I wonder if you're having the same confusion I had before some nice folks here cleared it all up for me.
Golden shiners aren't golden in color most of the time. That was what was throwing me off. If I'm remembering correctly what I was told, golden shiners are silver in color except during spawn or when they are very old. I was just expecting that golden shiners would be golden in color all the time so I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that my golden shiners were actually silver.
I trust you guys will correct me if I've gotten some of that wrong.
