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A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Chrosomus cumberlandensis

No common name
Federal: Threatened NS G2
Collection Details

Specimens

Photos

There are no photos available for this taxon yet.

Records

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes) Cypriniformes (Carps and Minnows) Cyprinidae (Carps and Minnows) Chrosomus Chrosomus cumberlandensis

Description

This species account was compiled from FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.) and processed using AI-assisted text extraction. It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting. When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page. Learn more about our species accounts.

Characters

Body shape: elongated. Chrosomus cumberlandensis can be distinguished by having the following characters: two dusky stripes along side converge on caudal peduncle, coalesce into wide black stripe on large male; back and upper side with many black specks; 66-81 scales on lateral line; pharyngeal teeth 0,5-5,0; olive to green-gold above, silver white to red below; large male bright red below, behind opercle, and at base of dorsal fin; bright silver pectoral and pelvic fin bases, yellow fins; body moderately compressed; pointed snout and slightly subterminal mouth (Ref. 86798).

Distribution

North America: upper Cumberland River drainage (Big South Fork and above) in Kentucky and Tennessee, USA.

Habitat Associations

Freshwater. demersal. Found in: streams.

Biology

Inhabits rocky pools of headwaters and creeks. Usually found along undercut banks, near large rocks or among detritus (Ref. 86798). Feeds on attached algal growth and aquatic insect immatures (Ref. 10294).
Max length: 7.6 cm TL; common length: 5.5 cm TL; max age: 4 years.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Endangered (EN), assessed 2011-11-03. Resilience: High (tm=1; tmax=4).

References

Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea and W.B. Scott (1991) Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. Am. Fish. Soc. Spec. Publ. (20):183 p.
Etnier, D.A. and W.C. Starnes (1993) The fishes of Tennessee. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. (pls. check date).
Strange, R.M. and R.L. Mayden (2009) Phylogenetic relationships and a revised taxonomy for North American cyprinids currently assigned to Phoxinus (Actinopterygii: Cyprinidae). Copeia 2009(3):494-501.
Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr (2011) A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 663p.

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