Map_thumbnail_large_font

Cyprinella venusta

Status_ne_offStatus_dd_offStatus_lc_onStatus_nt_offStatus_vu_offStatus_en_offStatus_cr_offStatus_ew_offStatus_ex_off

Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
ANIMALIA CHORDATA ACTINOPTERYGII CYPRINIFORMES CYPRINIDAE

Scientific Name: Cyprinella venusta
Species Authority: Girard, 1856
Common Name/s:
English Blacktail Shiner
Taxonomic Notes: Kristmundsdottir and Gold (1996) used mtDNA restriction site analysis to study systematics and biogeography and identified four major mtDNA-based phylogeographic clades: Chocktawatchee, Apalachicola, Mobile, and Western (four lineages, Texas to Mississippi). They found that mtDNA phylogeographic subdivision within C. venusta is not strictly concordant with geographic subdivisions (ranges) of the three nominal subspecies (venusta, cercostigma, and stigmatura). Taxonomic revision may be warranted, but further study is needed. This species was removed from the genus Notropis and placed in the genus (formerly subgenus) Cyprinella by Mayden (1989). This change was adopted in the 1991 AFS checklist (Robins et al. 1991). See Mayden (1989) for synonymy.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published: 2010
Assessor/s: NatureServe (G. Hammerson)
Reviewer/s: Shaefer, J. (Freshwater Fish Red List Authority), Collen, B., Richman, N. & Ram, M. (Sampled Red List Index Coordinating Team)
Contributor/s:
Justification:
Cyprinella venusta has been assessed as Least Concern due to its large distribution and abundance throughout its range. At present no major threat processes for this species are known, and so is not thought to be threatened.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description: The range of Cyprinella venusta extends from the Rio Grande basin in Texas to the Suwannee River drainage in Florida and Georgia, north to the Mississippi River basin, to southern Oklahoma, southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois, and western and southern Tennessee (Lee et al. 1980). The area in which this species is distributed is approximately 141,865 km2.
Countries:
Native:
United States (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee)
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population: Cyprinella venusta is represented by a very large number of subpopulations (e.g. see map in Lee et al. 1980). It is one of the most ubiquitous minnows in drainages along the northern gulf coast (Lee et al. 1980; Boschung and Mayden 2004; Ross 2001).

The adult population size is unknown, but likely exceeds 1,000,000 individuals.

Extent of occurence, area of occupancy, number of subpopulations, and population size are thought to be relatively stable or declining at a rate of less than 10% over 10 years or three generations.
Population Trend: Stable

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology: Cyprinella venusta is most commonly found in pools and runs of clear, sandy-bottomed, small to medium rivers, in areas of sparse vegetation and a strong current. Upland populations occur in creeks over more gravel/ rubble substrate (Lee et al. 1980; Page and Burr 1991). Populations in the western part of the this species range are often found in turbid water. This species eggs are spawned into crevices.

Recent studies indicate that this species is able to outcompete C. lutrensis, especially in areas below reservoirs (Matthews and Marsh-Matthews 2007). Suttkus and Mette (2009) noted the complete extirpation of C. lutrensis from the Sabine River below a reservoir, where C. venusta numbers are stable or increasing.
Systems: Freshwater

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s): It is unlikely that Cyprinella venusta is being impacted upon by any major threat processes at present.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions: There are no species-specific conservation measures in place for Cyprinella venusta. Further study is needed on the taxonomy of this species to ascertain if further revision of the genus is warranted.

Bibliography [top]

Boschung, H.T. and Mayden, R.L. 2004. Fishes of Alabama. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Douglas, N.H. and Jordan, R.J. 2002. Louisiana's inland fishes: a quarter century of change. Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings 43: 1-10.

IUCN. 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2010.3). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 2 September 2010).

Kristmundsdottir, A.Y. and Gold, J.R. 1996. Systematics of the blacktail shiner (Cyprinella venusta) inferred from analysis of mitochondrial DNA). Copeia 1996(4): 773-783.

Lee, D.S., Gilbert, C.R., Hocutt, C.H., Jenkins, R.E., McAllister, D.E. and Stauffer, J.R., Jr. 1980. Atlas of North American Freshwater Fishes. North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.

Matthews, W.J. and Marsh-Matthews, E. 2007. Extirpation of red shiner in direct tributaries of Lake Texoma (Oklahoma-Texas): a cautionary history from a fragmented river-reservoir system. Transactions of The American Fisheries Society 136: 1041-1062.

Mayden, R. 1989. Phylogenetic studies of North American minnows, with emphasis on the genus Cyprinella (Teleostei: Cypriniformes). University of Kansas Museum Natural History Miscellaneous Publication.

NatureServe. 2008. NatureServe Explorer: An Online Encyclopedia of Life Version 7.0. Available at: http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/.

Nelson, J.S., Crossman, E.J., Espinosa-Perez, H., Findley, L.T., Gilbert, C.R., Lea, R. N. and Williams, J.D. 2004. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 29, Bethesda, Maryland.

Page, L.M. and Burr, B.M. 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes: North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Robins, C.R., Bailey, R.M., Bond, C.E., Brooker, J.R., Lachner, E.A., Lea, R.N. and Scott., W.B. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publishing 20.

Ross, S.T. (with Brennaman, W.M., Slack, W.T., O'Connell, M.T. and Peterson, T.L.). 2001. The inland fishes of Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi.

Suttuku, R.D. and Mette, M.F. 2009. Toledo Bend reservoir and its effects on the ichthyofauna of the lower Sabine River, Louisiana and Texas. In press, Proceedings of the Southeastern Fishes Council.

Citation: NatureServe (G. Hammerson) 2010. Cyprinella venusta. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 23 May 2013.
Disclaimer: To make use of this information, please check the <Terms of Use>.
Feedback: If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please fill in the feedback form so that we can correct or extend the information provided