Reproduction
With an average life span of 11 years, the Northern Hog sucker males reach sexual maturity in two years while females will take up to three. Often breeding season will start around May, since this is the month that will have the water temperature conductive to the laying of eggs (~15 degrees Celsius). Spawning activity is often violent, with many males competing in order to attract one of the eligible females, and much of the under lay will be kicked up creating depressions in the stream bed. The eggs do not directly attach to the sediment, and (as mentioned in the Nutrition section) can be vulnerable to many different types of predators. Also of note, it has been observed that specimens located in smaller streams will grow to smaller sizes, and reach sexual maturity later in life.
The gravel must be very clean gravel deposits in shallow areas of water in order for the species to be attracted to a certain area. In these modern days however, regions such as the Savannah River have become largely dammed up which can change the water levels and temperatures, possibly altering the spawning habits.
Experiments done in this region seem to show that the Northern Hog sucker has been affected by the changing environment since fish that were recovered through experiments showed a large bias towards males, as well as all members of the species not showing typical mating time expressions such as expression of gametes and loss of body slime. It was the only castosomid in the region to be observed in this way. Although due to observed larval fish, with a few being Northern Hog suckers, it appears that they may (possibly due to environmental changes) have spawned early.
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