40 FISHES OF THE VICINITY OF NEW YORK 



heard such persons complain that the salmon is inferior to the catfish 

 of their native state. 



Our carps are fresh-water fishes with forked tail fins and a single 

 fin with no spines, or at most an initial one, in the center of the back. 

 They have no teeth in the mouth but one or two rows on the lower 

 pharyngeal or throat bones. Superficially the carps resemble only the 

 herrings, with which they might be confused by a novice. It takes little 

 practice, however, to recognize at a glance the coarser structure of a 

 carp from that of the finer more active herring. The carps fall readily 

 into two divisions, the Suckers, with small thick-lipped, downwardly 

 protractile mouths, and a single row of numerous comb-like teeth on the 

 pharyngeal, and the true Carps. The White Sucker has small scales 



WHITE SUCKER 



(sixty-four to seventy cross series) and a lateral line; the Chub Sucker 

 and Red Horse, large scales (about forty-three to forty-five cross series). 

 The Chub Sucker has not and the Red Horse has, a lateral line. The 

 two former are common, the latter rare. The mouth of the Chub 

 Sucker is more normal, thinner lipped than those of the other two, and 

 its young, which characteristically have a black lengthwise stripe, look 

 not unlike some minnows. 



The true carps do not have a sucking mouth and their pharyngeal 

 teeth are few, in one or two rows. Many of them, especially the small 

 ones known as Minnows, are very difficult to tell apart, but the Cut-lip 

 Minnow may be distinguished at sight by its three-lobed lower jaw 

 which looks positively deformed. It would be interesting to know what 

 habit is served by such a peculiar structure. Almost all the remaining 

 carps have the upper jaw protractile, that is, capable of being thrust 

 forward and with a complete groove separating it from the forehead 

 when in its normal position. An exception is the Black-nosed Dace or 



