In my ongoing campaign to put "Strange Fish" geocaches out into the world I have had to concentrate on certain species. The nature of the project pretty much requires shore fishing, and some reasonable access by foot. So, its a lot of fishing rivers and streams, and that limits you a bit.
One species I've been trying to add to the portfolio is shown above. May I introduce Catostomus commersonii. I guess most people would call this a White Sucker. Eh, in the age of NSFW internet searches that might not be the best name. And besides.......
Way back in the early days of what is now Wisconsin there was a tiny corner down in the southwest part that had an early mining boom. There was a little bit of trade in lead with the natives in the 1700's, and when the land was opened up for exploitation in the 1820's a rush of miners turned up.
Some of these miners wintered over. They just took the shallow pits they had excavated and put a roof on them. As they were living in their burrows they came to be nicknamed "Badgers". This moniker was extended to cover all denizens of what is still The Badger State.
Ah, but what of those faint of heart, those delicate flowers from (mostly) Illinois who ran up the river in the spring and back down in the fall? As this replicates the behaviour of our friend Catostomus, the term "Suckers" was applied to them. I can report that the term is no longer used here to describe residents of Illinois. They are usually called something worse.
Anyway, I was happy to catch the little guy shown above. And will this lead to a Strange Fish Catostomus Geocache?
Why yes indeed. And if I may say so, the technique has continued to evolve such that the representation is more accurate. Thank goodness I won't have to try anything really challenging like a flounder!
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