Chub Shiner

Diet and feeding

The FishTraits compilation records these diet categories for this species: invertebrates or larval fish; larger animal prey (a source category covering fish, crayfish, crabs, or frogs). These are broad categories, not a claim that every individual consumes every example in a category.

Habitat preferences

Reported habitat associations include medium to large rivers.

The source records associations with sand, gravel. An association indicates reported use, rather than an exclusive requirement.

Reproduction and parental care

The compilation reports a representative maturity age of 1 years. Its maturity field summarizes mean, median, or modal estimates, usually for females; male estimates can be used when female data are unavailable. It is not a fixed age at which every fish first breeds.

Size and recorded longevity

FishTraits reports a maximum total length of 11 centimetres. Some entries use an estimated asymptotic length; this value should not be treated as a certified record catch.

Recorded longevity in the compilation is 2 years. Wild observations were preferred, but captive records were accepted where wild records were unavailable, and unspecified records were assumed wild. The value is not a guaranteed wild lifespan or an aquarium life expectancy.

Native range

Brazos, San Jacinto, Trinity, and Colorado rivers, Texas; possibly includes the Red River drainage in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana (Lee et al. 1980 et seq.; Page and Burr 1991; Gilbert, personal communication).

Introduction history

The first record of this species in the Red River drainage is that of Hubbs and Bonham (1951) who reported it as existing in and about Lake Texoma, an artificial impoundment on the Texas-Oklahoma border. These researchers interpreted its occurrence in the Lake Texoma area to be the result of the establishment of escaped bait minnows. Hall (1956) also considered a bait bucket release as the possible mode of entry into the Red River drainage based on the fact that Notropis potteri was being used as a bait fish. If its occurrence in the Red River drainage near Lake Texoma is the result of an introduction, then records of this species in downstream areas of that drainage may represent subsequent spread of introduced populations and their offspring (Gilbert, personal communication). Yurgens (1954) reported N. potteri from Lake Travis (Colorado River drainage) in Texas and speculated that this species and several other recently discovered minnows were likely introduced as a bait release into the Colorado River drainage. He based his conclusion on recent captures and on the fact that bait dealers had been transporting Brazos River minnows in large numbers to fishing camps on Lake Travis near Austin.

Ecological impacts

Unknown. Suttkus and Clemmer (1968) believed that Notropis potteri is native to the Red River system. However, they speculated that, if man introduced this species to the Red, "it has swamped out and completely, or nearly so, replaced [ Notropis ] blennius in the shallow marginal areas of the lower Red River."