334 Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Siirvey 



Old settlers about the lake report that 20 or 30 years ago they 

 used to catch a good many Buffalo-fish in Lake Maxinkuckee with 

 the spear, A large one is reported to have drifted ashore some 

 30 years ago near where the Farrar cottage now stands. 



Head very large and thick, 3.5 in length of body; depth 2.5 

 to 3.5 in length; developed rays of dorsal 27 to 29; anal rays 9; 

 ventrals 10; scales 7-37 to 41-6. Body robust, moderately com- 

 pressed, the outline somewhat elliptical, but the back rather more 

 curved than the belly. Opercular apparatus very strong, the 

 operculum itself forming nearly one half the length of the head. 

 Coloration dull brownish olive, not silvery ; fins dusky. 



11. COMMON SUCKER 



CATOSTOMUS COMMERSONII (Lacepede) 



(Plate 6) 



This is the most abundant sucker in the streams and lakes from 

 Quebec and Massachusetts westward to Montana and Colorado 

 and southward to Missouri and Georgia. It does not appear to 

 be at all abundant in Lake Maxinkuckee. On the night of Sep- 

 tember 20, 1900, two large examples, each about 18 inches long 

 and weighing about 2.5 pounds, were seined in shallow water in 

 front of the Fish Commission station. A few small ones were 

 found dead along the shore of the lake in the summer of 1906. No 

 examples were caught in any of the gillnets which we had set. A 

 few young individuals were seined in Culver Inlet and in the Out- 

 let below Lost Lake, and on one occasion a good number were 

 seen in the Outlet some distance below the lakes. 



This fish does not take the hook, and when captured is usually 

 taken in nets and traps. The flesh is of good quality, but very full 

 of small bones. No opportunity was had to study its food or 

 habits, as so few were seen. 



Body moderately stout, varying with age, subterete, heavy at 

 the shoulders, the depth 4 to 4.56 in length. Head rather large 

 and stout, conical, flatfish above, its length 4 to 4.5 in body (3.5 

 to 4.25 in young) . Snout moderately prominent, scarcely over- 

 passing the mouth. Mouth rather large ; the lips strongly papil- 

 lose, the upper moderate, with 2 or 3 rows of papillae. Scales 

 crowded anteriorly, much larger on the sides than below; scales 

 10-64 to 70-9. Coloration olivaceous ; males in spring with a faint 

 rosy lateral band ; young brownish, more or less mottled, often 

 with confluent blackish lateral blotches or a lateral band. Lateral 

 line imperfect in the very young. D. usually 12. L. 18 inches. 



