Klamath smallscale sucker

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Klamath smallscale sucker
Catostomus rimiculus FWS 22088.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Catostomidae
Genus: Catostomus
Species:
C. rimiculus
Binomial name
Catostomus rimiculus
Gilbert and Snyder in Gilbert, 1898

The Klamath smallscale sucker(Catostomus rimiculus), also known as the Jenny Creek sucker, [1] [2] is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Catostomidae. [3] It is a freshwater fish that primarily inhabits the Trinity and Klamath River watersheds, as well as the overall region of the Klamath Basin in general. Within the Klamath Basin, they inhabit the area along with three other sucker fish: [4] the Lost River sucker, shortnose sucker, and the Klamath largescale sucker. These fish can vary in length from 35 cm to 50 cm, [5] and usually have a lifespan of around 9-15 years. [3] They often form mixed schools with speckled dace, sculpins, and juvenile steelhead. [6]

Contents

A population of the species separated from the Klamath River by a waterfall are called Jenny Creek suckers. [2]

Distribution

Klamath smallscale suckers primarily inhabits the Trinity and Klamath River watersheds. [7] Within the Klamath River basin it is considered rare. [8]

Genetic analyses suggest that six or fewer Klamath smallscale suckers from the Klamath River founded the population in the Smith River. [9]

Relationship with humans

In Oregon Klamath smallscale suckers are listed as a sensitive species of concern. [10]

The International Game Fish Association all tackle world record for the Klamath smallscale sucker stands at 2 lbs 8 oz taken from the Trinity River near Del Loma, California. [11]

Life Cycle

Reproduction

Klamath smallscale suckers migrate to tributary streams to reproduce in the spring. Female suckers are able to produce 15,000-20,000 eggs, which male suckers then externally fertilize. [12] They migrate to the larger streams where they spend their adulthood.

Growth

Jenny Creek Suckers live up to 5-6 years, while the Klamath population has a longer life expectancy up to 17 years. Both populations experience rapid growth in the first half of their lives, with Jenny Creek Suckers and Klamath smallscale suckers reaching their maximum sizes by around 3 years and 10 years, respectively. Compared to Jenny Creek Suckers that reach around 140 mm length at their maturity, Klamath suckers are significantly larger, reaching up to 400 mm in size. [13]

Genetics

Klamath smallscale suckers are genetically closely related to three other species of the Catostomidae family that also inhabit the Klamath River: Klamath largescale suckers, Lost River suckers, and Shortnose suckers. [14] The four species and their eggs are highly similar in appearance, leading to frequent misclassification. Research suggests that there is hybridization occurring among the four species, the cause of which has yet to be determined. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upper Klamath Lake</span> Large lake in southern Oregon, United States

Upper Klamath Lake is a large, shallow freshwater lake east of the Cascade Range in south-central Oregon in the United States. The largest body of fresh water by surface area in Oregon, it is approximately 25 miles (40 km) long and 8 miles (13 km) wide and extends northwest from the city of Klamath Falls. It sits at an average elevation of 4,140 feet (1,260 m).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klamath Project</span> Water-management project in the U.S. states of California and Oregon

The Klamath Project is a water-management project developed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation to supply farmers with irrigation water and farmland in the Klamath Basin. The project also supplies water to the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge. The project was one of the first to be developed by the Reclamation Service, which later became the Bureau of Reclamation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge</span> Wildlife refuge in northern California, United States

The Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States in northern California near the Oregon border. It covers 39,116 acres (15,830 ha) in the Tule Lake basin. It is part of the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and is a crucial part of the Pacific Flyway corridor for migratory birds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shortnose sucker</span> Species of fish

The shortnose sucker is a rare species of fish in the family Catostomidae, the suckers. This fish is native to southern Oregon and northern California in the United States. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longnose sucker</span> Species of fish

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 thus one of only two species of sucker native to Asia.

<i>Catostomus</i> Genus of fishes

Catostomus is a genus of fish belonging to the family Catostomidae, commonly known as suckers. Most members of the genus are native to North America, but C. catostomus is also found in Russia. Fish from different species of the genus are known to readily hybridize with each other.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Ana sucker</span> Species of fish

The Santa Ana sucker is a freshwater ray-finned fish, endemic to California. It is closely related to the mountain sucker and has dark grey upper parts and silvery underparts. It grows to a maximum length of 25 cm (10 in), but most adults are much smaller than this. It feeds on algae, diatoms and detritus on the floor of shallow streams with sand, gravel or cobble bottoms. It is found in only a few streams in southern California, and many of these in the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area have been restricted to concrete channels. Because of its small area of occupancy and vulnerability, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated this fish as "endangered".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utah sucker</span> Species of fish

The Utah sucker is a species of freshwater fish in the family Catostomidae found in the upper Snake River and the Lake Bonneville areas of western North America where it lives in a wide range of habitats. It is a large sucker growing up to 25 in (64 cm) long. It is generally blackish above, vaguely streaked and blotched, with a white belly. A narrow rosy lateral band extends backwards from the head. The mouth has thick lips and is on the underside of the head. Some populations are in decline because of anthropogenic factors but overall this fish is not threatened.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yaqui sucker</span> Species of fish

The Yaqui sucker is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Catostomidae. It is found the Aridoamerica region of northern Mexico and south-western United States. Catostomus bernardini or Yaqui sucker belongs to the family Catostomidae. The Yaqui sucker is related to the Sonora sucker and could possibly be a subspecies of the Gila sucker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klamath largescale sucker</span> Species of fish

The Klamath largescale sucker is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Catostomidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner sucker</span> Species of fish

The Warner sucker is a rare species of freshwater ray-finned fish in the family Catostomidae. Native to Oregon in the United States and found only in the Warner Basin, its distribution extends just into Nevada and California. It is a federally listed threatened species. Its other common name is redhorse. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated this fish as an endangered species because of its small extent of occurrence, the small number of locations in which it is found, and the extreme fluctuations in area of occupancy resulting from drought and water abstraction. Conservation efforts have been put in place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost River sucker</span> Species of fish

The Lost River sucker is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Catostomidae. It is the only living member of the genus Deltistes. It is found only in California and Oregon. Its population is much reduced from historical numbers for a number of reasons. It is federally listed as an endangered species of the United States. This species is known as the C'waam by the local Native American Nation, the Klamath Tribes.

The bridgelip sucker is a fish in the family Catostomidae that occupies the Columbia River system. Like all sucker fish, they live only in fresh water. Bridgelip suckers have a tendency to live in deeper waters during the day and move into shallower water around evening time. As adults they eat periphyton. Adolescents, however, eat aquatic hatchlings and zooplankton. Adult bridgelip sucker range in size from 5 inches to 17 inches. They spawn around May, when the water temperature is between 8-13 C, and lay somewhere around 9,955 and 21,040 eggs. Inside of the Columbia River system, the bridgelip sucker shares much of its territory another similar looking sucker, the largescale sucker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owens sucker</span> Species of fish

The Owens sucker is a fish in the family Catostomidae which is endemic to California.

The 2002 Klamath River fish kill occurred on the Klamath River in California in September 2002. According to the official estimate of mortality, about 34,000 fish died. Though some counts may estimate over 70,000 adult chinook salmon were killed when returning to the river to spawn, making it the largest salmon kill in the history of the Western United States. Besides the chinook salmon, other fish that perished include: steelhead, coho salmon, sculpins, speckled dace, and Klamath smallscale sucker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desert sucker</span> Species of fish

The desert sucker or Gila Mountain sucker, is a freshwater species of ray-finned fish in the sucker family, endemic to the Great Basin and the Colorado River Basin in the United States. It inhabits rapids and fast-flowing streams with gravelly bottoms. It is a bi-colored fish with the upper parts olive brown to dark green, and the underparts silvery-tan or yellowish. The head is cylindrical, tapering to a thick-lipped mouth on the underside. This fish can grow to 31 in (79 cm) in Arizona but is generally only about half this size elsewhere. There are three subspecies, found in different river basins, and some authorities allot this species its own genus Pantosteus.

Wendell Wood was an American environmental activist and educator who co-founded Oregon Wild, a conservation organization headquartered in Portland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacramento sucker</span> Species of fish

The Sacramento sucker is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Catostomidae. It is primarily found in California with some populations extending into Oregon and Nevada. They inhabit a diverse range of habitats from headwater streams to deep lakes to estuaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon & Northern California Coastal</span> Freshwater ecoregion in Oregon and California

Oregon & Northern California Coastal is a freshwater ecoregion in western North America. It includes the coastal rivers of Oregon and Northern California, from the Columbia River mouth in northwestern Oregon to northern Monterey Bay in Central California. It includes the Umpqua, Rogue, Smith River, Klamath, Mad, Eel, and lower Russian rivers, and many smaller coastal rivers and streams, including those on the coast side of the Marin and San Francisco peninsulas.

References

  1. "ADW: Catostomus rimiculus: CLASSIFICATION". animaldiversity.org. Retrieved 2022-10-01.
  2. 1 2 Rossa, Jeannine M.; Parker, Michael S. (October 24, 2007). "Population Characteristics of Jenny Creek Suckers (Catostomus rimiculus): Age-Size Relationships, Age Distribution, Apparent Densities, and Management Implications". Southern Oregon Digital Archives. U. S. Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  3. 1 2 "Klamath smallscale sucker - Encyclopedia of Life". eol.org. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  4. "Klamath Sucker Fish". Oregon Wild. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  5. "California Fish Species - California Fish Website". calfish.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  6. "Klamath Smallscale Sucker". ucdavis.edu. UC Davis. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  7. "Klamath Smallscale Sucker". ucdavis.edu. UC Davis. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  8. Steve Kirk, Katharine Carter and. "Appendix 5 Fish and Fishery Resources of the Klamath River Basin" (PDF). www.waterboards.ca.gov. Government of California. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  9. Kinziger, Andrew P.; White, Jason L.; Nakamoto, Rodney J.; Harvey, Bret C. (May 2021). "Recent, small beginnings: genetic analysis suggests Catostomus rimiculus (Klamath smallscale sucker) in the Smith River, California, are introduced". Journal of Fish Biology. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 98 (5): 1321–1328. doi:10.1111/jfb.14664. ISSN   0022-1112. PMID   33389757. S2CID   230485262.
  10. "Klamath Sucker Fish". oregonwild.org. Oregon Wild. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  11. "Sucker, Klamath Smallscale". igfa.org. International Game Fish Association. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  12. "California Fish Species - California Fish Website". calfish.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  13. Rossa, Jeannine M.; Parker, Michael S. (October 24, 2007). "Population Characteristics of Jenny Creek Suckers (Catostomus rimiculus): Age-Size Relationships, Age Distribution, Apparent Densities, and Management Implications". Southern Oregon Digital Archives. U. S. Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  14. Smith, Matt; Bargen, Jennifer Von; Smith, Christian; Miller, Michael; Rasmussen, Josh; Hewitt, David A. (March 4, 2020). Characterization of the genetic structure of four sucker species in the Klamath River Basin (Report). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  15. Sada, Donald W.; Rasmussen, Josh E.; Buettner, Mark (March 1993). "Revised recovery plan for the Lost River sucker (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose sucker (Chasmistes brevirostris)" (PDF). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)