Rosyside Dace (Clinostomus funduloides funduloides)

Clinostomus funduloides funduloides
(Rosyside Dace)
Fishes
Native Transplant

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Clinostomus funduloides funduloides Girard, 1856

Common name: Rosyside Dace

Synonyms and Other Names: Clinostomus vandoisulus (Lachner and Deubler 1960)

Taxonomy: available through www.itis.gov

Identification: Clinostomus funduloides funduloides body is compressed and covered with small scales and a complete lateral line (Rohde et al. 2009). The snout is pointed with a large and oblique mouth (Page and Burr 2011). The body coloration is olive with a silver belly and a diffuse dark lateral stripe (Stauffer et al. 1995, Page and Burr 2011). Females and nonbreeding males usually have a red bar or dash present behind the opercle (Rhode et al. 2009). Breeding males develop a bright red lower side, may develop dark blue to blue-grey backs and small tubercules on the fins, head and body (Ernst et al 1995, Rhode et al. 2009). Clinostomus funduloides funduloides differ from Clinostomus funduloides estor in having a wider and more well-developed lateral band on body and lighter pigmentation on sides below lateral line (see Deubler 1955 for additional differential pigmentation descriptions). Page and Burr (2011) describe the difference in scale number between C. f. funduloides, C. f. estor and an additional undescribed subspecies; C. f. funduloides usually have 47-54 lateral scales and 35-43 around body.

Size: Up to 11 cm total length (Page and Burr 2011).

Native Range: The Atlantic slope from the Delaware River drainage, Pennsylvania, to the lower Savannah River drainage, South Carolina and Georgia, in upper Tennessee River drainage, Tennessee and Virginia, and in Ohio River basin, southern Ohio, eastern Kentucky, and southern West Virginia (Page and Burr 2011, Scharpf 2005).

Alaska

Hawaii

Puerto Rico &
Virgin Islands

Guam Saipan

Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUCs) Explained
Interactive maps: Point Distribution Maps

Nonindigenous Occurrences:

Table 1. States with nonindigenous occurrences, the earliest and latest observations in each state, and the tally and names of HUCs with observations†. Names and dates are hyperlinked to their relevant specimen records. The list of references for all nonindigenous occurrences of Clinostomus funduloides funduloides are found here.

State	First Observed	Last Observed	Total HUCs with observations†	HUCs with observations†
NC	2000	2000	1	Nolichucky
VA	1980	1980	*

Table last updated 7/7/2026

† Populations may not be currently present.

* HUCs are not listed for states where the observation(s) cannot be approximated to a HUC (e.g. state centroids or Canadian provinces).

Ecology: Clinostomus funduloides funduloides are most often found in small to medium sized streams with sand, silt or rubble substrate (Deubler 1955), pools of headwater creeks and can also be found in large creeks and small rivers (Rohde et al. 1994, Page and Burr 2011). They appear to be intolerant of turbid and silty waters (Rice and Phinney 1985). Clinostomus funduloides spawn in the spring and early summer (Buhan 1969, Davis 1972, Jenkins and Burkhead 1994). They are nest associates and have been observed spawning over nests of minnow species in the genus Nocomis and Semotilus (Jenkins and Burkhead 1994, Maurakis et al. 1995, Pendleton et al. 2012).

They are drift feeders and their diets consist primarily of terrestrial and aquatic insects but may also consume crustaceans and detritus material (Breder and Crawford 1922, Flemer and Woolcott 1966, Gatz 1979).

Means of Introduction: Human introduced, likely bait (Shute and Etnier 2000).

Status: Established in Virginia.

Impact of Introduction: The impacts of this species are currently unknown, as no studies have been done to determine how it has affected ecosystems in the invaded range. The absence of data does not equate to lack of effects. It does, however, mean that research is required to evaluate effects before conclusions can be made.

Remarks: Clinostomus funduloides subspecies intergrade in the headwaters of the Little Tennessee and Savannah River systems (Deubler 1995). Molecular data generally supports the 3 subspecies described by Deubler (1955) however phylogenetic analyses suggest additional lineages worthy of exploration (Weyand and Piller 2020).

In the southern New River drainage (Virginia and West Virginia), Welsh et al. (2025) considers C. funduloides as non-native while Buckwalter et al. (2018) documents them as a native “strong spreader”.

References: (click for full references)

Breder, C.M., Jr and D.R. Crawford. 1922. The food of certain minnows. Zoologica 2:287–327.

Buckwalter, J.D., E.A. Frimpong, P.L. Angermeier, and J.N. Barney. 2018. Seventy years of stream-fish collections reveal invasions and native range contractions in an Appalachian (USA) watershed. Diversity and Distributions 24(2):219–232.

Buhan, P.J. 1969. The comparative osteology and taxonomy of the north American Cyprinid genera, Richardsonius, Clinostomus and Semotilus, with notes on other minnows. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA.

Davis, R.M. 1972. Age, growth, and fecundity of the rosyside dace, Clinostomus funduloides Girard. Chesapeake Science 13(1):63–66.

Deubler, E.E, Jr. 1955. A taxonomic study of the cyprinid fish Clinostomus vandoisulus (Valenciennes) in the eastern United States. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

Ernst, C.H., J.C. Wilgenbusch, D.R. Morgan, T.P. Boucher, and M. Sommerfield. 1995. Fishes of Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Maryland Naturalist 39(3-4):1–60.

Flemer, D.A., and W.S. Woolcott. 1966. Food habits and distribution of the fishes of Tuckahoe Creek, Virginia, with special emphasis on the bluegill, Lepomis m. macrochirus Rafinesque. Chesapeake Science 7(2):75–89.

Gatz, A.J., Jr. 1979. Ecological morphology of freshwater stream fishes. Tulane Studies in Zoology and Botany 21:91–124.

Girard, C.M.D. 1856. Researches upon the cyprinoid fishes inhabiting the fresh waters of the United States, west of the Mississippi Valley from specimens in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 8:165–213.

Jenkins, R.E., and N.M. Burkhead. 1994. Freshwater fishes of Virginia. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, MD.

Lachner, E.A., and E.E. Deubler, Jr. 1960. Clinostomus funduloides Girard to replace Clinostomus vandoisulus (Valenciennes) as the name of the rosyside dace of eastern North America. Copeia 1960(4):358-360.

Lee, D.S., C.R. Gilbert, C.H. Hocutt, R.E. Jenkins, D.E. McAllister, and J.R. Stauffer, Jr. 1980. Atlas of North American Freshwater Fishes. North Carolina State Museum of Natural History. Raleigh, NC.

Maurakis, E.G., W.S. Woolcott, and W.R. McGuire. 1995. Nocturnal reproductive behavior in Semotilus atromaculatus (Pisces, Cyprinidae). Southeastern Fish Council Proceedings 31:1-3.

Page, L.M., and B.M. Burr. 2011. Peterson field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. 2nd edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, MA.

Pendleton, R.M., J.J. Pritt, B.K. Peoples, and E.A. Frimpong. 2012. The strength of Nocomis nest association contributes to patterns of rarity and commonness among New River, Virginia cyprinids. The American Midland Naturalist 168(1):202-217.

Rice, D.L., and G.J. Phinney. 1985. Distribution and status of the rosyside dace, Clinostomus funduloides, Gerard (Cyprinidae), in southern Ohio. The Ohio Journal of Science 85(4):159-164.

Rohde, F.C., R.G. Arndt, D.G. Lindquist, and J.F. Parnell. 1994. Freshwater fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. University of Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC.

Rohde, F.C., R.G. Arndt, J.W. Foltz, and J.M. Quattro. 2009. Freshwater fishes of South Carolina. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC.

Scharpf, C. 2005. Annotated checklist of North American freshwater fishes, including subspecies and undescribed forms, Part 1: Petromyzontidae through Cyprinidae. American Currents Special Publication 31(4):1-44.

Shute, P.W., and D.A. Etnier. 2000. Southeastern fishes council regional report – 2000.

Stauffer, J.R., J.M. Boltz, and L.R. White. 1995. The fishes of West Virginia. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 146:1-389.

Welsh, S.A., D.A. Cincotta, N.V. Owens, and J.R. Stauffer, JR. 2025. Endemic and invasive species: A history of distributional trends in the fish fauna of the lower New River drainage. Water 17(2):221.

Weyand, A.W., and K.R. Piller. 2020. Assessing phylogeographic variation in the rosyside dace (Teleostei, Leuciscidae), a widespread morphologically variable taxon. Zoological Scripta 49:563-574.

Other Resources:
FishBase Summary

Author: Teague, A.L.

Revision Date: 6/30/2026

Peer Review Date: 6/29/2026

Citation Information:
U.S. Geological Survey, 2026, Clinostomus funduloides funduloides Girard, 1856: Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL, https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?SpeciesID=512, Revision Date: 6/30/2026, Peer Review Date: 6/29/2026, Access Date: 7/7/2026

This information is preliminary or provisional and is subject to revision. It is being provided to meet the need for timely best science. The information has not received final approval by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and is provided on the condition that neither the USGS nor the U.S. Government shall be held liable for any damages resulting from the authorized or unauthorized use of the information.

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