Species: Rhinichthys sp. 4
Nooksack Dace
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Actinopterygii
Order
Cypriniformes
Family
Cyprinidae
Genus
Rhinichthys
NatureServe
Classification
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Fishes - Bony Fishes - Minnows and Carps
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Actinopterygii - Cypriniformes - Cyprinidae - Rhinichthys - , except perhaps during flood years in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, so it is an arbitrary decision as to whether it is a true species or merely an isolated subspecies (McPhail, pers. comm., 1991).
Ecology and Life History
Short General Description
A small fish (a dace).
Habitat Type Description
Freshwater
Migration
false - false - false
Non-migrant
false
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Adults feed primarily on riffle-dwelling insects; young eat mainly chironomid pupae and ostracods (McPhail, 1996 COSEWIC report).
Reproduction Comments
Spawns in April-May in British Columbia; matures at the end of the second summer and first breeds in third spring; the oldest individual known was in her sixth year (McPhail, 1996 COSEWIC report).
Length
12
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G3
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-09-04
Global Status Last Changed
1992-01-22
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.BC=S1&US.WA=S3" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
Northeastern Washington and extreme southwestern British Columbia. Restricted to the drainages on the east side of Puget Sound (north to the Nooksack River) and drainages on the outer coast of the Olympic Peninsula (Queets River to Chehalis and Willapa river drainages) (McPhail and Lindsey 1986, McPhail 1997).