What kind of fish is this

[Bass_Hunter]

I have seen 3 of these fish in the last week, one dead, one dying and one just sitting there in shallow water. I am not sure what it is. Any ideas?

Merrimack river, Lowell MA
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[FishinNoob]

Looks to me like a little itty bitty carp, but hey i only just started fishin this spring so i may be wrong
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]Hey Bass_Hunter,[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]Those are SUCKERS.[/size][/black]
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[tubeN2]

I concur. Those are Suckers. They suck the contaminants from the bottom of the rivers.[cool]
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[Bass_Hunter]

Ahhh, suckers, I looked all around on the internet for what kind of fish were in the Merrimack river and area, nowhere did I find any mention of a sucker being in there. Is it just one of those fish that nobody ever talks about because they just suck? or a new species in the area.

Thanks for the help
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]I think that is a catostomus commersoni(scientific name) or the White (Common) Sucker. [/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]They are basically every where and are not usually listed along with game fish in the bodies of water that they inhabit. They are considered by most folks as a rough or trash fish.[/size][/black]
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[davetclown]

I agree that it is a sucker, but dont agree on the species.

I have a white here below, I took second place for the largest in the state of michigan three years ago.
[center][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/1359/cat/500/ppuser/89"][/url][/center] [center]click to enlarge[/center] [center] [/center] [left]Michigan has a dozen or so species of sucker including white or white horse, red horse, hognose, black, flat head, and others that I am not aware of and good luck finding them in a book some where, I am sure there is a book but I have yet to find it, I had my hands on it once when I was an assistant in a library, but that was more than 30 years ago....[/left]
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[davetclown]

I was talking about the sucker on the right not the one on the left in the photo.

it could be a white, just not the same species of white, mine is a white horse. they run early in the spring before the ice is off the lakes. the long nose comes in second then a few weeks later the red horse will come in.

one thing you should know about these fish, tho' they may be bony like a pike, the white flesh is taisty any way you want to cook it, and in michigan people love them smoked like salmon.
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[davetclown]

[url "http://science.jrank.org/pages/6586/Suckers.html"][size 5][#663399]Suckers - Species of suckers[/#663399][/size][/url]

short but interesting reed
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[mattscru]

I think fishhouds right on it being a white sucker. One thing to be awhare of is alot of native suckers are threatend or endagered. Always a good bit of info to know and to pass on to fellow anglers because i know down here people catch gar, carp, bowfin and even chain pickeral and throw them on the bank just to kill them. I feel if its a native species and your not going to eat it let it go as soon as possible. Nice find though, its always fun finding a species of fish that your not 100% certain of what it is.

Matt



P.S. If youve found a few dying recently I wonder if the watershed your fishing has become comtaminated in some way. Wildlife are always the first to tell you and Im sure a sucker being a bottom feeder might be one of the first to show signs? Just a thought.
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[Bass_Hunter]

Yeah, maybe the water is getting contaminated, I saw a dead mallard floating by last night. I also noticed the same sucker sitting in the stream where I caight him last time, well atleast one of them is still alive. I know the other 2 didnt make it.
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[LlindeX]

Yes, the fish is a White Sucker. Go to your local library and look up books on ichthyology and/or limnology. Any good book on these subjects should have them listed and tell you how to tell the different species of suckers apart. As far as the fish kills, if you continue to see them in any numbers, I'd collect one of the freshly dead ones (or one that seems to be in distress), keep it on ice, and turn it in to the local Dept. of Wildlife office along with a description of what you're seeing and the location. They will usually check things out. You never know, you may have some unscrupulous idiot putting something in your stream of river that doesn't belong there. I know, we've have about five or six cases of that here in Colorado in the last few years. It is getting so expensive to legally dispose of waste products, that some people will do anything to avoid that expense; even dump the stuff in a waterway.
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