FAMILY CATOSTOMIDAE 123 



pointed than that of the largemouth buffalofish. The mouth also is 

 smaller and is slightly oblique and protractile downward. The hps are 

 rather thick and coarsely plicate. The level of the upper lip is about 

 halfway between the lower margin of the orbit and the chin. The dorsal 

 fin has from 27 to 30 rays. The scales are large, numbering 37-39 in the 

 lateral line. The color is" dark, but there is no appreciable difference in 

 color between the body and the fins. It is a somewhat smaller fish than 

 the black buffalofish. but reaches a weight of over 20 pounds. Forbes 

 and Richardson (1908) stated that about a fifth of the food of the speci- 

 mens examined by them in Illinois was vegetation, mainly duckweed. 



The smallmouth buffalofish occurs from southern Minnesota to 

 southern Michigan and southward to Alabama and Mexico. It is ap- 

 parently not nearly so common in Minnesota as the bigmouth buffalo- 

 fish. Cox (1897) reported it from the Minnesota River. However, as it 

 is said to prefer deeper, clearer waters for its habitat than the more 

 common largemouth buffalofish and has been found in the Mississippi 

 at Homer (Surber) , it will no doubt be found to be more common 

 in southern Minnesota than is now supposed. Wagner (1908) re- 

 ported it as less abundant at Lake Pepin than the bigmouth buflFalo- 

 fish. In Wisconsin Greene (1935) reported it only from Lake Pepin 

 sloughs along the Lower Mississippi River. It has also been reported 

 from Waukesha County in Wisconsin and from Lake St. Croix. Com- 

 mercial fishermen do not as a rule distinguish between the different 

 species but market them all as buffalofish, and so much remains to be 

 learned concerning the distribution of the various species. 



GENUS Carpiodes (Rafinesque) carpsuckers 



This genus consists of silvery, deep-bodied fishes with long dorsal fins, 

 the anterior rays of which are in most species more or less elongated. 

 They are bottom feeders, feeding on almost any animal or plant mat- 

 ter they encounter. Their flesh is exceedingly bony and usually muddy 

 in flavor. The name "carp" has been applied to them, and they are 

 sometimes known as either American carp, carpsuckers, or river carp, 

 though they are not in any way related to the introduced European 

 carp. Considerable variation occurs among the species of this genus and 

 sometimes renders their identification difficult. 



QUILLBACK (Silver Carp, Nee-ge-jesh of the Red Lake Chippewas) 

 Carpiodes cyprinus (LeSueur) 



There is so much difficulty as to the identity of the different species 

 of this genus that it is hard to tell whether this species (Figure 15) is 

 really common or whether casual observers have confused it with C. 

 carpio or even with one of the other species. The body is ovate-oblong 

 and compressed, and the back is much arched. The anterior ravs of the 



