Sharpfin Chubsucker

Erimyzon tenuis

Catostomidae · freshwater water fish

2 minute read · Species guide

Sharpfin Chubsucker field guide illustration

About Sharpfin Chubsucker

Sharpfin chubsucker occupy sheltered pools and backwaters on the Gulf Slope.

Natural history

FishBase places their distribution from the Yellow River system in Alabama and Florida westward to the Amite system in Mississippi and Louisiana. Adults occur over sand or silt and often remain near vegetation in creeks and small rivers.

This setting provides a more specific picture than the simple label freshwater fish: the account emphasizes quiet parts of flowing-water systems rather than exposed rocky riffles. FishTraits records bottom feeding and a mixed set of food categories, including algae, detritus, and small animal prey. Those categories indicate feeding breadth without defining identical diets at every site.

Sources: Erimyzon tenuis species summary; FishTraits: ecological and life-history traits

Guide sources

Research reviewed 2026-10-19.

Diet and feeding

The FishTraits compilation records these diet categories for this species: algae or phytoplankton; detritus or unidentified plant material; invertebrates or larval fish. These are broad categories, not a claim that every individual consumes every example in a category.

Reported feeding positions include bottom feeding. The compilation combines published observations; diets can vary with age, locality, and available food.

Habitat preferences

Reported habitat associations include streams and small rivers, creeks.

The source records associations with muck, clay or silt, sand, vegetation, organic debris. An association indicates reported use, rather than an exclusive requirement.

Reproduction and parental care

The compilation reports a representative maturity age of 3 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.

Recorded spawning months are Mar, Apr for the source’s reporting region (FL). This is a regional calendar, not a range-wide schedule.

The reproductive-guild classification includes spawning on open substrates without guarding the brood.

Size and recorded longevity

FishTraits reports a maximum total length of 40 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 8 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.

Range

Where it lives

Share of 1,051 GBIF observation records with a state location, across 9 states. The orange dots are USGS stream-survey sites where this species was caught.
0%
43.6%
Share of 1,051 GBIF observation records with a state location, across 9 states. The orange dots are USGS stream-survey sites where this species was caught.

A blank area on the dot layer usually means nobody sampled there, not that the fish is absent. Turn on “every survey site” to see where the survey looked.

The USGS stream survey caught it at 66 of its sites, in 4 states. That survey and the GBIF records are two different counts of two different things, so the site keeps them apart.

Habitat

Water and movement

Water
WoRMS records this species in fresh water.
Migration
Migratory
Pattern

Classification

Taxonomy

Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Superclass
Actinopterygii
Class
Teleostei
Order
Cypriniformes
Genus
Erimyzon
Species
Erimyzon tenuis
ITIS TSN
163926
WoRMS AphiaID
1021544
GBIF key
2358937

Common questions about Sharpfin Chubsucker

What is the scientific name of Sharpfin Chubsucker?
The scientific name is Erimyzon tenuis, in the family Catostomidae. Classification follows ITIS.
Does Sharpfin Chubsucker live in fresh water or salt water?
WoRMS records this species in fresh water.
Where has Sharpfin Chubsucker been recorded in the United States?
GBIF has observations in 9 states, with the most records in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi. The map shows observation records, which do not establish the complete natural range.

Closest relatives

Other Erimyzon species

Same family

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Creek Chubsucker31 states
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Cui-ui2 states
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Desert Sucker9 states
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Gray Redhorse2 states
Moxostoma congestumCatostomidaeNative and introducedFresh
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Greater Redhorse11 states
Moxostoma valenciennesiCatostomidaeNativeFresh
Green Sucker4 states
Pantosteus virescensCatostomidaeNativeFresh
Highfin Carpsucker23 states
Carpiodes veliferCatostomidaeNative and introducedFresh
June Sucker1 states
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Klamath Largescale Sucker2 states
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All 67 species in Catostomidae