The Modoc sucker (''Catostomus microps'') is a rare species of freshwater fish native to northern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

and southern

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

. It grows to a length of about and becomes sexually mature at . It feeds on algae, small invertebrates and detritus, and hides under stones, detritus and overhanging vegetation. It is found in only a few streams and is listed as an endangered species in California and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Conservation measures have been put in place such as fencing the streams in which it lives from livestock. It was previously rated as "

endangered 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 and inv ...

" by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natur ...

, but this rating has now been changed to "

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

Description

This sucker is mature when it reaches 3 to 4 inches long; the adult is usually no more than 7 inches longUSFWS
''Catostomus microps'' Five-year Review.
August 2009. but it rarely exceeds 13 inches.''Catostomus microps''.
The Nature Conservancy. It has been observed to reach five years of age at the oldest.

Distribution

This fish is limited to a few creeks in northern California and southern Oregon, where its historical range was located in the Ash Creek and Turner Creek drainages in the basin of the

Pit River The Pit River is a major river draining from northeastern California into the state's Central Valley. The Pit, the Klamath and the Columbia are the only three rivers in the U.S. that cross the Cascade Range. The longest tributary of the Sacr ...

, as well as the Goose Lake basin, which was once connected to the Pit River. It can currently be found in ten streams in this region. The stream habitat has substrates of

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sa ...

and cobble with large amounts of detritus in the water that the fish uses for cover. It also uses overhanging banks, large rocks, and vegetation for cover.

Spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aqua ...

occurs in substrates with a lot of

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classif ...

. The fish eats

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) are any of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic, eukaryotic organisms. The name is an informal term for a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from ...

, small

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s, and detritus.

Status

When the fish was placed on the US Endangered Species List it was threatened by the degradation of its habitat. Since then the habitat has been improved by the installation of livestock-excluding fences along waterways and other interventions. The creeks supporting the fish are relatively healthy today. The range of the fish is not currently being reduced.

Introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived the ...

of fish such as the

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, b ...

are present but do not pose a serious threat to the sucker. In 2009 the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

recommended the species be downlisted from endangered status to threatened status. The fish was planned to be removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Species on January 7, 2016, and has now been rated as "

" by the

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3756419 Modoc sucker Endemic fish of the United States Fish of the Western United States Freshwater fish of the United States Fauna of the Great Basin Fauna of California Natural history of Oregon Endangered fauna of California Fish described in 1908 Taxa named by Cloudsley Louis Rutter