Pantosteus santaanae Snyder, 1908

Open encyclopedia reference

The Santa Ana sucker (Pantosteus santaanae) is a freshwater ray-finned fish, endemic to California. It is closely related to the mountain sucker and has dark grey upper parts and silvery underparts. It grows to a maximum length of 25 cm (10 in), but most adults are much smaller than this. It feeds on algae, diatoms and detritus on the floor of shallow streams with sand, gravel or cobble bottoms. It is found in only a few streams in southern California, and many of these in the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area have been restricted to concrete channels. Because of its small area of occupancy and vulnerability, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated this fish as "endangered".

Often placed in the genus Catostomus, it is now placed in the genus Pantosteus, in which it was originally described. It is the only member of the genus found west of the Pacific Coast Ranges.

Wikipedia contributors, Santa Ana sucker; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T23:30:03.427771+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Pantosteus santaanae Snyder, 1908

Name authority

Snyder, 1908

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Cypriniformes

Family

Catostomidae

Genus

Pantosteus

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. orderCypriniformes
11. familyCatostomidae Agassiz, 1850
12. subfamilyCatostominae Agassiz, 1850
13. tribeCatostomini Agassiz, 1850
14. genusPantosteus Cope in Cope & Yarrow, 1875
15. speciesPantosteus santaanae Snyder, 1908

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 60 records assigned to Catostomidae.

Names & synonyms

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

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. Snyder, J. O. (1908). Description of Pantosteus santa-anae, a new species of fish from the Santa Ana River, California. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, v. 34 (no. 1595): 33–34. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00963801.1595.33 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:4CHG6. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.