Catostomus commersonii, White sucker : fisheries, aquaculture, gamefish, bait

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  Catostomidae
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- Catostominae
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Catostomus commersonii (Lacepède, 1803)

White sucker

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Catostomus commersonii
Picture by Seelig, C.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Cypriniformes (Carps) > Catostomidae (Suckers) > Catostominae
Etymology: Catostomus: Greek, kata = down + Greek, stoma = mouth (Ref. 45335); commersonii: Named after P. Commerson, early french naturalist.
Eponymy: Dr Philibert Commerson (1727–1773) was known as ‘doctor, botanist and naturalist of the King’. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.
More on author: Lacepède.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; brackish; demersal, usually ? - 30 m (Ref. 1998). Temperate; 0°C - 29°C (Ref. 35682); 68°N - 34°N

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

North America: throughout most of Canada to the Atlantic Coast, south through North Carolina to New Mexico in the USA, becoming less common in the southern High Plains.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ?, range 23 - ? cm
Max length : 65.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 10294); common length : 40.7 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 12193); max. published weight: 2.9 kg (Ref. 4699); max. reported age: 12 years (Ref. 12193)

Inhabits a wide range of habitats, from rocky pools and riffles of headwaters to large lakes. Usually occurs in small, clear, cool creeks and small to medium rivers. May be found at a depth greater than 45 m (Ref. 1998). Moves to shallower water near sunrise and sunset to feed. Fry (1.2 cm in length) feed on plankton and other small invertebrates; bottom feeding commences upon reaching a length of 1.6-1.8 cm. Preyed upon by birds, fishes, lamprey, and mammals (Ref. 1998). Flesh is white, flaky, and sweet (Ref. 1998).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Adults home to certain gravelly spawning streams. Two to four males crowd around a female and press against her with their fins. Eggs are scattered and adhere to the gravel or are carried downstream and adhere to the substrate when the water is calmer. The spawning act lasts for 3-4 seconds and may occur 6-40 times an hour (Ref. 1998). Spent adults return to the lake 10-14 days after spawning began. Most females return to the lake during the first half of the downstream migration followed by most males in the latter half. Downstream fry migration occurs between dusk and dawn (Ref. 10928).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr, 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 432 p. (Ref. 5723)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 26 October 2011

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; aquaculture: commercial; gamefish: yes; bait: occasionally

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators

Ecology
Ecology

Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance

Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
Spawning aggregations
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics

Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos

Anatomy
Gill area
Brain
Otolith

Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)

Genetics
Genetics
Heterozygosity
Heritability

Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.

Outreach
Collaborators

Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Morphometrics
Pictures

References
References

Tools

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01122 (0.00891 - 0.01412), b=2.99 (2.92 - 3.06), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 2.8 ±0.2 se; based on diet studies.

Generation time: 8.5 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 2 growth studies.

Resilience (Ref. 120179): Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (tm=6; tmax=12).

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): High vulnerability (57 of 100).

Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.

Nutrients (Ref. 124155): Calcium = 52.1 [25.3, 83.6] mg/100g; Iron = 0.403 [0.252, 0.694] mg/100g; Protein = 16.6 [14.4, 19.2] %; Omega3 = 0.736 [0.374, 1.461] g/100g; Selenium = 14.8 [8.2, 28.1] μg/100g; VitaminA = 11.4 [4.2, 29.5] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.696 [0.520, 0.964] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.

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