Phoxinus phoxinus - Minnow

Phylum: Chordata - Class: Actinopterygii - Order: Cypriniformes - Family: Cyprinidae

The humble Minnow is a cyprinid - in fact it is the smallest member of the carp family found in the British Isles. Minnows rarely grow to more than 10cm in length; the British rod-caught record weighed 13.5dm and was caught in 1998 at Whitworth Lake in County Durham by J Sawyer .

The agile and gregarious minnow is very much a shoal creature. These attractive little fish need clean, reasonably well-oxygenated water, and so they are mainly confined to rivers and streams. There are huge shoals of minnows in the upper and middle reaches of the River Teifi.

Minnows are the most abundant of British freshwater fishes. They are an important source of food for kingfishers, herons and otters as well as for trout and other large fishes.