The desert sucker or Gila Mountain sucker (''Catostomus clarkii''), is a
freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
species of
ray-finned
Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species.
The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
in the
sucker family,
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...
and the
Colorado River Basin
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. stat ...
in the United States. It inhabits rapids and fast-flowing streams with gravelly bottoms. It is a bi-colored fish with the upper parts olive brown to dark green, and the underparts silvery-tan or yellowish. The head is cylindrical, tapering to a thick-lipped mouth on the underside. This fish can grow to in Arizona but is generally only about half this size elsewhere. There are three subspecies, found in different river basins, and some authorities allot this species its own genus ''Pantosteus''.
Description
Desert suckers are bicolored; 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
Scale or scales may refer to:
Mathematics
* Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points
* Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original
* Scale factor, a number w ...
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
A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...
of the desert sucker has 10 to 11 rays. The adult lengths range from in smaller streams, but up to in Arizona. Their weight ranges from .
Distribution
The desert sucker is found in Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. The desert sucker occurs in the lower
Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
basin, below the
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...
, particularly in the
Gila River
The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of n ...
, and above the Grand Canyon in streams in the
Virgin River
The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. The river is about long.Calculated with Google Maps and Google Earth It was designated Utah's first wild and scenic river in 2009, during the ...
basin, the
White River basin and others. The total range area of the desert sucker is estimated at .
Habitat
Desert suckers prefer ripply waters, rapids and flowing streams with gravelly bottoms.
Reproduction
Desert suckers reach maturity in their second year. Spawning occurs in winter and spring from January through May.
Subspecies
Three subspecies have been identified: the White River desert sucker, ''Catostomus clarkii intermedius''
(sometimes known as White River mountain sucker, ''Pantosteus intermedius''),
[Clarkson and Minckley (1988)] Virgin River desert sucker, ''Catostomus clarkii utahensis'',
and the Meadow Valley Wash desert sucker, ''Catostomus clarkii (unnamed)''.
Some ichthyologists regarded these as members of the genus ''Pantosteus'',
but later authors regard ''Pantosteus'' as a subgenus of ''Catostomus''. 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,
* 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,
* 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,
External links
"''Catostomus clarkii''" ITISFishbase"''Catostomus clarkii''" NatureServesearch with "''Catostomus clarkii''" as search term.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2712430
Desert sucker
The desert sucker or Gila Mountain sucker (''Catostomus clarkii''), is a freshwater species of ray-finned fish in the sucker family, endemic to the Great Basin and the Colorado River Basin in the United States. It inhabits rapids and fast-fl ...
Endemic fauna of the United States
Fish of the Western United States
Freshwater fish of the United States
Fauna of the Southwestern United States
Fauna of the Great Basin
Fauna of the Mojave Desert
Fauna of the Lower Colorado River Valley
Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird
Taxa named by Charles Frédéric Girard
Fish described in 1854
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN