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White sucker
Catostomus commersoni
Habitat requirements and life history:
The white sucker is a native, loosely schooling fish. It is
currently the most abundant fish in the Assabet River. It
can inhabit a wide range of habitats including streams, rivers
and lakes where the water is brown or tea-colored (from tannin),
the bottom is often gravel or rock, and the current is pronounced.
Aquatic vegetation is usually sparse or absent. White suckers
are bottom feeders with a mouth that faces downward and resembles
a snout. The fish uses its mouth to attach to rocks and vacuum
the bottom for aquatic insect larvae, crustaceans, snails,
fish eggs and detritus. They move upstream into the tributaries
in May and June to spawn in the riffles. Here they usually
clear the bottom of the spawning area of silt and debris.
The expulsion of eggs and milt (fish sperm) by the fish is
violent enough to raise clouds of silt, sand and gravel that
help cover the eggs. The eggs hatch in about 10-11 days. (Sources:
Freshwater Fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, &
Delaware and AMC Guide to Freshwater Fishing in New England)
Total length: about
24 inches (occasionally 28 - 30 inches)
Pollution tolerance (US EPA): Tolerant
Classification:
Fluvial dependent
Number of fish found during 1954 and 2001
Fish Surveys.*
| Location |
No. of Fish 1954 |
No. of Fish 2001 |
| Assabet River |
166 |
382 |
| Cold Harbor Brook |
|
9 |
| Danforth Brook |
|
6 |
| Elizabeth Brook |
|
1 |
| Fort Meadow Brook |
2 |
|
| Great Brook |
|
2 |
| Hop Brook |
1 |
9 |
| Mill Brook |
|
11 |
| Nashoba Brook |
16 |
|
| North Brook |
13 |
34 |
| UNT to A-1 Site |
|
2 |
| Total |
198 |
456 |
*Data sources:
Schlotterbeck, L.C. and W.A. Tompkins, 1954. "A Fisheries
Investigation of the Merrimack and Ipswich River Drainages."
Bureau of Wildlife Research and Management, Massachusetts Division
of Fisheries and Game.
DFW, 2001. Assabet Watershed Fish Survey. MA Department of Fisheries
and Wildlife, Westborough, MA.
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