#buffalofish

Not all buffalo live on the plains; some have made their home right in central North America's rivers! The bigmouth buffalo fish is the largest North American member of the Catostomidae or "sucker" family, reaching up to 1.2 m (4 ft) and 36 kg (80 lbs)! They are also the longest-lived freshwater fish, with many individuals easily reaching 100 years in age.

(Image: A pair of bigmouth buffalo fish (Ictiobus cyprinellus) by Joel Sartore)

— Laura Baisas | August 19, 2025

Lake Trout Typically live for about 25 to 30 Years. Credit: Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

At 62 years old, a fish nicknamed “Mary Catherine” was swimming through Lake Superior during some big events. The lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) was born when President John F. Kennedy was in office, when the “gales of November came early” sinking the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, and lived through 15 Summer Olympics. Mary Catherine is believed to be the oldest-known specimen of her species ever caught in the Great Lakes.

A team from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) caught the trout in Klondike Reef towards Lake Superior’s southeastern side in the fall of 2023. At just under five pounds and about two-feet-long, the specimen wouldn’t have won any fishing tournaments, but her age made her stand out.

Lake Superior, one of the Great Lakes, is the Largest Freshwater Lake in the World.

Determining the age of a fish is similar to how we determine the age of a tree. Scientists use a structure inside the ear called the otolith, or ear stone. The ear stone grows throughout the years of a fish’s life, so scientists can count the rings to identify its age.

“Otoliths are used to assess the age of many other species of fish,” the Michigan DNR wrote in a social media post. “They tend to be used for long-lived fishes such as lake trout, lake whitefish and cisco, whereas for shorter lived fishes, fin spines and scales are used to count annual rings for species such as walleye, yellow perch, steelhead, and salmon.”

A Lake Trout That Hatched When JFK Was President Was Found Alive In Lake Superior! The oldest known lake trout in the Great Lakes, 62 Years Old at the time of capture, was documented by researchers at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Marquette Fisheries Research Station. CREDIT: Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Facebook: Michigan Department of Natural Resources, August 15, 2025! Did you know what today's #IdentiFriday species was? It's a lake trout, specifically one named "Mary Catherine" by the fisheries team who pulled it in. Oh, and this fish was 62 years old.

Yes, you read that correct. This particular trout was hauled in by Lake Superior researchers off Klondike Reef in 2023 and was found to be 62 years old. But how did they know the age?

Ears! Well, more specifically an ear stone inside the ear, called an otolith. As the fish grows, so does this structure, giving it rings to help identify the age - like a tree. Humans have these "ear stones" as well.

Otoliths are used to assess the age of many other species of fish. They tend to be used for long-lived fishes such as lake trout, lake whitefish and cisco, whereas for shorter lived fishes, fin spines and scales are used to count annual rings for species such as walleye, yellow perch, steelhead, and salmon.

Lake trout are adapted to live in "unproductive ecosystems" which gives them a tortoise-like approach to life, live long! Compare this to a salmon which only gets around four years to do all the things.

Want to dive more into this specific fish, and the ecomorphs of lake trout that exist? Check out the recent Showcasing the DNR story, linked below. And yes, there are distinct variations of lake trout depending on where they live in the water column.

From time to time, they take fish specimens in order to track population health. According to the Michigan DNR, finding such an old fish indicates that the lake trout in Lake Superior are doing okay. Lake trout are adapted to live in “unproductive ecosystems,” which gives them the opportunity to have a slow and steady approach to life and live long. They don’t have to hatch, migrate, spawn, and die all in only a few years the way that other fish like salmon do.

Mary Catherine is a humper lake trout, a subspecies of trout that is usually found in offshore lake mounts in Lake Superior. Lake Superior’s average annual surface temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit and depth of 483 feet makes it a low productivity ecosystem. Mary Catherine living such a long life in those conditions is a good sign for lake trout living in the largest of the Great Lakes and their ability to adapt.

Counting the rings in a fish’s ear stone can help biologists estimate its age. Credit: Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Lake trout in Lake Superior are believed to live about 25 to 30 years. The Michigan DNR says that the oldest trout reported in Lake Superior was estimated to be about 42 years old. The name “Mary Catherine” is an homage to her birth year. Mary was the most popular name for baby girls in 1961, followed by Lisa, Susan, Linda, and Karen.

Century-Old Buffalofish Are Still Living In Their Prime! These Little-Known North American Fish 'Defy Expectations.' A bigmouth buffalo from Apache Lake with a unique spotting pattern. Alec Lackmann.

In a new study, scientists caught and analyzed specimens from Apache Lake, Arizona, and confirmed that three of the buffalofish species there can live to be more than 100 years old—and possibly many years more, based on their health.

To pinpoint the ages of these fish, researchers focused on otoliths, the stone-like structures found in the ears of 97 percent of fish species. “What’s really interesting about otoliths, and what makes them so valuable for age analysis, is that they put down rings as they go through slow growth periods,”

The scriptures tell us that everybody's got a water buffalo, but this may not be the one you're thinking of. Instead of a wetlands-loving bovine, this post is about buffalo fish, a genus of 5 large freshwater fish from North America. Buffalo are easily overlooked, but they are pretty interesting fish and I'm here to show you.

(Image: a smallmouth buffalo in profile. It is a large, robust fish that looks brown under this lighting, It has a slightly elongated head with a mouth facing down and a hump behind the head. The scales behind the head are large and prominently outlined. End ID)

Buffalo are members of the genus Ictiobus, which is a member of the family Catostomidae, also known as the suckers. Suckers are a large family of freshwater fish who are, with the exception of 2 species, exclusively found in North America. The buffalo are the largest suckers. Three species, the bigmouth (Ictiobus cyprinellus), smallmouth (Ictiobus bubalus) and black buffalo (Ictiobus niger) are fairly well known, with the bigmouth being the most studied of them. The other two species, the fleshylip buffalo (Ictiobus labiosus) and Usumacinta buffalo (Ictiobus meridionalis) are less well-known. Buffalo are commonly mistaken for carp, but they are not closely related.

(Image: a black buffalo. It looks similar to the smallmouth buffalo, but is darker in color, especially near the top, and its mouth is larger and facing at an angle, rather than directly downwards. End ID)

The bigmouth buffalo is the largest of the species and the largest sucker, capable of growing to over 1.2 m (4 ft) and 36 kg (80 lbs). They are the roundest of the buffalo, with roughly cylindrical bodies. The scales are an olive green and some will develop orange or black spots as they age Bigmouths can be distinguished from other buffalo by their mouths, which open facing forward (terminal). All other buffalo have mouths that open downwards (subterminal). The bigmouth buffalo also differs from the other buffalo in being a filter feeder, while the others are bottom feeders. They have very fine gill rakers that are used to filter plankton out of the water. Bigmouth buffelo are noted for feeding on the larvae of invasive zebra mussels and Asian clams, making them valuable for population control. Young bigmouth buffalo have a feeding strategy similar to their relatives, being mostly bottom feeders that catch and consume small invertebrates like copepods and insect larvae. As they grow, they will switch to a filter feeding lifestyle and will feed throughout the water column. They are known to feed both near the surface and near the bottom. Those who feed near the bottom utilize a unique up and down nodding movement while feeding, which is believed to help them catch plankton that live near but not on the bottom.

(Image: a bigmouth buffalo. It looks like the smallmouth and black buffalo but it lacks the humped back and its mouth faces forward rather than being on the bottom of the head. End ID)

The bigmouth buffalo has the longest known lifespan of any freshwater bony fish, with the oldest individual on record being 127 years old. Furthermore, they do not show the common signs of aging that most animals do, such as lengthened telomeres and a reduction on immune system functioning. In fact, they seem to get healthier as they age and the maximum lifespan is unknown. This seems like a good thing, but it actually leads to problems caused by humans and they relate to reproduction. Bigmouth buffalo can go years between spawns as they need the right conditions, which is warm, spring water that floods highly vegetated habitat in lakes and backwaters. They spawn in groups, with females laying possible millions of eggs (250,000 eggs per kilogram of weight) that are sticky and adhere to vegetation, where the males fertilize them. After hatching, the larvae and juveniles will live in still, shallow water until they grow large enough to move into deeper lakes and rivers as adults.

(Image; a bigmouth buffalo held in two hands to show its size. Its mouth is open and it has orange spots scattered across its body. End ID)

Smallmouth Buffalo are typically lighter in color than bigmouths, with small mouth that face downward and a noticeable hump behind the of the head. The mouth is small, with prominent lips. They typically reach 40 - 60 cm (16 - 24 in) long, but can grow to over 100 cm (40 in) and 30 kg (66 lbs). Smallmouth buffalo prefer streams and rivers with actively flowing water and can tolerate high mineral content and pH. They are bottom-feeding detritovores who use their mouths to take in mud and other sediment, when they then filter for edible particles with their gills. The smallmouth buffalo diet includes decaying organic matter, algae, zooplankton, insect larvae, small crustaceans, small invertebrates, and aquatic plants. Like bigmouth buffalo, they spawn in shallow water among aquatic vegetation and grow slowly. The lifespan of smallmouth buffalo is unknown, but there have been reports of individuals over 90 years old, indicating they also have a very long lifespan.

(Image: a smallmouth buffalo looking toward the camera showing the small size of its head and mouth. End ID)

Black buffalo are visually similar to smallmouth buffalo. The keys to telling them apart is that black buffalo are typically darker in color, have a larger mouth that opens at an angle rather than directly down, and lack the humped back. They typically reach 50 - 76 cm (20 - 30 in) and 4.5 - 13.6 kg (10 - 30 lbs) but have been recorded reaching up to 123 cm (48.5 in) and 36 kg (80 lbs). They occupy a similar ecological and behavioral niche niche to smallmouth buffalo, but will feed in faster-moving and deeper water. Like the other species, they spawn in vegetated water. Black buffalo can hybridize with both bigmouth and smallmouth buffalo. Black buffalo have also been reported living over a century.

(Image: a black buffalo held in two hands. End ID)

I couldn't fine enough information about the fleshylip or Usumacinta buffalo to warrant paragraphs for either of them. Admittedly, I am writing this at about 8 pm the day before posting it so I'm not in the position to be super thorough. They are both native to Mexico.

(Image: an Usumacinta buffalo held by an angler. Ir looks like a smallmouth buffalo but with a larger mouth and reddish scales. End ID)

Bigmouth, smallmouth, and black buffalo are currently classified as least concern by the IUCN, but now research is showing that the situation may be much worse for them. Studies have shows that bigmouth buffalo are not having successful reproduction events, with one study from last year showing that most of the individuals in a lake are decades old and there hasn't been a widely successful reproduction event in 50 years. Young buffalo in that lake surviving to adulthood is a statistical outlier. Unfortunately, buffalo are badly understudied by conservationists so we don't know why they're failing to reproduce and what conservation needs they have. Buffalo also have very little legal protection in the USA, with many states having no limit for non-commercial harvesting. They are used as a food fish and are increasingly popular targets for bowfishing and rod and reel fishing. In addition, the growing awareness of environmental concerns has ironically resulted in people removing and killing bigmouth buffalo after mistaking them for invasive carp. Because we don't know the maximum age of buffalo and don't understand their conservation needs, there could be a major population crash coming and we just don't know about it.