What's In a Name?
Finescale: refers to the tiny scales on this fish.

Phoxinus (fox-ee´-nus) comes from a Greek name for a fish
neogaeus (ney-o´-jay-us) comes from a Greek word meaning "new world"

How Big Do They Get?
How Long Do They Live?
Finescale dace females grow larger and live longer than males. The largest female measured in Minnesota was 85 mm long and 6 years old. The largest male was 68 mm long and 5 years old. It's rare for finescales to live that long or to grow that big. Lengths of 60-70 mm and ages of 3-4 years are more typical.

What Eats Them?
Normally, we don't find game fish where we find finescale dace, but when brook trout are present they eat finescales. Large central mudminnows are also known to eat young finescales. In bog waters their chief predators are predacious diving beetles and giant water bugs. They may also be eaten by kingfishers, otters and mink.

Humans do not eat finescale dace, but they do use them as a bait minnow!

How Do They Reproduce?
Finescales begin to breed when stream warm beyond 15°C, usually in April and May in northern Minnesota.

Large schools of bright red and yellow males and more modest females gather around dinner plate sized depressions under submerged logs and brush. When two adults are ready to spawn, they dart into the depression. The female lays 20-30 eggs while a single male fertilizes them. The eggs sink to the bottom and receive no care from either parent. The whole things takes 15-30 seconds.

Females spawn repeatedly over several days and may lay 500-3000 eggs depending on how big and how healthy they are.

Conservation and Management
Finescale dace have no special conservation status in Minnesota. They are hardy minnows and do well in school and home aquariums. They also have a limited use as a bait minnow in Canada, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.