The quillback, also known as the quillback sucker, is a type of freshwater fish of the sucker family widely distributed throughout North America. It is deeper-bodied than most suckers, leading to a fuller-bodied appearance. However, the quillback is not a carp. Quillback are catostomids, and like all catstomids, they do not have barbels around the mouth. The quillback is long-lived, with age up to 30 years, 44 years, 49 years, and 52 years documented across different studies throughout North America.
Cypriniformes is an order of ray-finned fish, which includes many families and genera of cyprinid fish, such as barbs, gobies, loaches, botias, and minnows. Cypriniformes is an "order-within-an-order", placed under the superorder Ostariophysi—which is also made up of cyprinid, ostariophysin fishes. The order contains 11–12 families, over 400 genera, and more than 4,250 named species; new species are regularly described, and new genera are recognized frequently. Cyprinids are most diverse in South and Southeast Asia, but are entirely absent from Australia and South America. At 112 years old, the longest-lived cypriniform fish documented is the bigmouth buffalo.
Bowfishing is a fishing technique that uses specialized archery equipment to impale and retrieve fish. A bowfisher will use a bow or crossbow to shoot fish through the water surface with a barbed arrow tethered to a line, and then manually retrieve the line and arrow back, in modern times usually with a reel mounted on the bow. Unlike other popular forms of fishing where baiting and exploiting the fish's instinctual behaviors are important, bowfishing is similar to spearfishing and relies purely on the fisherman's own visual perception and marksmanship, and usually do not involve using other tools such as hand net.
The longnose sucker is a species of cypriniform freshwater fish in the family Catostomidae. It is native to North America from the northern United States to the top of the continent. It is also found in Russia in rivers of eastern Siberia, and this one of only two species of sucker native to Asia.
Catostomus is a genus of fish belonging to the family Catostomidae, commonly known as suckers. This genus of fish usually lives in freshwater basins. Most members of the genus are native to North America, but C. catostomus is also found in Russia.
The bigmouth buffalo is a fish native to North America that is in decline. It is the largest North American species in the Catostomidae or "sucker" family, and is one of the longest-lived and latest-maturing freshwater fishes, capable of living 127 years and reproducing infrequently. Even at a century old they show no age-related declines, but instead improvements relative to younger individuals, making this species a biological marvel. It is commonly called the gourdhead, marblehead, redmouth buffalo, buffalofish, bernard buffalo, roundhead, or brown buffalo. The bigmouth buffalo is not a carp, nor is any other fish in the sucker family. Although they share the same order, each belong to different suborders and are native to separate continents.
The black buffalo is a North American species of freshwater fish in the Catostomidae or sucker family. With a lifespan of up to 108 years, it is among the longest-lived of freshwater fish species. Found in the Mississippi Basin and southern Great Lakes. It was first discovered in Canada in the western end of Lake Erie and has been reported from Boston Creek. The Tennessee distribution ranges from rivers and streams in the Cumberland Mountains, a few rivers in middle Tennessee, and in west Tennessee along the Mississippi River. The ecology of the species is quite similar to that of I. bubalus. I. niger has a ventrally positioned mouth, making the species’ diet benthic-oriented. It has a distinct shape that mocks I. bubalus and I. cyprinellus, considering it a hybrid between the two species.
Rough fish is a term used by some United States state agencies and anglers to describe fish that are less desirable to sport anglers within a defined region. The term usually refers to larger game fish species that are not commonly eaten, are too rare to be commonly encountered, or are not favorably sought by anglers for sporting purposes. Many of these species are actually very important in the commercial fishing industry, where they make up the bulk of commercial food fish catches in inland freshwater bodies.
Moxostoma, the redhorses or jumprocks, is a genus of North American ray-finned fish in the family Catostomidae. Redhorses are variable in size, geographic location, and other ecological traits such as spawning substrate. Several redhorses are long-lived, much like many other catostomid species. The silver redhorse is the longest-lived redhorse known by nearly a decade, with ages exceeding 40 years. Redhorses are broadly of conservation concern, as these long-lived species are highly intolerant to environmental pollution, habitat fragmentation, and are currently subject to unregulated 21st century sport bowfishing which is removing and wantonly wasting several of these species by the ton.
Myxocyprinus is a monotypic genus of freshwater fish in the monotypic subfamily Myxocyprininae within the family Catostomidae. The only species is Myxocyprinus asiaticus, also known as the Chinese sucker.
Jianghanichthys is an extinct genus of freshwater cypriniform fish from the Late Paleocene to Early Eocene of central and southern China, and the only member of the family Jianghanichthyidae. It is the oldest cypriniform fish known from body fossils, and the most basal known cypriniform.
Amyzon is an extinct genus belonging to the sucker family Catostomidae first described in 1872 by E. D. Cope. There are six valid species in the genus. Amyzon are found in North American fossil sites dated from the Early Eocene in Montana and Washington USA, as well as the British Columbian sites at McAbee Fossil Beds, Driftwood Canyon, and the "Horsefly shale", as well as Early Oligocene sites in Nevada USA. One Middle Eocene species is known from the Xiawanpu Formation of China. The Ypresian species A. brevipinne of the Allenby Formation was redescribed in 2021 and moved to a separate monotypic genus Wilsonium.
The Alabama hog sucker is a species of fish in the family Catostomidae, the suckers. It is native to several river systems in the southeastern United States. Its range includes much of the state of Alabama and extends into parts of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia.
Ictiobus, also known as buffalofishes, buffalofish or simply buffalo, is a genus of freshwater fish native to North America, specifically the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Guatemala. They are the largest and longest-lived of the North American suckers, reaching up to 1.23 m (4.0 ft) in length and more than 100 years of age for three of the five species. At up to 127 years for bigmouth buffalo, they are the longest-lived freshwater teleost, which is a group of more than 12,000 species. Bigmouth buffalo, black buffalo and smallmouth buffalo are found in the United States or Canada. Little is known about the two other buffalofish species: the fleshylip buffalo found in Mexico, or the usumacinta buffalo found in Mexico and Guatemala. Buffalofish are not carp, nor is any other catostomid; they belong to different scientific families having evolved on separate continents. Buffalofish live in most types of freshwater bodies where panfish are found, such as ponds, creeks, rivers, and lakes. Ictiobus were caught by the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Loaches are ray-finned fish of the suborder Cobitoidei. They are freshwater, benthic (bottom-dwelling) fish found in rivers and creeks throughout Eurasia and northern Africa. Loaches are among the most diverse groups of fish; the 1249 known species of Cobitoidei comprise about 107 genera divided among 9 families.
The river carpsucker is a freshwater fish belonging to the Catostomidae that is native to the inland United States and northern Mexico. This species has a slightly arched back and is somewhat stout and compressed. While the fins are usually opaque, in older fish they may be dark yellow. It is distributed along the Mississippi River basin from Pennsylvania to Montana. The river carpsucker, like most suckers, is a bottom feeder and obtains its nutrients from algae, microcrustaceans, and other various tiny planktonic plants and animals found in silty substrates. Like its congener, the quillback, the river carpsucker is long-lived, with a known maximum lifespan of 40 years in Colorado, and 47 years in Minnesota. It begins to reproduce typically in late spring, and the female usually releases more than 100,000 eggs. There is no parental care provided.
The smallmouth buffalo is recently realized as one of the longest-lived fishes, capable of living more than a century. The smallmouth buffalo is in decline across large portions of its range, and is subject to unregulated exploitation. They are a catostomid fish species native to the major tributaries and surrounding waters of the Mississippi River in the United States, as well as some other water systems where it has been introduced. It is a long-lived, stocky fish like its relatives the bigmouth buffalo and the black buffalo. The smallmouth buffalo's mouth is located ventrally like other Catostomidae species, whereas the bigmouth buffalo's mouth is terminal and opens forward. It is thought that smallmouth buffalo eyes are significantly larger than those of the black buffalo. Despite being members of different scientific suborders, these three species are sometimes conflated with common carp, but an easy and notable difference is that all catostomids lack the characteristic barbels of carp, and carp are not native to North America whereas buffalofish are. Like the other buffalofish species, the smallmouth buffalo is targeted by modern bowfishing.
