Golden redhorse

The golden redhorse (Moxostoma erythrurum) is a species of freshwater fish endemic to Ontario and Manitoba in Canada and the Midwestern, southern, and eastern United States. It lives in calm, often silty or sandy waters in streams, small to large rivers, and lakes.

A bottom-feeder, it feeds on microcrustaceans, aquatic insects, detritus, algae, and small mollusks. The golden redhorse spawns in the spring.

Habitat

Golden redhorses can be found in freshwater streams, creeks, and rivers with varied substrates. In pools they are generally found over sand and silt. Occasionally they have been seen living in lakes or larger reservoirs that are fed by a stream or river. Compared to other redhorse species the golden redhorse is not very sensitive to poor environmental conditions.

Distribution

The golden redhorse can be found in freshwater habitats across 25 different states in the eastern half of North America. There are populations located in the drainage basins of the Mississippi River, Ohio River, and the lower Missouri River. The fish can also be found in the Great Lakes, excluding Lake Superior, and the Lakes' basin, as well as in the Lake of the Woods. The Mobile Bay drainage basin in the states of Alabama, Georgia, and southeastern Tennessee also contains the golden redhorse.

In Mississippi there is an isolated population in the southwestern part of the state. Some suspect that it is a relict population, meaning the range of the fish was once much larger than it is today. They were introduced into the Potomac River in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, but the date of this introduction is unknown. A golden redhorse was seen in this river in 1953, but was never seen there again until 1971.

In Canada, the golden redhorse is endemic to Manitoba and Ontario. The fish can be found in the Red River of the North, a river which eventually empties into Hudson Bay. Coincidentally, the Red River in Texas also houses the golden redhorse.

Behaviour

The diet of the golden redhorse consists of a variety of small, aquatic creatures. They consume larval insects, small mollusks, microcrustaceans, and other aquatic invertebrates. Like most other members of the sucker family, Catostomidae, detritus and algae are also staples of the golden redhorse's diet. It is a bottom-feeding species that is able to use its protrusible mouth to suck up food objects from the stream bed.