Geographic Variation in the North American Cyprinid Fish, Hybopsis gracilisCross, Frank B. (Frank Bernard)
Science
Geographic Variation in the North American Cyprinid Fish, Hybopsis gracilis
Cross, Frank B. (Frank Bernard)
Cyprinidae; Fishes -- North America
FIG. 1. Top: _Hybopsis gracilis gracilis_, 230.0 mm standard length,
one of the largest specimens examined. Missouri River, Carson
County-Walworth County line, 3 miles northeast of Mobridge, South
Dakota, at mouth of Grand River.
Bottom: _Hybopsis gracilis gulonella_, 121.6 mm standard length, the
largest specimen examined of this subspecies. Beaver Creek, Fremont
County, 10 miles northeast of Florence, Colorado, on Highway 115.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2. Regression of head-depth on standard length in
_Hybopsis gracilis gracilis_ from the Saskatchewan River, and in _H. g.
gulonella_ from Beaver Creek, Arkansas River Drainage (KU 4769).]
DISCUSSION
_Hybopsis gracilis_ is highly variable in several morphological
characteristics, including size and shape of head, body, and fins, and
number of scales, vertebrae, and fin-rays. The variations are correlated
in a way that indicates the existence of two subspecies. One of these,
_H. g. gracilis_, attains large size, and has 1) a slender, streamlined
body, 2) a depressed head that is acutely wedge-shaped in profile, 3)
strongly falcate fins with the dorsal and pelvic fins originating
anteriorly, and 4) many scales, vertebrae, and pectoral fin-rays. The
second subspecies, for which _H. g. gulonella_ is the oldest applicable
name, is small, and has 1) a deep, chubby body, 2) head convex in dorsal
contour (less depressed than in _H. g. gracilis_), 3) fins less falcate
than in the latter subspecies, with the dorsal and pelvic fins
originating more posteriorly, and 4) fewer scales, vertebrae, and
pectoral fin-rays than _H. g. gracilis_. These differences are
consistently expressed throughout the size-ranges of the subspecies, and
in series collected at the same or nearby localities in several
different years. Considerable variability was found in features other
than those mentioned above, but individual variation among specimens
from the same locality and adjacent localities is so great that none is
diagnostic of subspecies. For example, orbital size and length of fins
(but not their falcate shape) are variables that have little diagnostic
value, although both features seem to vary in clinal fashion, with the
higher values in the north.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account