Catostomus discobolus
Bluehead Sucker
NS
G4
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Cypriniformes (Carps and Minnows)
Catostomidae (Suckers)
Catostomus
Catostomus discobolus (Bluehead Sucker)
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: elongated. Blue head (darkest on adult; no blue in Little Colorado River, Arizona population), slender caudal peduncle, predorsal scales usually 50 or more, and 78-122 scales on lateral line (Ref. 86798).
Distribution
North America: Snake River system (Columbia River drainage), Wyoming, and Idaho; Lake Bonneville basin, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah; south through upper Colorado river drainage (Grand Canyon and above), Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona in the USA. Two subspecies were recognized: Catostomus discobolus discobolus and Catostomus discobolus jarrovii.
Habitat Associations
Freshwater. demersal. Found in: streams.
Biology
Inhabits rocky riffles and runs of small to large rivers (Ref. 5723, 86798).
Max length: 41.0 cm TL.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-10-26. Resilience: Low (K=0.089-0.32).
References
Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr (2011) A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 663p.
Comments On Catostomus discobolus