Taxonomy & naming
Jordan and Meek described the species in 1884, and it is now placed in Pteronotropis, the flagfin shiners of the southeastern United States, within Leuciscidae. The authority is in parentheses because the species was first described in another genus. The Catalog of Fishes lists it as valid.
Morphology
A small, slender minnow. FishBase gives a maximum of 2.5 in TL for males or unsexed fish. Pteronotropis males carry enlarged, brightly coloured fins in the breeding season; specific colour details for this species are not recorded in the sources available to the atlas.
Habitat
FishBase lists it as a freshwater, benthopelagic fish of subtropical North America, from the St. Marys River in Georgia and Florida west to the New River in the Florida panhandle, and south through peninsular Florida to the Alafia River system of Tampa Bay. It inhabits sand- and silt-bottomed pools and runs of headwaters, creeks and small rivers, often near vegetation.
Feeding
The diet is not documented in the sources available to the atlas. Small leuciscids of this type take small invertebrates and plant material from the water column and bottom.
Mating
Courtship has not been described in the sources available to the atlas. Males of the genus display with their enlarged fins.
Breeding
Breeding has not been documented for this species in the sources available to the atlas.
In the aquarium
A native-fish tank with sand, vegetation and gentle current suits it, kept as a group in cool to moderately warm water. FishBase gives no temperature, pH or hardness range for the species, and the atlas records none. Collection of wild native fishes is regulated by state law, so check local rules before keeping one.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List classes Pteronotropis metallicus as Least Concern, assessed in August 2012. It is limited to a restricted set of Gulf and Atlantic drainages, so habitat quality in small Florida streams matters to its future.