The June sucker (''Chasmistes liorus'') is an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

of fish

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Utah Lake Utah Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Utah County, Utah, United States. It lies in Utah Valley, surrounded by the Provo- Orem metropolitan area. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Sa ...

and the

Provo River The Provo River (Ute people, Ute: Timpanoquint, “Rock River) is located in Utah County, Utah, Utah County and Wasatch County, Utah, Wasatch County, Utah, in the United States. It rises in the Uinta Mountains at Wall Lake and flows about southw ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. It is named after the month in which it

spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawning, the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** ''Spawn: Armageddon' ...

s. It is a gray or brownish fish with a paler belly, growing up to about . It lives alongside the

Utah sucker The Utah sucker (''Catostomus ardens'') is a species of freshwater fish in the family Catostomidae found in the upper Snake River and the Lake Bonneville areas of western North America where it lives in a wide range of habitats. It is a large suc ...

, which has a much wider range. Due to the populations of both fish becoming greatly reduced in the lake as a result of fishing, other species such as the

common carp The common carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), also known as European carp, Eurasian carp, or simply carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.Fishbase''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758/ref>Ark ...

have been introduced into the lake. As a result, the June sucker has become "

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

" as the pure species is lost as a result of hybridization with the Utah sucker, and predatory fish feed on its larvae. Conservation measures have been put in place and fish are being raised in a

fish hatchery A fish hatchery is a place for artificial breeding, hatching, and rearing through the early life stages of animals—finfish and shellfish in particular.Crespi V., Coche A. (2008) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Gloss ...

for reintroduction.

Description

It is a member of the sucker family

Catostomidae The Catostomidae are the suckers of the order (biology), order Cypriniformes, with about 78 species in this family (biology), family of freshwater fishes. The Catostomidae are almost exclusively native to North America. The only exceptions are ' ...

, and occurs in

sympatry In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

with the

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer o ...

Utah sucker ''Catostomus ardens''. Unlike most other suckers, the June sucker is not a bottom-feeder. Its mouth is more rostrally oriented, allowing it to collect

zooplankton Zooplankton are the heterotrophic component of the planktonic community (the " zoo-" prefix comes from ), having to consume other organisms to thrive. Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents. Consequent ...

from the midwater. The fish is dark gray or brownish

dorsally Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provi ...

, with a white or slightly greenish belly. It has a lifespan over 40 years. Typical specimens range from and reach a weight of .

Distribution

The June sucker is known only from Utah Lake in the United States, its feeder streams, and the adjacent Provo River.

Subspecies

*''C. l. liorus''. Possibly extinct as early as 1935. *''C. l. mictus'' The surviving form, created via

hybrid speciation Hybrid speciation is a form of speciation where hybridization between two different species leads to a new species, reproductively isolated from the parent species. Previously, reproductive isolation between two species and their parents was tho ...

with ''Catostomus ardens''.

Status

This

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

was once plentiful in its native lake. Some contributions to its decline include

predation Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

on its young by introduced species such as the

and

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...

, pollution and

turbidity Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of both water clarity and wa ...

, drought, alteration of water flow, and loss of some native vegetation. It also hybridizes with the Utah sucker (''Catostomus ardens'') and unhybridized fish may not remain. June sucker were stocked into Red Butte Reservoir, where a natural sustaining population has been established. Fish have also been intensively cultured at the Logan Fish Hatchery in

Logan, Utah Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 United States Census, 2020 census recorded the population at 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Ca ...

since 1991. The goal is to release 25,000 individuals into Utah Lake from the hatchery annually. The Springville State Hatchery has also grown fish in ponds historically for population augmentation. As of Spring 2023, more than 1,000,000 June suckers have been raised and released into Utah Lake and other local waters from Logan Fish Hatchery as a protective measure against extinction. Th
June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program
coordinates and implements recovery actions for the June sucker. In 2021, the federal listing of the June sucker was downgraded from endangered to threatened by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The population has rebounded from an

effective population size The effective population size (''N'e'') is the size of an idealised population that would experience the same rate of genetic drift as the real population. Idealised populations are those following simple one- locus models that comply with ass ...

of approximately 300 fish in 1999 to around 3,500 in 2016. The June sucker had been listed as endangered in 1986. Recovery efforts included

habitat restoration Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, destroyed or transformed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair ...

to combat significant channelization, impoundment and loss of gradient in tributary streams that was preventing June sucker spawning and

recruitment Recruitment is #Process, the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for Job (role), jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the process involved in ...

. Studies to determine the extent of natural recruitment were ongoing at the time of publication. The June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program will work on managing

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

releases in the Provo River and Hobble Creek systems to facilitate the spawning and rearing of June suckers.

References

June sucker
''Utah Conservation Data Center''.

''Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission.''
Endangered June suckers now raised at second hatchery
. ''

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) is part of the Utah Department of Natural Resources for the state of Utah in the United States. The mission of the Division of Wildlife Resources is to serve the people of Utah as trustee and guard ...

''.
Geographic patterns of genetic variation in Utah sucker
''Utah sucker genetics''. {{Authority control Chasmistes Endemic fauna of Utah Endemic fish of the United States Fish of the Western United States Freshwater fish of the United States Fish described in 1878 Endangered fish Critically endangered fauna of the United States ESA threatened species Taxa named by David Starr Jordan