108 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



61 Minytrema melanops (Raflnesque) 

 Striped Sucker; Spotted Sucker; Sand Sucker 



Catostomtis melanops Rafinesque, Iclitli. Obien. 57, 1820; Kirtland, Bost,- 



Jour. Nat. Hist. V, 271, pi. 20, fig. 3, 1845. 

 Catostomus fasciatus Gunthek, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. VII, 19, 1S6S. 

 Minytrema melanops Jordan, Bull. 12, U. S. Nat. Mus. 138, 187S; Jordan 



& Gilbert, Bull. 16. U. S. Nat. Mus. 136, 1883; Bean, Fishes Penua. 



28, pi. 21, fig. 32, 1893; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47. U. S. Nat. Mus. 



187, 1896, pi. XXXVI, fig. 90, 1900. 



Body oblong, robust in adults, its greatest depth one fourth 

 total length to base of caudal; head moderate, subcorneal, its 

 length contained about four and one half times in total length; 

 eye placed high and in the middle of length of head, its diameter 

 2 in snout, 5 in head; nostrils about over the angle of the mouth; 

 scales large, firm, in about 48 longitudinal and 12 or 13 trans- 

 verse rows; dorsal origin over tip of pectoral, its base as long 

 as its longest ray; ventrals nearly under middle of dorsal, length 

 one sixth of total; longest anal ray nearly one fifth of total; 

 least depth of caudal peduncle about one half the length of 

 head. D. 12; A. 7; V. 0. Color dusky above, coppery below, 

 usually a dusky blotch behind dorsal fin; scales mostly with a 

 dark spot at the base, the spots forming longitudinal stripes. 



The striped sucker, also called soft sucker, sand sucker and 

 black-nosed sucker, is found in the Great lakes and south to 

 South Carolina and Texas. In Pennsylvania it is limited to 

 Lake Erie and the Ohio valley. In New York it is to be expected 

 in Lake Ontario and its tributaries, and should also occur in 

 Chautauqua lake. 



The striped sucker grows to a length of 18 inches. Old males 

 have the head tuberculate in the breeding season in the spring. 

 The species is very readily distinguished by the dark stripes 

 along the sides produced by spots at the base of each scale. In 

 the young of this sucker there is no lateral line, but in adults 

 it is almost entire. 



This sucker prefers clear, sluggish waters and grassy ponds. 

 It readily adapts itself to life in the aquarium. It feeds almost 

 entirely on mollusks, insects and insect larvae. The species is- 



