Mexican Darter
Etheostoma pottsii (Girard, 1859)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Etheostoma micropterus Gilbert. Chihuahua, Mexico Subject: Etheostoma Tag: Fish
Barton Warren Evermann / William Converse Kendall · Public domain · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Mexican darter (Etheostoma pottsii), also known as the Chihuahua darter or Mexican darter, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, a darter from the subfamily Etheostomatinae, part of the family Percidae, which also contains the perches, ruffes and pikeperches. It is endemic to Mexico where it is the only species of darter to naturally occur in the Pacific drainage. This species can reach a length of 5.5 centimetres (2.2 in) TL.
Wikipedia contributors, Mexican darter; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:13:49.183148+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Etheostoma pottsii (Girard, 1859)
- Name authority
- (Girard, 1859)
- Common name
- Mexican Darter
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Percidae
- Genus
- Etheostoma
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderPerciformes
- suborderPercoidei
- familyPercidae Rafinesque, 1815
- subfamilyEtheostomatinae Agassiz, 1850
- genusEtheostoma Rafinesque, 1819
- speciesEtheostoma pottsii (Girard, 1859)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Etheostoma. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Etheostoma artesiae (Hay, 1881) | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma asprigene (Forbes, 1878) | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma autumnale Mayden, 2010 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma barbouri Kuehne & Small, 1971 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma basilare Page, Hardman & Near, 2003 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma bellator Suttkus & Bailey, 1993 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma bison Ceas & Page, 1997 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma boschungi Wall & Williams, 1974 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma burri Ceas & Page, 1997 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma cervus Powers & Mayden, 2003 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma chermocki Boschung, Mayden & Tomelleri, 1992 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma chlorobranchium Zorach, 1972 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Etheostoma pottsi (Girard, 1859) (Girard, 1859) | synonym |
| Aplesion pottsii Girard, 1859 Girard, 1859 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1419879 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3BL63. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.