Hitch (fish)

The hitch (Lavinia exilicauda) is a cyprinid fish endemic to central California, and was once very common. The common name may derive from a Pomoan word for this species.[lower-alpha 1] It is the only species in the monospecific genus Lavinia.

Hitch

Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Cyprinidae
Subfamily: Leuciscinae
Clade: Laviniinae
Genus: Lavinia
Girard, 1854
Species:
L. exilicauda
Binomial name
Lavinia exilicauda
S. F. Baird & Girard, 1854
Synonyms[3]
  • Lavinia compressa Ayres, 1854
  • Leucosomus occidentalis Baird & Girard, 1854
  • Lavinia harengus Girard, 1856
  • Lavinia ardesiaca Snyder, 1913
  • Lavinia exilicauda chi Hopkirk, 1974
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lavinia exilicauda.

Taxonomy

The hitch was first formally described in 1854 by Spencer Fullerton Baird and Charles Frédéric Girard with its type locality given as the Sacramento River in California.[6] While the hitch is closely related to the California roach (Hesperoleucus symmetricus), and the two species can hybridize, leading some authorities to place H. symmetricus in Lavinia, genomic data appear to support the fishes' separate lineages.[7] The Lavinia genus has been placed in the subfamily Leuciscinae of the family Cyprinidae in the 5th edition of Fishes of the World.[8] Other authorities classify the Leuciscidae as a family and place the genus Lavinia in the subfamily Laviniinae of that family.[9]

Three distinct population segments (DPS)[10] or subspecies[11] of the hitch are recognized:

  • Clear Lake hitch (chi in Pomoan language)[12]
  • Monterey hitch (Salinas hitch, Pajaro hitch)
  • Sacramento hitch (Central Valley hitch)

These common names or DPS correspond to the subspecies Lavinia exilicauda chi Hopkirk, 1974,[13][14] Lavinia exilicauda harengus Girard, 1856[15]: 183–184 [16] and Lavinia exilicauda exilicauda Baird and Girard in Girard, 1854,[17]: 137  respectively.

Description

The hitch shape is deep and laterally compressed, with a small head, and a terminal mouth pointing upwards. They are generally silver all over; younger fish have a black spot at the base of the tail, losing it as they age, and becoming generally darker as well. The anal fin is noticeably longer than for other California minnows, with 11–14 rays, while the dorsal fin has 10–13 rays, and is placed further back, the base being positioned between pelvic and anal fins. The tail fin is large and deeply forked. They can get large for minnows, with lengths of up to 36 centimetres (14 in) total length.[3] All of these features make them look much like the golden shiner. The hitch is closely related to the California roach (Hesperoleucus symmetricus complex), and these taxa can hybridize with each other.[7]

Hitch are omnivores of the open water, eating a combination of filamentous algae, insects, and zooplankton. They can be found in lakes, sloughs, and slow-moving sections of rivers and streams. With the highest temperature tolerance among the native fish of the Central Valley, they can be found in both warm and cool water; they also have considerable salt tolerance, for instance occurring in Suisun Marsh (7–8 ppt salinity), and Salinas River lagoon (9 ppt).

Distribution

Their range includes the Sacramento River–San Joaquin River System of the Central Valley, the Russian River, Clear Lake, Pajaro River, and Salinas River. Although once abundant, but no longer commercially fished in Clear Lake, populations have been declining. The most likely cause appears to be loss of springtime spawning water flows due to water diversion and damming.

Conservation

The Clear Lake hitch was listed as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act in 2014.[18]

Notes
  1. According to Hopkirk (1988), the Pomoan word hitch refers to the Clear Lake splittail (Pogonichthys ciscoides)[4]: 235 [5]: 185–186 

References
  1. NatureServe. (2013). "Lavinia exilicauda". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T202129A18230971. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T202129A18230971.en. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  2. NatureServe (2 December 2022). "Lavinia exilicauda". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  3. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2023). "Lavinia exilicauda" in FishBase. July 2023 version.
  4. Gobalet, Kenneth W. (1989). "Remains of Tiny Fish from a Late Prehistoric Pomo Site Near Clear Lake, California". Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology. Malki Museum Press. 11 (2): 231–239. JSTOR 27825386.
  5. Hopkirk, J.D. (1988). "Fish evolution and the late Pleistocene and Holocene history of Clear Lake, California". In Sims, John D. (ed.). Late Quaternary Climate, Tectonism, and Sedimentation in Clear Lake, Northern California Coast Ranges. The Geological Society of America. pp. 183–194. ISBN 0-8137-2214-4. Special Paper No. 214.
  6. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Lavinia". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  7. Jason Baumsteiger & Peter B. Moyle (2019). "A reappraisal of the California Roach/Hitch (Cypriniformes, Cyprinidae, Hesperoleucus/Lavinia) species complex". Zootaxa. 4543 (2): 221–240. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4543.2.3. PMID 30647303. S2CID 58561676.
  8. J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. pp. 181–186. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6.
  9. Schönhuth, Susana; Vukić, Jasna; Šanda, Radek; Yang, Lei; Mayden, Richard L. (October 2018). "Phylogenetic relationships and classification of the Holarctic family Leucisidae (Cypriniformes: Cyprinoidei)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 127: 781–799. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.06.026. PMID 29913311. S2CID 49292104.
  10. Baumsteiger, Jason; Young, Matthew; Moyle, Peter B. (2019). "Using the Distinct Population Segment (DPS) Concept to Protect Fishes with Low Levels of Genomic Differentiation: Conservation of an Endemic Minnow (Hitch)". Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 148 (2): 406–416. doi:10.1002/tafs.10144. S2CID 92315840.
  11. "Lavinia exilicauda". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  12. Clarke, Chris (30 July 2014). "State May Declare Unique NorCal Fish Threatened". KCET. Public Media Group of Southern California. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  13. Hopkirk, John D. (1974). Endemism in Fishes of the Clear Lake Region of Central California. University of California Press. ISBN 0520094042. University of California Publications in Zoology Vol. 96.
  14. Fricke, Ron, ed. (1 November 2022). "Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: References". Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes. Reference no. 2199. Retrieved 13 December 2022 – via California Academy of Sciences.
  15. Girard, C.F. (1856). "Researches upon the cyprinoid fishes inhabiting the fresh waters of the United States, west of the Mississippi Valley, from specimens in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 8: 165–213. JSTOR 4059153.
  16. Miller, Robert B. (1945). "The Status of Lavinia ardesiaca, a Cyprinid Fish from the Pajaro-Salinas River Basin, California". Copeia. 1945 (4): 197–204. doi:10.2307/1438351. JSTOR 1438351.
  17. Girard, Charles (1854). "Descriptions of new fishes, collected by Dr. A.L. Heermann, naturalist attached to the survey of the Pacific Railroad Route, under Lieut. R.S. Williamson, U.S.A.". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 7: 129–140. JSTOR 4059036.
  18. Kovner, Guy (4 December 2020). "Feds deny protection for Clear Lake hitch fish, prompting outcry". The Press Democrat. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
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