The mountain sucker (''Catostomus platyrhynchus'') is a

sucker Sucker may refer to: General use * Lollipop or sucker, a type of confection * Sucker (slang), a slang term for a very gullible person * Hard candy ** Cough drop ** Mint (candy) Biology * Sucker (botany), a term for a shoot that arises undergro ...

found throughout western North America, on both sides of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

, including the upper Missouri River, Columbia River,

Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento� ...

, and

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 watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

. It is not limited to higher altitudes but is known from locations as high as . It is a slender, streamlined fish typically under in length. It is generally olive green or brown above, with pale underparts, and breeding males have a lateral red-orange band and fins suffused with the same color. It is mainly

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpar ...

, feeding on algae and diatoms. Breeding takes place in late spring and early summer in gravelly riffles in small streams.

Description

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

papilla Papilla (Latin, 'nipple') or papillae may refer to: In animals * Papilla (fish anatomy), in the mouth of fish * Basilar papilla, a sensory organ of lizards, amphibians and fish * Dental papilla, in a developing tooth * Dermal papillae, part of ...

e. The inner margin of the lower lip has two semicircular bare areas, and a

cartilaginous Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints as articular cartilage, and is a structural component of many body parts including the rib cage, the neck a ...

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.

Distribution and habitat

The mountain sucker's range is quite extensive in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, but extremely limited in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. They are found as far north as Maine, but the mountain sucker is limited in the Maine region. In the United States, it is found on both sides of the

, including the upper Missouri River, Columbia River,

, and

. 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.

Ecology

Mountain suckers are primarily

, feeding mostly on

alga Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

e and diatoms, but they will eat various aquatic

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s as well. They feed by scraping the substrate with their mouths. 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.

References

* http://www.livinglandscapes.bc.ca/cbasin/peter_myles/nat_catostomidae.html * * Peter B. Moyle, ''Inland Fishes of California'' (University of California Press, 2002), pp. 180–182 * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2408744 Catostomus Fish of North America Fish described in 1874