Repeat Spawner Series: More Minnow Misconceptions

Minnows are far more diverse than we often give them credit for, and we’re constantly describing new members on their branch of the family tree. In this Repeat Spawner Series entry, Dr. Brandon Peoples explains a big revision to the North American minnow family tree*

*Might be of particular interest to students and faculty as a new semester of biology of fishes/ichthyology courses begin!
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Today’s facts may be tomorrow’s fallacies. And last Thursday, I got a serious reminder that science is a progressive continuum of new discoveries, and not a static body of facts.

I study minnows, and last year I wrote a post to clear up some misconceptions about minnows. Things like how many small fishes are called ‘minnows’, but indeed are not. And how carps are often mistaken for suckers, but are actually minnows.

And how native North American minnows are members of the family Cyprinidae.

But now they’re not. READ MORE…

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