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Moxostoma lacerum was the first member of the North American ichthyofauna to be documented as extinct. The unique oral morphology of the species has been of interest, as has its unusual diet of small snails. Because of the rarity of specimens, and the disarticulated condition of available skeletons, we take this opportunity to describe the oral skeletal morphology, using the HRXCT technology to reconstruct the skeleton digitally. We find that the premaxillary bones lie posteromedial to the maxillae and that maxilla shape is asymmetrical; it is likely that the animal sucked snails from their shells while holding the shells with a keratinized mandibular shelf.

We redescribe Catostomus utawana using specimens from an extant population and museum collections from the Adirondack region of New York and compare it to the widely distributed Catostomus commersonii. These species differ from each other in body depth, relative lengths of pectoral, anal, and pelvic fins, in the lengths of the dorsal-fin and anal-fin bases, and in several characteristics related to head shape and body depth. Catostomus utawana females in breeding condition have well-developed pearl organs on the anal fin, ventral lobe of the caudal fin, and on most of the scales found on the ventral half of the body posterior to the dorsal fin. Catostomus commersonii females in breeding condition usually lack pearl organs. Catostomus utawana males in breeding condition are extensively covered in pearl organs, whereas the pearl organs on C. commersonii males are typically limited to the anal and caudal fins, scales posterior to the dorsal fin, and on the head. Catostomus utawana males in breeding ...

A Memorandum of Understanding, which formed the Robust Redhorse Conservation Committee (RRCC), was developed and adopted by concerned stakeholders in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina to attempt recovery of the recently “rediscovered,” and rare, robust redhorse Moxostoma robustum. As part of the conservation program, genetic analyses of robust redhorse populations were needed to facilitate responsible hatchery programs that could be used to supplement natural reproduction in declining populations and to reestablish populations in rivers in which it may have historically been present. We analyzed mtDNA control region sequences in robust redhorse from the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers in the Altamaha River drainage and the Savannah River to determine the genetic relatedness of these populations to guide restoration efforts. Fixed differences in mtDNA haplotypes were found between robust redhorse from the two drainages that strongly argues for the designation of these populations as Evolution...

To estimate residency and population sizes, endemic fishes were marked and released during October 1998 at confluence of Colorado River and Havasu Creek (Grand Canyon National Park, Coconino County, Arizona). Ripe Catostomus (Pantosteus) discobolus females and newly hatched fry confirmed late season (i.e., early October) spawning by this species. Reproduction by other catostomids was inferred through physical examination of adult C. latipinnis and by capture of a possible Xyrauchen texanus larva. The latter is an endangered species not considered a constituent member of the endemic Grand Canyon fish community; its potential presence in Grand Canyon will influence adaptive management of endemic and introduced fishes. Results of ANCOVAs (with fishing effort as covariate) indicated numbers of aggregating C. latipinnis were significantly associated with flows in Havasu Creek but not those in the mainstem Colorado River. The ecology of big-river endemic fishes in Grand Canyon is clearly linked to trib...

Analysis of a nearly complete fossil sucker (SBCM A768-1) from the Anza Borrego desert indicates that it is a razorback sucker, Xyrauchen texanus (Abbott). The age of the fossil is probably Pliocene making it the oldest Xyrauchen sample known and extends the lineage back more than five million years. Meristic counts are as follows: 16 dorsal fin rays and pterygiophores; more than nine pectoral fin rays; at least eight pelvic fin rays; seven anal pterygiophores; and about 42 post-Weberian vertebrae with a total of 46. The total length is approximately 440 mm and the standard length is 365 mm. Sixteen dorsal fin rays is at the upper end of the range for the species, and the vertebral count is one below comparative materials. Measurements of the diagnostic predorsal hump suggest that this prominent feature is somewhat exaggerated in contrast with comparative materials and indicates that the specimen may be a male.

The ecology of larval fish is poorly documented in natural and altered rivers even though larval fish distributions and habitat requirements are often distinctly different from larger and older fish. Larval fish were collected every two weeks from late winter to late summer in 1988 and 1989 in the Tallapoosa River, a highly flow-regulated river, and the Cahaba River, an unregulated river, in Alabama. Larval fish were collected in offshore waters using a pushnet and in potential nursery habitat along the river margins using 1-im, 500-jum mesh seine. Nursery habitat was defined as shallow water (< 1.3 m) with currents less than the maximum sustained swimming speed of larvae (estimated as 8.4 cm/sec). A total of 17,675 larvae were collected in 1529 samples. Most (77%) larvae were collected in the unregulated river, and a majority of larvae (83%) were captured by seining in nursery habitat. Identifications and analysis were done at the family level, and taxonomic diversity was similar between rivers and between nearshore and offshore collections. The abundance and taxonomic composition of the larval fish assemblages varied by river, year, and Tallapoosa River study site. The most common families were catostomidae, cyprinidae, percidae, and centrarchidae. Nursery habitat at the most flow-regulated site had very low abundances of larvae and a distinctly different family composition from the other sites. All taxa commonly recorded in the Cahaba River and the least regulated Tallapoosa River study site used a statistically distinct subset of available microhabitats in nursery waters. There was little evidence for microhabitat specialization by larval fish at the most regulated Tallapoosa River site. Flow regulation appeared to reduce the abundance of larval fish in nursery habitat, alter taxonomic composition, and disrupt microhabitat relations. Flow regulation and the associated degradation of nursery habitat appears to be a potential threat to the conservation of natural and diverse riverine fish faunas.

basin with emphasis on the Lake Michigan drainage. N. A. Auer (ed.). Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Spec. Publ. 82-3. 744 pp. ,AND D. C. WITMAN. 1979. Descriptions and comparisons of catostomid fish larvae: Catostomus catostomus and Moxostoma erythrurum. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 108(6):604-619. HOGUE,J.J., ANDJ. P. BUCHANAN. 1977. Larval development of spotted sucker (Minytrema melanops). Ibid. 106(4):347-353. Moss, R. E., J. W. SCANLAN AND C. S. ANDERSON. 1982. Observations on the natural history of the blue sucker (Cycleptus elongatus LeSueur) in the Neosho River. Amer. Mid. Nat. 109(1):15-22. PFLIEGER, W. L. 1975. The fishes of Missouri. Missouri Dept. Conservation, Jefferson City, Missouri. SEMMENS, K. J. 1985. Induced spawning of the blue sucker (Cycleptus elongatus). Prog. Fish Cult. 47(2): 119-120. l fish. R. D. Hoyt (ed.). 20-21 Feb. 1979. Western tucky University, Bowling Gre , Kentucky. 979b. Descriptions and comparisons of castomid fish larvae: northern Atlant c drainage ecies. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 108(6):560-603. 982. Family Ca stomidae, p. 45-435. In: SMITH-VANIZ, W. F. 1968. Freshwater fishes of Alabama. Paragon Press, Montgomery, Alabama. SNYDER, D. E. 1979. Myomere and vertebra counts of North American cyprinids and catostomids, p. 5 -69. In: Proceedings of the third symposium on larval fish. R. D. Hoyt (ed.). 20-21 Feb. 1979. Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky. YEAGER, B. L., ANDJ. M. BAKER. 1982. Early development of the genus Ictiobus (Catostomidae), p. 6369. In: Proceedings of the fifth annual larval fish conference. C. F. Bryan, J. V. Conner and F. M. Truesdale (eds.). 2-3 March 1981. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

bryos of the cyprinoid teleost, Catostomus commersoni-which we will publish separatelywe had to define a closely spaced series of stages in their development. Such normal series are available for a growing number of teleosts (Ballard, 1972), but few are sufficiently precise and detailed for the needs of experimental embryologists. Teleost development shows enough variation in rates and in synchrony of events to make any normal series unreliable beyond the limits of the suborder, or the family, of the included species. We could not specify Catostomus stages, for instance, in terms of the normal series published for any other genera of the Order Cypriniformes: Ictalurus (suborder Siluroidei), or Carassius or Cyprinus or Notropis (suborder Cyprinoidei). The latter three (Cyprinidae) differ especially in details of development from Catostomidae (Mansueti and Hardy, 1967). Their eggs are smaller and hatch sooner, with marked differences in synchrony. On the other hand, the development of another catostomid, the lake chubsucker Erimyzon sucetta, has been found by Shaklee et al. (1974) to follow the stages proposed here for Catostomus. Only Stewart (1926) has reported any details of the embryonic development of Catostomus. He listed only three stages of the morphogenetic movements and five of organogenesis, and did not specify any rates of development. Ictalurus punctatus development was described by Saksena et al. (1961) in nineteen stages, but their series ends with the appearance of pectoral folds. The development of Ictalurus nebulosus was very well illustrated but less well defined in 53 stages by Armstrong and Child (1962). The stage numbering in these two catfish series draws apart after stage 7, the early blastula; stage 19 as described for punctatus seems equivalent to stage 27 for nebulosus. Time correlates are not given for either series. Three normal series are available for the goldfish Carassius auratus. That of Battle (1940) shows 19 figured stages to the time of disappearance of the yolk, but gives sparse detail to organogenesis and leaps too swiftly over the period of morphogenetic movements. The more exacting needs of the experimental embryologist are better served by a Chinese series (Anon., 1959) and a Japanese one (Kajishima, 1960). T e latter describes 28 stages and gives their time of appearance when incubated at 21 C ? 1. B linsky (1948) closely defined a series of normal stages for three species of the family Cyprinidae, Carassius auratus, Cyprinus carpio and Rutilus rutilus, but he did not give rates of devel pment and his illustrations were lost because of the war. However, this series, when c mpared with ours, best brings out the contrasts between cyprinid and catostomid development, which begin to appear before the end of epiboly. There are two other normal series available

macrocheilus (Pisces: Catostomidae).J. Fish. Res. Bd. Can. 25:101-150. RAKOCINSKI, C. F. 1980. Hybridization and introgression between Campostoma oligolepis and C. anomalum pullum (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae). Copeia 1980:584-594. Ross, M. R., AND T. M. CAVENDER. 1981. Morphological analyses of four experimental intergeneric cyprinid hybrid crosses. Ibid. 1981:377-387. ROWHER, S. A. 1972. A multivariate assessment of interbreeding between meadowlarks, Sturnella. Syst. Zool. 21:313-338. SCHREIBER, D. C., AND W. L. MINCKLEY. 1982. Feeding interrelations of native fishes in a Sonoran Desert stream. Great Basin Nat. 41:409-426. SCHUELLER, F. W., ANDJ. D. RISING. 1976. Phenetic evidence of natural hybridization. Syst. Zool. 25: 283-289. SMITH, G. R. 1966. Distribution and evolution of the il s ( isces: Catostomidae).J. Fish. Res. Bd. North American catostomid fishes of the subgenus Pantosteus, genus Catostomus. Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool. Univ. Mich. 129:1-133. 1973. Analysis of several hybrid cyprinid fishes from western North America. Copeia 1973: 395-410. , AND R. K. KOEHN. 1971. Phenetic and cladist studies of biochemical and morphological characteristics of Catostomus. Syst. Zool. 20:282297.

TURNER, F. B. (ed.). 1973. Rock Valley validation site report. U. S. International Biological Program, Desert Biome Research Memorandum RM 73-2. ,P. A. MEDICA AND D. D. SMITH. 1973. Reproduction and survivorship of the lizard, Uta stansburiana, and the effects of winter rainfall, density and predation on these processes. U. S. International Biological Program, Desert Biome Research Memorandum RM 73-26. VAN DE GRAAFF, K. M., AND R. P. BALDA. 1973. Importance of green vegetation for reproduction captive Gopherus agassizi. Herpetologica 28: 69-171.

MOOKERJEE, H. K., D. N. GANGULY, AND P. S. MOOKHERJI. 1950. Study on the structures of the brains of some Indian fishes in relation to their feeding habits. Proc. Zool. Soc. Bengal 3(2) :119-153. MOORE, G. A. 1957. Fishes. In: Vertebrates of the United States by W. F. Blair, A. P. Blair, P. Brodkorb, F. R. Cagle, and G. A. Moore. McGraw-Hill Book Co. Inc., New York. Pp. 33-210. NELSON, E. M. 1948. The comparative morphology of the Weberian apparatus of the Catostomidae and its significance in systematics. J. Morph. 83 (2) :225-251. 1961. The comparative morphology of the definitive swim bladder in the Catostomi

Sinking creeks south of Mammoth Cave, Kentucky contain reduced numbers of fish species compared to similar normal streams. Several headwater species remain and some human introductions are present. However, shiner minnows (Notropis), suckers (Catostomidae), and darters (Etheostomatini), are absent, though common in nearby normal streams. As in normal streams, species numbers increase with rising stream order, but the total fish fauna is only 13 species. Most fishes seen in the large subterranean streams in Mammoth Cave probably enter from the nearby Green River. However, the creek chub, Semotilus atromaculatus, could be brought into these streams from tributary sinking creeks. Northern swamp fish, Chologaster agassizii, found in Mammoth Cave are considered to be strays from the sinking creeks and Sinkhole Plain regions, because of inadequacies of the local habitat for supporting breeding populations.

RECENTLY, Raney and Lachner (1947) described Hypentelium roanokense, a dwarf species of hog sucker adapted to life in small mountain streams of the upper headwaters of the Roanoke River system. It shares the Roanoke system with Hypentelium nigricans (LeSueur), the widely ranging species sometimes found in the same habitat. It differs from nigricans in having a heavier body with a foreshortened trunk, scales and pectoral rays markedly reduced in number, longer anal and dorsal fins, larger and less inferior mouth, and in several pigmentary features. In addition, the posterior fontanelle is reduced to a narrow slit and the posterior lobe of the air bladder is short and thin. Vertebral counts were made of the above two species of Hypentelium to determine the degree of differentiation that exists, if any, and to discover whether or not the reduction in number of scales of Hypentelium roanokense is paralleled by a reduction in vertebral number. Similar counts were made on Catostomus c. catostomus (Forster) and Catostomus c. commersonnii (Lacepede), since these species also differ in scale counts, the latter having the smaller number in the lateral line. The vertebral counts were made after the manner described by Hubbs and Lagler (1947) by examination of the negatives of roentgenograms, except for those of Catostomus c. commersonnii in which the vertebrae were counted in situ after dissecting off one complete side of the fish. The roentgenograms were made of the lateral aspects of the fish with a Westinghouse 150 KV pedestal-mounted X-ray unit on 14 X 17 Type M industrial film. All fish were X-rayed at 50 KV, 15 milliamps at 45 seconds for the larger fish and 40 seconds for very small ones (60 mm. or less). The best results were obtained by omitting the use of a lead screen between the film and the fish. Gosline (1948) and Bailey and Gosline (1948) have recently indicated the value of using X-rays for ichthyological work. At first, some difficulty was experienced in counting the vertebrae due to the presence of the Weberian ossicles. Krumholz (1943) stated that in ostariophysine fishes these structures are derived from the first four vertebrae. Watson (1939) noted that in the goldfish, Carassius auratus (Linnaeus), the fourth vertebra bears a rib. Studies of suckers, cleared and stained with alizarine, confirm the findings of both. The vertebrae of these suckers were counted by beginning with the fourth (the first rib-bearing) vertebra and then adding three to the total. The distribution of the vertebral counts is shown in Table I. The range in numbers of vertebrae for all four species is from 38 to 48, a considerably greater range than the numbers (45 to 47) given by Jordan and Gilbert (1882) and Jordan and Evermann (1896) for all Catostomus (including IHypentelium nigricans). Guinther (1868) stated that there are 47 vertebrae in Catostomus commersonnii (teres).

T HE large family of Cyprinidae, possessing approximately 200 genera is distributed in all parts of the world excepting South America, Australia and Madagascar. Thus representatives of this family are are found existing under different climatic conditions and therefore are interesting subjects for further study. In this paper our attention is directed to the pharyngeal teeth only. Several cyprinid genera differ principally in the numbers of rows of pharyngeal teeth. In the literature, as far as we know, no detailed consideration has been given to the relation between the number of rows of pharyngeal teeth and the geographical regions inhabited. However, a comparison of the number of rows of pharyngeal teeth in the Cyprinidae and Catostomidae has been briefly treated: Segemehl (1891), Boulenger (1904) and Berg (1912) state that Catostomidae, possessing numerous pharyngeal teeth in a single row, are a more primitive group than Cyprinidae, having among other characters more specialized pharyngeal teeth in one or several (2 or 3) rows. On the other hand, Regan (1908) considers the Cyprinidae as a more primitive group. Jordan and Everman (1896: 200) reconcile these two views thus: "the Old World Cyprinidae are at once more primitive and more highly organized than American forms." In this connection, Berg (1912: 19) remarks: "that in America no Cyprinid genera exist with three rows of pharyngeal teeth, whereas in Asia genera with three rows are dominant. This circumstance seems to point to the fact that the American Cyprinids are more ancient." Even among recent publications of several authors (Nichols, 1925 and 1928; Myers, 1926; Tchang, 1930 and 1931) dealing with Cyprinidae we do not find any mention of the problem in question. The study of cyprinid genera from North America, Europe, East Asia (China), India and Africa shows quite clearly thit the number of rows of pharyngeal teeth vary according to the geographical regions. Table 1 illustrates this relation.

Significant differences have been noted between fish faunas of Pliocene and Pleistocene times. Consequently, study of Pliocene fishes may be expected to contribute importantly to an understanding of the evolutionary history of the living American fish fauna. Four species of cyprinids are described from Arizona, of which 3 are new-including a new genus. A K-Ar dating of 4.1 million years establishes, along with evidence from fossil biotas (mammals and mollusks), the Middle Pliocene age of the Bidahochi formation. All 4 species are illustrated. Ptychocheilus prelucius is regarded as ancestral to the living Colorado squawfish, P. lucius; ?Gila cristifera and Evomus navaho represent extinct species and an extinct genus. Gila cf. G. robusta indicates, along with P. prelucius, that the Colorado River had, by Middle Pliocene time, attained the swift-river habitat to which the modern representatives are so admirably adapted. Absence of suckers from the Bidahochi formation may be explained on the basis that Amyzon, an early evolutionary line of the Catostomidae representing species found in lacustrine deposits, did not survive the Miocene, whereas other suckers evidently reached the area later.