Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 14, 2026

Cheat minnow

The cheat minnow is a hybrid demersal, freshwater fish endemic to the United States, most commonly found in the Ohio River basin. Originally considered the only species in the genus Pararhinichthys as Pararhinichthys bowersi, more recent studies suggest that it is an F1 hybrid of Rhinichthys cataractae and Nocomis micropogon. It is no longer recognized as a distinct taxon by Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes.

Last revised
Jun 14, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
228 w
Citations
6
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Cheat minnow
Scientific classificationEdit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Leuciscidae
Subfamily: Pogonichthyinae
Hybrid: Nocomis micropogon × Rhinichthys cataractae
Synonyms
  • Rhinichthys bowersi Goldsborough & Clark, 1908
  • Pararhinichthys bowsersi (Goldsborough & Clark, 1908)


The cheat minnow is a hybrid demersal, freshwater fish endemic to the United States, most commonly found in the Ohio River basin.1 Originally considered the only species in the genus Pararhinichthys as Pararhinichthys bowersi, more recent studies suggest that it is an F1 hybrid of Rhinichthys cataractae and Nocomis micropogon.2345 It is no longer recognized as a distinct taxon by Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes.6

References

References

  1. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Pararhinichthys bowersi". FishBase. December 2017 version.
  2. "Pararhinichthys bowersi". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  3. Cooper JE (1980). "Egg, Larval and Juvenile Development of Longnose Dace, Rhinichthys cataractae, and River Chub, Nocomis micropogon, with Notes on Their Hybridization". Copeia. 1980 (3): 469–478. doi:10.2307/1444524. JSTOR 1444524.
  4. Poly, William J.; Sabaj, Mark H. (1998). "Lack of Evidence for the Validity of Rhinichthys bowersi (Cyprinidae)". Copeia. 1998 (4): 1081–1085. doi:10.2307/1447363. ISSN 0045-8511.
  5. Tan, Milton; Armbruster, Jonathan W. (2018-09-13). "Phylogenetic classification of extant genera of fishes of the order Cypriniformes (Teleostei: Ostariophysi)". Zootaxa. 4476 (1): 6–39. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4476.1.4. ISSN 1175-5334.
  6. Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Leuciscidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 7 March 2025.