| I am a small, silvery animal with fins and scales. I have small eyes. I rarely get longer than 3.5 inches (9 centimeters). I hatched from a floating egg. I eat algae and tiny plant pieces I find floating in the water and on the gooey river bottom. Sometimes I eat old insect skins. I usually travel in large groups called “schools.” I prefer slow-moving waters where the river meanders and braids. I release my eggs when the river flow increases during the early spring to summer. |
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| I am a small, shiny animal with fins and scales. My back is pale greenish-brown, and I am about 3 inches (7.5 centimeters) long. I am most known for my flat face, well, it’s really just my nose that’s flat. I eat tiny plants, bugs, and plant pieces. I like to swim in the slow-moving parts of the river where the bottom is sandy and the water is no deeper than a foot (30 centimeters). The Rio Grande and its tributaries are my only home. |
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| Most of the time my fins and scales are a dull color. My 3-inch (7.5-centimeter) body has an olive back, shiny sides and a white belly. However, when I am fertilizing eggs in spring and summer I have a red head and pink sides. Males of my species defend territories where we lay our eggs. I swim in the Rio Grande, where I prefer deeper, slower water. I eat small animals and plants, such as insects, crustaceans and algae. |
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| I grow to three feet (1 meter) long with a slender body and have rows of bony plates on my back. My nose looks like a shovel. When I eat I stick my extendible mouth out into the bottom of the river. When I pull my mouth back in, I eat the larva of aquatic insects. I live most of my life in the Gulf of Mexico. I usually swim alone in the large channels of the Rio Grande. When I am an adult, I attend a large family reunion, where all adults return to the place we were born to lay or fertilize our eggs. |
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