Bigmouth buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus) is a freshwater species recorded in the United States. It is found at depths of ≥ 4 m.
Scientific name: Ictiobus cyprinellus · Water: Freshwater
Size: up to 123 cm
The bigmouth buffalo is a benthopelagic catostomid whose adults inhabit the main channels, pools and backwaters of small to large rivers, as well as lakes and impoundments, and it prefers water less than 5 m deep. It is recorded from 4 m downwards, and no maximum depth is recorded for it. It feeds on cladocera and cyclopoid copepods supplemented with midge larvae, and it is oviparous. Its range is North America, in the Hudson Bay drainages of the Nelson and Red rivers, the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins from Ontario to Saskatchewan in Canada and Montana in the United States, and south to Louisiana. Maximum length is about 123 cm total length, commonly about 35.6 cm, and it can live 26 years. It is a minor commercial species, a commercial aquaculture species and a gamefish. Fishing vulnerability is high to very high at 70 of 100 and resilience low. IUCN lists it as least concern.
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