82 



FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



This species is abundant in the large tributaries of the Santee and extends 

 its range as far as the Chattahoochee. It attains a large size, and is most com- 

 mon about rocks and in rapids. It appears to have been confounded with 

 Moxostoma cervinum. Under the latter name Cope refers to this fish in the 

 Catawba, stating that it does not exceed a foot in length, is but little valued 

 as food, and is called by the fisherman "jumping mullet" because of its peculiar 

 habit of leaping from the water. Jordan heard the name "jump-rocks" in 

 Georgia. 



Fig. 24. Sucker; Jump-rocks. Moxostoma rupiscartes. 



58. MOXOSTOMA OERVINUM (Dope). 

 Red-horse. 



Teretulus cervinua Cope, Journal Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1868, 236, pi. 24, fig. 3; Roanoke 



and James rivers, Virginia. 

 Ptychostomus cervinus, Cope, 18706, 478; Roanoke River, North Carolina and Virginia. 

 Moxostoma cervinum^ Jordan, 1889&, 125, 129; Tar and Neuse rivers. Evermann & Cox,^1896, 305; Neuse 



River. Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 197. 



Diagnosis. — Form elongate, cylindrical; head very short, .2 total length; mouth large, 

 lips thick, strongly plicate; eye small; fins very small, dorsal rays 10 to 12, free margin straight, 

 longest ray less than head; scales, 43 in lengthwise series, 11 in crosswise series. Color: 

 yellowish brown or greenish brown above ("emerald green after death". Cope), a pale blotch 

 on each scale forming lengthwise streaks; back often marked by dark transverse shades or 

 blotches; fins brownish or slightly reddish, dorsal and caudal with inky black tips, (cervinum, 

 fawn-colored.) 



This species is known only from Roanoke, Tar, and Neuse rivers. Cope 

 attributed the species to Catawba River, but according to Jordan the Catawba 

 fish is Moxostoma rupiscartes. The species is reported as common in Tar and 

 Neuse rivers. Its size is small, probably never more than a foot in length and 

 often not exceeding 4 to 6 inches. 



Genus PLACOPHARYNX Cope. Big-jawed Suckers. 



Similar to Moxostoma but with the pharyngeal bones much larger and 

 stouter and with teeth less numerous and larger, those on lower part of bones 

 from 6 to 10 in number, cylindrical, and with a broad grinding surface. Mouth 

 large, oblique; lips thick. One species, of large size. (Placopharynx, broad- 

 throated.) 



