Desert sucker

Taxobox
name = Desert sucker
status = LR/nt | status_system = IUCN2.3
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Cypriniformes
subordo = Cobitoidea
familia = Catostomidae
genus = "Catostomus"
subgenus = "Pantosteus"
species = "C. clarkii"
binomial = "Catostomus clarkii"
binomial_authority = Baird & Girard, 1854

The desert sucker, "Catostomus clarkii", is a freshwater species of fish in the sucker family that lives in the Great Basin and the Colorado River basin.

Description

Desert suckers are bi-colored; the back and upper sides are darker, olive-brown to dark green, and the belly and lower sides are deep-yellow to silvery tan. The scales on the upper half of the body have dark spots which form faint dashed lines. Their head is cylindrical, tapering to a blunt face with the lower lip about three times as thick as upper lip. The mouth is on the underside (ventral) of the face and is proportionately large. The dorsal fin of the desert sucker has 10 to 11 rays. The adult lengths range from Convert|4|in|mm|0 to Convert|16|in|mm|0 in smaller streams but up to Convert|31|in|mm|0 in Arizona. [ [http://www.gf.state.az.us/h_f/fish_desert_sucker.shtml "Desert Sucker" Arizona Game & Fish] ] Their weight ranges from Unit oz|4|-1 to Unit oz|65|-1.

Distribution

The desert sucker occurs in the lower Colorado River basin, below the Grand Canyon,particularly in the Gila River, and above the Grand Canyon in streams in the Virgin River basin, the White River basin and others. Their total range area is estimated at Convert|128000|km2|sqmi|-3|abbr=on. [Pyron, Mark (1999) "Relationships between geographical range size, body size, local abundance, and habitat breadth in North American suckers and sunfishes" "Journal of Biogeography" 26(3): pp. 549-558, p. 557]

Habitat

Desert suckers prefer ripply waters, rapids and flowing streams with gravelly bottoms.

Reproduction

Desert suckers reach maturity in their second year. [Sublette "et al." (1990) p.206] Spawning occurs in winter and spring from January through May. [Lee "et al." (1980)]

ubspecies

Three subspecies have been identified: the White River Desert Sucker, "Catostomus clarkii intermedius" [http://www.desertfishes.org/na/index.shtml "DFC North American Fish Index" "Desert Fishes Council"] ] (sometimes known as White River Mountain Sucker, "Pantosteus intermedius")Clarkson and Minckley (1988)] , Virgin River Desert Sucker, "Catostomus clarkii utahensis" [ [http://www.mojavemax.com/eguide/FISH/evaluation/dsucker.htm "Desert sucker: "Catostomus clarkii utahensis" Mojave Max] ] , and the Meadow Valley Wash Desert Sucker, "Catostomus clarkii (unnamed)" [ [http://ndow.org/wild/conservation/lip/LIP_Species_Table.pdf "Nevada Department of Wildlife LIP Focus Species" Nevada Department of Wildlife] ] .

Some ichthyologists regarded these as members of the genus "Pantosteus", but later authors regard "Pantosteus" as a subgenus of "Catostomus" [Sublette "et al." (1990)] . There are suggestions of hybridization between "Catostomus clarkii" and "Catostomus insignis".

Notes

References

* Lee, David S. "et al." (1980) "Atlas of North American Freshwater Fishes" North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, Patricia Ledlie Bookseller Inc, ISBN 0-917134-03-6
* Clarkson, Robert W. and Minckley, W. L. (1988) "Morphology and foods of Arizona catostomid Fishes: "Catostomus insignis", "Pantosteus clarki", and their putative hybrids" "Copeia" 1988: pp. 422-433
* Sublette, James E.; Hatch, Michael D. and Sublette, Mary (1990) "Catostomus (Pantosteus) clarki"
*Baird and Girard - desert sucker" "The Fishes of New Mexico" University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, pp. 205-207, ISBN 0-8263-1179-2
* Smith, G. R. 1992. "Phylogeny and biogeography of the Catostomidae, freshwater fishes of North America and Asia" Pages 778-826 "In" Mayden, R. L. (ed.) (1992) "Systematics, historical ecology, and North American freshwater fishes" Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, California, ISBN 0-8047-2162-9

External links

* [http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=163901 "Catostomus clarkii" ITIS]
* [http://www.fishbase.org/summary/speciessummary.php?id=2963 Fishbase]
* [http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?init=Species "Catostomus clarkii" NatureServe] search with "Catostomus clarkii" as search term.