The flathead chub (''Platygobio gracilis'') is a species of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

in the carp family,

Cyprinidae Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest verte ...

. It is the only member of the

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

''Platygobio''.Froese, R. and D. Pauly, Eds. (2011)
''Platygobio''.
FishBase. It is native to North America, where it is distributed throughout central Canada and the central United States.
North Dakota Federally Listed Endangered, Threatened, and Candidate Species. USGS. 2013.

Distribution

This fish was first described from the

Saskatchewan River The Saskatchewan River (Cree: ''kisiskāciwani-sīpiy'', "swift flowing river") is a major river in Canada. It stretches about from where it is formed by the joining together of the North Saskatchewan and South Saskatchewan Rivers to Lake Winn ...

in 1836. It is also known from three other major river systems in central North America, the

Mackenzie Mackenzie, Mckenzie, MacKenzie, or McKenzie may refer to: People * Mackenzie (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Mackenzie (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Clan Mackenzie, a S ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, and

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

drainages. Its distribution extends from the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

.Rahel, F. J. and L. A. Thel
Flathead Chub (''Platygobio gracilis''): A Technical Conservation Assessment.
USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region. July 22, 2004.

Biology

This is a

minnow Minnow is the common name for a number of species of small freshwater fish, belonging to several genera of the families Cyprinidae and Leuciscidae. They are also known in Ireland as pinkeens. Smaller fish in the subfamily Leusciscidae are co ...

with an elongated body and a flat, "wedge-shaped" head. It has a pointed snout with a large mouth and

barbels In fish anatomy and turtle anatomy, a barbel is a slender, whiskerlike sensory organ near the mouth. Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, the hagfish, the sturgeon, the zebrafish, the black dragonfish and some ...

. It has sickle-shaped pectoral fins and a forked tail fin with pointed lobes. It has

taste bud Taste buds contain the taste receptor cells, which are also known as gustatory cells. The taste receptors are located around the small structures known as lingual papillae, papillae found on the upper surface of the tongue, soft palate, upper e ...

s in its anal and pelvic fins. It has a slightly curving

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

and large scales. The body of the adult may be brownish, olive, or black in color with a silvery wash across the sides and belly. The adult is generally 9 to 18 centimeters in length but can reach 26 centimeters. The male and female are similar in appearance. This fish lives in rivers and large tributaries, often in fast-moving,

turbid Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality. Fluids can ...

waters. The species may congregate in groups but moves independently rather than schooling. Spawning behaviors are not well known in this species. Feeding behaviors have not been observed often but the fish is thought to be mostly insectivorous.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2449841 Leuciscinae Monotypic fish genera Fish of the United States Fish of Canada Fish described in 1836