As its name suggests, the white Sucker is distinguished by its protuberant and downward-pointing sucker-like mouth. The mouth, located on the underside of a blunt, rounded snout, has thick lips covered with small fleshy bumps called papillae. The body of the white sucker is torpedo-shaped and cylindrical, with relatively large scales.
The color of the fish greatly varies—the color of its back and upper sides can be dark green, grey, coppery brown, or even black, while the lower sides are lighter and give way to the white underbelly. When spawning, these colors darken and intensify. Spawning males develop distinctly colored bands along the sides of their body as well as coarse bumps (tubercles) on the head and their anal and caudal fins. Young white suckers are lighter in overall color and have three very distinct dark spots on their sides.
Typically, white suckers grow to be 12 to 18 inches in length, but they can get as big as 25 inches long. They weigh anywhere from 2 to 6 pounds. White suckers have 55-85 lateral line scales and 10-13 dorsal rays.
Habitat
The white sucker can adapt to a wide range of environmental conditions and habitats including streams, lakes, and rivers but it tends to live in small/medium sized rivers and small creeks with cold, clear water. White suckers avoid rapid currents. They often move into tributary streams to spawn and tend to do so over gravel or rocky shoals.
Life History
From late April to early June (or more specifically, when the water temperature is warm enough), white suckers home upstream to rocky/gravely spawning areas with quick running water. Look for key areas in the lake where Bass will set up to lie in wait for preoccupied Suckers to pass by on their way to the creek inlets or outlets.
Once there, the female settles to the bottom and is soon crowded by males. Once two males find a place on either side of the female, the three fish begin to rapidly vibrate together, causing sperm and eggs to release. Once this quick spawning act is complete, the female continues upstream to find more mates. Over the course of an hour or more, a female may lay from 20,000 to over 100,000 eggs. No nests are built for the eggs—instead, they are scattered and eventually attach to the bottom. After a week or two, the adults leave the spawning grounds and return to where they originally came from. As for the eggs—after incubating for a week or two, the larvae hatch. The fry remain in the gravel for another one or two weeks and then migrate downstream.
White suckers reach maturity in 3 to 8 years and then spawn annually throughout the rest of their lives. This species has a maximum life expectancy of about 17 years.
Geographic Range
For the most part, the white sucker inhabits the upper Midwest and Northeast of North America, but it has been found as far west as New Mexico and as far south as Georgia.
For the most part, the white sucker inhabits the upper Midwest and Northeast of North America, but it has been found as far west as New Mexico and as far south as Georgia.
White suckers have a large variety of known predators. Its predators include muskellunges, bass, burbot, brook trout, and sea lamprey. Walleye and northern pike prey upon eggs and small white suckers. Bald eagles, herons, loons, and ospreys are known to prey on small white suckers as well. Other animals, such as bears, feed on white suckers during their spawning periods.
Conservation Status
White suckers are a very common and robust species with very large population sizes over a wide distribution. Therefore, the white sucker has been designated as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List.
Fun Facts
A plain blue back Huddleston with spawning bands applied via black sharpie.
