Most of the time, it's green. For about a month, the red shiner is a beautiful fish. The rest of the time it's drab' which is probably good because it spends most of its life trying to hide from the predacious fish that prey on it. These three-inch minnows are preyed upon in the North Platte River and its tributaries in Natrona, Converse, Goshen, and Platte counties, in Grayrocks and Keyhole Reservoirs, and in Packers Lake. They prefer medium-sized streams with moderate current, and they are tolerant of high turbidities, silt, and low intermittent flows.
Red shiners are native to Wyoming.
They are also found east to Minnesota and Illinois, and southward into Mexico. The fathead minnow has a pudgy, blunt head. It has a body that is short and stout, medium-sized eyes, and a small mouth. It's also abundant - found throughout eastern North America from Great Slave Lake south to Mexico. The fathead has been introduced into the western states as a baitfish and is probably the most widespread minnow in the nation.