Some Observations on Ohio Fishes. 123 



very minute or microscopic animals, and which furnish food for 

 the young fry of other fishes. As the paddle-fish is not used for 

 food, and grows to a very large size (I have seen them weighing 

 from seventy-five to one hundred pounds), it must be considered 

 in the light of an evil and a nuisance so far as other fishes are con- 

 cerned, devouring as it does enormous quantities of the food 

 required for the young of desirable species. This fish, with the 

 sturgeons, gar-fish and dog-fish, forms a connecting link between 

 fossil and living fishes, and as such is very interesting to the 

 biologist. 



Family CATASTOMID.E. The Suckers. 



It is well that the tastes of people differ so widely, for while the 

 suckers are despised by many, they are esteemed quite highly as 

 food fishes by others, and it is indeed surprising to see how readily 

 the buffaloes, carp-suckers, red-horses and other coarse suckers 

 sell in the markets — De gustibus non est disputa?idwn. These fishes, 

 with the catfishes, are among the most abundant species in the 

 Ohio and its tributaries, as I found them everywhere in the larger 

 streams, and their young in the smaller ones. 



The suckers, like the minnows, have no teeth in the jaws or 

 mouth, but have teeth of various sizes and shapes in the throat, 

 called pharyngeal teeth. These teeth are usually long and sharp, 

 but one species, which resembles the common red-horse in all its 

 external features, can be distinguished from it only by the teeth 

 in its throat, which are truncated, like a row of small posts. The 

 suckers are both herbivorous and carnivorous. 



Family SCIENIDyE. The Drums. 



The only fresh-water member of the drum family is the abund- 

 ant species known as the " sheepshead " in Lake Erie, and as the 

 " white-perch," grunting-perch, or gaspergou in the Ohio and its 

 tributaries. It is found everywhere in our larger streams. It sells 

 readily in the markets, and is a much better fish in the Ohio basin 

 than in the lakes, which, however, is not saying much for it. 



The most important teeth of the fresh-water drum are in its 

 throat, and resemble a pavement of bowlders on a small scale, by 

 means of which it cracks the shells of the mussels or fresh-water 

 clams very easily ; its food consists mainly of these bivalves, which 

 it grinds up and swallows, shells and all. 



