minnow; shiner
Refers to small freshwater fish of the minnow family, especially the pale chub or similar species. The reading はや is standard; はえ and はい are dialectal or older variants.
I caught a minnow in the river.
There are many minnows in the streams around here.
Amur minnow
Chinese minnow (Phoxinus oxycephalus)
Standard kanji for minnow; may be unfamiliar to some readers.
Kana spelling is common in everyday writing, especially when the kanji is not well known.
Outdated kanji form; rarely used in modern Japanese.
The origin is uncertain. The word is native Japanese, and the kanji 鮠 and 鰷 are Chinese characters assigned to this fish.