The splittails are a genus Pogonichthys of cyprinid fish, consisting of two species native to western North America.
Pogonichthys | |
---|---|
Sacramento splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Cypriniformes |
Family: | Cyprinidae |
Subfamily: | Leuciscinae |
Genus: | Pogonichthys Girard, 1854 |
Type species | |
Pogonichthys inaequilobus | |
Synonyms | |
Symmetrurus Jordan, 1878 |
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
edit- †Pogonichthys ciscoides Hopkirk, 1974 (Clear Lake splittail)
- Pogonichthys macrolepidotus (Ayres, 1854) (Sacramento splittail)
References
edit- Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). Species of Pogonichthys in FishBase. August 2011 version.