The body of the yellow shiner perch is oval in shape and the head is short with a small mouth, they have big eyes. The body is gray to green above with vertical yellow crossbars and 8 horizontal lines along the sides.
Yellow shiners can be found from Alaska, all the way to Southern California, including all of Vancouver Island. They prefer calm water and are quite often seen around the pilings of wharves and piers.
Yellow shiners feed primarily on zooplankton. Shiners are eaten by other fish, marine mammals, and birds.
They are members of the Perch family and closely resemble freshwater perch.