White Sucker
Catostomus commersoni

• Length:12 to 20 inches
• Weight:2 to 4 pounds
• Coloring:grey, coppery brown through brown to black on back; creamy white on lower sides and below
• Common Names:common sucker, eastern sucker, grey sucker, mullet, black mullet, bay fish
• Found in Lakes:Michigan, Huron, Ontario, Erie, and Superior

These round robust fish browse in the warm shallows of estuaries and bays. With their fleshy mouth aimed downward, they vacuum up worms, clams and, some say, the eggs of other fish. But most biologists doubt that Lake Michigan's suckers has any significant effect on the populations of such valued fish as trout, bass, and sturgeon.

Fishermen--who dipnet large numbers of suckers during their spring spawning runs up Great Lakes tributaries--often regard the suckers' arrival as the beginning of the fishing season.

Though the meat is firm and good tasting, white sucker seldom appears on a restaurant menu -- perhaps because the name lacks market appeal. As a result, white sucker is processed in a variety of ways for the market, often under the name "mullet." They are good either fresh or smoked and can be prepared in fish sticks or soups and chowders.

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copyright  University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute
Brook Trout illustration copyright 1998 Gina Mikel
Photograph copyright Shedd Aquarium (e-mail)
Drawing from Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Last updated 05 February 2002 by Seaman