What You Lookin’ At? Suckers!

suck•er noun : a person who is easily tricked or deceived : a person who is very strongly attracted to a particular type of thing or person : an annoying person or thing : a fish A mountain of leaves gathered on the inside of the curve, and a channel a few feet deep was carved into the bottom. A pod of six suckers and a trout tried to hide under a rock that was way too small for all of the fish, so three would wind up outside of the protection, sit contently for a few minutes then squirm under the rock and evict three different fish to the exposed side. In spite of their reputation as being unimportant and worthless, suckers are ecologically significant. They occupy most aquatic habitats, but are usually found in slower deeper sections of streams like this stretch. Every good trout stream has a healthy population of suckers, and the young are food for larger trout. Suckers mostly eat insect larvae. The suckers continued to wrangle for the best position under the rock and occasionally a few would dart downstream and barrel back up. They looked like torpedoes head on. Torpedoes with pink fringed pectoral fins. They swam with power and agility. Not the clunky stupid being the slang definition suggests. They have intelligence, grace, power and beauty. I find this often. Fish that have a reputation as being throw away, aren’t. How many things in nature, or in human communities, do we fail to place value on because we don’t take the time to watch and learn? Observing these suckers gave me a better understanding of their lives, and a much deeper appreciation for these fish. Yep, I’m looking at you sucker, and I’m richer for it.