Females hovered downstream or at the side until ready to spawn, then moved into the male's territory and stopped within 2 to 4 inches of the male. The male then backed downstream and placed his pectoral fin beneath her head while throwing his caudal peduncle over hers. Together the pair dropped to the bottom and vibrated, stirring up sand as the eggs were laid and fertilized. After spawning, the pair separated gently and the female drifted downstream while the male returned to guarding his territory. Spawning continued after a few minutes and Raney estimated that it would take several days to deposit all of a female's complement of eggs.
Few fish live through the third winter.
Distribution of the swallowtail shiner in NY state. Dark dots represent where actual samples of swallowtail shiners were taken. White dots represent historic distributions. A 99 KB image of the is also available for download .