Population numbers fluctuate and they are extremely abundant in some years, scarce in others. The emerald shiner is a midwater plankton cropper, feeding on a variety of zooplankton with some blue- green algae and diatoms. The emerald shiner is an important bait species when it is abundant. Distribution of the emerald shiner in NY state. Dark dots represent where actual samples of emerald shiners were taken.
White dots represent historic distributions.
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