116 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



[53.] 2. Cyprinus (Catastomus) Forsterianus. (Rich.) Red 



Sucking Carp. 



Cyprinus catastomus, var. Forster, Phil. 7V.,lxiii., p. 158. An. 1779. 

 Mithomapeth. Penn., Arct. Zool. Intr., p. ccxcix. 

 Catastomus Forsterianus. Richardson, Ft. Journ., p. 720. An. 1823. 

 Red Sucker. Fuk Traders. Meethqua-maypeth. Crees. 



This fish is well known in every part of the country that lies north of Canada : 

 we found it in Lake Huron and Great Slave Lake, and north of the latter it exists 

 in greater abundance than the preceding species, which it entirely resembles in its 

 habits. It makes a more gelatinous soup than any other of the northern fish, and 

 is the best bait for trout or pike. It spawns in June. Though Forster has ranked 

 it merely as a variety of the preceding, it is perfectly distinct, both in external 

 appearance and in various internal characters. 



DESCRIPTION 

 Drawn up from recent specimens and revised from prepared ones. 



Form. — The back is broader and straighter than in the foregoing species, and the depth of 

 the body is less, being about one-fifth of the length exclusive of the caudal, or scarcely exceed- 

 ing the thickness : the back and sides are a little flattened, and the profile tapers gradually from 

 the shoulders to the tail. Head contained five times and a half in the total length including 

 the caudal fin : it is not so much compressed as in the foregoing and following species, and 

 the snout is longer and more acute, as well as more moveable. The forehead is straight, not 

 arched, and the anterior margin of the orbit is exactly midway between the tip of the snout 

 and posterior edge of the gill-cover. Mouth larger than in C. Hudsonius and farther back, 

 the upper lip, when protruded to the utmost, being scarcely even with the end of the snout. 

 The pendulous flaps of the lower lip are also broader, and the papillae larger. The interior 

 of the mouth and gullet are similar to the same parts in C. Hudsonius. 



Scales broadly oblong, their sides parallel, their ends segments of a circle; their surfaces 

 impressed with lines radiating from the centre to all sides ; their margins nearly even, instead 

 of being crenated as in C. Hudsonius. They are considerably smaller than those of the latter 

 fish, the difference being most apparent in the scales which cover the forepart of the back. 

 Their size increases with their distance from the head, and those on the shoulder are but little 

 larger than those between the pectorals. A scale taken from beneath the lateral line, midway 

 between the pectorals and ventrals, is four lines long and three broad. A linear inch mea- 

 sured on the side near the gill-openings, contains nine scales, seven over the ventrals, and five 

 over the anal. There are from 98 to 107 scales on the lateral line, thirty in a vertical row 



