SALMON INVESTIGATIONS IN IDAHO IN 1895. 
173 
‘20 to 21. Upon going out in the lake about the mouth of the lower inlet in the evening between 5 and 
8 o’clock, large schools of lish were seen swimming about at various depths in water 10 to 30 feet 
deep. After some little observation they were seen to be suckers and s(inawfish. Sometimes the two 
species would be mixed and in the same school, but usually they schooled separately. 
The suckers ordinarily kept near the bottom while I observed them at this lake, but the large 
schools which I afterwards saw in Alturas Lake beliaved quite dittereutly. Large schools ot lish were 
s<‘en by IMessrs. Meek and Soolield at various times in I’ettit Lake, chiellj^ ahout the iidet or outlet, 
which were probably suckers or squawfish. Such schools were noticed August 11 and 19 and at tdher 
times. Between 7 and 8 o’clock on the ev^euing of Sei)tem;ier 1 our most interesting observations on 
this sucker were made. What appeared to lie a large school of lish was seen out in Alturas Lake, off 
the mouth of the inlet, swimming at or near the surlace. Upon taking the boat and going out near 
them, wo sa\v a large school of fish swimming about at the surface, many of them Avith their noses 
out of the Avater. Occasionally one Avould jump out of the Avater, and the entire fish could be seen. 
When they came AA’ithin 5 to 15 feet of the boat they Avould take fright, and, Avith a (luick flirt and 
sjilash, the entire school would descend beneath the surface, Avhere they could be seen sAA'imming along 
at A'arious depths. Soon, lioweA^er, they would ascend to the surface again and repeat the movements 
first noticed. The noses of many could be seen sticking above the AA'ater, and the disturbed surface 
resembled the ripiilo caused by the current of a creek floAving out and meeting the still Avater of the 
lakes. The schools Avere composed of 25 to 150 fish each. The majority appeared to be about a foot in 
length, though many Avere evidently much larger. IVe at first took them to be redfish ; ami in the 
gloAV of the setting sun and evening twilight they certainly appeared as red as any redfish avo had 
ever seen. It was therefore Avith considerable surprise that Ave discoA'ered, upon closer observation, 
that the belly and anal fin of each Avere while, and that each had a sucker mouth. IVe tried, Avitliout 
success, to gaff some of them, but afterwards we caught many of them in our seine and proved them 
to be Catostomus macrocheihis. They were observed at other times. At almost any time of day, Avheu 
the Avater Avas smooth, they could be seen at Aarious depths about the month of the inlet; but Ave 
neA^er saAv them SAvimming at the surface or jumping except in the evening and when the Avater Avas 
not disturbed by the wind. 
This habit of swimming at the surface with the nose out of the water as if to get air, and the 
occasional jumping, has not, so far as I am aAvare, lieeu hitherto observed or recorded in any sx>ecies 
of Ca1osto)iu(s. It is not easy to determine Avhat maybe the 2 )urpose or meaning of this curious habit. 
It is not jArobable that i t is for the xmrpose of obtaining air. In a lake of the size and dejith of Alturas 
Lake, whose Avater is jAure and cold and more or less disturlied cA’ery day by stiff breezes, there would 
seem to be no necessity of (hat kind. And it is OA'en more imin'obable that they come to the surface 
for food. We observed them on several different occasions and at different times of the day, but at 
the surface only in the evening. The jieculiar red ajuiearauce was most marked late in the cA'ening. 
Schools of fish seen by Dr. Meek in Pettit Lake, and at iirst thought by him to be redfish, he is 
now sure Avere suckers. I am cou\duced that the large schools which ]\Ir. Comstock saAV in Pedlish 
■Lake and thought to bo redfish Avere really suckers; and it is quite likely that the “acres of redlish” 
which Amrious iiersons have rejiorted to have seen in these lakes were not redfish at all, but only 
suckers. 
A great many suckers were caught at different times, either Avith the seine in the lake about the 
month of Alturas Inlet or in Alturas (')utlet in the gill net. ComparatiA'e measurements of 57 of these 
are giA'eu in the accom^ianying table. Nos. 1 to 40, inclusive, were taken in the seine (39 of them at 
one haul) in Alturas Lake at the inlet, Sejitember 10. The smallest weighed three-fourths of a pound, 
the largest 14 2 >ounds, and the total weight of the 40 fish was 44 jiounds. Nos. 41 to 45, 248, and 249 
were taken in the Alturas Outlet gill net Seiitember 4. They Aveighed two-lifths, two-fifths, one- 
fourth, one-fourth, one-fonrth, one-fourth, and one-fourth jioiind, resjiectiA^ely. No. 42« is from Snake 
Liver at Glenn Ferry; Nos. 168, 169, and 172 from Payette Inlet; the others from Alturas Lake or its 
outlet. 
In many specimens examined, the lower li^A is incised nearlj'^ to the base, there being usually only 
one or two rows of iiapiilhe, or sometimes none, across the base. The lobes are moderately long and 
rounded. The anal fin is high and jAointed, its height being contained 1|- to 14 in the head. In life 
these fishes Avere usually quite dark on back and sides down to axis of body, where the color changes 
abruptly to white, the contrast being A'ery noticeable, eAmn in the Avater. The anal fin is plain Avhite. 
A large, broad taiieAvorm Avas frequently found in the abdominal caefity of these suckers. 
