The June sucker (''Chasmistes liorus'') is an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

of fish

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 ...

Utah Lake Utah Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Utah County, Utah, United States. It lies in Utah Valley, surrounded by the Provo- Orem metropolitan area. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Salt ...

and the

Provo River The Provo River is located in Utah County and Wasatch County, Utah, in the United States. It rises in the Uinta Mountains at Wall Lake and flows about southwest to Utah Lake at the city of Provo, Utah. Course The two main branches of Provo Rive ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. It is a gray or brownish fish with a paler belly, growing up to about . It lives alongside the

Utah sucker The Utah sucker (''Catostomus ardens'') is a species of freshwater fish in the family (biology), family Catostomidae found in the upper Snake River and the Lake Bonneville areas of western North America where it lives in a wide range of habitats. ...

, which has a much wider range, and because the populations of both fish having been much reduced by fishing, other species such as the

common carp The Eurasian carp or European carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), widely known as the common carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.Fishbase''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758/ref>Arkive The ...

have been introduced into the lake. As a result, the June sucker has become " critically endangered" as the pure species is lost as a result of hybridization with the Utah sucker, and predatory fish feed on its larvae. Conservation measures have been put in place and fish are being raised in a

fish hatchery A fish hatchery is a place for artificial breeding, hatching, and rearing through the early life stages of animals—finfish and shellfish in particular.Crespi V., Coche A. (2008) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Gloss ...

for reintroduction.

Description

It is a member of the sucker family

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 ...

, and occurs in

sympatry In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

with the

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 ...

Utah sucker ''Catostomus ardens''. Unlike most other suckers, the June sucker is not a bottom-feeder. Its mouth is more rostrally oriented, allowing it to collect

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

from the midwater. The fish is dark gray or brownish

dorsally 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 ...

, with a white or slightly greenish belly. It has a lifespan over 40 years. Typical specimens range from 17 to 24 in (43 to 61 cm) and reach a weight of 5 lb (2.3 kg.)

Distribution

The June sucker is known only from Utah Lake in the United States, its feeder streams, and the adjacent Provo River.

Status

This

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 ...

was once plentiful in its native lake. Some contributions to its decline include

predation Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...

on its young by introduced species such as the common carp and

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...

, pollution and

turbidity Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality. Fluids can ...

, drought, alteration of water flow, and loss of some native vegetation. It also hybridizes with the Utah sucker (''Catostomus ardens'') and unhybridized fish may not remain. Biologists have been rearing the June sucker in

Red Butte Reservoir Red Butte Creek is a small stream whose headwaters are found in the northeast part of Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It flows west through the Red Butte Garden and Arboretum, by the University of Utah, Fort Douglas and flows southwesterl ...

, and more recently in the

Springville, Utah Springville is a city in Utah County, Utah, Utah County, Utah that is part of the Provo–Orem metropolitan area. The population was 35,268 in 2020, according to the United States Census. Springville is a bedroom community for commuters who work ...

, which had been closed due to an outbreak of

whirling disease ''Myxobolus cerebralis'' is a myxosporean parasite of salmonids (salmon and trout species) that causes whirling disease in farmed salmon and trout and also in wild fish populations. It was first described in rainbow trout in Germany in 1893, b ...

. As whirling disease does not affect June suckers, the hatchery was reopened to house them. After the June suckers grow to a certain size, they are released into Utah Lake to help build the population. Th
June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program
coordinates and implements recovery actions for the June sucker.

References

June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program

Species Profile for June sucker
''US Fish & Wildlife Service.''
June sucker
''Utah Conservation Data Center''.

''Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission.''
Endangered June suckers now raised at second hatchery
''

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is part of the Utah Department of Natural Resources for the state of Utah in the United States. The mission of the Division of Wildlife Resources is to serve the people of Utah as trustee and guardian of ...

''.
Geographic patterns of genetic variation in Utah sucker
''Utah sucker genetics''. {{Taxonbar, from=Q630127 Catostomidae Endemic fauna of Utah Fish of the Western United States Freshwater fish of the United States Fish described in 1878 Endangered fish Critically endangered fauna of the United States ESA endangered species