One of the animals only native to Utah is the June Sucker. The June sucker is a fish that can only be found in Utah Lake and occasionally in the tributaries that feed Utah Lake. This fish can range in color from tan to almost black. They can grow to about 2 feet long and can weigh up to 5 pounds. Recently this fish was removed from the endagered species list and was moved to the threatened list. This means that the fish is slowley making a come back and numbers are rising.
The June sucker spawns in late May and into early June. When Utah is in severe drought conditions, you can see these awesome fish in large numbers in the Provo river. Because these fish are a threatened species, it is illegal to touch, attempt to catch, or wade to where they are. If you catch the June Sucker while fishing you must imediatly release it. We got the video below in the last week of may in 2021. We found them just off the Provo river trail between Fort Utah Park and Utah Lake. You could see hundreeds of these fish working their way up the river to spawn.
Utah curently has a few projects that the Utah Division of Wildlife is working on to create better habitat for these fish. Check out these awesome projects on their website here. Utah has some awesome creatures. The June sucker is just one of the awesome creatures native to Utah. If you would like to see more of these awesome creatures click below!
As a reminder if you see a June sucker, make sure to give them plenty of space. While these fish have moved from the endangered list they are still a threatened species and it would not take much to get them back to the endangered status.