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Etheostoma susanae (Jordan & Swain, 1883)

Source-backed taxonomic record

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.

Open encyclopedia reference

The Cumberland darter (Etheostoma susanae) is a rare 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 Kentucky and Tennessee in the United States, where it occurs in the upper Cumberland River tributaries above Cumberland Falls. It was federally listed as an endangered species in the US on August 9, 2011. This fish measures over 5.5 cm in maximum length. It is pale yellow in color with six brown saddle-like markings on the sides. On the male, these markings fade during the breeding season and the fish becomes darker in color. The Cumberland darter lives in pools and slower, shallower parts of streams, in areas with sand or silt substrates, and not in areas with rocky or cobbly substrates. Associated fish species include creek chub (Semotilus atromaculatus), northern hogsucker (Hypentelium nigricans), stripetail darter (E. kennicotti), and Cumberland arrow darter (E. sagitta). Little is known about the fish's lifecycle. This fish is currently known from 13 streams feeding the Cumberland River.

Wikipedia contributors, Cumberland darter; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:30:20.034896+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Etheostoma susanae (Jordan & Swain, 1883)
Name authority
(Jordan & Swain, 1883)
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.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. gigaclassActinopterygii
  8. superclassActinopteri
  9. classTeleostei
  10. orderPerciformes
  11. suborderPercoidei
  12. familyPercidae Rafinesque, 1815
  13. subfamilyEtheostomatinae Agassiz, 1850
  14. genusEtheostoma Rafinesque, 1819
  15. speciesEtheostoma susanae (Jordan & Swain, 1883)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Etheostoma. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Etheostoma artesiae (Hay, 1881)PercidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Etheostoma asprigene (Forbes, 1878)PercidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Etheostoma autumnale Mayden, 2010PercidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Etheostoma barbouri Kuehne & Small, 1971PercidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Etheostoma basilare Page, Hardman & Near, 2003PercidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Etheostoma bellator Suttkus & Bailey, 1993PercidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Etheostoma bison Ceas & Page, 1997PercidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Etheostoma boschungi Wall & Williams, 1974PercidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Etheostoma burri Ceas & Page, 1997PercidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Etheostoma cervus Powers & Mayden, 2003PercidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Etheostoma chermocki Boschung, Mayden & Tomelleri, 1992PercidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Etheostoma chlorobranchium Zorach, 1972PercidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 198 records assigned to Percidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Boleosoma susanae Jordan & Swain, 1883 Jordan & Swain, 1883synonym

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.

  1. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1466707 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

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:3BL7D. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.