Sturgeon chub

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Sturgeon chub
Sturgeon chub.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Leuciscidae
Subfamily: Pogonichthyinae
Genus: Macrhybopsis
Species:
M. gelida
Binomial name
Macrhybopsis gelida
(Girard, 1856)
Synonyms [2]
  • Gobio gelidus Girard, 1856
  • Hybopsis gelida (Girard, 1856)

The sturgeon chub (Macrhybopsis gelida) is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae, the shiners, daces and minnows. [2] It is found only in the United States. It is a species of concern in the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in Montana. [3]

Contents

Names and documentation

The type species was collected in the Milk River in Montana, and described by Charles Frédéric Girard in 1856. [4] Girard named it Gobio gelidus, but it was reclassified as Hybopsis gelidus in 1900 and Macrhybopsis gelidus in 1935. [4] A new classification of Hybopsis gelida was suggested in 1965. [4]

Description and habitat

The sturgeon chub is slender, streamlined fish with a long, flat snout. [5] [6] The snout resembles that of a sturgeon, which gives the fish its name. Adults grow to be about 3 inches (7.6 cm) in length. [7] There is a small barbel near the corner of the mouth, and small pustules on the throat. [4] The scales on the sturgeon chub's back and sides have a small ridge-like projection known as a "keel". The purpose of the keel is not established, but may help the fish stabilize and orient itself in fast currents [5] or as a means of detecting currents. [7] The eyes are small and it does not see well. [8] The fish's color ranges from silvery-white on the belly to silvery sides, with a light-brown back. [6] The tail is deeply forked, with the lower lobe darker than the upper lobe. [6] The body fins are triangular, [9] slightly rounded, [4] and straight-edged (unlike the sicklefin chub). [10] The last dorsal fin ray extends beyond the first ray of the depressed fin. [10]

Little is known about its feeding habits, [9] although it does have teeth in its throat. [6] The body is covered with taste buds which help it locate food. [11] It lives in waters which are little populated by other small fish, but can be found associating with the flathead chub, sicklefin chub, and speckled chub. [6]

Sturgeon chub exhibits little sexual dimorphism, and neither sex exhibits color changes during breeding. However, the male does develop small tubercles behind the gills during breeding. [9] It lays eggs on gravel or clean sand to reproduce. [5] Breeding probably occurs in June. [12]

The habitat of the sturgeon chub is murky river bottoms in fast-flowing streams with gravel bottoms. [5] Its habitat extends over the Missouri River and its primary tributaries, the lower Mississippi River in the states of Mississippi and Louisiana, and some streams in northeastern Wyoming. [5] Increased silt and the construction of dams (which cause silt to settle and slow river currents) have destroyed extensive portions of its habitat. [5] It remains common in the middle Missouri River, but rare elsewhere. [10] The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) estimated in 2001 that it only inhabited about 59 percent of its former range. [13]

References

  1. ↑ NatureServe (2014). "Macrhybopsis gelida". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2014: e.T12583A19034143. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T12583A19034143.en . Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Macrhybopsis". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  3. ↑ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement: Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and UL Bend National Wildlife Refuge, Montana. U.S. Department of the Interior. September 2010, p. 60. Accessed 2012-04-27.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Smith, Philip Wayne. The Fishes of Illinois. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2002, p. 78.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Marshall Cavendish Corporation. Endangered Wildlife and Plants of the World. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2001, p. 267.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Pflieger, William L. and Smith, Pat. The Fishes of Missouri. Jefferson City, Mo.: Missouri Department of Conservation, 1997, p. 9.
  7. 1 2 Johnsgard, Paul A. The Nature of Nebraska: Ecology and Biodiversity. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2005, p. 174.
  8. ↑ Marshall Cavendish Corporation. Endangered Wildlife and Plants of the World. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2001, p. 267–268.
  9. 1 2 3 Marshall Cavendish Corporation. Endangered Wildlife and Plants of the World. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2001, p. 268.
  10. 1 2 3 Page, Lawrence M. and Burr, Brooks. Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North America North of Mexico. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011, p. 104.
  11. ↑ Savage, Candace. Prairie: A Natural History. Vancouver, B.C.: Greystone Books, 2011, p. 180.
  12. ↑ Smith, Philip Wayne. The Fishes of Illinois. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2002, p. 79.
  13. ↑ Stukel, E.D. "Sturgeon and Sicklefin Chubs." South Dakota Conservation Digest. May/June 2001, p. 25.
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