Couesius plumbeus, Lake chub : aquarium, bait

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Couesius plumbeus (Agassiz, 1850)

Lake chub
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Couesius plumbeus
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Cypriniformes (Carps) > Leuciscidae (Minnows) > Plagopterinae
Etymology: Couesius: From the American ornithologist Eliot Coues of the US Army Medical Coprs (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Agassiz.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; demersal; pH range: 6.5 - 7.8; non-migratory. Temperate; 4°C - 25°C (Ref. 12468); 66°N - 40°N

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

North America: Alaska (Yukon River drainage); throughout most of Canada and northern USA; south to Delaware River in New York, south end of Lake Michigan, Illinois, Platte River system in Colorado, and Columbia River drainage in Washington, USA. Relict population in Mississippi River basin in Iowa, USA. Sometimes hybridizes with Rhinichthys cataractae in Lake Superior (Ref. 4564).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 8.6  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 23.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 86798); common length : 10.5 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 12193); max. reported age: 5 years (Ref. 12193)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 8; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 7 - 9; Vertebrae: 39 - 44. Couesius plumbeus is distinguished by having the following characters: barbel at corner of large, barely subterminal mouth; moderately pointed snout; large eye; head flattened above and below; dorsal fin origin over or slightly behind pelvic fin origin; complete lateral line, 53-70 lateral scales; 8 anal rays, and pharyngeal teeth 2,4-4,2 (Ref. 86798). Spineless fins, normal jaws, and tiny barbel at the corner of the mouth (Ref. 27547). Body moderately compressed and slender, coloration include brown to green above, dark stripe along silver gray side, darkest on young and large male, sometimes black specks on side and belly, dusky caudal spot. Large male may have red at pectoral and pelvic fin origins, corners of mouth (Ref. 86797). In some populations, breeding males develop bright orange-red patches on sides of head and at bases of pectoral fins, but the presence of this color varies from place to place (Ref. 27547).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Inhabits virtually any body of water, standing or flowing, large or small (Ref. 5723, 86798). Common in gravel-bottomed pools and runs of streams and along rocky lake margins (Ref. 86798). Mostly found in shallow water, but may move to deeper parts of lakes during hot weather (Ref. 27547). Feeds on zooplankton, algae, terrestrial and aquatic insects, and small fishes (Ref. 1998).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Spawning individuals form schools that move from lakes or deeper parts of streams to shallower water (Ref. 27547). Also Ref. 10280.

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr, 2011. A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 663p. (Ref. 86798)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 11 November 2011

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Aquarium: public aquariums; bait: occasionally
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Food consumption
Ration
Common names
Synonyms
Metabolism
Predators
Ecotoxicology
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Spawning aggregation
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
Morphology
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Recruitment
Abundance
BRUVS
References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
Strains
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritability
Diseases
Processing
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Mass conversion
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Pictures
Stamps, Coins Misc.
Sounds
Ciguatera
Speed
Swim. type
Gill area
Otoliths
Brains
Vision

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 1.0000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01023 (0.00544 - 0.01925), b=3.00 (2.82 - 3.18), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.4   ±0.43 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 3.1 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (tm=2-4; tmax=5; K=0.36).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low to moderate vulnerability (31 of 100).