What is this fish?

[npetersen]

I caught this a couple years ago on the lower Niagara and not too sure what it was so maybe someone here knows.

[FSHN FRK]

Hey npetersen.
It's hard to tell what kind of fish it is. The colour is different for sure. And I can't see the mouth very good. It's some type of drum. Sorry I can't really help.
Cheers!

[Longshank]

Hmmm.

it looks sort of like a white sucker, but somehow it's not quite right.

[Bayliner]

I was curious as hell and hoping the Shankster would nail it

So, I'll guess. An Albino Carp

[npetersen]

At first I thought it was a whitefish but colour is not right and scales look too big and then I was thinking carp but the dorsal fin looks too small. I googles sucker pictures and they look too long and narrow. Also just looked up drum and it doesn't have the second dorsal fin. The mouth was kind of sucker like but I didn't recall seeing any feelers from it which would rule out carp unless they have been worn down. If anyone else knows, please help me.

[admin]

It looks like a redhorse sucker / river redhorse.
Great catch! This is a species at risk in Canada.

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/s...riviere-eng.htm


Probably a Shorthead Redhorse Sucker, see link below:
http://fish.photoshelter.com/gallery-image...0000JwQBETj5YVs

[npetersen]

WOW. Good one Jerry. That looks like it. Even the tail looks quite red in my picture but you can't really see it too well. Glad it went back in the water.

[admin]

At first glance it looked like a carp, but the head was not quite right. I have also caught tons of common suckers in the river while steelhead fishing and it's body is not quite right... But I read about the redhorse some years ago and remembered it had a red tail.. So I looked it up and it seemed to match.

[npetersen]

I sent off the picture to the MNR just now and they are going to look at it. I will let you know what they say.

[Longshank]

That's the one.... I was close anyhow, just forgot which sucker it was.

These are actually quite common up around coldwater and aslo Cambridge area.

Never got one in the Niagara though.

[Fishsniffer]

Fish Looks good ! really nice colour

[npetersen]

Well, apparently I did not catch an endangered species. They have identified it as a shorthead redhorse sucker which is fairly common. Good to know though. Apparently they are good tasting but have a lot of little bones in them so it is not worth keeping to eat. The one I caught was a little bigger than the average but they can grow up to 6 lbs.

[Longshank]

Actually, with suckers, you grind them up and make fish cakes, which eliminates all those small bones and that is very tasty!