338 Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 



able. It occurs throughout the region from the Great Lakes south 

 and west through the upper Mississippi Valley, it being perhaps 

 most abundant in Missouri. 



It may be known from all other suckers by the following de- 

 scription : Dorsal fin short, with only 12 rays ; air-bladder in two 

 parts ; lateral line incomplete, most evident in the adult, the scales 

 large, firm, regularly and smoothly imbricated, in 44 to 47 longi- 

 tudinal series. Color dusky above, usually with a black blotch be- 

 hind the dorsal fin; each scale along sides with a small blackish 

 spot, these spots forming interrupted lines along the rows of 

 scales, especially distinct in the adult, faint in the very young. 



15. REDHORSE 



MOXOSTOMA AUREOLUM (Le Sueur) 



This species of sucker, so common in most of the rivers and 

 creeks in the upper Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes region, 

 is apparently very rare in Lake Maxinkuckee. It is essentially a 

 fish of moderately swiftly flowing streams and its occurrence in 

 this lake was unexpected. Our records show but a single speci- 

 men, an example 6.5 inches long, obtained in the summer of 1900. 

 In neighboring streams, such as Yellow and Tippecanoe rivers, it 

 is a common and well-known fish. It is variously known as the 

 Common Redhorse, White Sucker, Large-scaled Sucker and Mullet. 

 In Indiana it is most commonly called the Redhorse, and is a 

 familiar fish to the boys and others who go a-fishing in the spring 

 and early summer. It is not often caught on the hook, though 

 when the hook is baited with angleworms and allowed to lie on the 

 bottom it will sometimes be sucked in by the Redhorse. The 

 method usually employed in the capture of this and other species 

 of suckers, however, was by means of the wire snare. Favorite 

 places were in the interstices in the old log drifts which occurred 

 all too frequently in the smaller Indiana streams 30 to 40 years 

 ago. As a game-fish not much can be said for the Redhorse, al- 

 though it fights well when once it is hooked. As a food-fish it is 

 excellent except for the abundance of fagot-bones. In a fish taken 

 from clear cold water, the flesh is firm and flaky and deliciously 

 sweet. At various places in the Ohio basin, and doubtless else- 

 where where these suckers occur abundantly, they are salted or put 

 up in brine for summer use. 



The breeding habits of the Redhorse are well-known. In the 

 fall, when cold weather comes on, they run down stream and re- 

 tire to the quiet, deeper portions of the river where they remain 



