24 FISHES OF THE CONNECTICUT LAKES. 



This sucker derives many of its local names from its color, appear- 

 ance and habitat, being variously known as " black sucker," " white 

 sucker," " brassy sucker," " barvel," " barbel," '" brook sucker," and 

 " lake sucker." In North America it has an extensive range, being 

 recorded as follows: Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the 

 Great Lakes, south to Georgia and Missouri, west to Colorado and 

 Montana, and northward to Ungava Bay. 



It is the larger of the two suckers occurring in the Connecticut 

 lakes; we have one specimen from Second Lake measuring 16.20 

 inches in total length. It occurs in all of the waters of this region. 

 It inhabits all kinds of waters from large lakes to small ponds and 

 great rivers to rivulets, and of course varies correspondingly in 

 appearance and size. Its food is usually minute animal and vegetable 

 organisms, though it does not reject larger objects. Young fish have 

 been found in its stomach and it feeds largely upon the eggs of other 

 fish when it can get them. Young fish 1.37 to 1.62 inches long from 

 Indian Stream, August 4, were found to be feeding upon diatoms, 

 desmids, and black fly larvae. It will frequently take a baited hook, 

 and sometimes is so eager for the bait that it causes annoj^ance to 

 anglers. It has been caught on a spoon and on the artificial fly, but 

 rarely (only once in our experience). When hooked a large sucker 

 fights vigorously for a short time, then succumbs. 



So far as known it is of little use to any water of which it is a deni- 

 zen, unless it be by eating larval insects. As a food fish it is not of 

 much value, though it is eaten and is said to be of good flavor when 

 taken from cold waters, but rather bony. 



Young suckers have not very often been found in other fishes' 

 stomachs, though occasionally a cusk contains one or more. A guide 

 at Second Connecticut Lake informed us that when they were allowed 

 to use " night lines " sucker bait was considered the best for " lunge." 



This sucker ascends streams in the spring and early summer to 

 spawn, when in some places it is caught in large quantities with spear 

 or dip net to feed the hogs and fowl, or to use as fertilizer. It usually 

 runs at night, sometimes returning to the lake before daylight, some- 

 times hiding away during the daytime in deep holes, under banks, or 

 overhanging bushes. The spawning season in Connecticut Lake 

 water had passed before July 1. Like the other species mentioned, 

 adults of this species only a few inches long also occur in small bodies 

 of water, and one of this character was described by Mather as Catos- 

 tomus titawana. But, unlike the longnose sucker, the size varies with 

 the size of the stream or lake in which it occurs. 



