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A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Gila purpurea

Yaqui Chub
Federal: Endangered NS G1
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) Gila Gila purpurea (Yaqui Chub)

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: fusiform / normal. Gila purpurea is distinguished by the following characters: caudal-fin base with black wedge; anal fin with 8 rays; and yellow brown to steel blue (large male) above;

Distribution

North America: Rio Yaqui basin in Arizona, USA and Mexico. Introduced to Leslie Creek (Whitewater Draw drainage), extreme southeast Arizona.

Habitat Associations

Freshwater. benthopelagic.

Biology

Inhabits quiet pools of headwaters and creeks and usually occurs in vegetation (Ref. 86798).
Max length: 14.0 cm TL.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders.
IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable (VU), assessed 2019-03-12. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

References

Riehl, R. and H.A. Baensch (1991) Aquarien Atlas. Band. 1. Melle: Mergus, Verlag für Natur-und Heimtierkunde, Germany. 992 p.
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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