The blacktail redhorse (''Moxostoma poecilurum'') is a species of

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

in the genus ''

Moxostoma ''Moxostoma'', the redhorses or jumprocks, is a genus of North American ray-finned fish in the family Catostomidae. Species * '' Moxostoma albidum'' ( Girard, 1856) (Longlip jumprock) * '' Moxostoma anisurum'' (Rafinesque, 1820) (Silver redho ...

''. The blacktail redhorse occupies North America, being located throughout

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

tributaries on the former

Mississippi Embayment The Mississippi embayment is a physiographic feature in the south-central United States, part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. It is essentially a northward continuation of the fluvial sediments of the Mississippi River Delta to its conflu ...

, ranging from Southern

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

Galveston Bay Galveston Bay ( ) is a bay in the western Gulf of Mexico along the upper coast of Texas. It is the seventh-largest estuary in the United States, and the largest of seven major estuaries along the Texas Gulf Coast. It is connected to the Gulf of ...

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 ...

.Froese Rainer and Daniel Pauly eds. 2006. ''Moxostoma poecilurum'' (http://fishbase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?genusname=Moxostoma&speciesname=poecilurum) in FishBase. April 2006 version.

Description

Like other ''Moxostoma'', the blacktail redhorse has a long and cylindrical body. It is gold to bronze on the upper half with a silver-green iridescence, and is a silver yellow to white on the lower half. The

caudal Caudal may refer to: Anatomy * Caudal (anatomical term) (from Latin ''cauda''; tail), used to describe how close something is to the trailing end of an organism * Caudal artery, the portion of the dorsal aorta of a vertebrate that passes into the ...

and lower fins are red, with a black stripe on the lower half of the forked caudal fin, which is normally larger than the upper half. The edge of the dorsal fin is usually concave, and the fin is a dusky grey on the lower half and more red on the upper half. There are normally 41 to 44 lateral scales, and 12 to 13 dorsal rays. The fish has a maximum total length of 51 cm (20 in), but is normally has a total length of 25 cm (10 in) to 41 cm (16 in).

Distribution and habitat

''Moxostoma poecilurum'' is found throughout Mississippi River tributaries on the former Mississippi Embayment running from Southern Kentucky to Southern Arkansas, south to Louisiana. It can also be found in gulf slope drainages from the Choctawhatchee River in Alabama and Florida to

in Texas. It is endemic to the Southeastern United States. The distribution has not been noticeably decreased for any reason, nor has the Blacktail Redhorse been extirpated from any particular location. ''Moxostoma poecilurum'' is a

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

, freshwater fish, most commonly found in sandy and rocky pools, runs, and riffles of small to medium-sized streams and rivers. Due to their adaptive abilities and widespread distribution throughout the Southeast, they can sometimes also be found in reservoirs, swamps, and the Mobile Delta.Fishes of Alabama and the Mobile Basin. www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater/fish/other/sucker/redhorse/blacktail They generally occur in swift to standing water over sand, silt, rock, or gravel substrates and around aquatic vegetation. It is a benthic feeder and has a relatively diverse diet ranging from

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

diatoms A diatom (New Latin, Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group com ...

, and a wide variety of small invertebrates including microcrustacea,

rotifers The rotifers (, from the Latin , "wheel", and , "bearing"), commonly called wheel animals or wheel animalcules, make up a phylum (Rotifera ) of microscopic and near-microscopic pseudocoelomate animals. They were first described by Rev. John H ...

and the

larvae A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

of many insects.Kilgen R.H.. 1972. Food habits and growth of fingerling blacktail redhorse, ''Moxostoma poecilurum''(Jordan), in ponds. Proceedings of the Louisiana Academy of Sciences 35:12-20. A Louisiana State University study revealed a specific diet "primarily composed of chironomid (55%) and

heptageniid The Heptageniidae (synonym: Ecdyonuridae) are a family of mayflies with over 500 described species mainly distributed in the Holarctic, Oriental, and Afrotropical regions, and also present in the Central American Tropics and extreme northern Sout ...

larvae (17%)".Bahm Jesse A.. The Ecology of Blacktail Redhorse ''Moxostoma poecilurum'' in West Fork Thompson Creek, Louisiana. 2007. Louisiana State University. Due to its relatively small size, the Blacktail Redhorse is a common prey species among many avian and mammalian predators.

Life cycle

Blacktail Redhorse spawn in rocky shoal areas of small streams from late April through early May, when water temperatures approach 20 degrees Celsius.Kilgen R.H.. 1974. Artificial Spawning and Hatching Techniques for Blacktail Redhorse. Progressive Fish-Culturist 36:174-174. They utilize an aggregation spawning technique in which 2-3 males swim around a female, spawning intermittently.Gunning G.S. and C.R. Shoop. 1964. Stability in a headwater stream population of the sharpfin chubsucker. The Progressive Fish Culturalist 26: 76-79. The fertilized eggs are dimersal and nonadhesive and hatching occurs 6–8 days after fertilization.Burr Brooks and Robert Gerwig. Life History and Population Characteristics of ''Moxostoma poecilurum'', the Blacktail Redhorse, in Terrapin Creek, Graves County, Kentucky. The larvae move off the bottom and into the water column roughly 6 days after hatching. Females reach maturity at roughly 3 years of age and have an average clutch size of 17,000 eggs.Gibson D.I. et al. 2005. Host Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London. www.globalspecies.org/ntaxa/61134 Blacktail Redhorse can reach lengths of up to 51 centimeters (20 inches), and have a maximum lifespan of 10 years. During colder months of the year, mature individuals are known to display seasonal migration, moving downstream into deeper water.

Relationship with humans

Currently, ''Moxostoma poecilurum'' is listed as threatened in Kentucky due aquatic habitat degradation, siltation, and increased turbidity.Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. www.fw.ky.gov/kfwis/stwg/VolumeII/Fish While the most noticeable causes of the species, decline result from anthropogenic factors, some biological factors negatively impact the Blacktail Redhorse. While the fish commonly falls prey to avian and mammalian predators, it also deals with multiple parasites; ''Eocollis catostomi'', ''Pellucidhaptor orthacis'', and ''Pellucidhaptor pterigynus'' parasitize the Blacktail Redhorse throughout its native range. Overall, habit destruction is the leading cause for the decline of the species. Agriculture, road construction, urbanization, and quarrying increase siltation and turbidity, as well as create migration barriers, inhibiting reproduction and health of the species. That being said, places such as Big Thicket Biosphere Reserve (National Park) in Texas and Horseshoe Bend National Military Park in Alabama are protected areas, providing effective conservation habitat for the Blacktail Redhorse. The IGFA world record for Blacktail Redhorse stands at 1 lb 8oz taken from the

Tallapoosa River The Tallapoosa River runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011 from the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia, United States, southward and wes ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

in 2005.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3763436 Moxostoma Freshwater fish of the United States Freshwater fish of the Southeastern United States Fish described in 1877 Taxa named by David Starr Jordan