The statement "medium size streams" is slightly misleading. In Tennessee, there's almost no overlap between white suckers and muskies; white suckers are in the tribs to muskie water. When you get further north they occupy larger rivers and lakes.
The dominant muskie forage in most of our rivers are five species of redhorse (
Moxostoma) and the Spotted sucker,
Minytrema melanops. These are all slightly flattened side-to-side, rather than rounded in cross section like a white sucker. They also have much larger scales than white suckers do. Here's a quick intro...
Spotted sucker,
Minytrema melanops. These will have rows of spots on the side.
Silver redhorse,
Moxostoma anisurum. Big chunky head, and the dorsal fin with a straight or convex margin. In life, with distinctive orangeish paired and anal fins. Probably one of the best eating fish in the State (shhh, don't tell anyone)...
The next two are very similar, most easily differentiated by the size of the scales and the depth of the caudal peduncle. Goldens have larger (fewer) scales and a deeper caudal peduncle than do blacks.
Golden redhorse,
Moxostoma erythrurum.
Black redhorse,
Moxostoma duquesnei
The next two both have bright red tails in life. Always. Ohio redhorse have a shorter head, are more delicate, have a deeply convex dorsal fin, and don't get as big as rivers. River redhorse get HUGE, perhaps only matched in size in Tennessee by silvers.
Ohio redhorse,
Moxostoma breviceps
River redhorse,
Moxostoma carinatum
Of course, muskies probably don't care which of these they're eating.
