UnderwaterWorld

White Sucker

Suckers (Catostomus commersoni) are among Canada's most abundant and widespread fish. There are about 16 members of the sucker family found in Canadian waters, of which the white or common sucker is the most plentiful. The chief value of this hardy species lies in its role as a forage fish. It is an important food of the muskellunge, northern pike, and walleye. When of minnow size, it is used as live bait by anglers and as food for hatchery-rearing of game fish.

As a family, suckers are characterized by round mouths surrounded by thick, fleshy, protrusible lips which they use to suck up much of their food from the bottom of rivers and lakes. The white sucker has a robust, cylindrical, torpedo-shaped body, generally olive coloured over the back and upper sides but darker at spawning time. The lower sides are cream, shading to white over the belly, and the scales are large. In weight it averages 0.5 to 1.0 kg and in length 30 to 50 cm.

Restricted to North America, the white sucker occurs in lakes and rivers of all the provinces, from Nova Scotia to central British Columbia. In the north, it occurs in waters of the Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories and Labrador. It is a shallow-water inhabitant and is able to withstand turbidity, stagnant water, and the alkalinity of tiny Prairie lakes which would kill most other species.

The end of winter signals its spawning run up rivers and creeks from lakes below. At this time fishermen, both commercial and amateur, catch the white sucker by using weirs, dip nets, hoop nets and poundnets. At other times of year these fish are taken in gillnets by commercial fishermen. They can be caught with hook and line baited with worms, grubs and other bait.

The flesh of the white sucker is sweet-tasting but unfortunately contains many small bones. Its trade name is mullet. It is principally marketed as headless, dressed whole fish and as minced fish in frozenblock form. A small quantity is filleted and smoked for export.