Gila crassicauda (Baird & Girard, 1854)
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 thicktail chub (Gila crassicauda) was a type of minnow that inhabited the lowlands and weedy backwaters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers in the Central Valley of California. It was once abundant in lowland lakes, marshes, ponds, slow-moving stretches of river, and, during years of heavy run-off, the surface waters of San Francisco Bay. The thicktail chub was one of the most common fish in California. Within Native American middens it represented 40% of the fish. The chub was a favored food of the indigenous peoples of Clear Lake and the Central Valley before being heavily exploited by commercial fishermen supplying the San Francisco market. A heavy-bodied fish with a thick tail and a small, cone-shaped head, the backs of the thicktail chub ranged in color from greenish brown to purplish black, while the sides and belly were yellow. It could reach a length of nearly ten inches. Although little is known about its behavior, it was probably carnivorous, feeding on small fish and invertebrates.
Wikipedia contributors, Thicktail chub; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:36:33.545262+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Gila crassicauda (Baird & Girard, 1854)
- Name authority
- (Baird & Girard, 1854)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Cypriniformes
- Family
- Cyprinidae
- Genus
- Gila
- 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
- orderCypriniformes
- familyCyprinidae Rafinesque, 1815
- subfamilyLeuciscinae Bonaparte, 1835
- genusGila Baird & Girard, 1853
- speciesGila crassicauda (Baird & Girard, 1854)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Gila. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Gila conspersa Garman, 1881 | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gila cypha Miller, 1946 | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Sonora ChubGila ditaenia Miller, 1945 | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| BonytailGila elegans Baird & Girard, 1853 | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mexican Roundtail ChubGila minacae Meek, 1902 | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chihuahua ChubGila nigrescens (Girard, 1856) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gila orcuttii (Eigenmann & Eigenmann, 1890) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gila pandora (Cope, 1872) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Yaqui ChubGila purpurea (Girard, 1856) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gila robusta Baird & Girard, 1853 | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gila seminuda Cope & Yarrow, 1875 | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gila atraria (Girard, 1856) | CyprinidaeChordata | 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 |
|---|---|
| Lavinia conformis Baird & Girard, 1854 Baird & Girard, 1854 | synonym |
| Lavinia crassicauda Baird & Girard, 1854 Baird & Girard, 1854 | synonym |
| Tigoma crassa Girard, 1856 Girard, 1856 | synonym |
| Leuciscus gibbosus Ayres, 1854 Ayres, 1854 | 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=1021594 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:3G2G5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.