Eastern Carp Sucker 



in Lake Champlain about April 23 was 21 inches long and weighed 

 7 pounds. It was a nearly ripe female and the roe alone weighed 

 2.5 pounds. 



The food value of the flesh of this fish is essentially the same 

 as that of the species of Ictiobus. 



By the fishermen of Lake Champlain this species is known as 

 "buffalo," "carp sucker," or "drum." 



Head 4 to 4.5; depth 2.5; eye small, 5 to 5.5 in head; D. 

 27; A. 7; V. 10; scales 8-39 to 41-6. Body short and stout, 

 the back much arched; head small, the snout pointed; lips thin 

 and white, meeting at a wide angle; tip of lower jaw much in 

 advance of nostrils; maxillary reaching vertical at front of orbit; 

 scales closely imbricated; dorsal rays considerably elevated, f as 

 long as base of fin; origin of dorsal fin about midway of body. 



C. velifer, the quillback, spearfish, sailfish, or skimfish, is a 

 small species found pretty well throughout the Mississippi Valley. 

 It is distinguished from other species in the same waters by the 

 produced first dorsal ray and the character of the lower lip whose 

 halves meet at an acute angle. 



Eastern Carp Sucker 



Carpiodes cyprinus (Le Sueur) 



In the Potomac and the streams about Chesapeake Bay occurs 

 C. cyprinus, the Eastern carp sucker, which resembles C. velifer 

 except that its opercles are smooth. Neither of these species is 

 of much or any food-value. 



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