.43 6 
AMERICAN FISHES. 
I have never found this fish in really muddy water. Although called the 
“ Mud Sucker” in the brooks, it is most characteristically a fish of the 
running streams. This species reaches a length of about two feet, and is. 
often caught in its spawning season by means of a spear or snare. It is,, 
like C. commersoni, a “boy’s fish,” and not worth the eating. 
It is hardy in the aquarium, and like its handsome cousin, Catostomus 
melanops , the Striped Sucker is recommended for domestication by Cope. 
The suckers afford sport of an exciting kind to those who know how to 
capture them with snares of horse-hair or fine wire. I have thus caught 
them in Dutchess County, N. Y., where this method is greatly in favor. 
Vast quantities are taken in the sluiceways of dams, and by spearing by 
torch-light or “ weequashing.” 
THE CHUB SUCKER—ERIMYZON SUCCETTA. 
The “Chub Sucker,” Erimyzon succetta , the “Sweet Sucker” or 
“Creek-fish,” is one of the most abundant and widely diffused of the 
Suckers, being found from Maine to Texas. It is one of the smallest 
species, reaching a length of little more than a foot. A closely related 
species abounds in Florida, where it was first collected by the author, and 
has been named by Jordan Erimyzon Goodei. Hallock says that the 
“ Chub-sucker” is often called the “ Barbel.” 
The Black Horse, Cycleptus elongatus , also called “Missouri Sucker,” 
“Gourd-seed Sucker,” “ Suckerel ” and “ Shoenaher ” is found in the 
river channels of the Ohio and Mississippi. It reaches a considerable 
size, weighing sometimes fifteen pounds, and is said to be a much finer 
