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A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Cyprinella monacha

No common name
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) Cyprinella Cyprinella monacha

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.

Distribution

North America: Historically in several tributaries of Tennessee River in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia to Alabama, USA; now present only in Little Tennessee River in North Carolina, Buffalo and Emory river in Tennessee, and Holston River in Virginia and Tennessee, USA.

Habitat Associations

Freshwater. benthopelagic. Found in: streams.

Biology

Found in rocky riffles and runs of clean small to medium rivers (Ref. 5723, 86798). Juveniles are associated with small gravel substrates and moderate current, while adults are encountered in swift currents and boulder substrates. Feed on aquatic insects, predominated by midge, blackfly, and caddisfly larvae (Ref. 10294).
Max length: 11.0 cm TL; common length: 7.0 cm TL; max age: 4 years.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (brood hiders). Deposits eggs in boulder crevices.
IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable (VU), assessed 2011-11-30. Resilience: Medium (tmax=4).

Commercial or Environmental Importance

Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial.

References

Etnier, D.A. and W.C. Starnes (1993) The fishes of Tennessee. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. (pls. check date).
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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