90 



FISHES OF ILLINOIS 



Found in the Great Lake region and the Ohio Valley, including 

 Pennsylvania and New York; also ranging down the St. Lawrence 

 and into the streams of the Atlantic coast as far south as North 

 Carolina. Northward its range extends to Lake Winnipeg and the 

 Assiniboin River. 



This is the so-called white-nosed sucker of the Great Lakes. It 

 is distributed throughout Illinois, but in rather moderate numbers, 

 and mainly in the larger streams — the Illinois, the Rock, the Mis- 

 sissippi, the Ohio, and the Wabash. The species reaches a large size, 

 Varying in length from one to two feet, and it is a somewhat accept- 

 able, though not abundant, food fish. At some points on Lake 

 Michigan it contributes a considerable percentage to the catch of 

 suckers, although the fine-scaled sucker and the short-nosed red- 

 horse commonly outnumber it. 



MOXOSTOMA AUREOLUM (Le Sueur) 

 (common red-horse) 



Le Sueur, 1817, J. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., I, 95 (Catostomus). 



G., VII, 18 (Catostomus duquesni) ; J. & G., 140 (macrolepidotum, part); M. V., 47 

 (macrolepidotum duquesnei and (?) aureolum); J. & E., I, 192, N., 49 (Teret- 

 ulus duquesnii and macrolepidotum); J, 63 (Myxostoma macrolepidotum var. 

 duquesnii); P., 80 (macrolepidotum); F. F., II. 7, 442 (macrolepidotum). 



Body elongate, heavier forward, considerably compressed, the back 

 little elevated; depth 4 to 4.4 in length. Size father large, attaining a 

 weight of 5 or 6 lb. Color of back and sides an almost uniform oli- 

 vaceous, very litttle darker above, taking on a faint silvery tinge lower 



down ; faint tints of salmon or yellowish along 

 sides in front of dorsal ;±>elly smoky white ; dorsal 

 quite dusky, without pale edge; caudal grayish 

 olive; lower fins with some orange near base, 

 the broad outer margins faintly dusky. Head 

 moderate, 3.9 to 4.5 in length, its width 5.7 to 

 6.8, depth 5.2 to 5. 9, not strongly tapered, rather 

 flattened above, the cheeks nearly vertical; in- 

 terorbital space nearly flat, 2.2 to 2.6 in head; 

 snout 2.3 to 2.8 in head, its tip squarish, little 

 decurved; mouth large, both upper and lower 

 lips thick, strongly and coarsely plicate, halves 

 of lower lip meeting at a rather wide angle; eye 

 large, 4 to 5 in head. Dorsal rays 12-14, the 

 fin a little higher than long, last ray more than half the length of longest 

 anterior ray ; free margin of dorsal straight ; lower fins rather longer than 

 in the next species, longest in the males, pectorals reaching § to f of dis- 

 tance from pectoral to ventral basis; upper lobe of caudal a little longer 

 than lower. Scales 6, 41-48, 5-7 ; lateral line complete, faintly flexuose. 



Fig. 22 

 Lips of Moxostomci 



aureolum 



