LINED CHUB
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Hybopsis lineapunctata
CHARACTERISTICS: The lined chub is a large minnow with a terete, compressed body and a long head. Its long, blunt snout overhangs an inferior, slightly oblique mouth which has a single barbel in each corner. A dark lateral band is well developed, extending from the gill opening to the caudal fin base—narrowing on the peduncle and expanding into a small but distinct caudal spot. This band is interrupted by the eyes but continues around the snout, and it is bounded above by a light band. The scales on the back are well pigmented. Live individuals are various shades of silvery white and yellow. The Coosa shiner, Notropis xaenocephalus, and the burrhead shiner, N. asperifrons, are similar species often encountered with the lined chub, and because their dark lateral bands are similar, they are often mistaken for one another. The easiest way to separate the species is to look for mouth barbels: the lined chub has them, whereas the Coosa and burrhead shiners do not.
ADULT SIZE: 2 to 2.6 in (50 to 65 mm)
DISTRIBUTION: This species is endemic to the Tallapoosa and Coosa river systems in the Mobile basin. It is most common above the Fall Line in the Tallapoosa River system and less common in the Coosa, where it is found in upland tributaries in Georgia and in the Hatchet Creek system.
HABITAT AND DBIOLOGY: Hybopsis lineapunctata is commonly encountered in small or medium-sized flowing streams with pools and riffles over gravel, sand, or rubble substrates—all habitats often found in the Piedmont region of eastern Alabama. The lined chub’s diet consists of aquatic and terrestrial insects. Clemmer and Suttkus (1971) indicate that spawning occurs from mid-May through early June, and extremely gravid females have been collected in June.
REMARKS: The type locality of the lined chub is Enitachopco Creek, near Ashland, Clay County, Alabama.
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: Clemmer and Suttkus described the lined chub in 1971.
ETYMOLOGY:
Hybopsis means rounded face, referring to the blunt snout.
Lineapunctata means line spot, referring to the dark lateral band and caudal spot.
The copyrighted information above is from Fishes of Alabama and the Mobile Basin.
