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A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Chrosomus oreas

No common name
NS G5
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 oreas

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 oreas can be distinguished by the possession of the following characters: black stripe along side broken under dorsal fin; large black spots in row along back and along upper side; 64-81 scales on lateral line; pharyngeal 0,5-5,0; snout moderately pointed; mouth slightly subterminal; coloration consists of olive to green-gold above, silver white to red below, bright red below (including lower half of opercle), behind opercle, and at base of dorsal fin in large males, bright silver pectoral and pelvic fin bases, black chin and breast, and yellow fins (Ref. 86798).

Distribution

North America: Mountain and Piedmont regions of Atlantic Slope from Shenandoah River (Potomac River drainage) in Virginia to Neuse River drainage in North Carolina, USA; upper New River drainage in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, USA. Introduced into the upper Holston River system in Virginia, and Big Sandy River system in Kentucky.

Habitat Associations

Freshwater. demersal. Found in: streams.

Biology

Inhabits rocky pools and runs of headwaters, creeks and small to medium rivers (Ref. 86798).
Max length: 7.2 cm TL; common length: 5.5 cm TL.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-11-03. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

References

Flemer, D.A. and W.S. Woolcott (1966) Food habits and distribution of the fishes of Tuckahoe Creek, Virginia, with special emphasis on the bluegill, Lepomis m. macrochirus Rafinesque. Chesapeake Sci. 7(2):75-89.
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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