The Clear Lake splittail (''Pogonichthys ciscoides'') is an extinct species of freshwater

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Leuciscidae Leuciscidae is a family of freshwater ray-finned fishes, formerly classified as a subfamily of the Cyprinidae, which contains the true minnows. Members of the Old World (OW) clade of minnows within this subfamily are known as European minnow ...

, the shiners, daces and minnows. This species was endemic to California's Clear Lake and its tributaries until its numbers severely declined due to competition from the introduced bluegill and alterations to the flow of inlet streams. In greatly reduced numbers, the Clear Lake Splittail barely persisted until the 1967 introduction to surrounding lakes of the

inland silverside The inland silverside (''Menidia beryllina'') is a neotropical silverside native to eastern North America, and introduced into California. It is a fish of estuaries and freshwater environments. Inland silversides are quite elongate even for sil ...

as an experiment by the Department of Fish & Game. A fisherman supposedly introduced the silverside via bait bucket into Clear Lake. This dealt the final blow to the Clear Lake splittail, which had similar feeding habits. All of the splittails were taken by fishermen or have been eaten by catfish and large mouth bass. No Clear Lake splittails have been captured since the early 1970s, and the species is presumed to be extinct.

References

* * * Pogonichthys Endemic fauna of California Endemic fish of the United States Fish described in 1974 Extinct animals of the United States Fish of North America becoming extinct since 1500 Natural history of Lake County, California {{Leuciscinae-stub