FISHES 
ORDER PLECTOSPONDYLI. (Carplike 
Fishes. ) 
CatostomipaE. (The Suckers.) 
6. Drum. Lake Carp. Carpiodes thompsoni 
(Agassiz).—Occasionally taken by the gill-net fisher- 
men in Lake Ontario. It attains a weight of five 
or six pounds, but is not valued as a food fish. 
7. Northern Sucker. Long-nosed Sucker. Catosto- 
mus catostomus (Forster).—Occasionally taken in 
Lake Ontario. 
8. Common Sucker. White Sucker. Catostomus 
commersoni (Lacépéde).—This is the most abundant 
of all the Suckers in Ontario waters, and the most 
* generally distributed. It is found in lakes, rivers 
and even in land-locked marshes and ponds. It spawns 
in early spring, soon after the ice goes out, and then 
forces its way up the flooded streams and through 
the swiftest rapids to reach the spawning beds. At 
this time vast numbers are speared and netted by 
fish-hungry people in the rural districts, for at this 
season its flesh is eatable, though coarse and full of 
bones. Commercially it is of very little value, but 
as it affords food for Bass, Lake Trout, and all 
other predaceous and voracious fishes, it is of 
considerable economic importance. Its food consists 
largely of soft-bodied insects and the smaller crus- 
taceans, and it will readily take worm bait. The 
largest I have ever seen would weigh from three to 
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