fairly common in west but absent from Alaska and from western drainages south of the Columbia and Coos river drainages (Page and Burr 1991). Subspecies cataractae: east of the Continental Divide. Subspecies dulcis: Pacific basin. Subspecies SMITHI: formerly in hot springs in Banff National Park, Alberta. | ||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | Hammerson, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Sep 28, 1993 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
Anderson, R.C.and D.C. Brazo. 1978. Abundance, feeding habits and degree of segregation of the Spottail Shiner (Notropis hudsonius) and Longnose Dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) in a Lake Michigan surge zone near Ludington, Michigan. Michigan Academician 10(3) 337-346. |
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B.C. Ministry of Environment. Recovery Planning in BC. B.C. Minist. Environ. Victoria, BC. |
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Becker, G. C. 1983. Fishes of Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. 1,052 pp. |
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Brazo, D.C., C.R. Liston, and R.C. Anderson. 1978. Life history of the longnose dace, Rhinichthys cataractae, in the surge zone of eastern Lake Michigan, near Ludington, Michigan. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 107(4): 550-556. |
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Cooper, J.E. 1980. Egg, larval and juvenile development of longnose dace, Rhinichthys cataractae, and river chub, Nocomis micropogon, with notes on their hybridation. Copeia 1980(3):469-478. |
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Culp, J. M. 1989. Nocturnally constrained foraging of a lotic minnow (Rhinichthyes cataractae). Canadian Journal of Zoology 67:2008-2012. |
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Gee, J.H. and T.G. Northcote. 1963. Comparative ecology of two sympatric species of dace, (Rhinichthys) in the Fraser River System, British Columbia. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 20(1):105-118. |
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Gerald, J.W. 1966. Food habits of longnose dace, Rhinichthys cataractae. Copeia 1966(3): 478-485. |
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Hill, J., and G. D. Grossman. 1987. Home range estimates for three North American stream fishes. Copeia 1987:376-380. |
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Lanteigne, J. 1988. Status of the Banff longnose dace, Rhinichthyes cataractae, in Canada. Canadian Field-Naturalist 102:170-176. |
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Lee, D. S., C. R. Gilbert, C. H. Hocutt, R. E. Jenkins, D. E. McAllister, and J. R. Stauffer, Jr. 1980. Atlas of North American freshwater fishes. North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, Raleigh, North Carolina. i-x + 854 pp. |
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Longnose Dace and Nooksack Dace. 1999. B.C. Fish Facts. Conserv. Sect., Fish. Manage. Branch, B.C. Minist. Fish. 2pp. |
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Miller, R. R., J. D. Williams, and J. E. Williams. 1989. Extinctions of North American fishes during the past century. Fisheries 14(6):22-38. |
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Page, L. M., and B. M. Burr. 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes: North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 432 pp. |
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Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea, and W.B. Scott. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 20. 183 pp. |
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Scott, W. B., and E. J. Crossman. 1973. Freshwater fishes of Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Bulletin 184. 966 pp. |
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Smith, P. W. 1979. The fishes of Illinois. University of Illinois Press, Urbana. 314 pp. |
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Sublette, J. E., M. D Hatch, and M. Sublette. 1990. The fishes of New Mexico. University New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 393 pp. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1993. Species Summary: Rhinichthys cataractae. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 5, 2026).