Thicklip Chub: Facts & Habitat

About Thicklip Chub

The thicklip chub (Cyprinella labrosa) is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish in the family Leuciscidae, the shiners, daces and minnows. It is endemic to the United States, where it occurs in the Blue Ridge foothill and typical Piedmont sections of the Pee Dee and Santee drainages in North Carolina and South Carolina.

NativeFresh3 states

Article text: Wikipedia contributors, Thicklip chub (source revision). Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Retrieved 2026-10-11.

Diet and feeding

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

Habitat preferences

Reported habitat associations include streams and small rivers, creeks.

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

Reproduction and parental care

The compilation reports a representative maturity age of 1.5 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 May, Jun, Jul, Aug for the source’s reporting region (VA). This is a regional calendar, not a range-wide schedule.

Size and recorded longevity

FishTraits reports a maximum total length of 5 centimetres. Some entries use an estimated asymptotic length; this value should not be treated as a certified record catch.

Range

Where it lives

78.3%of mapped records

Share of 217 GBIF observation records with a state location, across 3 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.

Share of records by state

The USGS stream survey caught it at 32 of its sites, in 1 state. 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: Undetermined

Classification

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Superclass: Actinopterygii
Class: Teleostei
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Leuciscidae
Genus: Cyprinella
Species: Cyprinella labrosa
ITIS TSN: 163786
WoRMS AphiaID: 1421417
GBIF key: 5207638

Common questions about Thicklip Chub

What is the scientific name of Thicklip Chub?

The scientific name is Cyprinella labrosa, in the family Leuciscidae. Classification follows ITIS.

Does Thicklip Chub live in fresh water or salt water?

WoRMS records this species in fresh water.

Where has Thicklip Chub been recorded in the United States?

GBIF has observations in 3 states, with the most records in North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas. The map shows observation records, which do not establish the complete natural range.

Closest relatives