Pogonichthys
Encyclopedia
The splittails are a genus Pogonichthys of cyprinid
fish
, consisting of two species native to western North America
.
The common name is inspired by the distinctive appearance of the tail fin, in which the upper lobe is distinctly larger.
Of the two species, only the Sacramento Splittail survives; the Clear Lake splittail became extinct in the mid-1970s.
Cyprinid
The family Cyprinidae, from the Ancient Greek kyprînos , consists of the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives . Commonly called the carp family or the minnow family, its members are also known as cyprinids...
fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, consisting of two species native to western North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
The common name is inspired by the distinctive appearance of the tail fin, in which the upper lobe is distinctly larger.
Of the two species, only the Sacramento Splittail survives; the Clear Lake splittail became extinct in the mid-1970s.
Species
- †Pogonichthys ciscoides Hopkirk, 1974 (Clear Lake splittail)
- Pogonichthys macrolepidotusPogonichthys macrolepidotusPogonichthys macrolepidotus, the Splittail or Sacramento splittail, is a species of cyprinid fish that is now restricted to the San Francisco Bay Delta and the lower reaches of the Sacramento River in California, USA. It formerly could be found throughout the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system....
(AyresWilliam Orville AyresWilliam Orville Ayres was an American physician and ichthyologist. Born in Connecticut, he studied to become a doctor at Yale University School of Medicine....
, 1854) (Splittail)