FISHES OF COLORADO I9 



Order Eventognathi 

 The Carps and Suckers 



Family CATOSTOMIDAE 

 The Suckers and Buffalo Fishes 



Body scaled; barbels wanting; no adipose fin; fins without spines; dorsal 

 fin with ten or more rays. 



The suckers are fresh-water fishes and, with the exception of a few species 

 found in Asia, are restricted to North America. They are fishes of medium size, 

 few species being small and few exceptionally large. Among fishermen, suckers 

 are not in favor since they offer little sport and are so full of small bones. The 

 flesh too is without a fine flavor, although that of the larger individuals is often 

 sweet and palatable. Because of their good size and general abundance, however, 

 several species of suckers are quite generally marketed as food fishes. Suckers 

 also have a large economic importance in that their young form a considerable 

 item in the food of many of the large game fishes, especially the trout. 



Seven species of suckers have been taken in Colorado, the suckers of the Rio 

 Grande, of the Colorado River and of the Mississippi drainages being distinct. 

 Two of the three species recorded from the South Platte River and its tributaries 

 are found in Colorado only in that system, while the third species, Catostomus 

 commersonii sucklii (Girard), is common to both the South Platte and the Arkan- 

 sas systems. As regards number of individuals, the suckers are second in this 

 state only to the Cyprinidae or True Minnows, although these are represented in 

 Colorado by nearly three times as many species. 



The seven species of suckers known from Colorado are referable to four 

 genera. These may be distinguished by the following key: 



Key to Genera of Family Catostomidae in Colorado 



a. Body short and deep, distinctly compressed; dorsal fin elongate, of more than twenty-four 



rays Carpiodes Rafinesque 



aa. Body elongate, usually terete, slightly if at all compressed in the anterior half; dorsal fin of 

 ten to thirteen rays. 

 b. Mid-dorsal region just back of the head not elevated into a hump. 



c. Lower lip evenly joined to the upper, there being no indentations or at least very slight 

 ones at the lateral junctions of the two lips; median indentation of the lower lip reaching 

 the margin of the jaw or separated from it by not more than two rows of papillae; no 



well-developed cutting edge on either jaw Catostomus LeSueur 



cc. A deep V-shaped indentation at the junction of the upper and lower lips on each side, 

 the upper lip with a free portion which passes the junction with the lower; median 

 indentation of the lower lip not reaching the margin of the lower jaw but separated from 

 it by three or usually more rows of papillae; both jaws with broad, flattened, homy 

 cutting edges Pantosteus Cope 



