Hornyhead chub

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Hornyhead chub
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Cyprinidae
Genus: Nocomis
Species: N. biguttatus
Binomial name
Nocomis biguttatus
Kirtland, 1840

The hornyhead chub, Nocomis biguttatus, is a small species of minnow (Cyprinidae family). It mainly inhabits small rivers and streams. The range of this fish is the northern central USA, up into Canada. The adults inhabit faster, rocky pools of rivers.

Description

Adults can grow to 11 cm or more, and males commonly grow tubercles on their head during spawning season.

Reproduction

Hornyhead chubs spawn from May through June.They become sexually mature at 2 to 3 years of age. The male makes a nest; he digs a small depression 1–2 feet in diameter. The male then builds a rim around the nest that can be up to 6 inches in height from the materials dug from the nest. The male is then very protective of the nest towards others of the same species but allows other minnow species to spawn in his nest and the result of this is sometimes accidental hybridization. The same male may spawn with several females.

Diet

The hornyhead chub's diet consists of insect larvae, worms, crustaceans, and sometimes algae.

Conservation status

Globally, the status of the hornyhead chub is secure, but it is considered Critically Imperiled in Wyoming, Kansas, and Pennsylvania, and Possibly or Presumed Extirpated in Colorado and Nebraska.[1]

Notes

  1. ↑ Nocomis biguttatus NatureServe conservation status

References

Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2006). "Nocomis biguttatus" in FishBase. April 2006 version.

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