Distribution:
North America, China and northeast Siberia.
Habitat:
Freshwater lakes and streams.
Remarks:
Suckers have thick lips, often with soft fleshy bumps (papillae) or fleshy folds (plicae). The name 'Catostomidae' comes from the greek kata, meaning "down" and stoma, meaning "mouth." Catostomid suckers have inferior mouths with one row of 16+ pharyngeal teeth. The upper jaw is usually bordered by maxilla and premaxilla.
Most suckers are benthic feeders in flowing water, however one exception is the lake suckers (of the genus Chasmistes) which feed in midwater. Lake suckers have terminal mouths and are planktivorous.
All suckers are tetraploids, having four sets of chromosomes.
This family comprises 13 genera and 72 species, however, members of this family frequently hybridize.
References:
Elfman et al. 1997;
Nelson 2006