The bonytail chub or bonytail (Gila elegans) is a cyprinid freshwater fish native to the Colorado River basin of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in the southwestern United States;[2] it has been extirpated from the part of the basin in Mexico.

[1] It was once abundant and widespread in the basin, its numbers and range have declined to the point where it has been listed as endangered since 1980 (ESA) and 1986 (IUCN),[1][3] a fate shared by the other large Colorado basin endemic fish species like the Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, and razorback sucker.

[9] Some are concerned about the amount of water used to increase stream flows that are required for adequate bonytail chub habitat.

[12] Bonytail chub prefer backwaters with rocky or muddy bottoms and flowing pools, although they have been reported in swiftly moving water.

[5] Spawning in Lake Mohave has been observed during May, while in the upper Green River, it occurs in the months of June and July.

[13] A USFWS Recovery Plan was established in 1990, and included objectives of protecting the habitats of the bonytail chub, and even reintroducing hatchery-reared fish into the wild.

[14] The Bonytail Chub Recovery Plan was approved on September 4, 1990, and refugia for the bonytail chub exist today in several places: Dexter National Fish Hatchery, New Mexico; Arizona Game and Fish Page Springs Hatchery; Ouray National Wildlife Refuge, Ouray, Utah; Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, Sasabe, Arizona; Niland Native Fish Ponds, California.