Bill Matthews found that some duskystripe shiners (now cardinal shiners) in
the Ozarks ingested large quantities of sand. He speculated on several
possible explanations.
Although they are selective predators, cardinal shiners are broadly
omnivorous, as are hogsuckers, and it would not surpirse me that the
sand-sifting of both species is a way of obtaining specific high quality
prey (e.g., diatoms).
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