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A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Cyprinodon arcuatus

Santa Cruz Pupfish
NS GX
Collection Details

Specimens

Photos

There are no photos available for this taxon yet.

Records

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes) Cyprinodontiformes Cyprinodontidae (Pupfishes) Cyprinodon Cyprinodon arcuatus (Santa Cruz Pupfish)

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. Distinct dorsal-body surface, which is highly convex before the dorsal fin but changing abruptly at the dorsal origin into a deep, postdorsal concavity most developed in breeding males; absence in nuptial males of distinctive yellow or orange pigment on either the caudal fin or peduncle; weak development of lepidodonts and modally six preopercular pores (Ref. 43452).

Distribution

North America: restricted to the upper Santa Cruz basin in southern Arizona and Northern Sonora.

Habitat Associations

Freshwater. benthopelagic.

Biology

Max length: 4.6 cm SL.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders; parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Extinct (EX), assessed 2011-11-18.

References

Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Minckley, W.L., R.R. Miller and S.M. Norris (2002) Three new pupfish species, Cyprinodon (Teleostei, Cyprinodontidae), from Chihuahua, Mexico, and Arizona, USA. Copeia 2002(3):687-705.

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