Sacramento Splittail

Sacramento splittail are large silvery minnows with a pronounced caudal fin, the upper lobe often larger and protruding farther than the lower, and can grow up to 16 inches long. The fish has a proportionately small and blunt head, with a downturned mouth for benthic (bottom) foraging, and a distinctive hump behind its head (called a nuchal hump). Sacramento splittail are endemic to the rivers, lakes and sloughs of California’s Central Valley waters with a historic range extending from northern to southern California. The species is now mostly restricted to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region, and lower reaches of the Sacramento River. Splittail are a migratory species, travelling from the marshes of the Delta to freshwater floodplains of the Sacramento River annually to spawn. With shrinking floodplain and marsh habitat in their native range, and the pressure of non-native predators and aquatic birds, Sacramento splittails face many similar challenges as the salmonids they share their habitat with.

Fun fact: The Sacramento splittail was first described in 1854, and, alongside the Clear Lake splittail (P. ciscoides), was one of the two species of the genus Pogonichthys. Sometime in the 1970s, the Clear Lake splittail was declared extinct, leaving the Sacramento splittail as the sole living member of its genus.