158 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



Fishing for suckers. 

 Photo by Verne Morton. 



THE COMMON SUCKER 



Teacher's Story 



'E who loves to peer down into the depths of still waters, often 

 sees upon the sandy, muddy or rocky bottom several 

 long, wedge-shaped sticks lying at various angles one to 

 another. But if he thrust down a real stick, behold, these 

 inert, water-logged sticks move off deftly! And then he 

 knows that they are suckers. He may drop a hook baited 

 with a worm in front of the nose of one, and if he waits 

 long enough before he pulls up he may catch this fish, not by its gills 

 but by the pit of its stomach; for it not only swallows' the hook com- 

 pletely but tries to digest it along with the worm. Its food is made up 

 of soft-bodied insects and other small water creatures; it is also a mud 

 eater and manages to make a digestive selection from the organic 

 material of silt. For this latter reason, it is not a desirable food fish 

 although its flesh varies in flavor with the locality where it is found. 

 The suckers taken along the rocky shores of Cayuga Lake are fairly 

 palatable, while those taken in the mud of the Cayuga Inlet are very in- 

 ferior in flavor and often uneatable. 



Seen from above, the sucker is wedge-shaped, being widest at the eyes; 

 seen from the side it has a flat lower surface and an ungracefully rounded 

 contour above which tapers only slightly toward the tail. The profile of the 

 face gives the impression of a Roman nose. The young specimens have 

 an irregular scale-mosaic pattern of olive-green blotches on a paler ground 

 color, while the old ones are quite brown above and on the sides. The 

 suckers differ from most other fishes in having the markings of the back 

 extend down the sides almost to the belly. This is a help in concealing 

 the fish, since its sides show from above quite as distinctly as its back 



