(Cymatogaster aggregata)
The yellow shiner perch is a common surfperch found in estuaries, lagoons, and streams along the British Columbia coast from Alaska to Baja California. It is the only member of its genus. The Yellow shiner perch is also known simply as the Shiner Perch.
The body of the yellow shiner perch is oval, 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. They are members of the Perch family and closely resemble freshwater perch.
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.
Yellow Shiner Perch are similar to most perches, they are deep-bodied with silver sides and are green on top. They have a pattern of fine horizontal bars along with three broad yellow vertical bars on the sides. The male’s back during the breeding cycle will turn black, along with dark speckles on the sides. Shiner perches are distinguished from tule perches by having fewer dorsal fin spines than the tule perch.
These fish are one of the most common fish in their range of waters. Hiding in the beds of eelgrass along the shores of protected waters and estuaries, you commonly see them gathering around piers as well. They feed on zooplankton such as copepods but have been observed to bottom feed as well.
They are often found with parasitic isopods such as the Elthusa californica feeding off of them from their opercular cavity of the gill chamber.
Cute little fish hope more swim around British Columbia.