Semotilus atromaculatus
(Mitchill, 1818) · speciesAt a glance
Sources11 archives
Databases and archives Semotilus atromaculatus's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation5 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility38 736 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI437 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics75 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Semotilus atromaculatus, known as the creek chub or the common creek chub, is a small minnow, a freshwater fish found in the eastern US and Canada. Differing in size and color depending on origin of development, the creek chub can usually be defined by a dark brown body with a black lateral line spanning horizontally across the body. It lives primarily within streams and rivers. Creek Chubs attain lengths of 2-6 inches with larger specimens of up to 12 inches possible. The genus name Semotilus derives from the Greek word sema (also known as dorsal fin), and atromaculatus comes from the Latin word "black spots".
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology1
Life cycle & reproduction4
Habitat & environment2
Other traits1
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Semotilus atromaculatus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Semotilus atromaculatus carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type38 736 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions21 of 53 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Champaign, US | 3 990 |
| Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record | 2 427 |
| University of Alabamalocation not on record | 2 156 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 2 022 |
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 1 471 |
| Montgomery, US | 1 134 |
| University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record | 933 |
| University of Minnesota, James Ford Bell Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 786 |
| Washington, US | 756 |
| Toronto, CA | 746 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 713 |
| University of Nebraska State Museumlocation not on record | 686 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 663 |
| Chicago, US | 532 |
| München, DE | 515 |
| New Haven, US | 420 |
| Fort Hays State University, Sternberg Museumlocation not on record | 326 |
| Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 242 |
| Cambridge, US | 179 |
| Tempe, US | 175 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 164 |
| APSUlocation not on record | 163 |
| University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrateslocation not on record | 154 |
| ISUAlocation not on record | 127 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 65 |
| Texas Memorial Museum, Texas Natural History Collectionlocation not on record | 62 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 46 |
| CASlocation not on record | 35 |
| Iowa City, US | 27 |
| Central Michigan University Museum of Cultural and Natural Historylocation not on record | 25 |
| Southeastern Louisiana University, Vertebrate Museumlocation not on record | 22 |
| Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record | 18 |
| Vancouver, CA | 17 |
| Royal Ontario Museumlocation not on record | 11 |
| Los Angeles, US | 6 |
| The Atlantic reference Centrelocation not on record | 5 |
| Paris, FR | 4 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 4 |
| University of California San Diegolocation not on record | 3 |
| Stockholm, SE | 2 |
| University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record | 1 |
| Oregon State Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversitylocation not on record | 1 |
| RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record | 1 |
| Royal Saskatchewan Museumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 1 |
| Maurice Lamontagne Institutelocation not on record | 1 |
| 1 | |
| Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeirolocation not on record | 1 |
| South Kensington, GB | 1 |
| Brussels, BE | 1 |
| Geneva, CH | 1 |
| Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental Collegelocation not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Semotilus atromaculatus was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.