The black buffalo (''Ictiobus niger'') is a North American

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of freshwater fish in the

Catostomidae The Catostomidae are the suckers of the order Cypriniformes, with about 78 species in this family of freshwater fishes. The Catostomidae are almost exclusively native to North America. The only exceptions are ''Catostomus catostomus,'' found in ...

or sucker family.* . At 56 years old for one specimen's age, it is one of the longest-lived catostomids. Found in the

Mississippi Basin The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

and southern

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

. It was first discovered in Canada in the western end of

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

and has been reported from Boston Creek. The

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

ranges from rivers and streams in the

Cumberland Mountains The Cumberland Mountains are a mountain range in the southeastern section of the Appalachian Mountains. They are located in western Virginia, southwestern West Virginia, the eastern edges of Kentucky, and eastern middle Tennessee, including the ...

, a few rivers in middle Tennessee, and in west Tennessee along the Mississippi River.Etnier, D. A., Starnes, W. C. (1993). The Fishes of Tennessee. (1 ed., pp. 278–280). Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press. The ecology of the species is quite similar to that of '' I. bubalus''. ''I. niger'' has a

ventrally Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

positioned mouth, making the species’ diet

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

-oriented. It has a distinct shape that mocks ''I. bubalus'' and '' I. cyprinellus'', considering it a hybrid between the two species.

Geographic distribution

''I. niger'' is found in large and small rivers in eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

from the

to Canada. In Canada, the species was first described in

.Houston J. 1990. Status of Black Buffalo, ''I. niger'', in Canada. The Canadian Field-Naturalist 104:98–102. In the United States, the species is found in both small and large rivers in the basins of the Mississippi,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

as well as in southern

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

and Lake Erie. Among others, it is native to

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

and

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

; more southern states include eastern

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Ecology

The ecology of ''I. niger'' is most closely related to ''I. cyprinellus''. Due to the ventrally positioned mouth, the diet is

-oriented, with the Asiatic clam being the principal food.

Detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

and sand are also ingested and contribute about 40% of the dietary volume.Ross, Stephen T., W.M. Brenneman, W.T. Slack, M.T. O'Connell, T.L. Peterson. 2001. The Inland Fishes of Mississippi. (1 ed., pp. 278–279). University Press of Mississippi. It is most commonly found in quiet, shallow waters. The U.S. angling record is and was caught in Tennessee in 1984. The typical length is about with a maximum length of . The typical weight is estimated to be about . A specimen caught in

Shelby County, Tennessee Shelby County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 929,744. It is the largest of the state's List of counties in Tennessee, 95 counties, both in terms of p ...

, on April 1, 1980, was accepted as valid and weighed . ''I. niger'' relies on benthic organisms more heavily than ''I. bubalus.'' ''I. niger'' feeds mostly from the bottom.

Life history

Members of ''

Ictiobus ''Ictiobus'', also known as buffalofish or simply buffalo, is a genus of freshwater fish native to North America, specifically the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Guatemala. They are the largest and longest-lived of the North American sucker ...

'' are large, robust-bodied suckers adapted to large rivers. Currently recognized species are readily diagnosed by morphological characters, and the group is known from fossils dating back to the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

. ''I. niger'' is a spring spawner. They spawn in flooded areas and backwaters of sloughs and small to large rivers...NatureServe – Ictiobus niger
Fertilized eggs are demersal and adhesive. They hatch in 24–36 hours at . ''I. niger'' grows fairly rapidly, averaging after the first year, and is sexually mature at age 2.Becker, G. C. 1983. The fishes of Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin. 1052 pp. The spawning period could take days. Spawning fish remain in a state of excitement, and are unconcerned about unusual movements or disturbances. ''I. niger'' has been reported violently jumping and repressed eagerness while spawning. The fish do not seem to recover normal reaction to alarm until the spawning draws to an end. The black buffalo has a maximum longevity of at least 56 years as estimated by a thin-sectioned otolith from the Michigan State Record fish taken in 2018. This age is more than 30 years older than previously reported for this species' maximum longevity. Like bigmouth buffalo, the black buffalo is long-lived.

Relationship with people

No specific plan exists for protection for this species in Canada other than the Fisheries Act. However, ''I. niger'' is listed as of special concern in Kentucky, Mississippi, South Dakota, and West Virginia. It has also been listed as protected in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. From 1957–59, only seven specimens were recorded in the Ohio River. In 1968–69, only four specimens were captured.Trautman M.B. 1981. The Fishes of Ohio. Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data. 409–411. Threats and issues include loss, modification or fragmentation of large river habitat caused by dams in the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers. Mistaken identity leads to the taking of this species in commercial fisheries. The exotic

bighead carp The bighead carp (''Hypophthalmichthys nobilis'') is a species of cyprinid freshwater fish native to East Asia, and is one of several Asian carps introduced into North America. It is one of the most intensively exploited fishes in fish farming, ...

shares the habitat with ''I. niger'' and consumes large amounts of zooplankton, outcompeting ''I. niger'' for needed food.http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/er/wwap/explore/profiles.asp?mode=detail&species=AFCJC07030§ion=threats . The

IGFA The International Game Fish Association (''IGFA'') is the leading authority on angling pursuits and the keeper of the most current World Record fishing catches by fish categories. Fishermen who are sport fishers are careful to follow their string ...

all tackle world record for the species stands at 63lbs 6oz caught from the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

in 1999.

Management recommendations

To ensure the long life and thriving reproduction of ''I. niger,'' protection and restoration of larger river habitat is needed. Education of anglers, biologists, and the general public in taxonomy, systematics, and habitat use is needed. The species presents special difficulties, due to natural hybridization, for both research and enforcement. Dams need to be equipped with fish passages to connect fragmented habitats. Invasive species that compete or degrade the habitat of native fishes need to be controlled.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q136536 Ictiobus Fish described in 1819 Freshwater fish of North America Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque