#2275 · 🐟 fish
White Sucker
Catostomus commersonii
9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The white sucker ( Catostomus commersonii ) is a freshwater Cypriniform fish inhabiting the upper Midwest and Northeast in North America, but is also found as far south as Georgia and New Mexico in the south and west. The fish is commonly known as a "sucker" due to its fleshy papillose lips that suck up organic matter and aufwuchs from the bottom of rivers and streams.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 7,689 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1803 (223 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- White Sucker
- scientific name
- Catostomus commersonii
- class
- Actinopterygii
- order
- Cypriniformes
- family
- Catostomidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 7,689
- GBIF records in NL
- 0
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1803 by Bernard Germain de Lacépède
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Catostomidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 81556, Wikidata Q2942992, GBIF 2359014, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.