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White Salmon of the Colorado River
This species differs chiefly from the squawfish, which it closely resembles, in the much smaller scales, there being 83 to 90 in the lateral line. There are no other important differences.
Colorado basin; very abundant in the river channels as far up as the mountains of Colorado.
This is the largest of the American Cyprinidae. It reaches a length of 5 feet or more, and a weight of 80 pounds, though examples of this extreme size are infrequent. At Green River, Wyoming, individuals of 8 and 10 pounds are not at all rare. It is known variously as the whitefish, white salmon, or salmon, and in the Colorado basin, where species of food-fishes are not numerous, it is a fish of considerable importance.
Nothing distinctive is known of its habits or methods of capture.