200 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 
THE PALE SUCKER. 
-CaTOSTOMUS PALLIDUS. 
PLATE XXXIII. FIG, 104. 
Characteristics. Sides pale. The two portions of the air-bladder united ‘by a wide aperture. 
Caudal fin furcate. Length 9 - 10 inches. 
Description. Body rounded, subquadrate, being quite depressed on the back anterior to the 
dorsal fin, and the sides are nearly vertical. Scales with concentric and radiating impressions, 
round, and festooned on the exposed margins; small on the back and shoulders, becoming 
gradually larger to the tail. Lateral line nearly medial, very slightly curved. Eyes large, 
somewhat nearer the edge of the branchial aperture than to the end of the snout. A series 
of mucous pores running over each eye, and terminating above the nostril; another from near 
the extremity of the snout, proceeds under the eye, then rising closely behind it, runs back- 
ward near the upper angle of the gill opening, thence to the nape, which it crosses to meet a 
similar series on the other side. Upper surface of the head and snout smooth, with the slight 
inequalities common to the genus, and which are scarcely obvious in the living specimens. 
The dorsal fin scarcely longer than high, slightly excavated above ; its first ray short and 
simple; the first articulated ray longest: this fin commences equidistant between the snout 
and the base of the caudal fin. Pectorals pointed, equal in length to the anal. Ventrals 
short, and placed under the posterior part of the dorsal. Anal fin long, subacute, reaching 
to the base of the caudal fin. Caudal furcate. Air-bladder divided into two separate portions ; 
the posterior longest, elliptical, with its posterior extremity attenuated behind ; anterior long 
and subcordate, less in diameter than the posterior portion. 
Color, of the head dark greenish, with metallic reflections on the cheeks. _ Irides golden. 
Back light bluish, becoming mixed with yellow and paler on the sides. Abdomen white. 
Dorsal and caudal dark brown mixed with yellow. Anal with a faint tinge of yellow. Pec- 
torals and ventrals orange. 
Length, 9°0. Depth, 1°8. 
Fin rays, D. 13; P. 16; V.9; A. 8; C. 18 4. 
The Pale Sucker is a common species, and is taken about the beginning of April. It is 
abundant near Peekskill. I was at first disposed to arrange it with the preceding, with which 
it agrees in many particulars. Its uniformly pale appearance, forked tail, and the form of its 
air-bladder, have induced me to treat it as distinct, although closely allied-to that species. 
