Laserfiche WebLink
FLANNEL MOUTH SUCKER, Catostomus latipinnis (Baird <br />and Girard) <br />Indians formerly used this abundant sucker for <br />food and it has also served the white man as a bait- <br />fish on the impoundments along the lower part of <br />the Colorado River. It reaches a length of about 2 <br />feet and full-grown fish are commonly 15 to 18 <br />inches long and weigh 1 to 2 pounds. The adults are <br />verv common in pools of large rivers and their major <br />tributaries. and the young swarm in quieter marginal <br />waters of swiftly flowing streams, in much shallower <br />water than do the adults. Like most suckers, this <br />species is a vegetarian; it lives only in the Colorado <br />River basin. In life the color of mature adults is <br />golden yellow to reddish-orange on the sides, green- <br />ish on the back, and pale on the belly; the lower <br />surface of the head may have a pinkish cast. It is the <br />most abundant species of sucker in the Green River. <br />Illustration by Wm. M. Brudon. <br />BLUEHEAD SUCKER, Pantosteus discobolus (Cope) <br />This large sucker provides an important link in the <br />chain of food organisms that are eaten by carnivor- <br />ous game fishes, especially trout. The chisel-like <br />scraping edge on each jaw admirably enables the <br />fish to scrape green algae and other food organisms <br />from the rocks. In upper tributaries of the Green <br />River it lives along with both trout and whitefish, <br />converting the algae that it eats into fish food. <br />HUMPBACK SUCKER, Xyrouchen texanus (Abbott) <br />HUMPBACK SUCKER, Xyrauchen texanus (Abbott) <br />This species, also known as razorback sucker be- <br />cause of the sharp-edged keel on its back, is another <br />fish that was used for food by the aborigines in Dino- <br />saur-National Monument and elsewhere in the Colo- <br />rado River basin. .As recently as 1949 this sucker <br />was taken near Phoenix, Arizona, by commercial fish- <br />ermen, and it has also been marketed in the past in <br />the upper part of the Colorado River. It reaches a <br />This is another species that has respondeci to the <br />torrential currents of the gorge sections of the Green <br />and Yampa rivers by evolving a wonderfully stream- <br />lined body form, small scales, and expansive fins <br />with which to resist the fast-moving water. An ex- <br />treme type, in which the body between the origin of <br />the anal fin and the base of the flail fin is very long <br />and narrow (much as in the bonytail, described pre- <br />viously), is restricted to the swifter parts of the big <br />rivers. <br />Illustration by Sylvia Sontina. <br />length of about three feet and attains weights of <br />10 to 14, and occasionally 16 pounds. It moves up <br />smaller tributaries or to the shores of reservoirs in <br />the spring for spawning, at which time the males <br />have the belly brilliant orange and the sides and back <br />black. Food items found in the stomachs of hump- <br />back suckers comprise algae and the larvae of midges <br />-small gnats or flies. <br />28 <br />NATURALIST <br />BLUE HEAD SUCKER, Pantosteus discobolus (Cope)