''Thoburnia rhothoeca'' (common name torrent sucker) is a species of fish native to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

Description

''Thoburnia rhothoeca'' has a small mouth with lower lip edges that are nearly triangular. The sucker has a small black skull and two air-bladders, although the air-bladders are reduced in size. The fish is small in size, and generally does not exceed seven inches. The fish exhibits

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

, and its appearance varies depending on

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

. The male sucker has a narrow red lateral band on it and a long dorsal and ventral fin. The female sucker has a narrow brown lateral band on it, and a shorter dorsal and ventral fin.

Habitat

The habitat of the sucker extends from Northern Virginia to Eastern West Virginia. It is generally found in the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

and its discharges, although populations also exist in the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

and its discharges. The fish is generally found in creeks and small rivers. It prefers clear waters with a rocky

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gradi ...

and can live in waters with temperatures ranging from warm to cold. Younger ''Thoburnia rhothoeca'' can generally be found in smaller pools.

Behavior

''Thoburnia rhothoeca'' reach sexual maturity after one to two years of life. The sucker reproduces through spawning, which generally occurs from February to May. Female suckers lay an average of approximately 780

oocyte An oocyte (, ), oöcyte, or ovocyte is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell. An oocyte is produced in a female fetus in the ovary during female gametogenesis. The female ...

s during spawning season with an average diameter of approximately two millimeters. The sucker is primarily a carnivore. Most of its diet consists of Chironomidae, although it will consume many other of species of insects when they are available. The sucker will also consume

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 ...

Conservation status

The sucker is ranked as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

. Reasons for the rating include the stable population and the large range of the sucker.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5533006 Catostomidae Freshwater fish of the United States Endemic fauna of the United States Fish described in 1896