The largest family of fishes found in the United States is the minnow 

 family, the Cyprinidae. The recent check list of fishes records almost three 

 hundred native species. Most of them seldom get to be more than a few 

 inches long, but some of the minnows of the western states, of which the Gila 

 Trout is an example, become a foot or more long. The largest native minnow, 

 Ptychocheiliis lucius, may attain a length of five feet. Two introduced Asiatic 

 members of the minnow family, the carp and the goldfish, get to be over a 

 foot long. The carp has been generally blamed for the decrease in number 

 of many of our best native fishes, but the truth seems to be that man, by pol- 

 luting the streams, has himself killed otf many native forms, Vv-hile the hardier 

 carp survives and multiplies. Its habit of grubbing in the mud, however, does 

 result in the uprooting of aquatic vegetation and the destruction of the eggs 

 of some of its rivals. The goldfish often escapes from captivity, and, especially 

 if it has failed to make the change from its original olive gray to the more 

 familiar gold, may escape its enemies and attain a si2,e far greater than that of 

 more closely confined specimens. Minnows are always a bugbear to the ama- 

 teur, for the differences between the species are not well marked and are often 

 based on pharyngeal teeth and internal characters. Also there are so many 

 species that a reading of the minnow section of the check list is likely to leave 

 one with the impression that every stream, tributary and pond has its own 

 individual species. ''Minnows of Michigan'', by Hubbs and Cooper, is an 

 excellent introduction to a study of the family and should serve as a model 

 for similar surveys in other states. 



Another large family, the suckers or Catostomidae, all have extensible 

 sucking mouths, specialized for drawing insects and worms from under stones. 

 Their peculiar method of feeding reminds one of the action of a vacuum 

 cleaner. The fish hovers just in front of its prey, which, drawn by the powerful 

 suction, suddenly appears to leap into the waiting mouth. Some genera of 

 suckers resemble carp quite closely, except for their lips and the absence of a 

 dorsal and an anal spine, and are sometimes sold as "winter carp" in fish mar- 

 kets. Like carp, when taken from cold running waters their flesh is fairly 

 palatable, although the many small bones are a nuisance. In warm waters the 

 flesh becomes soft and oily. Suckers are among the fishes that make spectacular 

 runs up streams during the spawning season. They do a great deal of splashing 

 at the surface at this time, especially over the gravel beds where they drop their 

 eggs. Since the suckers are largely insectivorous they compete with the game 

 fishes for food and so are unpopular with sportsmen and fish culturists. 



Another large family, second only to the minnows in number of native 

 species, is that of the darters, the Etheostomidae, for which the check list records 

 over a hundred species occurring within the United States, none west of the 

 Rockies. These fishes, having small or no air bladders, cannot float in the water, 

 but lie on the bottom v^'hile at rest, and make sudden dashing excursions from 



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