FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 29 

The white-nosed sucker is known also as the carp mullet, small- 
mouthed red horse and long-tailed red horse. This sucker has a wide- 
distribution, occurring in the Great Lake region and northward, the 
Ohio valley and the eastern states south to North Carolina. It is not, 
however, an abundant species. In Pennsylvania Prof. Cope records it 
as common in Lake Erie and the Allegheny river, and generally con- 
founded by fishermen with the red horse (JZ. macrolepidotum). The 
white-nosed sucker is a small species, seldom exceeding one foot in 
length. It is not a valuable food fish, and there is nothing on record 
concerning its habits. 
In some North Carolina streams this is the commonest species of 
sucker. 
37. Moxostoma macrolepidotum (Ler Sueur). 
The Red Horse. (Figure 33.) 
The red horse has a stout and more or less rounded body, whose depth is one. 
fourth of the total length without the caudal. The least depth of the caudal pedun- 
cle is equal to almost half length of head. The head is broad, flattened above ; snout 
blunt, overpassing mouth. The length of the head is contained four and two-thirds 
times in the total length without caudal. The eye equals about one-fourth length 
of head, The mouth is large, with full lips, the lower being especially well devel- 
oped. A line of muciferous pores connects the lateral line of one side with that of 
the other across the nape, and from this line there extends on either side of the head 
a line which branches back of the eye, and is continued forward by two lines, one 
above the eye, ending at nostrils, and one under eye, passing nostrils to tip of 
snout; there is still another line of these pores on lower margin of cheeks. 
The dorsal fin isshort, its highest ray but slightly longer than dorsal base. Anal 
fin very short, with long rays, the longest two and a half times as long as the base 
of the fin, or equalling length of longest dorsal ray. Caudal forked. 
D. 13 to 14; A. 8 Scales, 6-15-6. Described from No. 12,316, United States National 
Museum, a specimen fourteen inches long, from the Potomac river. 
The common red horse, known also as the white sucker, mullet and 
large-scaled sucker, is an extremely variable species occurring in the 
Great Lake region, Chesapeake Bay region, south to Georgia and Ala- 
bama, and west to Dakota. It is a large species and reaches a length 
of two feet. The principal varieties are noted in Pennsylvania; one of 
them, duquesner, is found in the Ohio river, the other, macrolenidotum, 
is common in the Susquehanna, and less abundant in the Delaware. It 
is abundant in Lake Erie. DeKay described the fish from Oneida lake, 
where it is called mullet and sucker. 
The red horse inhabits clear waters and ascends small streams in May 
to spawn. As a food fish it ranks low, but the species is freely sold. 
Its food consists principally of mollusks and a small percentage of 
plants and insects. Minute crustaceans also form a small portion of 
its food. 
