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<br />166
<br />
<br />Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letter's
<br />
<br />[Vol. XIIf,
<br />
<br />Distribution: Virgin River at St. George and LaVerkin: San Juan River at
<br />Bluff; and Dirty Devil or Fremont River, Utah.
<br />Remarks: In \Vheeler's Survey (1875) 1'. virescens was reported from the
<br />Arkansas River by Cope. This was probably erroneous since no specimen
<br />has been taken there since. Prof. Snyder (1925) found that a mountain
<br />sucker from the Weber and Bear rivers agreed with Cope's type and he
<br />bas established these rivers as the probable locality where tbe fish was
<br />collected. It differs from P. platyrhynchlls in having mor~ numerous scales,
<br />Snyder observed that evell where the two are in the same locality they are
<br />not associated.
<br />
<br />VI. Genus Catostomus LeSueur (Fine-scaled Suckers)
<br />
<br />(10) -Catostomus fecundus Cope and Yarrow. Utah Lake Sucker.s
<br />Plate II, Fig. 2.
<br />Catostomus fecundus Cope and Yarrow. 'Wheeler's Suney, Zool-
<br />ogy Vol. 5, 1875, p. 678.
<br />Type Locality: Utah Lake, Utah.
<br />Catostomus ardens Jordan and Gilbert. Proc. U. S. Na!. Mus. III,
<br />1880, p. 464.
<br />Type Locality: Utah Lake, Utah.
<br />Chaamistes Iiorus Jordan. Bull. U. S. Na!. MilS. XII, 1878, 249.
<br />June Sucker.
<br />Chasmistes fecundus (Cope and Yarrow). Jordan, E-vermann and
<br />Clark, 1930. Check List of Fishes, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries,
<br />p.108. .
<br />
<br />Distribution: Utah Lake, Bear Lake; Provo, Weber and Sevier Rivers; Utah.
<br />Snake River, Idaho.
<br />
<br />Remarks: .Many hundreds of specimens of suckers have been studied, but so
<br />far as we Ihave been able to determine, we have only the one species pres-
<br />ent in Utah Lake today, Catostomus feC/mdlls Cope and Yarrow. We are
<br />unable to distinguish the difference between ardens and feeundus, as the
<br />scale count shows there is a rather wide variation, ranging from sixty-
<br />two to seventy-four scales on the lateral line. The supposed difference
<br />in the mouth and shape of the head cannot be observed in the specimens
<br />we have studied. Specimens of these species in the Stanford University
<br />Fish collection have been studied by the writer, but I am unable to clearly
<br />distinguish the species. We have, therefore, been forced to conclude, for
<br />the present, that ardens is a synonmy of feeundlls. We have recently
<br />been informed by Dr. Carl L. Hubbs6 that he is also in accord with this.
<br />He reports that after studying the types of feeUlldus and arciens, he is
<br />unable to separate the species. As to Chasmistes Horus Jordan, we have
<br />been unable to find any specimens of this species in the lake. The cause
<br />for this is indeed a puzzle. The only explanation we have to offer at this
<br />time is that it has been so greatly reduced by environmental conditions
<br />and seining as tJ be practically exterminated. It may ~ a seasonal species
<br />as in other cases in this region.
<br />Professor Cope and Yarrow found C. feCUtldlls to be very abundant
<br />in Utah Lake when they made their collection in 1872, According to Dr.
<br />
<br />5' The writer read a paper before the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpet,
<br />otocisto, Western Division, at University of California, Berkeley, June, 1934, in
<br />whieh all the species of fishes of Utah Lake were discussed, alons with the chemi,
<br />-' ... ..,..... enaBle. of tbe lake.
<br />II SIll. Per-r ComIll1l1ucatiOll.
<br />
<br />
<br />j(l36j
<br />
<br />Taml"!': .J SI'L!.\' "I Ihe Fishc"s of (-Irlll
<br />
<br />](,7
<br />
<br />Jordan, howevcr, C. feelmdlls was not common jn 1800, but C. (Jrdclls was
<br />the cornmon Slicker of the Lake. ]n 1891 ~)r. Jordan7 comments on this
<br />as follows:. "In d single haul of the large scme made ill a channel on
<br />tIle south SIde of the lake. fifty trollt ranging from two to two and one-
<br />half pounds were taken. \\1 ith these were taken six June suckers Chas-
<br />":isles lioYIIS weighing about three pounds each, two hundred "Mullet"
<br />Catostol1lllS a.rd~ns weighing about two pounds each, one webug Catos/om-lIs
<br />fecllll~lus welghmg one pmmd, and about two hundred chubs Leuciseus
<br />ah:(~tUs! the largest weig~ing one and one-fourth pounds. This list gives
<br />a blr mdex to the relatIve abundance of the larger fishes of the lake.
<br />The" Sucker," and" Webug" are, however, at time proportionately more
<br />abundant."
<br />
<br />Ten years earlier, however, in 1881, Drs. Jordan and Gilbert reported
<br />tha,t Catosto1nllS fecundlls was the common species. On page 463 of their
<br />.. 1\~tes of a <:oll~ctio~ of ~ishes from U~ah Lak~," 8 they say: .. This
<br />sp~cles occurs III Utah Lake III numbers whIch are SImply enormous, justi-
<br />~Ylllg l\f~. Mla~sen's. assertion that the lake is the 'greatest sucker pond
<br />m the ull1::e.rse. I~ IS very destructive to the trout." In this same paper,
<br />C. ardens .IS descnbed from a large male n~arly eighteen inches in length,
<br />beSIdes whIch we have a single young specimen." The scales of ardens
<br />were reported as 9-65-9. Cope and Yarrow gave the lateral line series
<br />of fecundlls as f:lJ. L~r Dr. Jordan and Evermann is their" Fishes of
<br />North and M'iddle America" report the scales for ardens as 12-70 to
<br />72-12, and record it as "swarming in myriads in Utah Lake,"
<br />There seems to be some discrepancy in the scale counts as well as
<br />relative abundance of the two species. . - .
<br />C. {ionlS ~nd C. feeundus have been reported only from Utah. If
<br />ardens IS conSIdered a synonym of C. feeUlu1us this will greatly extend
<br />the range of /eclIlldus since ardens has been reported from Snake River
<br />of Idaho, Yellowstone Park, and in several places in northern Utah.
<br />- The following are lateral line scale counts of 493 specimens of
<br />C atostamlls fecundus:
<br />
<br />Scales lateral series: 60-61-62-63-64-65-66-67-68-69_70-71_72_73_74_
<br />Number of specimens: 11-43-36-93-76-48-38-31-21-21_22_22_21_ 7- 4
<br />
<br />Scales before the dorsal are found to vary between 30 and 44 in about
<br />the same proportions as the lateral line series.
<br />At this writing Jan. 1936 practically all the Snckers as well as other
<br />fish in Utah Lake have been killed by the severe drought of the past four
<br />years, The surface of Utah Lake has been reduced from a normal sur-
<br />face area of 93,000 acres to about 50,000 acres. During the winter of
<br />1934-35 the water was so shallow that hundreds of tons of suckers and
<br />carp were killed due to freezing and crowding in the few deep holes.
<br />They are so completely depleted that the commercial fishermen have had
<br />to abandon all fishing. In the spring of 1935 there were no suckers to
<br />rl!n up Provo River, something that has never happened before in the
<br />hIstory of Utah Lake. Some fishermen have proposed bringing in suckers
<br />from Idaho and restock the lake. It is hoped that Ollr State Game De-
<br />partment will not permit this.
<br />
<br />VII. Genus Xyrauchen Eigenmann and Kirsch.
<br />
<br />Razorback Suckers.
<br />
<br />(11) (765) Xyrauchen texanus (Abbott). Humpback Sucker.
<br />
<br />7 1191. Bull. U. S. FI.h Commillion. Vol. 9, P. ~.
<br />8 1881. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. III, 459.465.
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