Mountain sucker
Encyclopedia
The Mountain Sucker is a sucker
found throughout western North America
.
This is a slender and streamlined sucker, generally olive green to brown above and on the sides, and white to yellowish underneath. There may be a pattern of darker blotches along the sides. Adult males will also have a dark red-orange band over a dark green band on each side, and during breeding season their fins will take on a red-orange shade also. Although the species epithet platyrhynchus means "flat snout", the snout is not actually less round than in other suckers. The mouth is underneath, framed by large and protrusible lips covered with many papillae. The inner margin of the lower lip has two semicircular bare areas, and a cartilaginous plate used for scraping. Just above the 9-rayed pelvic fins there are small protrusions on each side. Length ranges up to 25 cm, with a length under 20 cm typical.
Mountain suckers are primarily herbivorous, feeding mostly on algae and diatom
s, but they will eat various aquatic invertebrate
s as well. They feed by scraping the substrate with their mouths.
While suckerfish in general live in a variety of habitats, the Mountain Sucker tends to favor clear water streams with a moderate gradient, with widths of 3 – 15 m and depths of less than 2 m, and rocky or gravelly bottoms. Although not exclusive to high elevations, they often live in cool mountain streams (thus the common name), being found as high as 2,800 m, and in waters just above freezing temperatures. Within a stream, they are found in pools or eddies behind or under rocks and logs.
Spawning occurs during late spring to early summer, when the waters are between 10.5-18.8°C
. They move into smaller streams, where they spawn over gravel riffles upstream from quiet pools.
The mountain sucker's range is quite extensive in the United States, but extremely limited in Canada
. They are found as far north as Maine, but the Mountain sucker is limited in Maine region.In the United States, it is found on both sides of the Rocky Mountains
, including the upper Missouri River
, Columbia River
, Sacramento River
, and Colorado River
.
Catostomidae
Catostomidae is the sucker family of the order Cypriniformes. There are 80 species in this family of freshwater fishes. Catostomidae are found in North America, east central China, and eastern Siberia...
found throughout western North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
This is a slender and streamlined sucker, generally olive green to brown above and on the sides, and white to yellowish underneath. There may be a pattern of darker blotches along the sides. Adult males will also have a dark red-orange band over a dark green band on each side, and during breeding season their fins will take on a red-orange shade also. Although the species epithet platyrhynchus means "flat snout", the snout is not actually less round than in other suckers. The mouth is underneath, framed by large and protrusible lips covered with many papillae. The inner margin of the lower lip has two semicircular bare areas, and a cartilaginous plate used for scraping. Just above the 9-rayed pelvic fins there are small protrusions on each side. Length ranges up to 25 cm, with a length under 20 cm typical.
Mountain suckers are primarily herbivorous, feeding mostly on algae and diatom
Diatom
Diatoms are a major group of algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton. Most diatoms are unicellular, although they can exist as colonies in the shape of filaments or ribbons , fans , zigzags , or stellate colonies . Diatoms are producers within the food chain...
s, but they will eat various aquatic invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s as well. They feed by scraping the substrate with their mouths.
While suckerfish in general live in a variety of habitats, the Mountain Sucker tends to favor clear water streams with a moderate gradient, with widths of 3 – 15 m and depths of less than 2 m, and rocky or gravelly bottoms. Although not exclusive to high elevations, they often live in cool mountain streams (thus the common name), being found as high as 2,800 m, and in waters just above freezing temperatures. Within a stream, they are found in pools or eddies behind or under rocks and logs.
Spawning occurs during late spring to early summer, when the waters are between 10.5-18.8°C
Celsius
Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...
. They move into smaller streams, where they spawn over gravel riffles upstream from quiet pools.
The mountain sucker's range is quite extensive in the United States, but extremely limited in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. They are found as far north as Maine, but the Mountain sucker is limited in Maine region.In the United States, it is found on both sides of the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, including the upper Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
, Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
, Sacramento River
Sacramento River
The Sacramento River is an important watercourse of Northern and Central California in the United States. The largest river in California, it rises on the eastern slopes of the Klamath Mountains, and after a journey south of over , empties into Suisun Bay, an arm of the San Francisco Bay, and...
, and Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
.