Family: Catostomidae
Northern hogsucker
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Written by Christopher Rounds Description: Northern Hog Suckers, Hypentelium nigricans (Leseur), are small, dark colored members of the Catostomidae family. Northern hogsuckers have the common body plan shared by numerous benthic stream fish. The characteristics of this body plan include a tapered body with a bulky head and long, low pectoral fins. The body is shallow, cylindrical and is strongly tapered towards the rear with the greatest body depth near the origin of the dorsal fin. Northern hogsuckers are commonly between 25-38 cm as adults and will often weigh less than 450g. Female adults grow larger than males. The mouth is large and ventrally positioned with circular fleshy lips. The head is long (about 20% of total length) with a deep depression between the eyes (Scott and Crossman 1973). The snout accounts for most of the head length and curves downwards towards the mouth. The similarity between head, snout and mouth to that of a hogs has led to the unique common name Northern hogsucker. The lateral scalation is not crowded and the scales are a significant size. The number of later line scales is between 49-51. The coloration of a northern hogsucker is brownish to goldish on the dorsal surface with the ventral surface appearing whiter. This counter shading allows them to be very hard to detect when resting on the substrate. Northern hogsuckers also have three to five dark saddles across their back. Fins are commonly yellow with varying amounts of pigment. There is no precise difference between the coloration of males and females at any point in the year. Although nuptial tubercles occur on both breeding females and males, females do not develop tubercles on the head/body and the female tubercles often appear smaller (Scott and Crossman 1973).
Habitat & Range: Northern hogsuckers are widespread and common throughout the Mississippi and Ohio river basins. The range of the northern hogsucker includes much of the eastern half of the United States. The species can be found in Minnesota, east through southern Ontario to New York at the eastern edge of its range, south to the northern portion of Georgia through southwestern Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma (Scott and Crossman 1973; Raney and Lachner 1946). Northern hogsuckers commonly live-in fast-moving stream environments with coarse substrates but can have been noted at reservoirs and lakes near river mouths (Page and Burr 2011). Stream habitat varies temporally (Matheney and Rabeni 1995). In the winter northern hogsuckers use deeper cooler waters with smaller substrates (consistent with pools). During warmer water periods, northern hogsuckers would habituate over coarser substrates with faster, shallower water. It was also found that during the night of both cooler and warmer water months, northern hogsuckers preferred riffle habitats. Interestingly, they have been shown to have an increase in daily movement during the warmer months but a decrease in home range during the warmer months (Matheney and Rabeni 1995). The range of habitat diversity that northern hogsuckers occupy during different life stages is indicative of the importance of habitat diversity in the accommodation of its seasonal preferences.
Northern hogsuckers spawn in during the spring varying by latitude (Matheney and Rabeni 1995; Raney and Lachner 1946). Males reach sexual maturity by two to three years of age and females at three to four (Becker, 1983). There has been indication that spawning occurs starts to occur once water temperature reaches a threshold which has been suggested to be a 60 degrees Fahrenheit (Scott and Crossman 1973). The breeding act occurs in shallow water near riffles or by the sides of pools. A detailed report of northern hogsuckers breeding was recorded by Raney and Lachner in 1946. During breeding acts the northern hogsucker males will crowd around a female (commonly around three males per female). Once the female is ready to lay, she will take position over the bottom of gravel substrate where water is six to ten centimeters deep. The males become visibly excited and will crowd around the female. As the female lays the eggs the males will commonly stand on their heads and thrash their tails causing a large commotion and aerating the water. The breeding event lasts approximately two to three seconds and is repeated every four to seven minutes. During the break, the female northern hogsuckers will return to the depths of the pools followed by the entourage of males. After the event had concluded cyprinid species were found feasting on the eggs. It was noted that the northern hogsuckers breeding groups did not appear to be affected by a returning observer.
Northern hogsuckers often creates feeding opportunities for opportunistic feeders. During feeding northern hogsuckers will turns over substrate which will dislodge a variety of benthic organisms. There have been reports that Notropis and Micropteris species will take a position downstream from a northern hogsucker and feed on the organisms that are disturbed as a result of the feeding actions (Hankinson 1919; Reighard 1920).
Economic Importance: Conservation & Economic Importance: Northern hogsuckers have different relationships with humans throughout their range. In the north, where northern hogsuckers are often smaller sizes (max total length of around 32cm), they are not considered game fish and are not commonly eaten by humans (Raney and Lachner 1946; Scott and Crossman 1973). They are noted to be effective bait fish when targeting large piscivorous fish like the elusive muskellunge. Interestingly, in the south, particularly in the Ozark region where they can grow to larger sizes, northern hogsuckers are more actively targeted/eaten. In some areas in the southern United States, there has been concern that the levels of harvesting are detrimental to the health of their populations (Matheney and Rabeni 1995). The IUCN currently considers northern hogsuckers least threatened throughout their range (NatureServe 2013). Northern hogsuckers are quite common throughout most of their wide range with a handful of extirpation events occurring in areas. Because the species is a stream fish that needs a variety of habitat types during its life history stages, it is still susceptible to manmade influences (Matheney and Rabeni 1995). These influences include runoff, sedimentation, siltation, channelization and damming.
Resources: Becker, G. C. 1983. Fishes of Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. Berendzen, P.B., Simons, A.M., Wood, R.M. 2003. Phylogeography of the northern hogsucker, Hypentelium nigricans (Teleostei: Cypriniformes): genetic evidence for the existence of the ancient Teays River. Journal of Biogeography 30: 1139-1152. Buth, D.G. 1980. Evolutionary genetics and systematic relationships in the catostomid genus Hypentelium. Copeia 1980(2): 280–290. Hankinson, T. L. 1919. Notes on life-histories of Illinois fish. Transactions Illinois State Academy of Sciences 12:132-150. Grabowski, T.B., Isely, J.J. 2007. Spatial and temporal segregation of spawning habitat by catostomids in the Savannah River, Georgia and South Carolina, U.S.A. Journal of Fish Biology 70:782-798. Matheney, M. P. and Rabeni, C.F. 1995. Patterns of movement and habitat use by northern hogsuckers in an Ozark stream. Transactions American Fisheries Society 124(6):886-897. NatureServe 2013. Hypentelium nigricans. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013. Downloaded on 29 October 2019. Page, L. M., and B. M. Burr. 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes: North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. Raney, E.C. and Lachner, E.A. 1946. Age, Growth, and Habits of the Hog Sucker, Hypentelium nigricans (LeSueur), in New York. The American Midland Naturalist 36(1):76-86. Reighard, J. 1920. The breeding behavior of the suckers and minnows. Biological Bulletin 38(l):1-32. Rybcyzynski, S.M., Walters, D.M., Fritz, K.M., Johnson B.R. 2007. Comparing trophic position of stream fishes using stable isotope and gut contents analyses. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 17(2):199-206. Scott, W.B. and Crossman, E.J. 1973. Freshwater fishes of Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Bulletin 184:1-966. Spiegel, J.R., Quist, M.C., Morris, J.E. 2011. Trophic ecology and gill raker morphology of seven catostomid species in Iowa rivers. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 27: 1159-1164.
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