UNDESCRIBED CHUB
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Hybopsis sp.
CHARACTERISTICS: The undescribed chub, which resembles the clear chub, Hybopsis winchelli, has a single barbel, a falcate dorsal fin, and a dark lateral band. The body is slender, and the snout is blunt, with a small, horizontal mouth. The large eye has a diameter slightly greater than the length of the snout. The back and sides are light greenish yellow. Clemmer (1971) recognizes this species as a distinct form, and we follow his work here. The species differs from H. winchelli in snout shape, mouth position, head length, caudal spot shape, and size and position of nuptial tubercles. Also, the undescribed chub occurs with and is likely to be confused with two other similar species: the silverjaw minnow, Ericymba buccata, and the weed shiner, Notropis texanus, both of which lack mouth barbels.
ADULT SIZE: 2 to 2.8 in (50 to 70 mm)
DISTRIBUTION: This lowland chub occurs in coastal drainages from the Perdido River system east to the Apalachicola basin. Most collections are from drainages between the Perdido and Choctawhatchee rivers in south Alabama. Chattahoochee River populations cross the Fall Line and are widespread and occasionally abundant in Wacoochee and upper Uchee creeks.
HABITAT AND BIOLOGY: This species prefers small to large streams with clear or slightly turbid water over gravel, sand, or silt bottoms. It is found in pool areas near riffles and in quiet pools with little or no current. Large populations can be found over sand and gravel shoals in larger rivers, such as the Conecuh and upper Choctawhatchee. Gravid individuals have been collected in May, and spawning likely occurs from April to late June. Little is known about this species’ feeding ecology, but it presumably eats aquatic and terrestrial insects and possibly filamentous algae.
ETYMOLOGY:
Hybopsis means rounded face, referring to the blunt snout.
The copyrighted information above is from Fishes of Alabama and the Mobile Basin.
