The Owens tui chub (''Siphateles bicolor snyderi'') was described in 1973 as a subspecies of

tui chub The tui chub (''Siphateles bicolor'') is a cyprinid fish native to western North America. Widespread in many areas, it is an important food source for other fish, including the cutthroat trout. Range The tui chub's range includes the Lahonta ...

endemic to the

Owens River The Owens River is a river in eastern California in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 17, 2011, It drains into and through the ...

Basin in

Eastern California Eastern California is a region defined as either the strip to the east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada or as the easternmost counties of California. Demographics According to the 2010 census, the population of the eastern border counties of Ca ...

, United States. The Owens tui chub is distinguished from its closest relative, the Lahontan tui chub, by scales with a weakly developed or absent basal shield, 13 to 29 lateral and apical radii, also by the structure of its

pharyngeal arch The pharyngeal arches, also known as visceral arches'','' are structures seen in the embryonic development of vertebrates that are recognisable precursors for many structures. In fish, the arches are known as the branchial arches, or gill arch ...

es, the number of anal fin rays, 10 to 14

gill raker Gill rakers in fish are bony or cartilaginous processes that project from the branchial arch (gill arch) and are involved with suspension feeding tiny prey. They are not to be confused with the gill filaments that compose the fleshy part of the ...

s, and 52 to 58

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 ...

scales. Dorsal and lateral coloration varies from bronze to dusky green, grading to silver or white on the belly. It may reach a total length of . Owens tui chub are believed to be derived from Lahontan Basin tui chub that entered the Owens Basin from the north during the

Pleistocene Epoch The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

. Owens tui chub were historically common and occupied all valley-floor

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s near the Owens River in

Inyo Inyo may refer to: Places California * Inyo County, California * Inyo National Forest, USA * The Inyo Mountains * The Mono–Inyo Craters Other uses * Japanese for yin and yang Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophy, Chinese p ...

and

Mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanese b ...

counties. Owens suckers, Owens

speckled dace The speckled dace (''Rhinichthys osculus''), also known as the spotted dace and the carpita pinta, is a member of the minnow family. It is found in temperate freshwater in North America, from Sonora, Mexico to British Columbia, Canada. Canada is ...

, and

Owens pupfish The Owens pupfish (''Cyprinodon radiosus'') is a rare species of fish in the family Cyprinodontidae, the pupfish. It is Endemism, endemic to California in the United States, where it is limited to the Owens Valley. It is a federally listed endang ...

have a similar distribution to the Owens tui chub. Analysis of

microsatellite DNA A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organism's genome. ...

shows that Owens tui chub in tributaries of

Mono Lake Mono Lake ( ) is a saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake which make its water alk ...

and the Owens River are now hybridized with Lahontan tui chub. Genetically pure Owens tui chub occur in water that is cut off from the Owens River, such as at Sotcher Lake near Reds Meadow; springs near the Hot Creek Fish Hatchery in

Mammoth Lakes, California Mammoth Lakes is a town in Mono County, California, and is the county's only incorporated community. It is located immediately to the east of Mammoth Mountain, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,191, r ...

; and artificial ponds at the White Mountain Research Center and at Mule Spring in Inyo County. Owens Tui Chub habitat

Owens tui chubs prefer pool habitats with low current velocities and dense aquatic vegetation that provide adequate cover and habitat for insect food items. Owens tui chubs feed mainly by gleaning and grazing among submerged vegetation. Its diet varies seasonally; the dominant items in its diet are chironomid larvae and

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

in spring, chironomid larvae in summer, hydroptilid caddisflies in fall, and chironomid larvae in winter. Spawning occurs from late winter to early summer at spring habitats, with spawning likely triggered by day length. In riverine and lacustrine or lake-like habitats where water temperatures fluctuate seasonally, the Owens tui chub spawns in spring and early summer, with spawning triggered by warming water temperatures. Females may produce more than 10,000 eggs. Tui chubs may reach sexual maturity at 2 years, and may live more than 30 years.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28799642 Siphateles Endangered fish Endemic fauna of California