LIBRARY ANNEX ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY NEw YorK STATE COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND HomME ECONOMICS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY Cornell University Library erican food and game fishes :a popular Cornell University The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924002862237 ‘ATQVATISQO AfOatwos atv Tayo pure ynoay PIA yNpe ul snonotdsuvo sso, Ayeusn ore syreur sed ayy ‘spesntpesseyy ul ysy PePIYSaULOP VOUT UdP) SFo WO kA ‘oTLAPYLAA WY polpyey ATPeLOYNWe ‘plo sywuOUL FT ‘SUOT SOYOUL Bes ‘UONIpUoD SuLuMeEds UL a[eUay Art] P UO‘, UMBC] (SIIVNILNOS SNANITAAIVS) LNOYL MOONS NYBISVy AMERICAN FOOD AND GAME FISHES. a popuLarR ACCOUNT OF ALL THE SPECIES FOUND IN AMERICA NORTH OF THE EQUATOR, WITH KEYS FOR READY IDENTIFICATION, LIFE HIS- TORIES AND METHODS OF CAPTURE BY DAVID STARR JORDAN, Pu.D. President of Leland Stanford Junior University AND BARTON WARREN EVERMANN, Pu.D. Ichthyologist of the United States Fish Commission ILLUSTRATED WITH COLORED PLATES AND TEXT DRAWINGS, AND WITH PHOTOGRAPHS FROM LIFE BY A. RADCLYFFE DUGMORE NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. 1902 CopYRIGHT, 1902, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. PUBLISHED May, 1902 PREFACE Tuis volume upon American Food and Game Fishes is one of a series of books treating of the natural history of North America in its varied and more popular aspects. Its scope includes all the species of fishes north of Panama which are used by man as food or which are sought by anglers for the sport which their capture affords. In its preparation the authors have made free use of their various published writings upon fishes, especially their ‘‘ Fishes of North and Middle America.” They have also made equally free use of the vast store of valuable information contained in the numerous Reports and Bulletins of the United States Fish Com- mission, and the ‘‘Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States” by the late Dr. George Brown Goode and associates. The reports of the Fish Commissions of the different States and Canada, as well as the files of the many valuable outing magazines have been consulted. To the many individuals who have assisted us in one way or another we wish to express our thanks and appreciation. First of all we are indebted to the Hon. Geo. M. Bowers, U. S. Commis- sioner of Fish and Fisheries, and to Dr. H. M. Smith, Mr. W. de C. Ravenel, Dr. W. C. Kendall, Mr. E. L. Goldsborough, and Mr. C. H. Townsend, of the Fish Commission, for many courtesies extended and assistance given. The excellent coloured plates in this volume are from the splendid paintings by C. B. Hudson and A. H. Baldwin, and we are able to use them through the kind permission of Mr. Bowers. To Dr. Richard Rathbun, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, we are indebted for the privilege of using as text figures many of the illustrations from Bulletin 47, U. S. National Museum. The numerous excellent and artistically beautiful photographs of live fishes were all taken by Mr. A. Radclyffe Dugmore, who has, with infinite patience and skill, achieved such marvellous results in photographing wild animals. These photographs were taken by Mr. Dugmore expressly for this work at Key West, Lake Maxin- Vv kuckee, and at the Pan-American Exposition; and it is doubted if such excellence had ever before been attained in this line of live animal photography. To numerous angling and sportsmen friends who have aided us with kindly advice and counsel we are duly grateful. In conclusion we may say that our aim has been to make a book which will prove useful and entertaining to anglers; to com- mercial fishermen and dealers in fish and fishery products; to teachers and others who wish to inform themselves regarding our vast array of food and game fishes; and to the multitude of intelligent men and women who have an interest in Nature and Nature Study. David STARR JORDAN BaRTON WARREN EVERMANN April the tenth Nineteen hundred and two vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Paces Preface 3 : : ‘A . - ‘ : ‘ , Vv Introduction ; : ; : ; : : xxiii How to Identify a a Fish : : : : : F XXiX American Bait Minnows : : : : . ; XXXV Fishing with the Fly. : : : . ‘ : xiii Paddle-fishes. (Polyodontide) . é : : ‘ ‘ I Sturgeons (Acipenseride) . F ; : ‘ : . 4 Catfishes (Siluride) . ‘ 2 ‘ ; F : 15 Channel Cats ‘ ‘ ; : 2 : : ‘ 16 Bullheads - : : : Fi : ‘ . : 23 Mud Cats. : : ; : : : : : 31 Stone Cats. : : : : : : ; : 34 Suckers (Catostomide ) ; ; : é : : ; 36 Buffalo Fishes : : ‘ : : ‘ : 38 Carp Suckers : : : j ‘ ; ¢ : 41 ~Gourd-seed Sucker z é , : é , : 44 Mountain Suckers ; : : ‘ . . 45 Fine-scaled Suckers : : : : P 46 June Sucker of Utah cae : ; : : : 54 Lost River Sucker ‘ : : ‘ ; : , 57 Razor-backed Suckers . : : : : F : 58 Chub Suckers : F : ‘ é 2 s 58 Spotted Sucker . : : : : 3 59 Redhorse and Freshwater Mullets F ‘ : . 60 Big-jawed Sucker : : é : ‘ : 5 64 Hare-lip Sucker ‘ , ‘ : : . 65 Minnows (Cyprinid@) . : ; , : : : 67 True Eels (Anguillide ) : : : 3 : : é 7 Common Eel . : : ; : : 76 Conger Eels (Leptaceh alia) : : : : : : 81 Morays (Murenide) . ‘ ; ; : : ‘ 82 Tarpons (Elopide) . : ‘ : ; : : ‘ 84 Tarpon ‘ ; : ‘ ; . 85 86 Bony-fish or Ten- pounder Vii Table of Contents Lady-fishes (Albulide) . E 7 Fi Lady-fish or Bonefish : : : Mooneyes (Hiodontide ) Milk-fishes (Chanide ) Herrings (Clupeid@ ) True Herrings True Sardines Alewives Shad Menhadens Anchovies (Engraulide ) Silvery Anchovies California Anchovy Whitefish, Salmon and Trout (Siimanide) Whitefishes a : z Lake Herrings and Giscoes Inconnu Pacific Salmon Salmon and Trout Atlantic Salmon Sebago Salmon Ouananiche : Trout of Western America Cutthroat Trout Series Steelhead Trout Series Rainbow Trout Series Great Lake Trouts Charrs Graylings ( Thymallide, ) Smelts (Argentinidic ) Capelins Eulachons True Smelts Surf Smelts Blackfish (Dalliide@ ) Pikes (Esocide ) Banded Pickerel and Other Piekeral Common Pike Muskallunge Needlefishes (Belonida ) Vili Half-beaks (Hemiramphide ) Flying-fishes (Exocetide ) Saurels (Scombresocide ) Sand-rollers ( Percopside ) Silversides (Atherinide) Mullets (Mugilide ) True Mullets Dajaos . ; ; Barracuda (Sphyrenide Threadfishes (Polynemida ) Sand Launces (Ammodytide ) Squirrel-fishes (Holocentrida ) Surmullets (Mullide) Goatfishes . : Mackerels (Scombrida) True Mackerels Frigate Mackerels . Little Tunnies Great Tunnies Albacores , Spanish Mackerels Petos : : Escolars (Lepidopide ) Cutlass-fishes ( Trichiuride ) Sail-fishes (/stiophoride ) Sword-fishes (A7phiide ) Papagallos (Nematistiid@ ) Pampanos (Carangide ) Leather-jacks Amber-fishes Mackerel-scads Cavallas Moon-fishes Silver Moon-fishes Casabes True Pampanos Bluefish (Pomatomide ) Sergeant-fish (Rachycentride ) Dolphins (Coryphenide ) Mariposas (Lampride) ix Table of Contents PacE 242 243 246 247 248 250 251 256 258 261 263 264 268 270 272 273 276 277 278 282 283 288 289 290 291 293 294 296 297 299 302 304 309 311 312 313 320 323 324 326 Table of Contents Pomfrets (Bramide) Fiatolas (Stromateide ) Butter-fishes : Basses (Centrarchide ) Crappie and Calico Bass Round Sunfish Mud Sunfish Rock Basses Sacramento Perch Warmouth Bass True Sunfishes Black Basses Perches (Percide ) ; American Pike-Perches River Perch Robalos (Centropomide ) Sea Basses (Serranitde) Striped Bass White Perches Jew-fishes Enjambres Groupers Sea Bass A Triple-tails (Lobotide ) Catalufas (Priacanthide ) Snappers (Lutianide ) True Snappers or Pargos Rabirubias Arnillo Escolar Chino Grunts (Hemulide) Roncos or Grunts Tomtate Pompon Burros Pigfishes Porgies (Sparide ) Scups True Porgies Sheepsheads Mojarras (Gerride) . : Rudder-fishes CZ Chopas : Croakers (Scienide ) Weakfishes Red Drum Lafayette True Croakers Kingfishes Sea Drums Freshwater Drum Surf-fishes (Embiotocide ) Cichlids (Cichlide) Wrasse-fishes (Labride) Tautog : Hog-fish Parrot-fishes (Sea) Spade-fishes (/larchide ) Butterfly-fishes (Chetodontide ) Blue Angel-fish Tangs ( Teuthidide ) Ocean Tang : Trunk-fishes (Otractide ) Cow-fish : Head-fishes (Molide ) Rock-fishes (Scorpenide ) Rose-fish : Skil-fishes ( Anapienoniaey- Greenlings (Hexagrammide ) Atka Mackerel Alaska Green-fish Cultus Cod Tilefishes (Latilide) Hakes (Merlucciide) . Codfishes (Gadide ) Pollacks Tomcods True Codfishes Haddocks Freshwater Ling Table of Contents Pace 445 450 452 454 455 461 462 463 464 466 467 469 475 476 477 478 480 482 484 485 486 488 489 491 492 495 496 498 499 499 501 502 504 5°07 508 509 511 512 516 17 Table of Contents Codlings or Hakes Flounders (Pleuronectide) Greenland Halibut Common Halibut Bastard Halibuts Winter Flounder Arctic Flounder Starry Flounder Window Pane . xii PaGcE 518 520 522 523 526 528 530 531 932 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS COLOR PLATES AND HALF TONES Eastern Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) . : Frontispiece Facinc PaGE Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser rubicundus) . ; : . . 10 Short-nosed Sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostris) : : 2 12 Common Bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) : : : » G22 Yellow Cat (Ameiurus natalis) : : : : : » 22 Channel Cat (/ctalurus punctatus) : : ‘ < (22 Common Redhorse Sucker (Moxostoma aureolum) : : . 60 Lake Carp Sucker or Quillback (Carpiodes pe : . 60 Golden Tench (Tinca tinca). Introduced : : . 68 German Carp (Cyprinus carpio). Introduced 5‘ ‘ . 68 Common Eel (Anguilla chrysypa) . : 5 : F . 76 Common Eel (Anguilla chrysypa) . : : : : x “98 Tenpounder (Elops saurus) ‘ : : : : : . 86 Bonefish (Albula vulpes) : ; . 86 Rock Hind, Cabra Mora ( Ebinephelus Maceo : . 120 Salmon jumping a falls é : : : : : : 2 152 Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) . : : : : . 164 Landlocked Sebago Salmon (Salmo sebago) : é : . 168 Steelhead Trout (Salmo gairdneri) . : : : . 176 Cut-throat Trout (Salmo clarkiz) : : : : : . 176 Von Behr Trout (Sa/mo fario). Introduced ; : ; . 194 Rainbow Trout (Salmo trideus) 2 : , : : . 194 Lake Trout (Cristivomer namaycush) : : : : . 204 Eastern Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) : : : . 208 Montana Grayling (Thymallus montanus) : : : . 222 Golden Trout of Sunapee Lake (Salvelinus aureolus) : » i222 Great Barracuda (Sphyrena barracuda) . ; : : . 258 Bonito (Sarda sarda); dead. ; : 3 : ? . 266 Squirrel-fish (Holocentrus ascensionis) : : : . 266 King-fish or Cero (Scomberomorus cavalla) ; dead : 2 . 286 Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus maculatus); dead ; . 286 Amber-fish (Seriola lalandi) . : : : 5 : . 304 Yellow Jack (Carangus bartholoma ) ; : : F . 304 Xili List of Color Plates and Half Tone Illustrations FacinG Pace Runner (Carangus crysos) : : : : : : . 306 Cavalla (Carangus hippos) : : : j : : . 306 Horse-eye Jack (Carangus Jatus) é : : : : . 306 Moonfish or Look-down (Selene vomer) . : : 2 . 310 Moonfish or Look-down (Selene vomer) . : ; : - 312 Oldwife (Trachinotus glaucus) : ; : ‘ : . 314 Pompano (Trachinotus carolinus) . : . 316 Common Pompano, Pampano (Tr achinotus carotene : . 318 Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) ; : : : ; + 320 Calico Bass (Pomoxis sparoides) : : ; : F . 338 Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris) . . : ‘ ; . 338 Warmouth Bass (Chanobryttus gulosus) . : : : - 342 Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomrs pallidus). , : : : . 350 Red-eared Sunfish (Eupomotis heros) : : : : - 350 Small-mouth Black Bass (Micropterus dolomieu) : : - 352 Small-mouth Black Bass (Micropterus dolomiei) : ‘ - 354 Large-mouth Black Bass (Micropterus salmoides) . : - 358 Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) : ‘ : : : . 306 White Bass (Roccus chrysops) . : : : . : - 372 Sauger (Stzostedion canadense) : : ; ; “372 Striped Bass or Rockfish ( Roccits ees. ; " 5. - 376 Yellow Bass (Morone interrupta) 5 ; ‘ : ‘ « +370 White Perch (Morone americana). : : ‘ : - 380 Cony (Petrometopon cruentatus) - ‘ , - : . 380 Rock Hind (Epinephelus adscensionis) . ; : . . 382 Nigger-fish (Bodianus fulvus) . : , 3 : : . 382 Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus). : : ; . 384 Red Grouper (Epinephelus morio) ; : ‘ : . 380 Red Hind (Epinephelus guttatus) . : : . 386 Nassau Grouper; Cherna (Epinephelus str es : : . 388 Yellow-fin Grouper (Mycteroperca venenosa) 390 Jewfish (Promicrops itaiara) 392 Black Grouper (Mycteroperca bonac i 392 Yellow Grouper (Mvcteroperca olfax) 394 Gag (Mycteroperca microlepis) 394 Scamp (Mycteroperca phenax) 396 Sea Bass (Centropristes striatus) ‘ 306 Gray Snapper; Pargo Prieto (Lutianus oe 406 Dog Snapper (Lutianus soci) 408 XiV List of Color Plates and Half Tone Illustrations Schoolmaster (Ludatus apondus) Schoolmaster (Lutianus apodus) Mutton-fish (Lutéanus analis) Lane Snapper (Lutianus synagris) Mutton-fish; Pargo (Lutianus analis) Yellow-tail (Ocvurus chrysurus) Margate-fish (Haemulon albunt) Sailors’ Choice (Hemulon parra) Margate-fish (Hemulon album) : White or Common Grunt (Hamulon ianter Yellow Grunt (Hemulon sciurus) Porkfish (Anisotremus virginicus) Black Margate-fish; Pompon (Ania Sur bincne Gray Snapper (Lutianus griseus) Scup (Stenotomus chrysops) Tom-tate (Bathystoma rimator) Saucer-eye Porgy (Calamus calanis) Little-head Porgy (Calamus proridens ) Jolt-head Porgy (Calamus bajonado) Grass Porgy (Calamus arclifrons) Little-head Porgy (Calamus proridens) Pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides) Sheepshead (Archosargus probatoc ephalus) Little-mouth Porgy (Calamus penna) Pinfish (Lagodon rhombotdes) Broad Shad (Xystema cinereunt) Bermuda Chub (Kyphosus sectatrix) Hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus) Croaker (Micropogon undulatus) Spot (Letostomus xanthurus) Parrot-fish (Scarus squalidius) Spade-fish (Chetodipterus); young : Black Angel-fish (Pomacanthus arcuatus); young Black Angel-fish (Pomacanthus arcuatuts) : Yellow or Blue Angel-fish (Holacanthus ciliaris); adult Yellow Angel-fish (Holacanthus ciliaris); young Rock Beauty; Palmoneta (Holacanthus tricolor) Cowfish (Ostracion quadricornes) Pudding-wife (/ridio radiatus) . XV Facine Pacr 408 410 412 412 414 416 22 422 424 426 430 430 432 432 434 434 436 436 LIST OF TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS Pac Whitefish, showing parts referred to in descriptions of soft- rayed fishes : XXX Small-mouth Black Bass, showing parts referred to in de- Scriptions of spiny-rayed fishes. : : . XXxii Knot for attaching leader to line for fly fishing : : xliv Overhand Cast. : ; : ‘ F ‘i : ; xlvi Flip Cast. : ; : ; 3 ; : 5 : xlvi Wind Cast . : é 2 . ; : : . : xlvii Underhand Cast . : : : : : : : : xlvii Switch Cast ; : : ; : . : : : xl viii Clark’s Spey Cast : : : ‘ - - é : | Paddle-fish : . : ; : : : 5 ; I Common Sturgeon ‘ : : : : ‘ ‘ : 8 Lake Sturgeon... ‘ : : ; ‘ ‘ : : 10 Short-nosed Sturgeon : : : : : - : 12 Shovel-nosed Sturgeon : : : : F : 13 Blue Cat : : ‘ : : : : . : ‘ 17 Channel Cat : : : : : : : : f 21 Eel Cat : : : : : : : . : 22 Black Bullhead . : : : : : ‘ ‘ : 30 Flathead Cat : : ; : : : j : i 31 Mud Cat : ; : : : F : : : : 32 Stone Cat. ‘ ; : Z : : : : 34 Common Buffalo Fish : : ‘ : ; ; : 39 Eastern Carp Sucker . : : ‘ : : : 3 43 Gourd-seed Sucker : ‘ : F ; : ‘i : 44 Mountain Sucker ‘ F z ‘ : ; ‘ : 45 Flannel-mouth Sucker ‘ : ; : 3 : : 47 Platte River Sucker . , ‘: : a : : 3 48 Sacramento Sucker : : ; : : ; : 5 50 Common Sucker : ; : : ; : : 2 51 Utah Lake Mullet ; : : : 3 ; : : 52 Moogadee; Sucker : : P ‘ : ; : 53 June Sucker of Utah Lake ‘ ; : ; : ‘ 54 Klamath Lake Sucker : : : ; : : 3 55 XVil List of Text Illustrations PAGE Tswam; Sucker s = af & 4s a ee 56 Razor-back Sucker ; : F : : ; : ; 58 Chub Sucker z ‘ : , 4 é . ‘ ‘ 59 Spotted Sucker . : ‘ ‘ 3 3 ‘ : - 59 Common Redhorse_. , . : ; : : : 60 Hare-lip Sucker. 3 : ; ; : ‘ 66 Hare-lip Sucker, showing lower lip : : ‘ : 66 Squawfish : : : : ; ; : : j 68 Utah Lake Chub é : F : ‘ : : : 70 Common Chub. : 3 3 : A : . 5 75 Tarpon ; ‘ : : : : : : 85 Bony-fish; Ten- -pounder ; : : : : ; : 86 Bonefish ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ P : ; : ; ; 88 Mooneye : : : : : ; : : : : 92 Southern Mooneye : : : : : ‘ : - 93 Awa or Milk-fish : ‘ : 3 ; ‘ : E 94 Common Herring : . : : : : : : 96 Tailor Herring. : : F : ; : : : 102 Alewife : : : 3 - : 5 F ; 103 Glut Herring : : : : : : : : : 104 Common Shad _ . : : : : : : 2 : 105 Alabama Shad. : ; : : . : : : 108 Menhaden. ' E : : : i 109 Rocky Mountain Whitefish : : : : : : 119 Blackfin Whitefish : : ‘ : : : ‘ : 139 Humpback Salmon ‘ : : : : : ; 149 Adult male Blueback Salmon 3 : : : i . 156 Adult female Little Redfish ; : d : : : 157 Adult male Little Redfish, showing condition at end of spawning season . : : . : : : : 158 Lake Tahoe Trout : ‘ ; é ; : : : 180 Utah Trout . : : : : : : : : ‘ 182 Rio Grande Trout A i 3 : F . fe i 185 Colorado River Trout : ‘ ; : ‘ : ; 186 Waha Lake Trout : : : : 3 : : F 187 Green-back Trout : ; ; : : : : : 188 Yellow-fin Trout : : ; ‘ : ‘ x ‘ 188 Steelhead Trout ; : : ; 3 ‘ : ; 190 Rainbow Trout . : ‘ : ; : , 5 . 195 Great Lake Trout : ; : ; : ; P : 203 Xvili Brook Trout Dolly Varden Trout Sunapee Trout Oquassa Trout Arctic Grayling Michigan Grayling Montana Grayling Capelin ‘ . Eulachon; Candle-fish Pacific Smelt American Smelt Alaskan Blackfish Common Pike . Muskallunge Houndfish; Agujon Common Half-beak Sharp-nosed Flying-fish California Flying-fish Trout Perch : Pescado blanco de Chalco Common Mullet White Mullet Lisita; Mullet Chenomugil proboscideus Dajao; Mullet Joturo; Mullet Great Barracuda Threadfish ‘ Common Sand Launce Marian; Squirrel-fish Red Goatfish Mulloides rathbuni Salmonete Common Mackerel Chub Mackerel Frigate Mackerel Little Tunny . Long-finned Albacore Spanish Mackerel Sierra; Kingfish xix List of Text Illustrations Pace List of Text Illustrations Cutlass-fish Sailfish Pez de Gallo Leather-jack Pilot-fish California Yellowtail Rudder-fish Scad Xurel : : Goggler : : : Hemicaranx amblyrhynchus Moonfish Bumper Round Pompano Mazatlan Pompano Coal-fish Dolphin Harvest-fish Butter-fish Crappie Round Sunfish Mud Sunfish Sacramento Perch Apomotis symmetricus Red-breasted Bream Long-eared Sunfish McKay’s Sunfish Common Sunfish Walleyed Pike Sauger Yellow Perch Snook White Bass Striped Bass Speckled Hind Black Jewfish Guaseta : Dermatolepis zanclus Mycteroperca boulengeri Bacalao XK Pace 290 291 294 298 298 300 300 302 302 303 303 310 312 315 316 323 324 329 330 334 337 338 341 344 346 347 351 353 361 363 365 369 372 373 385 387 388 389 391 393 Hypoplectrus unicolor Spotted Cabrilla Rock Sea-bass Squirrel-fish Flasher Pargo Raisero Lutianus viridis Cagon de lo alto Arnillo Escolar Chino Gray Grunt . Lythrulon opalescens Pigfish Common Scup Chopa Amarilla Pinfish Irish Pompano Hermosilla azurea Common Weakfish Spotted Weakfish Bastard Weakfish Mademoiselle Red Drum Carolina Whiting Black Drum Freshwater Drum Hysterocarpus traski Abeona minima ‘ Cymatogaster aggregatus White Surf-fish Rachocheilus toxotes Hypsurus caryi White Viviparous Perch Cunner : California Redfish Creston Tang; Barbero Negro Ocean Tang ‘ Rock Shellfish, Ostracion frigueter Common Trunkfish, Ostracion trigonus Common Cowfish, Ostracion tricornis xxi List of Text Illustrations Pace 395 396 398 399 400 404 406 417 418 419 423 430 434 437 443 444 448 451 456 458 459 460 461 465 466 468 47° 47° 471 472 473 473 474 477 479 487 488 490 490 491 List of Text Illustrations Common Trunkfish, Osfracion trigonus Sunfish; Mola Ranzania truncata Rosefish , Black Rockfish Coal-fish Atka Mackerel Rock Trout Alaska Green-fish Common Greenling Southern Rock Trout Cultus Cod : : : Pacific Hake, Merluccius productis Common Pollack Alaska Pollack Tomcod ; California Tomcod Common Codfish Haddock Freshwater Ling Summer Flounder Rusty Dab Winter Flounder Arctic Flounder Eel-back Flounder Starry Flounder Window Pane Bat-fish Xxii Pace 491 493 494 496 497 498 499 501 501 502 502 503 507 509 510 511 512 513 516 518 527 528 529 530 530 931 532 932 INTRODUCTION “Of Recreation there is none So free as Fishing is alone; All other Pastimes do no less Than Mind and Body both possess; My Hand alone my Work can do, So I can fish and study too.’ A THE aim of this book is to furnish that which well-informed men and women, and those who desire to become well informed, might wish to know of the food and game fishes which inhabit American waters. Though primarily a popular treatise, its method is in part technical, for the characters we call ‘‘technical” are the ones we can trust in distinguishing one fish or group of fishes from another. These distinctions are the ones established by Nature herself, and the study of natural objects is useful to us in the degree that we are willing to overlook artificial or temporary characters in our search for real ones. Thus to know that a salmon has red flesh and a pike white flesh is to know nothing about either salmon or pike. The real differences appear on comparison of the fins, the teeth, the skeleton, and the facts we have gained as to the origin of the different forms. The use of technical terms therefore finds its justification in that the facts they set forth would be unintel- legible without them. But the technical terms used in describing a fish are no more difficult to understand than those used in describ- ing anything else. Head, snout, maxillary, jaw, fins, and the like are quite as simple as head, nose, arm and foot used in naming the parts of our own body; or petal, stamen, stem, leaf and pistil in describing a flower. To understand or to be able to study any subject one must necessarily know something of the language of that subject. A book which does not take for granted a certain amount of intelligence on the part of the reader has no excuse for being. This book presupposes on the part of the reader a knowledge of ordinary English, as used by Americans of fairly good education, and a willingness to make an honest effort to find out more about the food and game fishes of our country. xxiii Introduction The aim has been to make a book by the aid of which any one of average intelligence may easily and readily identify any American fish that is used as food or game, and the book is technical only to that extent. For those who do not care for these facts the part of the text which refers to them has been printed in smaller type. The small type is therefore for those who would study fishes with specimens in hand; the large type for those who would read about fishes, whether the fishes themselves are present or not. The second purpose of the book is to give individuality to the different kinds of fishes treated, by some account of their geo- graphic distribution, habits, life histories, commercial and food value, and interest to the angler. These facts and discussions are, indeed, those which are given greatest prominence in the book. About 12,000 different species of fishes are now known, besides a vast and varied assemblage of forms now extinct. These 12,000 species are arranged in about 200 groups called families. The families are of very unequal size, some containing hundreds of species, others but few or even only one. In some cases the group is now at its height, more forms existing than ever before. In other cases one poor little species may be the sole survivor of a once mighty race. Of the species of fishes which are known about one-fourth (3,300) are found in the waters of North America, that is north of the Isthmus of Panama. All of these the present writers have described in detail in a book of four volumes and 3,313 pages, called ‘‘The Fishes of North and Middle America,” to which those who wish to study our fishes more seriously are referred. The present volume covers the same geographic area, but its treatment is limited to those families containing fishes useful as food or inter- esting to the angler from their display of those qualities we call ‘‘game.” Not all the species of any family are of equal value as food or game; indeed, many families, containing most excellent food and game species, contain others of no value whatever for either of those purposes. Then again, some species, as the tarpon, possess game qualities in a high degree, but are not valued as food. We have, however, usually included mention at least of all the species of those families any of whose members are game or food for man; and, it is believed, that any one who really cares to XXIV Introduction do so, can, with this book, accurately identify any specimen he may obtain, if it belongs to a family containing any American food or game-fish. We have left out the vast array of little fishes, too small to be worth eating—except to bigger fish. These swarm in all waters— minnows and darters in the brooks, silversides and killifishes in the estuaries, anchovies in the surf, and many even in the open sea, the prey of the mackerel, the bluefish, and other pelagic pre- daceous species. We have left out or briefly mentioned rare fishes, those which occasionally appear on our coasts. We have not con- sidered the many strange fishes of the depths, soft-bodied, black in colour, and often provided with luminous spots which serve as lan- terns in the watery darkness. These would be food-fishes if we could get at them, and game-fishes likewise, for they will take the hook at the depth of half a mile, with ferocity and persistence. But the reader of this book will seldom angle for them, and, if he does, he will know how to look elsewhere for their descriptions. Then, too, we omit the groups which lie below the true fishes—the lampreys without limbs or jaws, which are not true fishes themselves, but merely fish-like animals that live by sucking the blood of real fishes; the sharks and rays or skates, with large fins and often with large teeth, and a skeleton of cartilage. It is true that lampreys are much eaten in Europe and sometimes in America, for we ourselves have eaten canned lamprey on the Col- umbia River and found it excellent; that from the fin-rays of certain sharks the Chinaman prepares a delicious soup; and that the skate with brown butter, raze au beurre noir, is a delicacy of the French chef. But in the United States none of these is a food-fish. Our people are too well fed to care for the coarse rank flesh of sharks, however much its flavour may be disguised by the ingenious cook. Other coarse-grained fishes, such as the sea catfish, we have omitted or noticed only in passing. There are certain fishes whose flesh contains poisonous alka- loids which, in the tropics, become greatly developed, and, when eaten, producing the dangerous disease called ‘‘Ciguatera.” These are the file-fishes, trigger-fishes, globe-fishes, porcupine-fishes and puffers. In Hawaii one of these species, Tetraodon gibbosus, is known as Muki Muki, or Deadly Death, its flesh being poisonous in the highest degree. In general, however, these fishes cease to KXV Introduction be venomous in the colder waters of our northern coasts. They are by no means food-fishes, and are mentioned here only that they may be avoided. Setting aside, then, all these, the small, the lean, the coarse, the poisonous, the rank, the rare, and the inhabitants of the oceanic abysses, we still have left a royal assemblage of food and game- fishes, and all these are treated in the present volume. Of these, the total number of species is about one thousand, fully one-third of all the food and game-fishes of the world, or nearly one-third of all the fishes of whatever kind known from American waters. A few which may be called unimportant are important to some- body and are therefore included, even though scarcely mentioned in any other work. Thus the great catfish of the Rio de las Balsas in Mexico (/stlarius balsanus) is important to the natives of Morelos, though unknown to every one else. On the other hand, we may have omitted species important to somebody because they do not concern the reader and have never interested us. The line between those we include and those we pass unmentioned is often a very narrow one which might easily be shifted either way. This book is a treatise on a branch of Ichthyology, and Ichthyology is the science of fishes. The word ‘‘fish” is a hard one to define because it is used in science with several different grades of meaning. Ordinarily it is the name of a cold-blooded vertebrate which is adapted for life in the water, and has its limbs, if present, developed as fins, never as fingers or toes. This is the broadest correct definition. It excludes the whales, porpoises and seals, which are warm-blooded mammals, looking like fishes only because they lead a fish-like life. It excludes the frogs and sal- amanders of all grades because even those which have gills and live in the water have fingers and toes instead of fins. But for scientific purposes we usually adopt a narrower definition. We exclude the tunicates, which have no skull and lose the backbone in the course of development. We pass by the lancelets, fish-like certainly, but having neither brain nor skull. The higher group of lampreys is also excluded from the circle of fishes, for the lamprey has no jaws, no limbs, and no trace of the bones to which limbs should be hung. This would leave us, then, the following defin- ition of a fish: A ‘‘fish” is a cold-blooded vertebrate adapted for life in the water; breathing by means of gills which are attached to bony or cartilaginous gill-arches; having the skull well-developed XXvVi Introduction and with a lower jaw; with the limbs present and developed as fins, or rarely wanting through atrophy; having the exoskeleton developed as scales or bony plates or horny appendages; and with the median line of the body with one or more fins composed of cartilaginous rays connected by membranes. But a still narrower definition is sometimes necessary, and we may separate from the true fishes the various lower types developed before the formation of the paired fins and jaws of the fishes of to-day. The sharks are not true fishes, for they have no membrane- bones or gill-covers, and the upper jaw is simply the front of the palate, no upper jaw-bones being developed. The same is true of the skates, the chimera and the lung- fishes. The lung-fish, like the bichir of the Nile, another fish- like creature, not a true fish, has, instead of pectoral fins, long- jointed appendages with a fringe of rays along the side. From the structure, as seen in the bichir (Polypterus bichir), it is not a great change to the forked limbs of the frog, and it is from air- breathing amphibious fishes like these that the original salaman- ders and frogs of the coal measures were descended. All these forms, as well as the mailed and helmeted monsters of the Devonian, are fishes in the broad sense of the term, but not in the narrow one of ‘‘true fishes.’”’ A true fish is an aquatic ver- tebrate fitted for life in the water, breathing by means of gills, having brain, skull, and lower jaw, the upper jaw formed origin- ally of at least two pieces (premaxillary and maxillary), one on each side, with developed limbs, the pectoral and ventral fins being composed of fin-rays not attached to an elongate jointed axis. All of those mentioned in this book are true fishes, and each one can verify this definition, although in a few of them the ex- ternal parts or fin-rays of pectoral or ventral limb are lost altogether. The nomenclature and arrangement of species in this work agree essentially with that adopted by the present writers in their ‘‘Fishes of North and Middle America,” with such changes and modifications as more recent investigations and studies seem to require. Perhaps the most important departure from that work is in the use of fewer trinomial names. This is especially to be noted among the Sa/monide. Usually the Sebago salmon and the ouananiche have been regarded as subspecies of the Atlantic salmon and have been given trinomial names—Salmo salar sebago XXxvil Introduction and Salmo salar ouananiche. Various subspecies of Sa/velinus fontinalis and of the cut-throat, steelhead and rainbow trouts have been recognized. These forms have, in most cases, perhaps, been regarded as subspecies chiefly because they differed but slightly from related forms. Whether a given form should be regarded as a ‘‘species” or a ‘‘subspecies”’ is very much a ques- tion of material, both from a geographic and a numerical point of view, as Mr. Robert Ridgway has well said. With greater material, and from properly selected localities, many forms, which have been considered specifically distinct, are shown to be con- specific; and forms that have been regarded as subspecies are in many instances found to be good species or to have no existence at all. The existence of a subspecies implies greater or less geographic or environmental isolation and the presence of intergrading forms. However great the differences may be between two forms, if com- plete intergradation is known to exist, the one is regarded as a subspecies of the other. On the other hand, even though the dif- ferences are slight, if intergrading is not known to exist, they are to be regarded as distinct species. Of the various forms of salmon and trout, which we have formerly regarded as subspecies, but few, if any, are known to intergrade with related forms. Although the ouananiche and the Sebago salmon do not differ greatly from the Atlantic salmon or from each other, intergradations are not known. We therefore prefer to regard them as three distinct species, which they prob- ably are. The same is true with respect to the various forms of trout in the West; most of those which have been recognized as sub- species are certainly distinct species, while others are of very doubtful validity. Among those whose status is problematical are the Kamloops, Kern River, Shasta and Noshee trouts. They may be species, subspecies or nothing. Investigation of the geographic distribution of the various trout is very much to be desired. While it is not likely the number of species will be reduced, their exact relations need to be made out. Xxvill B HOW TO IDENTIFY A FISH IT is easy to know a fish, or even a true fish; but a more interesting question is: What kind of a fish is it? There our difficulty begins. We can readily say that a certain specimen is a fish, or even that it is a bass, a perch, a herring, or a trout; but which particular species of the several kinds of bass, perch, herring, cr trout is it? Just what species of fish ts it? This is what every angler, every commercial fisherman, and everyone interested in nature wishes to know, When we get hold of a fish our first desire is to know its name,—what species if is. The vague knowledge that a form is something like a perch, a bass, or an eel will not suffice. The works devoted wholly to sys- tematic ichthyology are in the nature of things entirely technical, and they are not easily followed by the untrained student. Though most of our fishes are not difficult of identification, many of them are. There are now known from America north of the Isthmus of Panama more than 3,300 species of fishes and fish- like vertebrates. Many of these are so closely related and _ the characters separating them so hard to make out, that the difficul- ties are real and not easily to be overcome except by one trained in the methods of systematic zoology. But fortunately such is not the case with the vast majority of fishes, particularly the food and game species. Most of these are fairly easy to identify. A little time devoted to an examination of the specimen in hand and a careful reading of the keys will enable one to locate it. It has been the aim of the authors of the present work to make a book which any angler or intelligent fisherman can use easily and with satisfaction. In the first place, in studying a fish, there are some things regarding its anatomy which one must know. He must know the names of the fins, the parts of the mouth and other parts of the head and body; also something about the different kinds of teeth and the bones upon which they are placed, the different kinds of scales and their arrangement, and how to contrast one character with another. XXIX ‘Arertrxed io ‘mel ieddy 8 *qndi9900 10 “payunos Ayjensn ‘a[qipuew Jo‘meliemoqT “4 adeu 0} ynous woly asouRsIq *61 SaJVIS ASIMsSOID JO satiIag ‘f1 ‘uy [etjueA *9 “[epneg jo sseq ‘gr ‘auT] [elayeqy ter ‘ug [eloyoag =°S ‘uydaq ‘41 ‘agjounpad y[epneg ‘11 ‘uy teuy ‘? “‘peay “or ‘spesoysooueig “or ‘uy [epneg “£ ‘aAq ‘ST ‘gpiedgQ «6 ‘uy esodipy ~% ‘ynoug ‘hr *AIUL[TXBU [ejUaWelddng ‘ng ‘ug [esiog ‘I “SNOILdIMOSad NI OL Caddadgd ATIVASN SLUVd AO NOILVOOT AHL ‘ONIMOHS HSIGSLIHM V dO aUunold os a CSe : procce XXX How to Identify a Fish He must in some cases examine the stomach, air-bladder, pyloric cceca, gillrakers and branchiostegals. But though some of these names are long, none of them is difficult to understand and the characters are usually easy to make out. In the accompanying drawing of a whitefish the important parts of the external anatomy are indicated by name. The white- fish will serve as a type of the great group of soft-rayed fishes to which belong many of the most important families of our game and food fishes. And the small-mouth black bass, of which a drawing is here given, will answer the same purpose for the spiny-rayed fishes, a still larger and, in many respects, more important group. With the aid of these two figures one can easily learn about all the external anatomical or other characters used in the present work in the identification of fishes. These parts are common to most fishes and their names once learned will be found easy to remember. Near the close of the volume will be found a very complete ‘‘ Glossary,” of terms more or less technical, for the use of those who find words with which they are not familiar. There is also near the close of the book (pp. 541-544), a ‘‘Key to the Families of Fishes” which must be used by those who do not at once recognize the family to which the fish under consideration belongs. All the keys in this work are arranged on the ‘‘alternative” basis, which means that either the one or the other of two contrasted statements will be true. The first statement to be considered in using any of the keys is lettered ‘‘a”, ‘‘b”, or ‘‘c”, etc., and the alternative is ‘‘aa’’, ‘‘bb’’, or ‘‘cc”’, etc., the number- ing letter being always written double in the alternative. With fish in hand read what is said under ‘‘a”’; if that be true of your fish, read the first subdivision under ‘‘a” which is ‘‘b”. So long as what is said under the single letter applies to your fish you read on from one subdivision to another until a letter is reached under which there are no subdivisions when you will be brought to a family, generic or specific name. Turn to the page indicated by the figures following this name and you will there find the family, genus or species (as the case may be) to which your fish belongs fully described. Whenever the statement under the single letter is found not to be true of your fish, you then read XXxi pe. End of last caudal vertebra. a S fo} 3 2 Ss 23 ag ee el aod seo m on utd eos ovsages amoove2s ARTARAG from front pward and forward percle. gal rays. udal peduncle. of anal finu to lateral line. Lateral line, Series of scales counted Opercle . Branchioste, Depth of Ca SPINY-RAYED FISHES. oa. Subopercle. 9b. Cheek and Preo 9. Bae) Ir 12 13 i a XK é. et =| oA Q ba 5 og 3 OE - Rohs] . ° &3 2. p , uP 3 SEES 884 @aedq. Gragg. Beth ob Saaaky pIQGe ua gs SO5— 9 hd 8S Se secogaker Sane e83 ala AaSaGooses ARNOT SS biti Ue Ao fe 8 FIGURE OF A SMALL-MOUTH BLACK BASS SHOWING THE LOCATION OF PARTS USUALLY REFERRED TO IN DESCRIPTIONS OF XXXii How to Identify a Fish the alternative which is under the same letter doubled, and pro- ceed as before. In a few instances there is a second or even third alternative, the guide letter being written three or four times to correspond, as, for example, ‘‘IIIl” in the Key to Families. If you do not know to what family the specimen in hand belongs use the Key to Families at the close of the volume where all the family names are numbered and paged to correspond with their position in the text. When the family is found and _ its important characters studied, the key following the family diagnosis will lead one to the right genus. If the specimen agrees with the generic diagnosis given, you can be sure that no mistake has been made thus far and the particular species can be determined by the use of the key following. These keys and descriptions may at first seem somewhat difficult but with a little experience they become exceedingly easy to use and understand. In descriptions of fishes certain comparative measurements are made. The length of the head and the depth of the body are always compared with the standard length of the fish, which is the distance from the tip of the snout to the base of the caudal fin. The diameter of the eye, length of snout, maxillary, and mandible, and (usually) the length of fins, spines or rays, are compared with that of the head. In our descriptions of species, we have attempted to bring the principal comparative measurements first. The expressions ‘‘head 4’, or ‘‘depth 4”, mean that the length of the head in the one case, or the greatest depth of the body in the other, is contained 4 times in the length of the fish measured from the tip of the snout to the end of the last caudal vertebra, the caudal fin being not included. ‘‘Eye 5” means that the horizontal diameter of the eye is contained 5 times in the length of the head. “Scales 11-85-25” means that there are 11 rows of scales between the front of the dorsal fin and the lateral line, 85 scales in the lateral line itself, and 25 scales in an oblique series downward and backward from the lateral line to the origin of the anal fin, or the vent. When the number ‘of pores in the lateral line is fewer than the number of scales, we have usually indicated the fact. The fin formulas are usually shortened as much as possible; thus ‘“‘D. 10”; ‘‘D. v, 9”; or “D. VIIl-13”, means that in the first case the fish has a single dorsal fin of 10 soft or articulated rays; in the second XXX111 How to Identify a Fish case a single dorsal fin of 5 spines and 9 soft rays; and the last indicates a fish with two dorsal fins the anterior of which is composed of 8 spines and the other of 13 soft rays. Spines are always indicated by roman letters and rays by figures. The abbreviations for the other fin formulas are similarly explained. The measurements given in the text are intended to apply to the average of mature fishes. Young fishes are usually more slender, the head and eye larger, and the mouth smaller than in adults. Those who wish to learn more of what has been written regard- ing American fishes are referred to the present writers’ ‘ Fishes of North and Middle America,” a work in 4 volumes of 3,313 pages and about 1,000 illustrations recently published as Bulletin 47 of the United States National Museum; to the ‘‘ Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States” by Dr. George Brown Goode, published in 1884 as a part of the Tenth Census Reports; and to the various Annual Bulletins and Reports of the United States Fish Commission. XXxiv G AMERICAN BAIT MINNOWS To-morrow we will go a-fishing ; do thou go now and fetch the bait. —Hymir io Thor. THE great majority of the ‘bait minnows” used by anglers in America belong to the Cyprinide@, which is the carp or minnow family proper. Two or three are catfishes, three or four are darters, one or more species of killifish are used to some extent, the skipjack (Ladbidesthes sicculus) is used in some places for certain kinds of fishing, and the young of several species of suckers are seen in the live-box of the dealer in ‘‘minnows” or in the bucket of the amateur angler. The mud minnow (Umbra limi), which, of course, is no minnow at all, any more than that it is a young dog-fish (Amia calva), as many a fisherman will assure you, may also be found among the species offered for sale. And all these have their advantages,—that of Umbra being that it will live and remain vigorous under any kind of treatment; even the game fish will let it severely alone. Even young bass, perch and blobs may now and then be seen in the live-boxes, and unsophisticated anglers may be inveigled into paying a good round price for them upon the recommendation of the conscienceless dealer who asseverates that they are ‘‘just the thing.” With these few exceptions, however, all the small fishes used for bait belong to a single family, the Cvprinid@, an exceedingly large family of fishes, usually small in size, found throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The number of species found in each of these three continents is very great, and the total number of known species in the family is very large. In North America alone the family is represented by about 4o genera and 130 species. — There is scarcely a stream or lake which has not from 2 or 3 to 30 or more species of this family. The streams of the Upper Mississippi basin are most abundantly supplied; not only are there numerous species, but individuals abound. In the Wabash basin alone not fewer than 30 different species are found. Though most of the minnows are species whose individuals attain only a small size, this is not true of all members of the XXXV American Bait Minnows family. While our largest minnows in the Eastern States rarely reach a length of more than a foot or 18 inches, there are species in the West, particularly in the Colorado and Columbia rivers, which attain a length of 4 to 5 feet and a weight of many ponnds. And they are as true minnows as are any of our small species. The term ‘‘minnow” does not mean a small fish or a young fish, but it means a member of the Cyprinid@ family of fishes, Whatever may be its size. The proper name for young fish is fry. Our genera of Cyprinid@ are mostly very closely related and are separated by characters which, although reasonably constant are often of slight structural importance. All the species spawn in the spring and early summer and the spring or breeding dress of the male is often peculiar. The top of the head, and often the fins and other parts of the body are covered with small tub- ercles, outgrowths from the epidermis. The fins and low- Pharyngeal teeth of the Redfin (Notropis = © portions of the body are cornutus), which has the teeth 2, 4-4, 2, often charged with bright hooked and with narrow grind- pigment, the prevailing col- nas “SUEESGS our of which is red, although in some genera it is satin-white, yellow, or even black. Young Cyprinide are usually more slender than adults of the same species, and the eye is always much larger. The young also frequently show a black lateral stripe and caudal spot which the adult may not possess. The fins and = scales are often, especially in individuals living in small brooks or in stagnant water, covered with round black specks, which are immature trematodes and should not be mistaken for true colour markings. No progress can be made in the identification of minnows without very careful attention to the teeth, as the genera are largely based on dental characters. The minnows have no teeth in the mouth, the jaws, tongue, vomer and _ palatines being entirely toothless. The only teeth which they possess are on the pharyngeal bones, and are known as pharyngeal teeth. XXXVvi American Bait Minnows The pharyngeal bones can be removed by inserting a pin or small hook through the gill-opening, under the shoulder-girdle. The bone may then be carefully cleaned with a tooth-brush, and when dry, examined with a hand-lens and the teeth easily made out. In most cases the teeth will be found to be in two rows, the principal row containing 4 or 5 teeth, and the other row having but 1 or 2, which are usually smaller. There is, of course, a pharyngeal bone on each side, and both must usually be examined. The 2 sides are usually, but not always, sym- metrical. Thus, ‘‘teeth 2,4-5,1’ indicates two rows of teeth on each side, on the one side 4 in the principal row and 2 in the lesser row; on the other side 5 in the main row and 1 in the other. ‘‘ Teeth 4-4’’ means a single row of 4 teeth on each pharyngeal bone. In many of our minnows the teeth, or the principal ones, are ‘“‘raptatorial,’—that is, hooked inward at the tips. A grinding or masticatory surface is an excavated space or groove, usually at the base of the hook. Sometimes the grinding surface is very narrow and confined to 1 or 2 teeth. Sometimes a bevelled or flattened edge looks so much like a grinding surface as to mislead a superficial observer. In some cases the edge of the tooth is serrate or crenate. Minnows are found in all sorts of places. Certain species, as the spot-tailed shiner, are confined chiefly to lakes ; others, as the fallfish, are found in the larger streams ;_ still others, as the creek chub, are found in the smaller streams. In any given stream certain species will be found to frequent the swiftly- flowing waters or the riffles and gravel-bars; others seek the deeper, quiet pools; while yet others will be found among the patches of aquatic vegetation. Collecting bait minnows: There are, of course, all sorts of ways for collecting or securing bait minnows. The great majority of anglers are doubtless in the habit of depending upon local dealers for bait. Every important fishing resort has one or more persons who are in the business and from whom live minnows may be obtained at prices varying from 25 cents to $2.00 a dozen. And there are dealers who keep nothing but desirable minnows, but the average man who handles live bait is not so particular, and in his live-box may be found all sorts of small fish, and some XXXV1i American Bait Minnows that are not small, which he recommends in the highest terms to the inexperienced angler. But many anglers, either by preference or from necessity, collect their own bait minnows, and this custom has much to recommend it; for one can usually secure better minnows. He can make his own selections as to species and size, his minnows will be fresher and more vigorous than those from the Sapro/legnia- infested live-box, and, moreover, he who collects his own min- nows learns much about their habits and much of nature, which will be no disadvantage to any man. The best and most satisfactory manner of collecting minnows for bait is by means of the Baird collecting seine. These seines can be had of any desired length from H. & G. W. Lord, Boston, but the angler, will of course, keep within the lawful limit of minnow seines. The peculiarity of the Baird seine is that the middle portion is made with finer mesh than the ends and is made into a bag 2 or 3 feet in length. Seines without the bag, but with the finer mesh in the bunt may be had. Various other kinds of nets are used, with varying success, but a Baird seine 15 to 25 feet long will prove most satisfactory. Minnows suitable for live bait can be found in almost any stream or lake that has not been overfished or whose waters are not polluted or made unsuitable for fish by milling, mining, logging or sewage operations. Different species will be found in different streams, some preferring those with colder water, rocky bottom, and swiftly-flowing current, while others have chosen the streams whose waters flow more slowly and are warmer, and whose bottom is of mud or sand or fine gravel. And in the same stream different species will seek out different parts; some prefer the quiet reaches, some the patches of aquatic vegetation, while others delight to dwell in the shallows of the riffles upon the gravel-bars where the water flows swiftly and is well aerated A similar distribution of species will be noticed in the lakes and ponds. : Generally speaking, the species of minnows will be most numerous and individuals most abundant in the warmer streams and lakes. In the experience of many anglers, creek or river minnows are preferable to those from lakes or ponds, particularly if one is fishing for black bass or wall-eyed pike. The best bait species XXXVIli American Bait Minnows are those that are found in the swiftly flowing water of the riffles. Not only are the species better, but the fish are more vigorous and active, and more tenacious of life, as well as more silvery or brightly coloured, which are the points chiefly deter- mining the excellence of a bait minnow, as such. To be effective, a bait minnow must be bright or silvery enough to attract the attention of the fish, it must be active to show that it is alive, albeit in distress or under restraint, and its tenacity of life must be great to enable it to withstand the changed and constantly changing environment and the slight physical injury incident to its being impaled upon the hook. The size of the minnows selected will of course be determined by the kind of fishing the angler wishes to do. In seining for bait minnows a great many small fish will be caught which are not wanted. It would seem that it ought not to be necessary to urge that these should all be returned to the water, but entirely too many bait-gatherers and anglers fail to do so. The seine is hauled out upon the shore, the minnows that are wanted are put into the live-bucket, and the rest of the catch is dumped upon the shore to die. Among the fishes allowed to perish miserably in this way will be found young of many food-and-game species such as both species of black bass, the rock bass, bluegill, and yellow perch, as well as many other species that are either valuable as food or which serve as food for our game fishes. The great scarcity of fish in many streams and small lakes is undoubtedly due in large measure to this wholly inexcusable carelessness and the criminal indifference of those seining. for bait. Various sorts of traps are used for catching minnows. The most common and perhaps the most effective is made of wire and constructed after the manner of the ordinary rat-trap, which permits easy entrance but exit from which is difficult. These traps are, of course, baited, usually with small particles or balls of dough, and are set in places which minnows are known to frequent. Minnows may be caught also by means of a small dip-net by properly baiting it and allowing it to rest upon the bottom until the minnows are over it in numbers feeding upon the dough with which it has been baited; then by lifting the net quickly the minnows may be secured. XXXix American Bait Minnows In the absence of all better ways good bait minnows, parti- cularly the fallfish, creek chub, river chub, and redfin may be -obtained with hook and line, provided the hook used be very small. The care of live minnows: More bait minnows die from careless handling and disease than are used in actual fishing, but it should be otherwise. With proper attention there should be but little loss with any of the desirable minnows ; most of them are hardy and will do well in confinement. In the first place, a large minnow bucket is better than a small one, and too many fish should not be put in it at one time; crowding should always be avoided. The fish must be handled as little as possible and with extreme care; handling or other treatment which results in rubbing off any scales is sure to prove fatal very soon. The water should be kept cool and well aerated, either by addition of fresh water by pouring, or by pumping air into the water with a bicycle pump. Before putting minnows in the bucket it should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, so that no germs may be left from fish which may have died in it. If you have a live-box in which you keep on hand a larger supply of minnows, it should receive the same attention. It must be set in suitable water, water that is cool and which has a current, if possible, and must be thoroughly cleaned and_ disin- fected as often as possible. Probably the vast majority of fish which die in live-boxes and aquariums do so from the attacks of different species of a fungus belonging to the genus Saprolegnia. These are plants (closely related in structure to the alge, and may beregarded as degraded forms which, because of their Saprophytic or parasitic habits, have lost their chlorophyl or green colouring matter. This fungus may develop on any part of the fish, though perhaps most abundantly or more frequently on the tail, fins or head, or where scales have been rubbed off. It may be limited to small definite patches, or may spread all over the fish. In general it forms tufts of white, fluffy threads that radiate out from the body. The mycelium of this fungus develops beneath the scales or skin, and by the time it appears on the surface the fish is past recovery. The only way to do then is to destroy all those evidently affected. The others which may be saved should be removed to another tank or vessel and treated to a saltwater bath. xl] American Bait Minnows The salt solution should not be too strong; ordinarily about one part of salt to a thousand of water will prove sufficiently strong. Before the fish are returned to the live-box it should be carefully cleaned and set in a different place. It is of course much more difficult to keep minnows in the summer than at any other time; and as it is also easier to get them then there is no necessity for crowding the live-box. Though there are more than a hundred species of minnows in America and nearly all of them are used to some extent as bait, not more than a dozen or 14 are usually regarded as bait minnows. While the relative values of the different kinds of bait min- nows vary greatly with the locality, nevertheless certain species are recognized by all anglers as particularly suitable for certain game fishes and others for other game fishes. For muskallunge the best and most popular minnows are the fallfish (Semofilus corporalis), large examples of the creek chub (S. atromaculatus), and the river chub (Hybopsis hentucki- ensts). Small suckers are also often used, but perhaps the best of all is the river chub, as it is a hardy vigorous fish which will endure much punishment and is very active and attractive on the hook. Smaller examples of these same species are excellent for both species of black bass. For bass fishing the following additional species are superior live-bait: Storer’s chub (Hvbopsis sforerianus) redfin or common silverside (Notropis cornutus), shiner or spottail minnow (N. hudsonius), the silverfin (N. whippliz ), the slender silver- side (N. atherinoides), and the blunt-nosed minnow (Pimephales notaius). In the Potomac and Susquehanna rivers small catfish are extensively used and are very killing. In Maine the gray- back or ‘‘shore-fish” (Fundulus diaphanus) is much used. But the style of minnow varies much with the locality and the season. In some places and during some seasons crawfish and frogs are the best lures. Frogs are used in New England and in the Great Lakes region. Crawfish are popular in the Great Lakes and throughout the Mississippi Valley. In the small lakes of northern Indiana, justly celebrated for their black bass, the small- mouth prefers a grasshopper in the summer but in the fall the river chub, blunt-nosed minnow and redfin are the best. The large-mouth does not ordinarily take grasshoppers very readily, xli American Bait Minnows but the various minnows just named, if of somewhat larger size, are very effective. Of course many other kinds of small fishes are used as live- bait in different localities and many kinds of live-bait not min- nows are used, among which the names of many will occur to the angler who reads these pages,—grasshoppers, frogs, clams, white grubs, angleworms, dobsons, hellgrammite, and even mice. Perhaps the thorough-going angler will be disposed to scorn all live-bait and use only the artificial fly. And in this he is quite right, for to catch many fish is no longer the desire of the true angler. Only those unworthy the name and whom we no longer respect are disposed to make large catches. Anglers now go a-angling with light tackle and give the fish a chance. They will not catch many fish; the size of the basket is not their aim. They will never take more fish than they can properly use. But they will enjoy fishing only the more on that account. They will get away from offices, counting-rooms, school-books, parlours and five-o’clock teas, out into the open of existence where life is real and where worry and strain and sham are not; where there are green banks and leafy, fragrant woods, singing birds and blue skies. These they will see and feel and enjoy and, returning home, the serious affairs of life will be taken up again with lighter heart and cleaner soul. ‘‘It is not all of fishing to fish.” xii D FISHING WITH THE FLY “Sq, LY FISHING is the art of presenting to a fish a bunch of feathers tied to a hook in such a manner that the fish will believe that the aforesaid bunch is something edible and become ‘“permanently attached”’ to it. The seductiveness of the presentation of the artificial fly depends greatly on the ability of the fisherman to cause his line to fall gently on the water within reasonable distance of the spot where his prospective victim is lying in wait for something to eat to pass by. Fly fishing is the highest branch of angling. Its appurten- ances are the most artistic of all fishing tackle and its practice utilizes the most graceful of all motions involved in fishing. It is a perpetual joy to its votaries, and, like chess, while the element- ary moves are easily learned, there is always room for improvement. The requisite tackle is simple, beautiful and, comparatively speaking, inexpensive. The man of moderate means is perfectly equipped with a ten-dollar outfit, while the wealthy angler may gratify his artistic taste in the ownership of an equipment costing fifteen times as much and both may meet on the stream on exactly equal terms. The float, sinkers, spoons, bait boxes and swivels of the bait fisherman form no part of the fly-caster’s outfit. A light rod with the reel seat below the hand—a simple single- action reel, 25 to 60 yards of waterproof enameled fly line, a couple of 6 foot leaders of single silkworm gut, an assortment of flies and a book to hold them, a creel, and a short-handled land- ing-net complete his equipment. He has no bait to procure and no worry, trouble or bother in transporting and keeping it alive; the success of his day’s outing depends on his skill, the use of the simple equipment given, and his knowledge of the habits of the fish he pursues. , The novice who has never tried to cast a fly will get per- haps as much assistance as he can receive from printed matter out of the following simple instructions: xlill Fishing with the Fly Take your rod from the case, attach’ your single-action reel to the butt of the rod on the same side as the guides, in such a position that with the reel on the under side of the butt the handle will be at the right hand. Join the tip and the middle joint together, keeping the guides of both in line, pressing the ferrules gently together, avoiding a twisting motion which is apt to injure the rod; then bring the second joint and butt together in the same manner. Draw 3 or 4 yards of line from the reel and thread it through the guides and tip. Attach the free end of your line to the upper leader loop with a knot as indicated in illustration (1). The advantage of this knot lies in the fact that 1 Knot for attaching leader to line for fly-fishing. any amount of tension on line or leader will serve only to draw it more tightly, but a slight pull on the loose end (A) will at once release the knot. Make an assortment of three flies, using dark or dull coloured flies for bright days or shallow water and bright gaudy flies for dark days or deep streams. Pass the loop of the fly smell over the leader loops, then bringing the body of the fly through the latter. The leader should be moist and pliant before using; otherwise it will snap when casting and your flies will either decorate some nearby tree-top or sail down the stream entirely unconnected with the rest of your tackle. For casting from a boat or on a comparatively open stream the ordinary over- hand cast which is the simplest may be used. Hold the butt of your rod in your right hand with your reel underneath. Strip sufficient line from your reel to enable your end or dropper fly to come to the butt of your rod. Hold the hook of your dropper fly in the left hand, pulling it backwards on a line with, and sufficient distance below the butt of your rod, to bend the tip in a half circle. Hold your rod almost horizontally, with a slight upward inclination to the tip. Release the dropper fly. The spring of the rod tip will cause the line to spring forward its full length and the flies to light on the water. With the thumb xliv Fishing with the Fly and the fore-finger of the left hand grasp the line above the reel, stripping a couple of feet of it. Raise the rod with a gradual quickening motion until the tip of the rod passes backward over the right shoulder and back of one’s head. This will raise the flies from the water and, as they rise, the resistance of the water will take up the slack of the line which has just been stripped from the reel. Rising from the surface of the stream, line, leader and flies will swing over and behind you in a manner similar to a coach driver's whip-lash. Continue the motion of the rod in an elliptical course which will bring the tip forward and to the left until the tip lies again before you—at an angle of about 25 degrees. Then let it cease its motion. By this time if the cast is properly made, the line is out straight ahead of you and the flies have dropped on the surface of the water at a point 2 feet ahead of the spot where they lay before making the cast. The trick in making this style of cast is to have the line straight out behind you at the saime instant that the rod is at its furthest backward position; for if the forward motion is made before the line is straightened out, it will snap like a coachman’s whip and good-by leaders and flies. In practising have a com- panion watch you and shout ‘‘ forward” at the very instant when the line is at the correct position for the forward cast. A little practice with a watcher to warn will enable you to know in- tuitively what is the correct time to commence the forward motion of the rod. Keep the right elbow close to the body. Let all motion be in the forearm and wrist until flies almost touch the water. Use as much as possible the elasticity of the rod to shoot flies and line forward. Keep the rod tip at an angle of 25 degrees until the flies almost touch the water. Then lower it gently just suf- ficient to allow the flies reaching the surface without splash. If the cast is not long enough, strip a couple more feet of line from the reel and proceed as before until the cast is long enough to suit you or you have as much line out as you can manage. The position of the rod and the actual path of the flies through the air, from the time of leaving the water until touch- ing it again, will be readily understood by referring to Figure 2. No. 1 is the first position of the rod with the fly resting on the water, No. 2 shows the rod at the end of the backward motion, xlv Fishing with the Fly and No. 3 in its position just before the fly drops to the surface of the water. The path of the flies themselves, from the time they rise from the water until their return to it, is indicated by the dotted lines, the fly moving in the direction of the arrow. 2, Overhand cast. It is not always possible to be able to make this kind of cast without danger of entangling the flies in the brushwood back of you and it is often desirable to be able to drop the flies under a projecting bush or tree. For dropping under an overhanging ob- struction flipping the fly as described when first getting it into the water is a good scheme. The method of making this ‘‘flip” cast will be readily under- stood by referring to diagram No. 3, showing relative position of rod and line and the dotted line indicating the path of the flies through the air. 3. Flip cast. A very powerful method of getting one’s fly out against a head wind is in swiftly raising the rod from nearly a horizontal to a vertical position and then down and away from one with a forceful switching motion. This throws the line up overhead and then downward and out in front of the caster, the line and the flies cutting through the breeze. This explanation is scarcely as plain as the diagram No. 4. xlvi Fishing with the Fly The underhand cast, as illustrated in cut No. 5, differs from the overhand in that the path of the fly on leaving the water instead of being upward, is brought back by the motion of the rod from position 1 to 2, about on a level with the reel, and on 4. ‘‘ Wind cast.” reaching its furthest backward point by the motion of the rod from positions 2 to 3, the fly sweeps upward, forward, and then down- ward to the water, as indicated by the dotted line, in a parabolic curve. Roughly speaking, while the path of the fly in the over- hand cast may be said to describe almost a figure 8 in the air, in the underhand method it moves in an irregular ellipse. 5. Underhand cast. The switch casting shown in Figure No. 6 will be more easily understood by reference to the diagram than from the lengthy ex- planation which will be required to describe it. 1, 2, 3 and 4 show the various positions of the rod from the time the fly is on the water until the time it is just about to return to the surface. The heavy lines show approximately the shape which the line assumes at the different positions of the rod, while the dotted line indicates the course of the flies which travel in the direction of the arrow points. The switch cast, when mastered, is a method that enables one to get a tremendous amount of line out; it will also require considerable practice. xIvil Fishing with the Fly There are several other very beautiful and useful casts, which nothing but actual practice under an expert will enable one to acquire. By all means fish up stream, if possible. Trout lie with their heads toward the head of the stream, waiting for their food to float toward them. Their vision above and ahead is singularly acute, but extremely poor toward the rear. Cast above them and let the flies float down over them. They are not as likely to see you as if you were in front, and they will not be disturbed by the dirt and debris which you set in motion and which float down stream. 6. Switch cast. In spring and early summer trout may be found in compara- tively shallow water among the ripples. Of course, where the current is very strong in these ripples, or miniature rapids, it may sometimes be desirable to fish for them from up stream, but this practice is to be avoided when possible. The tackle and methods, as indicated above, are identical for both trout and black bass, with the exceptions, while the trout fly rod may run from 9 to 10} feet in length and for practical purposes weigh from 6 to 74 ounces, the bass rod should be about 10 feet in length, and requiring more backbone, should weigh from 8 to 10 ounces. Trout and bass flies are almost identical in their patterns, but while trout flies should be tied on sproat hooks ranging in size for ordinary work from 8 to 10, or for clear much fished streams, on even No. 12, the bass casting flies are tied on Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5. The most useful may be named as fol- lows: Coachman, professor, soldier, grizzly-king, queen of the water, and ibis, while the green, brown, yellow and red hackles, together with the white hackle for evening use or on very dark days, will be found excellent stand-bys. While for ordinary streams flies tied on 8 to 10 sproat hooks and the regulation single trout leaders will be found satisfactory, xlvili Fishing with the Fly for work on very clear and much fished waters, when the trout have by actual experience or hereditary knowledge become shy, midges or very tiny flies on No. 12 hooks and very finely drawn leaders will more successfully deceive them. On such streams the English method of dry-fly fishing is often the only style of casting that will put trout in the creel. The usual style of trout-fly fishing consists in wading the stream and making casts in likely places—at the foot of riffles, at the edges of stumps, logs and brush and beneath overhanging bushes and banks. The dry-fly fisher, on the contrary, waits until he perceives a rising fish and then presents his fly in such a man- ner that it will float over it. In order to have the flies float, they must be dry, and to keep them dry the angler goes along his way casting them backward and forward through the air, never letting them touch the water until actually presenting them to the fish. This continual swinging enables him to have a quantity of line out and under instant control and also dries the flies after each unsuccessful immersion. Some fishermen drag the flies over the water at the end of each cast, believing that the motion resembles that of an aerial insect endeavoring to escape to land, and flies are often tied with heads toward the hook barb so that, on being drawn over the water, the resistance of their legs and wings will cause them to flutter as if alive. Other anglers declare that the more attractive method is to allow the flies to float quietly, and to enable them to remain on the surface, the bodies of some flies are wound over strips of cork. Trout, black bass, grayling and salmon, are the principal American fishes whose capture may be sought with the fly. Both the grayling and salmon may be dismissed with a word. The former, while game, is found in comparatively few waters. The latter requires expensive tackle, boats, guides, and the rights to fish in the waters which it inhabits rent at so high a figure that com- paratively few fishermen can afford to indulge in the pastime of bringing them to gaff. Trout and bass, like one’s poor relations, are always with us, scarcely any portion of this country is without its trout or bass water, and the poorest man may occupy his vaca- tion in submitting the fly to their critical taste. The little sunfish or pumpkin-seed of our ponds and fresh water streams possesses game qualities not generally recognized. Although usually fished xlix Fishing with the Fly for with worms, this beautiful little fellow will take the fly, his preference being one in which orange or yellow predominates, such as the yellow drake, California red hackle, yellow may or ouana- niche. On a light fly-rod, swinging his broad side against the strain of the line which he makes cut the water in a hissing circle, Mr. Pumpkin Seed will often give the fisher a pleasant afternoon when trout and bass are not rising. Many other species of fresh-water fishes will take the fly, some of them readily and with a rush, others somewhat gingerly. Among those we have taken with the fly may be mentioned Lele ae ‘“Clark’s spey cast” is a difficult, but beautiful cast to make. Mr. Clark, from whom it takes the name, is credited with throwing fifty yards. the crappie, calico bass, rock bass, warmouth bass, bluegill, red-eared sunfish, white lake bass, and yellow perch. And _ the cisco of Lake Tippecanoe and the small Wisconsin lakes takes the fly beautifully for a few days in June, as has been shown by that excellent and versatile angler, William C. Harris. E. T. KEYSER. THE PADDLEFISHES Family I. Polyodontide Bopy fusiform, scarcely compressed; skin smooth, scaleless; snout lengthened and expanded into a long, thin, flat blade or spatula, the inner part formed by the produced nasal bones, the outer portion with a reticulate bony framework, the whole some- what flexible; mouth broad and terminal, but overhung by the broad spatulate snout; border of mouth formed by the premaxillaries, the maxillaries being obsolete; jaws and palatines with numerous fine, decidous teeth in the young, scarcely evident in the adult; no tongue; spiracles present; opercle rudimentary, its skin produced behind in a long, pointed flap; no pseudobranchiz; gills 4%; gillrakers long, in a double series on each arch, the series divided by a broad membrane; gill-membranes connected, but free from the isthmus; a single broad branchiostegal ray; no barbels; nostrils at the base of the blade and double; a well-developed and contin- uous lateral line, its lower margin with short branches; dorsal fin placed posteriorly, of soft rays only; anal fin similar, somewhat more posterior; tail heterocercal, the lower lobe, however, well- developed, the tail being thus nearly equally forked; sides of the upper caudal lobe armed with small, rhombic plates; pectoral fins moderate, placed low; ventrals many-rayed, abdominal; air-bladder cellular, not bifid; pyloric cceca a short, broad, branching, leaf-like organ; intestine with a spiral valve; skeleton chiefly cartilaginous. This family contains but two known species—Psephurus gladius, a singular inhabitant of the fresh waters of China, and the paddlefish found in the United States. Paddle-fish; Spoon-bill Cat Polyodon spathula (Walbaum) The Paddle-fish is one of the most singular and interesting fishes occurring in American waters. Its home is in the bayous I The Paddlefish and lowland streams of the Mississippi Valley from Texas and Louisiana on the south to Minnesota and Wisconsin on the north, It is not uncommon in the Ohio and its larger tributaries, and in the Missouri basin it is found at least as far west as western South Dakota. It is particularly abundant in the streams of Arkansas, the lower Ohio and the Mississippi north to St. Paul. A single example has been recorded from Lake Erie which it doubtless reached through the Wabash and Erie Canal. The paddle-fish reaches an immense size. Mr. William C. Harris, in his ‘‘Fishes of North America,’’ records an individual taken in Lake Tippecanoe, Indiana, which was 6 feet 2 inches in total length, 4 feet in greatest circumference, and which weighed 150 pounds; and we have a photogaph of another caught in Chautauqua Lake, whose length and circumference were exactly the same as in the Tippecanoe specimen, but whose weight was somewhat less, it being only 123% pounds. Another example obtained in Lake Manitau, Indiana, weighed 163 pounds, which is the largest on record. Still another, a male, caught by us in White River, South Dakota, was 4 feet 5 inches in total length and weighed 18 pounds. Mr. F. R. Mueller, a wholesale fish dealer of Chicago, who has made a specialty of this species, says he has seen examples as long as 4% feet and weigh- 75 to 80 pounds. He states that the average length is 3 feet and the weight 30 pounds. Mr. Mueller’s figures doubtless refer to female fish at spawning time when they are much heavier than the males. In 1817, the distinguished naturalist, Charles Alexandre Le Sueur, described a specimen, 4 feet 8 inches in total length, which he obtained in the Ohio River, but adds that the species grows to somewhat larger size. Dr. Kirtland, in 1845, states that Dr. Engelman of St. Louis examined a specimen, 5 feet 10 inches long, weighing 79 pounds. The shovel of this specimen was 16% inches long and 4 inches wide, 4 inches from the tip He further states that another example taken at the same time weighed ‘‘ more than go, or even 100 pounds.” According to Mr. Horace Beach of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, the paddle-fish is not uncommon in the river at that place, where it attains a maximum length of somewhat more than 4 feet and a weight of 30 pounds. The young of the paddle-fish are scarcely, if at all, known. Indeed, we have never seen or heard of an example under 6 or 8 The Paddlefish inches in length, and individuals so small as that are but rarely seen. Specimens under a foot in length are very greatly desired by naturalists. The little that is known regarding the spawning time or place of this fish indicates that, in the lower Mississippi Valley, the spawning season is during March and April, while in the Ohio and northward it is during the latter part of May and June. Among a large number of fish examined at Louisville, Kentucky, during the third week in May, only a few were fully ripe. At that time the fish were running up stream, swimming near the surface, and evidently seeking their spawning grounds, which are thought to be in the ponds and bayous along the river. At this time they are caught in seines lightly leaded so as to fish the surface. At other seasons the paddle-fish may be caught on set-lines. Not until quite recently has this fish been regarded as possess- ing any food value. True, the negroes of the South have long held it in high esteem along with the channel cat and the goujon, but it is only within the last four or five years that it has had a market value. It now finds a ready sale in the markets and at a fair price. Its flesh is firm, like that of the sturgeon, which it resembles also in flavor. Indeed, in some places the meat of the paddle-fish is smoked and sold as sturgeon. But the paddle-fish is valued chiefly, not for its flesh, but for the roe, which is made into caviar. The eggs are greenish-black in color, about three times the size of shad eggs, and very num- erous. They bring a high price and are said to make a good quality of caviar. The principal centres at which this industry is now carried on are along the Mississippi River in Mississippi and Tennessee, at Louisville, Kentucky and at Lake Pepin. Head, with opercular flap, more than half length of body; head, without flap, + length of body; spatula 4 to } total length, longest in the young. Dorsal fin with 50 to 60 rays; anal 50 to 65; ventral 45. Opercular flap very long and pointed, nearly reaching the ventrals; premaxillary extending to beyond the small eye; gill- rakers very numerous and very slender; paddle broad; caudal fulcra 13 to 20, of moderate size; skin mostly quite smooth, a few small rhombic plates on the tail; ventrals near middle of body, the dorsal fin well behind them; anal larger than dorsal and more posterior, both somewhat falcate; fin-rays slender; a minute barbel at each spiracle; isthmus papillose in the young. Colour nearly uniform pale olivaceous or leaden-gray. THE STURGEONS Family Il. Acipenseride On the white sand of the bottom Lay the monster, Mishe-Nahma, Lay the sturgeon, King of Fishes. —Hiawatha’s Fishing. Bopy long, subcylindrical, armed with 5 rows of long bucklers, each with a median carina which terminates in a spine, which sometimes becomes obsolete with age; a median dorsal series and a lateral and abdominal series on each side, the latter sometimes deciduous; between the rows the skin is rough with small irregular plates; head covered with bony plates joined by sutures; snout produced, depressed, conical, or spatulate; mouth small, inferior, protractile, with thickened lips; no teeth; 4 barbels in a transverse series on the lower side of the snout in front of the mouth; eyes small; nostrils large, double, in front of eyes; gills 4; an accessory opercular gill; gill-membranes united to the isthmus; no branchiostegals; fin-rays slender, all articulated; ventral fins with fulcra, many-rayed and behind middle of body; tail heterocercal, the lower caudal lobe developed, the upper covered with rhomboid scales. Large fishes of the seas and fresh waters of northern regions, most of the species being migratory. Two genera and 20 species are known, although more than 100 nominal species have been described. a. Spiracles present; snout subconic;......... ........ Acipenser, 5 aa. Spiracles obsolete; snout subspatulate;...... Scaphirhynchus, 13 GENUS ACIPENSER LINNAGUS The Sturgeons A small spiracle over each eye; snout subconic, more or less depressed below the level of the forehead; rows of bony shields distinct throughout, the tail not depressed nor mailed. Of the true sturgeons there are about 16 species, of which 5 occur In our waters. a. Plates between ventrals and anal fin small, in 2 rows, of 4 to Se Plates nea hires vest cat evetceiond topriay Giier neat transmontanus, 5 White Sturgeon; Oregon Sturgeon aa. Plates between ventrals and anal fin large, in 1 row, or in 2 rows anteriorly and 1 posteriorly, of 1 to 4 plates each. b. Space between dorsal and lateral shields with rather large stel- late plates in 5 to Io series. c. Shields all roughly striated and ridged; colour decidedly greenish; medtrostris, 7 ce. Shields not roughly striated nor ridged; colour grayish; sfurio, 8 bb. Space between dorsal and lateral shields with minute spinules in very many series. d. Last dorsal shield of moderate size, more than + the one Defete Wipes sacha wis keer saree se ce awe hee rubicundus, 10 dd. Last dorsal shield very small, less than 4 length of the one Before ities eer fats We chehe ae tebeuamucncaataais brevirostris, 12 White Sturgeon; Oregon Sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus (Richardson) Pacific Coast of America from Monterey, California, north to Alaska, ascending the Sacramento, Columbia and Fraser rivers in numbers in the spring. The white sturgeon, also known under several other names, among which may be mentioned Columbia River sturgeon, Sac- ramento sturgeon, and Pacific sturgeon, attains an enormous size and is one of our largest fishes. The largest examples of which we have record were 13 feet long and weighed 1,000 pounds. These were taken in Snake River, Idaho, whence numerous in- dividuals, weighing 100 to 650 pounds each, have been reported. Formerly very large sturgeon were not uncommon in the Col- umbia River, at Grays Harbor, and elsewhere on our Pacific Coast, but the average size of those caught now probably does not exceed 5 feet in length and 125 pounds in weight. An example, 11 feet 2 inches long, was 2 feet across the head, and another, 35 inches long, weighed 734 pounds. No careful study of the habits of this sturgeon has been made. Until recent years it was known to ascend the larger rivers of our Pacific Coast in great numbers, but, owing largely to destruc- tive methods of fishing in vogue for many years, the species is now not at all abundant. It is doubtless true that the white sturgeon, like most other sturgeons, is anadromous in its habits, living ordinarily either in salt water or in the river-mouths except at spawning-time, when 5 White Sturgeon; Oregon Sturgeon it ascends the larger rivers for considerable distances, but it is also true that some individuals remain in fresh water throughout the year. They have been taken in Snake River in Idaho at least from March to October inclusive. It is said that they appear at Upper Salmon Falls just after high water in the spring and remain until winter, if not longer. They are most plentiful in spring when the water is muddy. Very little has been recorded regarding the food of this stur- geon, though it doubtless consists largely of small animals and plants which are sucked in through the tube-like mouth. Small fish also seem to form no inconsiderable part of their diet. A young sturgeon, 25 inches long, had 11 minnows in its stomach, and in the stomach of larger examples were found several suck- ers, each about a foot in length. In the lIower part of the Columbia River the sturgeon are said to feed largely on sardines, smelts, and other small fish, and lamprey eels are said to make excellent sturgeon bait. The season for the sturgeon fishery in the Columbia River extends from April to November. The fish are caught on set- lines, in pounds, and to some extent in gillnets. The usual price is 4 to 5 cents a pound dressed, while the roe brings 25 to 30 cents a pound. The fish are either frozen and shipped East or the flesh is smoked. The roe is made into caviar, the manufacture of which is explained in connection with the con- sideration of the common American sturgeon. Only a few years ago the sturgeon of the West Coast were regarded with great disfavour by the salmon fishermen, who were greatly annoyed by the sturgeon getting in their nets. As they had no commercial value, they were knocked in the head and thrown away. But about 1888 their value began to be appreci- ated, and since that year every effort has been made to obtain them. The catch, however, has never been large, and the stur- geon fisheries of the West Coast are now quite depleted. Head 4 in length; depth 7; dorsal rays 44 to 48; anal 28 to 30; dorsal plates 11 to 14; lateral 36 to 50; ventral 9 to 12. Snout sharp in the young, becoming rather blunt and short. in the adult in which it is considerably shorter than rest of head: barbels rather nearer tip of snout than mouth; gillrakers abo 26, comparatively long; first caudal fulcrum, above and below 6 Green Sturgeon enlarged and granular; lower lobe of caudal rather sharp and long, nearly as long as upper. Colour, dark-grayish, scarcely olive-tinged, and without stripes. Green Sturgeon Acipenser medtrostris (Ayres) The geographic range of the green sturgeon is approximately the same as that of the white sturgeon. It probably does not occur much south of San Francisco and is not common north of the Straits of Fuca. It is not so abundant as the white sturgeon and does not attain so large a size. Its habits do not differ materially from those of the white sturgeon. As a food-fish, however, it is of very inferior rank; indeed, it is commonly believed to be poisonous, but this belief is without any warrant. Its flesh, however, is dark, has a strong, disagreeable taste, and an unpleasant odour, and is regarded as quite inferior to that of the white sturgeon. In the Columbia River it is said to reach a length of 7 feet and a weight of 350 pounds, though the average size is considerably smaller. In the Sacramento they run from 35 to 150 pounds. This sturgeon is rarely found in fresh water, but is practi- cally limited to salt or brackish waters. It is seen about the river-mouths during August and September. . There appear to be no regular fisheries for it, the flesh bring- ing only a nominal price, and the roe not being utilized at all. Head 44; depth 74; D. 33 to 35; A. 22 to 28; dorsal plates g to 11; lateral 26 to 30; ventral 7 to 10. Shields with a strongly hooked spine, the surface very rough; space between lateral and dorsal rows of shields with about 5 series of stellate plates in- terspersed with smaller ones; last dorsal shield moderate, more than half as large as next to last; snout sharp in the young, becoming blunt with age, usually rather shorter than rest of head; barbels nearly midway between tip of snout and mouth; gillrak- ers scarcely longer than broad, about 17 in number; upper lobe of tail with some scattered plates; caudal fulcra not enlarged; lower caudal lobe short and blunt, scarcely more than half length of upper; anal fin nearly as long as dorsal and mostly behind it. Colour, olive-green, with an olive stripe on the median line of belly and one on each side above the ventral plates, these stripes ceasing opposite the vent. 7 Common Sturgeon Common Sturgeon Acipenser sturto (Linnaeus) The early records of this country make frequent mention of this sturgeon, William Penn and the botanist, Peter Kalm, were impressed by its large size and immense numbers, and make frequent reference to it in their notes and letters. As late as 1820 thousands of this huge fish might be seen in the lower Delaware. Not until about the middle of the century just closed did the sturgeon begin to receive attention as a food-fish. Mr. John N. Cobb states that nearly all the older fishermen of the Delaware River say that in their boyhood days few, except coloured people, ate sturgeon, though occasionally a family would fry a few steaks and serve them with cream. The roe was considered worthless except as bait for eels or perch, or to feed to the hogs. From 3 to 4 cents a pound were the best retail prices that could be obtained for the meat and usually only 25 or 30 cents could be had for a whole fish. About 1870, however, the meat of the sturgeon began to command a fair price, since which time the price has greatly increased and the abundance of the sturgeon has decreased proportionally. In 1890 the average catch of stur- geon in the Delaware River was 60 per net; since that year the decrease has been gradual and rapid, until in 1899 the catch was only 8 fish to the net. The total catch for the Delaware River in 1890 amounted to 5,023,175 pounds, while in 1897 (the last year for which complete statistics are available), the amount was only 2,428,616 pounds. The taking of the roe for caviar began in this country as early as 1853, and the smoking of sturgeon was begun about four years later. In the sturgeon fishery gillnets are used exclusively, and these are always drifted. The fishermen go out 2 or 3 hours before slack water and put their nets overboard. As the sturgeon is a 8 Common Sturgeon bottom feeder, the net is weighted so that it sinks, wooden buoys called ‘‘dabs”’ attached to the cork line by means of ropes being used to mark the location of the net. The fisher- men drift along behind their net, and when a buoy indicates that a fish has been captured, that section of the net is taken in, the fish hauled into the boat, and the net reset. The sturgeon is taken aboard by means of long-handled hooks of round iron. Though of great size, they struggle very little when gilled or when being brought into the boat, and are gen- erally rolled in like a log. The net is usually fished but once a day, and is taken up at slack water, the fishermen returning to camp with the ebb tide. By far the most valuable part of the sturgeon is the roe, from which is prepared the very expensive commercial product called caviar. The manner of preparation is, briefly, as follows: After the eggs have been removed from the fish, they are placed in large masses upon a stand, the top of which is formed of a small-meshed screen. On the under side is placed a zinc-lined trough, about 18 inches deep, 2 feet wide, and 4 feet long. The operator gently rubs the mass of eggs back and forth over the screen, whose mesh is just large enough to let the eggs drop through as they are separated from the enveloping membrane. They thus fall into the trough, from which they are drawn off into tubs through a sliding door in one end of the trough. After all the roe has been separated, the tub is removed, and a certain proportion of the best Luneburg salt is added and mixed with the eggs by careful stirring with the hands. This is the most delicate part of the whole process, and the best results can be obtained by that proficiency which comes from long experience. After adding the salt, the eggs at first become dry, but in to or 15 minutes the salt has drawn from the eggs their watery constituents and a copious brine is formed, which is poured off when the tub becomes too full. The salted eggs are then poured into fine-meshed sieves which hold about 10 pounds each, where they are allowed to drain for 8 to 20 hours. The eggs have now become the caviar of commerce, which is put in casks or cans of various sizes. The cask usually holds 135 pounds, the price of which has increased from $9 to $12 in 1885 to $105 in 1899.° Head 34; depth 5%; snout 2 in head; eye very small, about 9 Lake Sturgeon 14 in head; D. 38; A. 27; dorsal plates 10 to 14; lateral 27 to 29; ventral 8 to 11. Shields not strongly striated; stellate plates small, in about 10 rows, with smaller ones interspersed; last dorsal shield more than half length of one before it; snout rather sharp, about as long as rest of head, becoming shorter and blunter with age; barbels short, not reaching mouth, inserted nearly midway between mouth and tip of snout; gillrakers small, slender, pointed, sparse, not longer than pupil; lower lobe of tail rather sharp; anal more than half as long as the dorsal fin and placed mostly below it; anterior rays of pectoral thickened. Olive gray, paler below. Maximum length about Io feet; weight 500 pounds. This is the common sturgeon of our Atlantic Coast and coastal rivers, and ranges from Maine to South Carolina. It is most abundant in the Delaware and occurs in some numbers in all the larger streams of this coast, particularly in the Hudson, Susquehanna, and James. The species is migratory in habit,spending much time in salt water in or near the bays, and running up the rivers to brackish or fresh water at spawning time. Lake Sturgeon Acipenser rubicundus. (Le Sueur) The lake sturgeon is found as an inhabitant of the Great Lakes and the larger rivers connected therewith, Lake of the Woods, and many of the Canadian lakes. It was formerly abund- ant in the upper Mississippi Valley and is still found in some numbers in the Mississippi and in the lower portions of the Ohio, Missouri, and its other large tributaries. It is now perhaps most abundant in the Lake of the Woods, where the annual catch in 1894 on the United States side amounted to 1,059,267 pounds. Since then the decrease has been very rapid, until in 1899 the catch was only 197,033 pounds. Among the Great Lakes it is Io LAKE STURGEON, Acipenser rubicundus the Sn, Ti Be LAKE STURGEON, Acipenser rubicundus Lake Sturgeon most abundant in Lakes Erie and Ontario and least so in Lake Superior, whose deeper, colder water is less favourable for its growth than the more shallow, warmer water of the other lakes named. The lake sturgeon is the largest and one of the most important fishes of the Great Lakes, but it is now much less abundant than formerly. The average length of the examples now taken is less than 5 feet, though examples 6 feet long have been occasionally taken, and rarely individuals 9 feet in length have been reported. The average weight probably does not exceed 40 or 50 pounds, and about 100 pounds is the present maximum weight. It delights to frequent comparatively shoal water where, accord- ing to Milner, it feeds upon the smaller gasteropods, such as thin shelled Physa, Planorbis and Valvata, and the more firm Limnea and Melantho. Though it is primarily a bottom feeder, it is known that small fishes constitute a not inconsiderable portion of its food. On August, 9, 1894, Professor A. J. Woolman examined the stom- achs of 55 sturgeon at Garden Island, Lake of the Woods, of which number 28 contained one or more crawfish, 6 had insect larve, 6 had mollusks, and 22 were empty. Among the miscel- laneous objects found were a fish-egg in one, a fish-vertebra in another, a hazelnut in one, and gravel in eight! Head 34; depth 5%; eye 9 to 10 in head; snout about 2; D. 35; A. 26; dorsal shields 11 to 16; lateral shields 30 to 39; ventral shields 8 to 11. Body rather elongate; snout slender and long in the young, becoming quite blunt with age, when it is considerably shorter than rest of head; shields large, rough and with strongly hooked spines in the young, becoming comparatively smooth in old individuals; skin with minute spinules in many series; ventral shields growing smaller with age, and finally decid- uous; anal fin 3 length of dorsal, beginning near its middle. It Short-nosed Sturgeon Short-nosed Sturgeon Acipenser brevirostris (Le Sueur) The short-nosed sturgeon ranges from Cape Cod southward to Florida, and rarely it has been reported from the coast of Texas. It is more southern in its distribution than the common sturgeon. Though not abundant anywhere, it is taken most frequently from New Jersey southward. Examples are occasionally taken in Indian River and elsewhere on the east coast of Florida, and it is said to be not uncommon in the Suwanee and other rivers on the Gulf coast of that state. This sturgeon is much smaller than the common_ sturgeon. The largest examples seen by Le Sueur were only 33 inches long, while the largest obtained by Ryder was but 23 inches. It probably does not attain a greater length than 3 feet, and seems to be not much used for food. Its habits so far as known do not differ from those of the common species. Its colour alone is usually diagnostic. The young of the common sturgeon is never dark-coloured, while the characteristic dirty olive-green or brownish, with a shade of green in it, is always seen in the common sturgeon at all stages of its growth. Head about 4; depth 54; eye 9 to 10 in head; snout about 33; D, 41; A, 225 dorsal «shields 8 to: 17; lateral 22 to. 33; ventral 6 to 9. Body elongate; snout very short and obtuse, x to 4 length of head; barbels short and simple; skin between rows of shields with many rows of prickle-like plates; shields rather large and smoothish; anal fin about half size of dorsal and wholly below it. Colour, dusky or even dark above, paler below. Length 2 to 3 feet. SELSOL2IAG dasuad iy NOFOWALS a HSON-LUOHS SiS ao GENUS SCAPHIRHYNCHUS HECKEL Snout broad, depressed, and shovel-shaped; caudal peduncle very long, strongly depressed, broader than deep; rows of bony bucklers confluent below the dorsal fin, forming a complete coat of mail on the tail, which is produced in a long filament beyond the caudal fin, this longest in the young; gillrakers somewhat fan-shaped; no pseudobranchie. The single species of this genus is an inhabitant of the United States, but others closely related, forming the genus Kessleria, are found in Central Asia. Shovel-nosed Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus platorynchus (Rafinesque) The shovel-nosed sturgeon is known only from the upper and middle Mississippi Valley. It is probably most abundant in the larger streams of the Central States, especially in the Ohio, Illinois and Missouri. During the month of May it is caught in consider- able numbers at the Falls of the Ohio. At that time it is run- ning up stream and, as it then swims near the surface, the fishermen capture it by means of seines weighted to fish the top rather than the bottom. It is found associated with the paddle- fish and the Ohio shad, which run at the same time. The shovel- nose is also taken on set-lines baited with cut-bait or small fish. According to the books, this species reaches a length of 8 feet, but we have never seen an example even approximating that size. Numerous specimens examined by us in the Wabash and Ohio rivers did not show any exceeding 4 feet in total length. The average length of 62 individuals examined by us at Louisville was 2 feet and the average weight 2; pounds. The largest example among these was a female, 28 inches long, and weighing 44 pounds. Examples from the Wabash River, seen at 13 Shovel-nosed Sturgeon Terre Haute, were 14 to 4 feet long and weighed only 3 to 12 pounds! The female shovel-nose, as is the case with all other stur- geons, is usually considerably larger than the male. The flesh finds a ready sale, it being cut into steaks or smoked. The roe, however, is the most valuable part of the fish, and, though the amount furnished by a single fish is not large, it is highly prized, it being made into caviar. Not until recently has it been utilized for this purpose, but now the more progressive fishermen in the Mississippi Valley are careful to save the roe of both the shovel- nose and the paddle-fish, as well as that of the common lake sturgeon. Head 4; depth 8; snout 13; eye very small; D. 32; A. 20; dorsal shields 15 to 20; lateral 41 to 46; ventral 11 to 13. Body elongate, tapering into a slender, depressed tail, which is extended beyond the caudal fin in a slender filament, very long in the young, but usually lost in the adult; bony shields opisthocen- trous (i. e., with the spine behind the middle), sharply keeled, the series confluent below the dorsal, obliterating the smaller plates between; 2 occipital plates, each with a short keel; a preocular spine and one at the posterior edge of the ‘‘shovel”’; a few spines on the snout in the young; barbels nearer mouth than tip of snout; none of the fulcra enlarged; dorsal and anal small; the anal little more than half length of dorsal and entirely behind it; gillrakers small and lamellate, ending in 3 or 4 points. Colour, pale yellowish olive. 14 THE CATFISHES Family II, Siluride Bopy more or less elongate, naked or covered with bony plates; head with eight barbels, the base of the longest pair formed by the small or rudimentary maxillary; margin of upper jaw formed by premaxillaries alone; opercle present, subopercle absent; dorsal fin short, above or in front of the ventrals; a small fatty or adipose fin back of the dorsal; front ray of dorsal and ventral spinous; air-bladder large, and connected with the organ of hearing by means of auditory ossicles ; lower pharyngeals separate. The family of catfishes is a large one, the total number of re- cognized genera being more than one hundred, and the number of species nearly one thousand. The majority of the species are fresh-water fishes, inhabiting the rivers of warmer countries, par- ticularly South America and Africa, being especially characteristic of the Amazon region; only a few species are marine and they are mostly tropical. The total number of species known from North and Middle America is one hundred and eight, of which about one-third are salt-water species belonging to the genera Felichthys, Galeichthys, Sciadeichthys, Aspistor, Selenaspis, Netfuma, Tachysurus and Cathorops, only the first two of which have species on the United States coast. In the fresh waters and on the coasts of southern Mexico, Central America, and south- ward, are about a score of species of the genera Rhamdia, Pimelo- della and Pimelodus, but none of them is of any importance either for food or as a game-fish. In the United States and Mexico we have about 34 species, only about a dozen of which are of sufficient importance to merit any consideration in the present work. Most of the others are small species known as stone-cats or mad-toms, be- longing to the genera Noturus and Schilbeodes, characterized by the possession of a poison gland at the base of the pectoral spine, and by the connection of the adipose fin with the caudal. Of the 30 species of fresh-water catfishes occurring in the United States, all but 4 are confined to the Atlantic, Mississippi Valley and Gulf States. One species (/ctalurus meridionalis) is known only from the Rio Usumacinta, in Guatemala; another Is The Catfishes (Ameiurus dugesi) is Known from various parts of the great valley of the Rio Lerma in Mexico, a large stream which flows through Lake Chapala into the Pacific Ocean; another (/stlarius balsanus), is a very large catfish in the basin of the Rio Balsas, described from Puente de Ixtla, in Morelos, Mexico; and another (Ameiurus pricet), from San Bernardino Creek in southern Arizona, also tributary to the Pacific. No species of catfish is native to the fresh waters of the Pacific Coast of the United States, though 2 species, Amezurus nebulosus and Ameiurus catus, have been introduced from the East and have become very abundant in the Sacramento and San Joaquin. a. Adipose fin with its posterior margin free. b. Premaxillary band of teeth truncate behind, not produced back- ward at the outer angles. c. Supraoccipital bone continued backward from the nape, its notched tip receiving the bone at base of dorsal spine, so that a continuous bony bridge is formed under the skin from snout to base of dorsal; tail forked; ..../ctalurus, 16 cc. Supraoccipital not reaching interspinal bones, the bony bridge being more or less incomplete;.............. Ameturus, 23 bb. Premaxillary band of teeth with a lateral backward extension ON CACh Side Saronic catheters eae ou menwene yaar es Leptops, 31 aa. Adipose fin keel-like, adnate to the back and continuous with thé» caudal fin sees y ov ases This eave bok tie Noturus, 33 GENUS ICTALURUS RAFINESQUE The Channel Cats : Body elongate, slender, compressed posteriorly ; head slender and conical; mouth small, terminal, the upper jaw the longer; teeth subulate, in a short band in each jaw; dorsal fin high, with one long spine and usually 6 rays; adipose fin over posterior portion of anal, which is long, with 25 to 30 rays; ventral fins, each with one simple and 7 branched rays; pectorals, each with a stout spine, retrorse-serrate within, and about 9 rays; caudal fin long, deeply forked, the lobes pointed, the upper the longer. Colour, pale bluish, lead colour, or silvery. This genus is confined to the fresh waters of North America and contains four known species, all except one (/. meridionalts, 10 The Blue Cat which may be an Amefurus, known only from the Rio Usumacinta in southern Mexico) being important food-fishes. a. Anal fin very long, its base nearly one-third length of body, ItS STAYS GU 10s 93% cena c sits ies A ones neta tenes furcatus, 17 aa. Anal fin shorter, its rays 24 to 29. b. Cranial bones lighter, the supraoccipital long and narrow, its upper surface nearly smooth;............... punctatus, 21 bb. Cranial bones heavy, the supraoccipital broadly triangular, its upper surface finely grooved;.........-..-..--- anguilla, 22 Blue Cat; Mississippi Cat Ictalurus furcatus (Le Sueur) This is the largest and most important of all our catfishes. It is found throughout the Mississippi Valley and the Gulf States in all the larger streams and lakes and bayous. It is particularly abundant along the lower Mississippi, and in the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana, from one to two million pounds being shipped annually from the latter stream. It is mot certainly known whether this fish 1s distinct from the large catfish of the Great Lakes. The blue cat attains an immense size. The largest specimen on record weighed 150 pounds, and was caught in the Mississippi at St. Louis. Examples weighing 80 to 100 pounds have not been infrequent. Very large individuals are not often seen now, however. Of 374 examples weighed and about 2,000 others examined at Morgan City, Louisiana, in 1897, the largest (a ripe female) weighed 35 pounds, but the average weight was 17 The Blue Cat only a few pounds. The species reaches a maximum length of five feet. The most important fishery for the blue cat is in the Atcha- falaya River, and the industry centres chiefly at Morgan City. The methods of the fishery are interesting and merit a brief de- scription. Ordinarily the fishing season extends from September to May, though some fishing may continue throughout the year. Practically all the fishing is done with ‘‘trot lines” and ‘brush lines.” The length of the former may vary from a few rods to more than a mile, depending upon the character of the body of water in which it is set. The snoods are usually 18 inches long, and placed 3 feet apart. All river fishing during fall and winter is done at the bottom, while lake fishing is at the surface. The bait used is classed as ‘‘live bait”? and ‘‘cut bait,” the former consisting chiefly of fish such as the hickory shad, mooneye, etc., and crawfish. The ‘‘shad” are the best bait, and 100 of them are said to be worth 200 or 300 crawfish. Though the crawfish will live longer on the hook, the ‘‘shad” is more tempting. ‘‘Cut bait” consists of larger examples of these and other fishes cut into the proper size. Eels are said to make ex- cellent cut bait, but are hard to get. Live bait is most used from September to November, inclusive, November being the best month. It is preferred to cut bait at any time, but can be obtained in quantity only in the fall. Live bait is used, however, whenever it can be gotten, and occasionally a fisherman is fortunate enough to secure good supplies during the spring fishing. These fish are influenced in their movements by the tem- perature of the water. During the winter they come farther down the river where the water is warmest, and in the summer they run farther up stream or into deeper water. During the spring rise in the Mississippi hundreds of square miles of the adjacent country become flooded, and then the catfish leave the rivers, lakes and bayous, and ‘‘take to the woods.” Here the fishermen follow them, and ‘‘ woods” or ‘‘swamp”’ fishing is resorted to. Short ‘‘brush” lines with single hooks are tied to limbs of trees here and there through the forest, in such a way as to allow the hook to hang about six inches under water. The trees selected are usually those along the edges of the “float” roads, and, that he may readily find his lines again, the fisherman ties a white rag to each tree to which he has attached a line. 18 The Blue Cat The lines are visited daily, or as often as practicable, and the fish are piaced in a live-box, where they are kept until the tug- boats from Morgan City make their regular collecting trips. Then they are transferred to the very large live-boxes or cars carried in tow by the tugs, and are taken to Morgan City, where the fish are dressed, put in barrels with ice, and shipped to the retailers in many States of the Union. In spite of popular prejudice to the contrary, the flesh of this catfish is of excellent quality, firm and flaky, of very delicious flavour, nutritious in a high degree, and always commanding a fair price. Of all the catfishes it is the one most deserving of cultiva- tion and popular favour, and which could with profit be introduced into other countries. This, however, would probably not meet with the approval of Punch, if we may judge by the following protest printed in that periodical, apropos the proposed introduction of the catfish into England. “© Oh, do not bring the Catfish here! The Catfish is a name I fear. Oh, spare each stream and spring, The Kennet swift, the Wandle clear, The lake, the loch, the broad, the mere, From that detested thing! ‘“« The Catfish is a hideous beast, A bottom-feeder that doth feast Upon unholy bait; He’s no addition to your meal, He’s rather richer than the eel; And ranker than the skate. ‘* His face is broad, and flat, and glum; He’s like some monstrous miller’s thumb; He’s bearded like the pard. Beholding him the grayling flee, The trout take refuge in the sea, The gudgeons go on guard. ‘« He grows into a startling size; The British matron ‘twould surprise And raise her burning blush 19 The Blue Cat To see white catfish as large as man, Through what the bards call ‘water wan,’ Come with an ugly rush! ‘« They say the Catfish climbs the trees, And robs the roosts, and down the breeze Prolongs his catterwaul. Oh, leave him in his western flood Where the Mississippi churns the mud; Don't bring him here at all!” The spawning season of the blue cat in Louisiana is during the months of April and May. Out of 374 fish examined at Morgan City, Louisiana, April 22-24, more than 94 per cent. were spent fish or fish ready to spawn. In Louisiana this, the most valuable of all our catfishes, is known as the blue cat or poisson bleu. Elsewhere in the Mississippi Valley it is the Mississippi cat, the great forktailed cat ot chucklehead cat. Whether the names Florida cat, flannel- mouth cat, etc., apply to this species is not certain, as the blue cat and the large northern catfish (Ameiurus lacustris) have not been clearly differentiated. Head 4 to 44 in length of body; depth 4 to 5; D.I, 6; A. 32, distance from tip of snout to origin of dorsal fin 22 in body; greatest width of head 14 in its length; interorbital width 2, equalling width of mouth ; maxillary barbel not reaching beyond head ; humeral process about 4 length of pectoral spine; anal base nearly 4 longer than head, or 4 length of body ; head small; mouth narrow; eye small, wholly anterior, the middle of the head being behind its posterior margin; dorsal a little nearer snout than adipose fin; caudal deeply forked, the upper lobe usually longer and narrower than the lower. Colour, dull olivaceous blue ot slaty, pale or whitish below, without spots anywhere; _ barbels usually the colour of the body, rarely black. — The Channel Cat Channel Cat; Spotted Cat Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque) Rivers of the Great Lakes region and the Mississippi Valley, and streams tributary to the Gulf of Mexico; generally abundant in the channels of the larger streams, especially southwestward. The channel cat has frequently been confused with the pre- ceding species, and its geographic distribution and size have not been definitely made out. It is certain, however, that while the blue cat is a fish of sluggish waters and the lowlands, the channel cat prefers the flowing water of the clearer, purer streams. It does not reach so great a size as the blue cat; the largest the writers have seen was about 2 feet long. It is doubtful if this species exceeds 25 or 30 pounds in weight. It is not nearly so abundant as the blue cat in the Atchafalaya River and elsewhere in the South, but in the Wabash, the Tennessee, Cumberland and Gasconade, it is the more common species. The manner of its capture is the same as for the blue cat. It is a trimmer, more active fish than any of the related species, and, living as it does in clearer, more swiftly-flowing water, it is more cleanly in its habits, and its flesh is rather firmer, more flaky, and possibly somewhat better in flavour than is that of any other catfish. The spawning time in the South begins in early April, while in the Wabash it is in June. Head 4 in length of body; depth 5; body long and slender, the back little elevated; A. 25 to 30; head rather small, narrow, 21 The Eel Cat and convex above, so that the eye is little nearer the upper than the lower outline; eye moderate, the posterior edge of the orbit at middle point of head; mouth small and narrow; barbels long, that on maxillary usually reaching beyond gill-opening; spines long; humeral process long and slender, more than half length of pectoral spine, which is strongly serrate behind. Colour, light olivaceous or bluish above, paler on sides, the belly white or silvery ; sides usually, perhaps always, with irregular, small, round blackish spots; fins often with dark edgings. Eel Cat; Willow Cat Ictalurus anguilla Evermann & Kendall This interesting catfish was originally described from the Atchafalaya River, but has since been seen by us in the Ohio at Louisville. It does not appear to be a very common species, not more than thirty examples having as yet been noted. It is, how- ever, well known to the Atchafalaya fishermen, by whom it is prized equally with the blue and channel cats. Its spawning time in Louisiana is in April and May. Head 4; depth 4.5; eye 7; snout 2.8; maxillary (without barbel) 3; free portion of maxillary barbel longer than head; D. I, 6; A. 24; vertebrae 42; dorsal spine 2 in head; pectoral spine 2; width of mouth 2. Head large, broad and heavy; mouth un- usually broad; cheeks and postocular portion of top of head very prominent ; interorbital space flat; body stout, compressed pos- teriorly, back scarcely elevated; base of dorsal 3.5 in head; longest dorsal ray 1.75 in head; dorsal spine strong, entire on both sides; pectoral spine strong, entire in front, a series of strong retrorse serre behind; humeral process 2.2 in pectoral spine; ventrals ix) i) susopngou sn 'Y ‘GVAHTINA NONWOO Suyojound snanyvj2] SUDIDU SHAN aU ‘LVO MOTIFA snusojnqgau SHANI ‘QVaEHTIONG NOWNOO eps LPS De EST RIN GS : : : The Bullheads barely reaching anal; caudal moderately forked. Colour, uniform pale-yellowish or olivaceous, no spots anywhere. Length 18 inches or less; weight, 3 to 5 pounds. There is a fourth species of this genus in American waters— I, mertdionalis, known only from the Rio Usumacinta, in southern Mexico, but nothing is known of its game or food qualities, nor is it certain that the species is not, like Am- elurus dugesi, a fork-tailed Ameiurus. GENUS AMEIURUS RAFINESQUE The Bullheads Body rather stout, the caudal peduncle much compressed ; head large and wide; mouth large, the upper jaw usually the longer; teeth in broad bands on the premaxillaries and dentaries; band on upper jaw convex in front, of uniform width, and without backward prolongation at angle; anal fin of varying length, with 15 to 35 rays; caudal fin truncate in most species, forked in some. Species several, swarming in every pond and sluggish stream in the Eastern United States and the Mississippi Valley; one or more species introduced on our Pacific Coast, where they are now abundant; one species occurring in China. The species are very variable and not easy to identify. The lack of connection between the supraoccipital and the interspinal buckler is the only charac- teristic by which this genus can be separated from /cfalurus. Most of the species are small, but they all possess a certain food value and some reach a large size. The species may be distinguished by means of the following key : a. Caudal fin lunate or forked. b. Anal rays 25 tO 35---- +. ee cece eee eee eee cons lacustris, 24 bb. Anal rayS 19 tO 24 jee e. cere cree eee ee eee eee catus, 25 aa. Caudal fin entire, truncate, or slightly emarginate behind. c. Anal fin long, of 23 to 27 rays (counting rudiments), its base more: tham 4 bodysscie ayaa vintonir cree wae eres natalis, 25 The Great Lakes Catfish cc. Anal fin moderate, or short, of 15 to 22 rays, its base 4 to 5 in body. a. Bower jaw: (pIOjeCting fit. eee tet Glin peel enone eae vulgaris, 26 dd. Lower jaw not projecting. e. Body rather robust, the depth in adult 3% to 44 in length ; head not very flat. f. Pectoral spine long, 2 to 24in head; anal rays more than 20; ae enc) eee tim ate ee eA Een a RE a MaKe Re wr el pend ty nebulosus, 26 ff. Pectoral spine short, 2} to 3 in head; anal short, its rays only 17 to 19, counting rudiments ; shetislia and Shao toe enecMenep sees melas, 30 ee. Body slender and low, varying with age, the depth 54 to 8 in length; head in adult broad ‘and very flat;....platycephalus, 31 Great Lakes Catfish Ameturus lacustris (Walbaum) Arctic America and southward, in the Great Lakes and else- where. The Southern habitat (Florida, Louisiana) currently assigned to this species has resulted from a confusion of this species with the blue cat (J/ctalurus furcatus), and it is not certain just what its range really is. It is probably chiefly or even entirely confined to the Great Lakes and northward, including possibly the upper Mississipi. Nor is it certain what size this species attains. Very large individuals have been seen by the writers in Green Bay, Wisconsin, weighing 20 to 35 pounds. The large ones noted from the South doubtless belonged to the blue cat. At present the best that can be said is that this species is apparently best represented in the Great Lakes and that it there attains a weight of 15 to 35 pounds. It is a fish of considerable commercial importance, and is usually taken on set lines. It is espe- cially abundant in the northern part of Lake Michigan. In the lakes of British America it is also abundant and its Indian names mean ‘‘ugly-fish,” while the trappers have called it the ‘‘land cod.” Head 4 in length ; depth 5; D1, 5; A. 25 to 32; P.lo. Body rather stout; head broad, 2 its length; interorbital width more than half length of head; width of mouth 2 in head; eye moderate, wholly in front of middle of head; top of head quite flat, so that the eyes are much nearer the upper than the lower surface; bar- bels long, the maxillary barbel reaching beyond head; humeral process short and blunt, about 4} length of pectoral spine; caudal 24 The White Cat; Potomac Cat deeply forked, the upper lobe rather longer and narrower than the lower; origin of dorsal a little nearer snout than adipose fin; anal base as long as head. Colour, olivaceous slaty, growing darker with age; sides pale, no spots; anal dusky on edge; barbels black. White Cat: Potomac Cat Ameiurus catus (Linnzus) Delaware River to Texas, most common in the coastwise streams and swamps, especially in the Potomac and about Chesa- peake Bay, and in Florida. It has been introduced into California, where it is becoming abundant. As a commercial fish it ranks with the Great Lakes catfish, and always finds a ready sale at fair prices. The adult fishes are remarkable for their wide head and large mouth. Anal rays 19 to 22, base of anal 44 to 5 in body. Body stout, slender in young, the head very broad in the adult; barbels long, except the nasal; caudal fin deeply forked, the upper lobe the longer; humeral process extremely rugose; dorsal fin inserted about midway between snout and adipose fin. Colour, pale olivaceous or bluish, silvery below, without dark spots, but sometimes mottled or clouded. Length 2 feet or less. Yellow Cat Ameturus natalis (Le Sueur) Great Lakes southward to Virginia and Texas. This catfish is one of the most common and best known fishes throughout its range. It is usually abundant and extremely variable, several different varieties having been recognized, all agreeing in the long anal of 24 to 27 rays and the squarely cut caudal fin. We are not sure that Amefurus lividus, the common yellow cat, is not different from the short and. chubby original A. natalis. We have seen the latter in the United States National Museum but have never taken it in life. The yellow cat rarely reaches a weight of more than a pound or two, and is usually not distinguished by fishermen from the com- mon bullhead and the black bullhead. All three species frequent similar waters and all are often found in the same stream or lake. 25 The Bullpout; Common Catfish A. 24 to 27. Body rather short and chubby; head short and broad ; mouth wide, the jaws subequal. Colour, yellowish, more or less clouded with darker. Length 12 to 18 inches. Bullpout; Common Catfish Ameturus vulgaris (Thompson) Vermont to Minnesota and Illinois, chiefly northward; not rare, although by no means the common species as its name would denote. This species closely resembles the common bullhead, not only in structure and general appearance, but in habits as well. It is frequently taken in Lake Champlain and the smaller lakes and ponds of that region, and is of considerable value as a pan-fish. Head 33 to 4; depth 4} to 5; A. 20. Body moderately long; head longer than broad, rather narrow forward; mouth wide; barbels long; profile rather steep, evenly convex, the dorsal region more or less less elevated; lower jaw more or less distinctly " projecting; in other respects scarcely distinct from the common bullhead with which it may intergrade. Colour, dark reddish brown or blackish. Length 18 inches. Common Bullhead; Horned Pout Ameturus nebulosus (Le Sueur) Head 34 in length of body; depth 4 to 44; eye 74 in head; snout 24; D.1,7; A. 21 or 22. Body rather more elongate than in the yellow cat or in the black bullhead; head heavy; upper jaw usually distinctly longer than the lower; humeral process more than half length of pectoral spine, which is rather long; dorsal in- serted somewhat nearer adipose fin than tip of snout; base of anal fin about 4 length of body. Colour, dark yellowish-brown, more or less clouded with darker; sometimes the colour is quite black. Length a foot to 18 inches. This species ranges from Maine westward through the Great Lakes to North Dakota, and southward to Florida and Texas. In the East and North it is the common bullhead or horned pout; in Pennsylvania it is the Schuylkill cat; and everywhere, the small catfish. It is usually abundant in every pond or small lake and in 26 The Common Bullhead; Horned Pout many streams. It has been introduced into many rivers of the West,—particularly the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Gila, Humboldt, and certain small lakes of southern Oregon, in all of which it readily established itself and is now exceedingly abundant. The species is quite variable. While this species does not usually much exceed a foot or 15 inches in length, and one or two pounds in weight, examples are sometimes taken several inches longer, and weighing 4 to 6, or even 7 pounds. ‘*The horned pout,” says Thoreau, ‘‘are dull and blundering fellows, fond of the mud and growing best in weedy ponds and rivers without current. They stay near the bottom, moving slowly about with their barbels widely spread, watching for anything eat- able. They will take any kind. of bait, from an angleworm to a piece of tomato can, without hesitation or coquetry, and they seldom fail to swallow the hook. They are very tenacious of life, opening and shutting their mouths for half an hour after their heads have been taken off. They spawn in spring and the old fishes lead the young in great schools near the shore, caring for them as a hen cares for her chickens. A bloodthirsty and bullying set of rangers with ever a lance at rest and ready to do battle with their nearest neighbour.” The following description of the habits of the common bull- head, written as a burlesque by George W. Peck, gives a vivid and truthful idea of the life history and game qualities of this fish: “It seems that the action of the Milwaukee common council in withdrawing the use of the water works from the fish commis- sioners will put a stop to the hatching of whitefish. This is as it should be. The whitefish is an aristocratic fish that will not bite a hook, and the propagation of this species is wholly in the in- terest of the wealthy owners of fishing tubs, who have nets. By strict attention to business they can catch all of the whitefish out of the lake a little faster than the State machine can put them in. Poor people cannot get a smell of whitefish. The same may be said of brook trout. While they will bite a hook, it requires more machinery to catch them than ordinary people can possess with- out mortgaging a house. A man has got to have a morocco book of expensive flies, a fifteen-dollar bamboo jointed rod, a three- dollar trout basket, with a hole mortised in the top, a corduroy suit made in the latest style, top boots of the Wellington pattern, 27 The Common Bullhead; Horned Pout with red tassels in the straps, and a flask of Otard brandy ina side pocket. Unless a man is got up in that style a speckled trout will see him in Chicago first, and then it won’t bite. The brook trout is even more aristocratic than the whitefish, and should not be propagated at public expense. ‘But there are fish that should be propagated in the interest of the people. There is a species of fish that never looks at the clothes of the man who throws in the bait, a fish that takes what- ever is thrown to it, and when once hold of the hook never tries to shake a friend, but submits to the inevitable, crosses its legs and says, ‘Now I lay me,’ and comes out on the bank and seems to enjoy being taken. It is a fish that is a friend of the poor, and one that will sacrifice itself in the interest of humanity. That is the fish that the State should adopt as its trade-mark, and cultivate friendly relations with, and stand by. We allude to the bullhead. ‘The bullhead never went back on a friend. To catch the bullhead it is not necessary to tempt his appetite with porter- house steak, or to display an expensive lot of fishing tackle. A pin hook, a piece of liver, and a cistern pole is all the capital required to catch a bullhead. He lies upon the bottom of a stream or pond in the mud, thinking. There is no fish that does more thinking, or has a better head for grasping great questions, or chunks of liver, than the bullhead. His brain is large, his heart beats for humanity, and if he can’t get liver, a piece of tin tomato can will make a meal for him. It is an interesting study to watch a boy catch a bull- head. The boy knows where the bullhead congregates, and when he throws in his hook it is dollars to buttons that ‘in the near future’ he will get a bite. ‘‘The bullhead is democratic in all its instincts. If the boy’s shirt is sleeveless, his hat crownless, and his pantaloons a bottom- less pit, the bullhead will bite just as well as though the boy is dressed in purple and fine linen, with knee-breeches and_ plaid stockings. The bullhead seems to be dozing on the muddy bottom, and a stranger would say that he would not bite. But wait. There is a movement of his continuation, and his cow-catcher moves gently toward the piece of liver. He does not wait to smell of it, and canvass in his mind whether the liver is fresh. It makes no difference to him. He argues that here is a family out of meat. ‘My country calls and I must go,’ says the bullhead to himself, and he opens his mouth and the liver disappears. 28 The Common Bullhead; Horned Pout ‘It is not certain that the boy will think of his bait for half an hour, but the bullhead is in no hurry. He is in the mud and pro- ceeds to digest the liver. He realizes that his days will not be long in the land, or water more properly speaking, and he argues that if he swallows the bait and digests it before the boy pulls him out, he will be just so much ahead, Finally, the boy thinks of his bait, pulls it out, and the bullhead is landed on the bank, and the boy cuts him open to get the hook out. Some fish only take the bait gingerly, and are only caught around the selvage of the mouth, and they are comparatively easy to dislodge. Not so with the bullhead. He says it liver is a good thing, you can't have too much of it, and it tastes good all the way down. The boy gets down on his knees to dissect the bullhead, and get his hook, and it may be that the boy swears. It would not bé astonish- ing, though he must feel, when he gets his hook out of the hidden recesses of the bullhead like the minister who took up a collection and didn’t get a cent, though he expressed thanks at getting his hat back. There is one drawback to the bullhead, and that is his horns. We doubt if a boy ever descended into the patent insides of a bullhead to mine for limerick hooks, _ that did not, before his work was done, run a horn into his vital parts. But the boy seems to expect it, and the bullhead enjoys it. We have seen a bullhead lie on the bank and become dry, and to all appearances dead to all that was going on, and when a boy sat down on him and got a horn in his elbow and yelled murder. the bullhead would grin from ear to ear, and wag his tail as though applauding for an encore. ‘‘The bullhead never complains. We have seen a boy take a dull knife and proceed to follow a fish line down a bullhead from head to the end of his subsequent anatomy, and all the time there would be an expression of sweet peace on the countenance of the bullhead, as though he enjoyed it. If we were preparing a picture representing ‘Resignation,’ for a chromo to give to subscribers, and wished to represent a scene of suf- ering in which the sufferer was light-hearted, seeming to recog- nize that all was for the best, we should take for the subject a bullhead, with a boy searching with a knife for a long-lost fish hook. ‘«The bullhead is a fish that has no. scales, but in lieu thereof has a fine India-rubber skin, that is as far ahead of a The Black Bullhead fiddle-string material for strength and durability as possible. The meat of the bullhead is not as choice as that of the mackerel, but it fills up a stomach just as well, and The Sun insists that the fish commissioners shall drop the hatching of aristocratic fish and give the bullheads a chance.” Black Bullhead Ameiurus melas (Rafinesque) This is our smallest species of Amesurus, and rarely exceeds 6 to 1o inches in length. It is found in brooks, ponds and lakes, from northern New York westward to Kansas and Nebraska, and south to Texas, and is usually abundant, especially west of the Mississippi. It closely resembles the common bullhead, but can usually be easily distinguished by the smaller anal fin, the light rays and dark membranes of the anal fin, and the smaller size. Its habits are essentially those of the related species. It thrives in small ponds, especially in those with muck bottom, and on this species in Wyoming County, New York, the senior writer made his first experiments in fish-culture. Head 3% in length of body; depth 34 to 44; A. 17 to 10. Body very short and deep; head broad behind, rather contracted anteriorly, the front steeply elevated; pectoral spine short, 21 to 3 in head; base of anal fin short, only about } length of body; jaws nearly equal; barbels longer than head; humeral process rather long and rough. Colour, almost black, often varying to yellowish 39° The Flatheaded Cat; Brown Cat and brown; anal rays white, in marked contrast with the dusky membranes. Flatheaded Cat; Brown Cat Ameturus platycephalus (Girard) Head 31; depth 54 to 8; A. 16 to 20. Body extremely long, mesially nearly round; head low, flat and broad, especially in old examples, its width 3 to 5 in length of body; upper jaw strongly projecting; dorsal fin high, #2 length of head, its spine nearer snout than adipose fin; caudal fin emarginate. Colour, clear olive brown, varying into yellowish or greenish; a dark horizontal bar at base of dorsal. Length 15 to 18 inches. This is the most slender species of the genus, and is almost entirely herbivorous as to its food, its elongate intestine being usually well-filled with water plants. It is abundant in the streams of the Carolinas and Georgia from Cape Fear to the Chattahoochee. It is regarded as a good food-fish. GENUS LEPTOPS RAFINESQUE Mud Cats Body elongate, slender, and much depressed anteriorly; head large, very wide, and depressed; skin very thick, entirely con- cealing the skull; eye small; mouth very large, the lower jaw always projecting beyond the upper; teeth in broad villiform bands on the premaxilliaries and dentaries; adipose fin large, its long base over posterior half of anal; anal fin small; caudal 31 The Mud Cat oblong, subtruncate, with numerous accessory rays, recurrent above and behind; pectoral with a broad, compressed spine, serrated on both margins, and with a prolonged fleshy integu- ment, obliquely striated. Only one species known. Mud Cat; Goujon Leptops olivaris (Rafinesque) Body slender, depressed anteriorly; the head very flat, the lower jaw projecting; barbels short; dorsal spine very weak, half the length of the fin; caudal slightly emarginate; anal short, of 12 to 15 rays; humeral process short. Colour, yellowish, more or less mottled with brown and greenish; paler below. The goujon is a large, coarse fish, said to reach a length of 5 feet, and a weight of 100 pounds. A ripe female examined by us at Morgan City, Louisiana, was 41 inches long and weighed 46 pounds. This fish dressed 27 pounds. Another, 38 inches long, weighed 37 pounds, and still another 37 inches long weighed 364 pounds. This species is found in all suitable waters throughout the Mississippi Valley and in the Gulf States from Alabama west and south to Chihuahua. It is a fish of the lowlands, and is most abundant in the lower courses of the large streams and in the bayous and overflow ponds of the lower Mississippi Valley. It is perhaps most plentiful in the lowlands of Arkansas, West Tennessee and Louisiana. In the Atchafalaya River it is, next to the blue cat, the most important food fish. It is caught in the same ways during the same seasons, and is dressed and marketed in the same manner. Its flesh is of fine texture and of exellent flavour, and there is no really good reason for the prejudice against it which obtains in many localities. The fact that it is a large, rather repulsive looking fish, not 32 The Stone Cats any too cleanly in its habits doubtless has somewhat to do with this prejudice. In different parts of its range, the goujon is known by many vernacular names, In Louisiana it is called the goujon or yellow cat, and the latter name is in common use throughout most of its habitat. In the South it is known as the ‘“‘ pieded cat,”” Opelousas cat, and mud cat, the last of these being also generally used in the North, where it is also called granny cat. The names Bashaw and Russian cat are sometimes heard, but their origin has not been explained. The goujon is more voracious than the blue cat, and large individuals are apt to feed upon small ones of the latter species when confined in the same live-box. To prevent this, it is said that the fishermen sometimes sew up with wire the mouths of the very large goujon. We have seen, on the Rock Castle River, in Kentucky, the blue cat used as live bait on hooks set for the goujon. Occasionally large catfishes, of this species and the blue cat, crawl into the hollow cypress logs which are usually left in the water until ready to be sawed. The catfish may be unable to pass on through the log, and, being unable to turn around or back out, remains in the log until it is placed on the carriage, and the pres- ence of the fish is then discovered by the saw crashing into it The spawning season of the goujon in Louisiana seems to be during April and the early part of May. As we proceed north- ward it is correspondingly later, being as late as June in the north- ern part of its range. ““Don't talk to me o’ bacon fat, Or taters, coon or ‘possum; Fo’ when I'se hooked a yaller cat, I'se got a meal to boss ’em.” —The Darkey and the Catfish. GENUS NOTURUS RAFINESQUE Stone Cats Teeth as in Lepfops, the band in the upper jaw having a backward prolongation on each side from the outer posterior angle; 33 The Stone Cat; Little Yellow Cat adipose fin adnate to the back; a poison gland at the base of the pectoral spine. This genus, which contains but a single species, is close to Schilbeodes (the mad-toms), the species all having the poison gland and the adnate adipose fin, and all being small fish, lurk- ing among weeds in stony brooks. Stone Cat; Little Yellow Cat Noturus flavus Rafinesque Head about 44 in length, its width 54; depth 52; dis- tance from snout to origin of dorsal about 3 in length; A. about 16. Body elongate, the head depressed, broad and flat, nearly as broad as long; middle of body subcylindrical; caudal peduncle compressed; a strong keel on back between dorsal fin and adipose fin, the latter deeply notched; dorsal spine very short; pectoral spine retrorsely serrate in front, slightly rough or nearly entire behind, its length 4 distance from snout to origin of dorsal; caudal rounded behind; humeral process very short and sharp. Colour, nearly uniform yellowish brown, sometimes blackish above; fins edged with yellow. Length, a foot or more. Great Lakes region, and westward and south to Montana, Wyoming and Texas, rather common, especially westward. This is the only one of the catfishes with adnate adipose fin attaining sufficient size to give it any food value. Ordinarily it is used as food only in those regions where food fishes are not numerous. Related to the stone cat, are in America, ten or a dozen species of small catfishes belonging to the genus Schi/beodes, and known as mad toms. They are all very small, none of them ex- 34 The Stone Cat; Little Yellow Cat ceeding three or four inches in length, all have the poison gland well developed, and are able to inflict a very painful wound with the pectoral spine, They live usually in shallow water, in running streams, or lakes, and may often be found hidden under small rocks or other objects affording protection. The species of Schilbeodes occur only in the Eastern United States from Vermont to Florida and west to the Dakotas and south to Texas. Istlartus balsanus is an important food-fish in Morelos and the Mexican States to the Southwest, through which the Rio Balsas flows. In size and appearance it resembles the channel cat. In Jalisco, and in all tributaries of the Rio Lerma and Rio Santiago, Ameturus dugesi is very common, being in size and value as well as in appearance similar to Ameturus catus. The Mexicans call all catfishes Bagre. Those in the streams are Bagre del Rio. 35 THE SUCKERS Family IV. Catostomide Bopy elongate, usually more or less compressed; head rather conical; opercles normally developed; nostrils double; no barbels; mouth usually greatly protractile and with fleshy lips; jaws toothless; lower pharyngeal bones falciform, armed with a single series of numerous comb-like teeth; branchiostegals 3; gill-mem- branes more or less united to the isthmus, restricting the gill- openings to the sides; gills 4, a slit behind the fourth; pseudo- branchiae present; scales cycloid; lateral line decurved, sometimes absent; head naked; fins not scaly; dorsal fin comparatively long (of 10 to 30 rays); anal fin short; pectorals placed low; ventrals abdominal; no adipose fin; fins without true spines; alimentary canal long; stomach simple and without pyloric cceca; air-bladder large, divided into 2 or 3 parts by transverse constrictions. The sucker family is a large one, embracing some 15 genera and more than 70 species, 2 of which occur in Eastern Asia, while the others are inhabitants of the fresh waters of North America. The members of this family are very widely distributed over the United States, there being scarcely a State which has not several species, and at least two extend their range far into Canada and Alaska, while others are found southward into Mexico. The family includes not only the species commonly known as suckers, but also those known as tedhorses, buffaloes, quill- backs, and freshwater mullets. Most of the species do not exceed a weight of 4 or 5 pounds, though some of them reach an immense Size. As food fishes they do not occupy a high rank. Though the flesh is well flavoured, it is exceedingly full of bundles of small fagot-bones, which are very troublesome to one who attempts to eat it. The great abundance and the large size of many of the species, however, render them of considerable commercial importance, thus entitling them to a place in this work. 30 The Suckers - None of the species has any rank as a game fish. They rarely or never take a hook, except on set-lines. The methods employed in their ,capture are varied, but haul-seines, gill-nets, pounds and other traps, and set-lines are the kinds of apparatus in most general use. The habits of all the species are much the same. They are all bottom feeders, feeding chiefly upon vegetation and the less active and soft forms of smaller animal life such as worms, larve, and eggs of various kinds. They are all spring spawners, and nearly all have the habit of running up stream at spawning time. Illinois is called the “Sucker State” because its first settlers came up the river in the spring when the suckers were running. Only the genera and species of some commercial importance are considered at length. a. Dorsal fin long, with 24 to 30 rays; air-bladder in 2 parts. b. Fontanelle present; body ovate; scales large. c. Mouth large, more or less terminal, protractile forward. Large species; darks im) ICOlOnr tatu kenea can: eerste Ictiobus, 38 cc. Mouth small, inferior, protractile downward. Smaller species Of pale: coloration cae oe cot cha 4 cha hada Carptodes, 41 bb. Fontanelle obliterated by the union of the Bae bones, body elongate;. betel .Cycleptus, 44 aa. Dorsal fin short, with ‘only 10 to 18 rays. d. Air bladder in two parts. e. Lateral line complete; scales small, 55 to 115 in lateral line. f. Fontanelle nearly or quite obliterated in adult; jaws. with hard sheaths; posterior division of air bladder slender; Pantosteus, 45 ff. Fontanelle broad and evident at all stages of growth; posterior division of air bladder broad. g. Nuchal region without a hump, the interneural spines normally developed. h. Mouth small, inferior, with thick papillose lips;..Catostomus, 46 hh. Mouth very large, terminal, oblique; lips thin and nearly smooth, 7. Gillrakers simple, fringe-like;. .Chasmistes, 54 i. Gillrakers broad, shaped like ‘the “Greek. letter LS (delta), their edges entire and “unarmed <2 oa ee Deltistes, 57 gg. Nuchal region with a high, sharp- -edged hump;..Avrauchen, 57 ee. Lateral line interrupted or wanting; “scales large, 40 to 50 ina longitudinal series. j. Lateral line entirely wanting;.... -Erimyzon, 58 jj. Lateral line more or less developed, especially in adult; Minytrema, 59 37 The Buffalo Fishes dd. Air bladder in three parts. k. Mouth normal, the lower lip entire or merely lobed. /, Pharyngeal bones moderate, the teeth compressed, gradually latger downWards ctw ot como ne aes hited i Moxostoma, 60 /]. Pharyngeal bones very strong, with the lower teeth much en- larged, subcylindrical and truncate;....... Placopharynx, 64 kk. Mouth singular, the upper lip not protractile, greatly en- larged, the lower lip developed as two separate lobes.... Lagochila, 65 GENUS ICTIOBUS RAFINESQUE The Buffalo Fishes Body robust; head very large and strong; fontanelle large; well-open; opercular apparatus well developed, the subopercle broad, the opercle strongly furrowed; mouth large, terminal, pro- tractile; mandible strongly oblique; lips little developed, the upper narrow and smooth, the lower full on the sides, but narrow in front; pharyngeal bones rather weak, the teeth numerous; scales large, thick, and nearly equal over the body; lateral line well developed, slightly decurved anteriorly; dorsal rays numerous, the anterior somewhat elevated; caudal not much forked. Large, coarse fishes, usually dark in colour, inhabiting chiefly the larger rivers and some of the small lakes of the Mississippi Valley. Only four species known, the three following and a fourth from Guatemala. a. Mouth large, terminal, protractile forward; lips very thin; lower pharyngeals and teeth weak;........ cyprinella,. 39 aa. Mouth smaller, more or less inferior, protractile downward, and with thicker lips; lower pharyngeals stronger, the teeth comparatively coarse and large. b. Back scarcely elevated, the depth 3 to 34 in length. c. Mouth rather large and oblique, approaching that of /. cvprinella, more oblique than in the next:................ -Urus, 4O ce. Mouth::sinalli- interiors: <3 ance Ree bale wee meridionalts, 41 bb. Back elevated and compressed, the depth 2} to 22 in length; bubalus, 41 35 The Buffalo Fishes Common Buffalo Fish Ictiobus cyprinella (Cuvier & Valenciennes) This species reaches a length of 3 feet, and a weight of 50 pounds or more. In certain lakes in the Mississippi Valley (notably Lake Washington, Minnesota and the Okeboji lakes in northwestern lowa) extraordinary runs of very large buffalo fish occur occasion- ally. These runs take place in the spring at the spawning time of the fish, and usually at the time of a heavy rain when the tribu- tary streams are full and the connecting marshes are flooded. Then these fish come up from the lake, in great numbers, crowding the inlets and spreading over the flooded marshes. They remain only a few days, and soon disappear as suddenly and mysteri- ously as they came; but their brief stay has been long enough to permit great slaughter by the farmers of the surrounding country, who kill great numbers with pitchforks, clubs and other primitive weapons, and haul them away in wagon loads. After returning to the lakes nothing more is seen of them until the next spring, or possibly not for several years. In these northern lakes these fish rarely or never take the hook, nor can they be successfully gilled, but in the lower Mississippi Valley they are frequently taken on set-lines baited with balls of dough. In Louisiana, where they are known as the gourdhead buffalo, they are of considerable commercial interest. The flesh, though 39 The Buffalo Fishes nutritious, is coarse and not highly flavoured. This species is also known as the red-mouthed buffalo, and big-mouthed buffalo. Head 34; depth 2} to 34; D. 27 to 29; A. 9; V. 10; scales 7-37 to 41-6. Body stout, moderately compressed, the outline somewhat elliptical, but the back rather more curved than the belly; opercular apparatus very strong, the opercle itself nearly half length of head. Colour, dull brownish-olive, not silvery; fins dusky. Black Buffalo; Mongrel Buffalo Ictiobus urus (Agassiz) This species is close to the common buffalo, from which it can be distinguished by its smaller, more oblique mouth, and its much darker colour. It occurs throughout the Mississippi Valley in the larger streams, it being most abundant in those of the South, where it is said to spawn in March and April. It reaches a weight of 5 to 35 pounds, and resembles the preceding species in habits and food value. In Louisiana it is sometimes called ““chopper.” Head very stout, about 4 in length, strongly convex; depth 3 to 34; eye about equal to snout, 54 in head; D. 30; A. 10; scales 8-41-7. Body much less elevated and less compressed, the head thicker, larger and less pointed, and the eye much smaller than in the small-mouthed buffalo; back not at all carinated; axis of body above ventrals about at the lateral line, and but little farther from the dorsal outline than from the ventral; mouth large, well forward, considerably oblique, approaching that of the common buffalo; mandible longer than the eye; premaxilliaries somewhat below the suborbital; dorsal fin low and less rapidly shortened than in the next species, the longest ray scarcely half as long as base of fin; anal rounded, its rays not rapidly shortened, the middle ones not much shorter than the longest. Colour, very dark, the fins almost black. Small-mouthed Buffalo; White Buffalo Ictiobus bubalus (Rafinesque) This is the most abundant and best known of all the buffalo fishes. It reaches a weight of 35 pounds or more and 40 The Carp Suckers a length of 3 feet. It is found in all the larger rivers of the Mississippi Basin and in some of the small lakes, where its habits are essentially the same as those of the big-mouthed buffalo, the latter species, however, being less of a bottom feeder than either of the two others here described. In the South all three species spawn in March and April; as we go northward the spawning season is correspondingly later, it being in May and June in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Head 4; depth 24; snout 34; eye 5; D. 28 or 29; A. 10 or 11; V. 10; scales 8 or 9-35 to 39-5 or 6, 12 or 13 before the dorsal. Body short and compressed, the dorsal strongly arched and subcarinate from occiput to origin of dorsal fin; ventral out- line only slightly convex; head small; mouth small, subinferior, and protractile downward; lips papillose; opercle strongly striate; caudal peduncle deep and compressed, its least depth 12 in head; axis of body above the ventrals, below the lateral line, and nearly twice as far from back as from belly; fins moderate, the first 7 or 8 dorsal rays lengthened, as long as head, rays of short portion 34 in head; longest anal ray 1%; pectoral short, not reaching base of ventral, 12 in head; ventrals longer, 1.1 in head; caudal deeply lunate, the lobes longer than head. Colour, pale, almost silvery; fins scarcely dusky. Ictiobus meridionalis is a southern species known only from the Rio Usumacinta, Mexico. GENUS CARPIODES RAFINESQUE The Carp Suckers This genus is very close to /cfiobus, the species being smaller, the colour paler, and the dentition weaker, but there are no im- portant technical characters separating the two groups. Of the five species referred to under this genus, one occurs in the Potomac and Delaware and the streams about Chesapeake Bay, one in the St. Lawrence basin, and the other three in the Mississippi Valley and Texas. Only two of the species are of any commercial value. a. Body subfusiform, the depth about 3 in length;..... carplo, 42 aa. Body ovate-oblong, the back elevated, the depth about 23 in length. AI The Carp Sucker b. Opercles strongly striate. c. Lips thin, silvery-white in life, the halves of the lower lip meeting in a wide angle, as in C carpio. d. Head large, the snout blunt, the nostril near its tip; eye large, BtOr eA AM MEA yey en cevte vison hers eam aoe alae difformis, 42 dd. Head small and pointed, the snout projecting; eye small, 5 tage at NCA Soe ven yee aes ee thompsont, 42 cc. Lips full, thick, reddish in life, the halves of the lower meet- ing at an acute angle; first ray of dorsal usually very long. velifer, 43 bb. Opercles nearly smooth; otherwise essentially as in C. velifer. cyprinus, 43 Carp Sucker Carpiodes carpio (Rafinesque) The carp sucker is the largest of the genus, reaching a weight of 2 or 3 pounds. It occurs in the Ohio Valley and southward to central Texas, but does not appear to be very abundant any- where. It is used for food along with the other members of the family, but is perhaps inferior to most of them. It is caught on setlines and in seines. Head 4 to 5; depth 22 to 3; eye 4} in head; D. 30; A. 7; scales 36. Body more fusiform than in any other species, com- pressed, but not much arched; head rather short; muzzle short, but projecting beyond the mouth; anterior rays of dorsal short, and not- ably thickened and long at the base, especially in the adult, the first ray nearer muzzle than base of caudal fin, the longest ray a little more than half base of fin; caudal moderately forked. C. difformis is an unimportant species occurring in the Ohio Valley and westward in the upper Mississippi Valley. It closely resembles the quillback, but differs in the character of the lower lip. C. tumidus is perhaps a distinct species found in the lower Rio Grande and southward. Lake Carp Carpiodes thompsoni Agassiz This fish occurs in the Great Lakes and lakes tributary to the St. Lawrence. It reaches a considerable size; an example take 42 Eastern Carp Sucker in Lake Champlain about April 23 was 21 inches long and weighed 7 pounds. It was a nearly ripe female and the roe alone weighed 2.5 pounds. The food value of the flesh of this fish is essentially the same as that of the species of /ctiobus. By the fishermen of Lake Champlain this species is known as “buffalo,” ‘‘carp sucker,” or ‘‘drum.” Head 4 to 4.5; depth 2.5; eye small, 5 to 5.5 in head; D. 27; A. 7; V. 10; scales 8-39 to 41-6. Body short and stout, the back much arched; head small, the snout pointed; lips thin and white, meeting at a wide angle; tip of lower jaw much in advance of nostrils; maxillary reaching vertical at front of orbit; scales closely imbricated; dorsal rays considerably elevated, 3 as long as base of fin; origin of dorsal fin about midway of body. C. velifer, the quillback, spearfish, sailfish, or skimfish, is a small species found pretty well throughout the Mississippi Valley. It is distinguished from other species in the same waters by the produced first dorsal ray and the character of the lower lip whose halves meet at an acute angle. Eastern Carp Sucker Carpiodes cyprinus (Le Sueur) In the Potomac and the streams about Chesapeake Bay occurs C. cyprinus, the Eastern carp sucker, which resembles C. ve/ifer except that its opercles are smooth. Neither of these species is of much or any food-value. 43 GENUS -CYCLEPTUS RAFINESQUE This genus differs from /cfiobus and Carpiodes, the only other genera having a long dorsal fin, in having the fontanelle obliterated by the union of the parietal bones, and in the very elongate body. Only one species is known. Gourd-seed Sucker; Blackhorse Cycleptus elongatus (Le Sueur) This singular and interesting fish is known only from the Mississippi Valley, where it is rather common in_ the larger streams. It reaches a length of 2 to 2.5 feet, and is perhaps more highly esteemed as a food-fish than any other member of the family. It is usually caught in seines or on set-lines. Besides the vernacular names given above, it is also known as ‘‘Missouri sucker,” ‘‘sweet sucker,” and ‘‘suckerel.” Head 6 to 8.5; depth 4 to 5; eye 6 to 7 in head; D. 30; A 7 or 8; V. 10; scales 9-56-7. Body unusually long and slen- der, moderately compressed, not much elevated; caudal peduncle long; head very small, short and slender, its upper surface rounded; mouth small, entirely inferior, overlapped by the pro- jecting snout; upper lip thick, pendant, covered with — several rows of tubercles; lower lip moderate, formed somewhat as in Catostomus, but less full, incised behind; jaws with rudimentary 44 The Mountain Sucker cartilaginous sheath; eye small, behind middle of head, not high up; suborbital bones small and narrow; opercle smooth and narrow; isthmus moderate; gillrakers moderate, soft; pharyngeal bones strong, the teeth rather wide apart, increasing in size downward; scales about equal over the body, with wide, exposed surfaces; lateral line nearly straight, well developed; fins rather large, the dorsal beginning in front of ventrals and ending just before anal, strongly falcate in front, the length of the first and second developed rays more than half base of fin, the following rays rapidly shortened to about the eighth, the remaining rays all short; caudal fin large, widely forked, the lobes equal; anal fin quite small, low and_ scaly at the base; pectoral long and somewhat falcate; air-bladder in two parts, the anterior short, the other long; sexual peculiarities marked, the males in spring with black pigment and the head covered with small tubercles. Colour very dark, the males in spring almost black. GENUS PANTOSTEUS COPE The Mountain Suckers This genus resembles Catosfomis, from which it differs chiefly in having the fontanelle nearly obliterated, and in having a more or less developed cartilaginous sheath on each jaw. The species are all western, chiefly in the Rocky Mountain region and west- ward, mostly in rocky brooks in the arid districts. The 8 known species are each of rather small size, and scarcely valued as food. Mountain Sucker Pantosteus jordant Evermann Pantosteus arizone reaches a length of 9 inches, and is known only from Salt River at Tempe, Arizona. P. generosus, 45 Fine-scaled Suckers known as the mountain sucker, is abundant in the streams in the Salt Lake basin, and southwest in the Sevier basin. It reaches 8 or 10 inches in length. P. plebeius reaches a foot in length and is found in the Rio Grande basin and southward into Chihuahua. It is very common. P. delphinus, the blue-headed sucker, attains the length of a foot, and is abundant in the upper portion of the basin of the Colorado. P. gu{nianiensis is known only from Lake Guzman, Chihuahua. P. jordan? grows to a foot or more in length, and is found pretty generally distributed in clear streams in the upper portions of the Missouri and Columbia basins. It is of more value as a food fish than any other species of the genus. P. arwopus from the rivers of Nevada and the Kern River, California, and P. clarki from the Gila basin, are rare and little known species. GENUS CATOSTOMUS LE SUEUR Fine-scaled Suckers Body rather elongate, more or less fusiform, subterete; head rather long; eye small and high up; mouth rather large, inferior; upper lip thick, papillose, protractile; lower lip greatly developed, with broad, free margin, usually deeply incised behind, so that it forms two lobes which are often more or less separated; opercle moderate; pharyngeal bones moderate, the teeth rather short, compressed, rapidly diminishing in size upward; scales small and crowded anteriorly; lateral line nearly straight and well developed; origin of dorsal nearly midway of body; anal short and high; ventrals inserted under middle or posterior part of dorsal; caudal forked, the lobes nearly equal; sexual peculiarities not marked, the fins usually higher in the male and the anal somewhat swollen and tuberculate in the spring; breeding males in most species with a rosy or orange lateral band. Species about 20, all belonging to North America except one (C. rostratus Tilesius) which is said to occur in Siberia. Our species are not well differentiated and are difficult to distinguish. In the following key have been included only those which are of commercial value: a. Head transversely convex above, the orbital rim not elevated; scales in lateral line 60 or more. 46 Flannel-mouth Sucker b. Scales very small, much reduced and crowded anteriorly, the number in lateral line 80 to 115. c. Upper lip broad, with 5 or 6 rows of papille. d. Dorsal fin with 11 to 13 rays and very high; Latipinnis, 47 dd. Dorsal fin with 10 to 12 rays and only moderately devel- OPO i seca tata teens re sete aad tae cee ams eres eae MA saan griseus, 48 cc. Upper lip comparatively thin and narrow, with 2 to 4 rows of papille. : e. Scales in lateral line 95 to 115;............... catostomus, 49 bb. Scales small, but larger than in the preceding group, the number in lateral line 56 to 75. Ff. Scales in lateral line 70 to 75; lower lip broad. g. Dorsal fin short, of 11 to 13 rays; head small, conical; occidentalis, 50 gg. Dorsal fin long, of about 15 rays; head large;...macrocheilus, 50 ff. Scales in lateral line larger, 58 to 70 in number; lower lip with about 4 rows of papille. h. Mandible short, 34 to 33? in head; upper lip narrow; commersontt, 51 hh. Mandible longer, 3 to 33 head; upper lip broader; ..ardens, 52 Flannel-mouth Sucker Catostomus latipinnis Baird & Girard This sucker is known only from the Colorado River of the West, and its larger tributaries. It is said to be quite abundant and ascends the rivers in spring. As a food fish it is of some importance, particularly to.the Indians. Head 4%; depth 54; D. 11 to 13; scales 17-98 to 105-17. Body elongate, the caudal peduncle long and slender; head rather slender, with prominent snout and rather contracted, inferior mouth; outline of mouth triangular, the apex forward; lips very thick, greatly 47 Platte River Sucker developed, the lower incised to the base, its posterior margin extend- ing backward to opposite the eye; tubercles on lower lip small behind; jaws with a slight cartilaginous sheath; eye small and high up; scales long and low, posteriorly rounded; fins greatly developed, especially in old males, the free border of the dorsal deeply incised; height of vertical fins in the male greater than length of head; origin of dorsal nearer snout than base of caudal; caudal very strong, the rudimentary rays unusually developed. Colour, dark olive, abruptly paler below; sides and fins largely orange in both sexes, the anal and lower lobe of caudal tuberculate in breeding males. Length 2 feet or less, of een au ean MEN) EAA AN NR eA PBS NA ie )) rs WANA) yh i igh yp ree Platte River Sucker Catostomus griseus (Girard) Upper Missouri River basin, particularly abundant in the Platte and the Yellowstone. This species is close to C. calostomus, apparently differing chiefly in the larger mouth and the broader upper lip. Head 4 in body; depth 51; D. 10 to 12; scales 16-90 to 110-14. Body long and slender, subterete, compressed behind, the form essentially that of C. cafostomus; head large, the interorbital space broad and flat, 2} in length of head; eye small, high up and rather posterior; mouth large, about as in C. /at/pinnis, the upper lip very large, pendant, and with 5 to 8 series of tubercles; lower lip incised to base, the lobes long; horny sheath pretty well developed; dorsal fin not long, nor especially elevated, its origin rather nearer base of caudal than tip of snout; caudal long and strongly forked; anal long and high, reaching base of caudal; ventrals not reaching vent. Colour, dusky brown, sometimes with a dusky lateral band, sometimes irregularly mottled or barred; snout dark. Length 1 to 2 feet. 48 Long-nosed Sucker; Northern Sucker Long-nosed Sucker; Northern Sucker Catostomus catostomus (Forster) The long-nosed sucker is one of the largest of the family, reaching a length of 2 to 24 feet, and a weight of several pounds. It is found from the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes westward in the Upper Missouri basin and to the Upper Columbia, thence northward to Alaska; the most widely dis- tributed sucker; but probably not occurring south of 4o° north latitude, except in West Virginia where recently obtained by Prof. W. P. Hay. In the Great Lakes and northward this species is a food fish of considerable value. It is usually taken in hoop or trap nets, or gillnets. Its spawning time is in the spring, in most localities as early as May. Head 41 to 42; depth 44 to 6; eye 6 to 8; D. 10 or 11; A. 7; scales 14 to 17-90 to 117-13. Body elongate, subterete; head very long and slender, depressed and flattened above, broad at base, but tapering into a long snout, which overhangs the large mouth; lips thick, coarsely tuberculate, the upper lip narrow, with 2 or 3, sometimes 4 rows of papillae; lower lip deeply incised, the lobes shorter than in C. griseus, and the mouth narrower; lower jaw with a slight cartilaginous sheath; eye small, behind middle of head; scales very small, much crowded anteriorly. Males in spring with the head and anal fin profusely tuber- culate, and the side with a broad, rosy band. 49 Sacramento Sucker Sacramento Sucker Catostomus occidentalis Ayres Streams of California, especially abundant in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. This species was formerly of consider- able importance to the Indians, who caught it in great numbers. It reaches a foot in length. Columbia River Sucker; Yellow Sucker Catostomus macrochetlus Girard Columbia River basin and other rivers and lakes of Oregon and Washington, generally abundant; not known from the Snake River basin above Shoshone Falls. It is abundant in the Redfish Lakes of Idaho and in Flathead Lake of Montana. During the spring and early summer it is found in the streams, but in July or earlier it retires to deeper water, entering lakes when- ever opportunity offers. It attains a length of 12 to 17 inches, and is a food-fish of considerable importance, particularly to the Flathead Indians and other Indians in the regions where it is found. Its flesh is sweet, firm and flaky, the fish usually in- habiting cold waters. At the Redfish Lakes in Idaho this sucker was noticed in August and September toward the close of the day swimming about in great schools at the surface of the water, sometimes with their noses projecting. The schools would gather about 5° Common Sucker; White Sucker the mouth of some inlet and swim slowly about in this way for an hour or more just at sundown. The meaning of this particular habit has not been explained. Head 4 to 42; depth 5; eye 5 to 6 in head; snout 2; D. 12 to 14; A. 7; scales 12 to 14-65 to 75-10 or 11, about 4o before the dorsal. Body rather heavy forward, the caudal peduncle slender; snout blunt, overlapping the horizontal mouth which is quite large, with very large lips, the upper full and pendant, with 6 to 8 rows of moderate papillae; dorsal fin much longer than high; pectoral long and narrow; caudal well forked. Colour, rather dark; a dusky lateral streak; abruptly pale below. Common Sucker ; White Sucker Catostomus commersonit (Lacépéde) This is the most abundant sucker in the streams and lakes from Quebec and Massachusetts westward to Montana and Colo- rado and southward to Missouri and Georgia. Specimens from Montana to Colorado have the lips broader and with more numer- ous papille. In the smaller streams this species reaches a length of but a few inches, while in the larger streams and lakes it attains a Jength of 18 inches or more and becomes a food-fish of consid- erable importance. Though quite bony, its flesh is firm and flaky and very sweet. In some parts of the country this species is caught in large numbers and salted for winter use. It is usu- ally taken by means of seines, traps or gillnets. or Utah Lake Mullet In the spring of the year, as the spawning season approaches, they run up the streams in great numbers and spawn upon the riffles. This is, in most parts of its range, in May or June, and the fish is called the ‘June Sucker.” Head 4 to 42; depth 4 to 5; eye 6 in head; snout 24; D. 12; A. 7; scales 10-64 to 70-9. Body rather stout, varying with age. subterete, heavy anteriorly; head moderate, conical, flattish above; snout rather prominent, scarcely overpassing the mouth, which is large, the lips papillose, the upper with 2 or 3 rows of papille (4 to 6 in western specimens); scales small, crowded anteriorly, larger on the sides and below. Colour, olivaceous; males in_ spring somewhat rosy; young brownish, more or less mottled and blotched with dark. Utah Lake Mullet Catostomus ardens Jordan & Gilbert This species is very close to the common sucker, differing chiefly in the larger mouth and lips. Abundant in the Snake River basin above Shoshone Falls and in the lakes and streams of the Great Salt Lake basin. It swarms in myriads in Utah Lake, ‘‘the greatest sucker pond in the world.” In Heart Lake of Yellowstone Park this fish is infested by a parasitic worm (Ligula catostomt) which is often larger than the fish’s viscera. Like all other suckers, this species is a spring spawner, and at that time immense numbers are said to come into the shallow 52 Moogadee water of Utah Lake, Jacksons Lake and other lakes which it inhabits. This species reaches a length of 18 inches or more, and holds rank with the others of the genus as a food-fish. Head 32; depth 44; eye small, 7 in head, 34 in interorbital width; snout 2} in head; D. 12 or 13; A. 7; scales 12-70 to 72-12. Body rather long, little compressed, the back broad; head broad, conical; mouth entirely inferior, the mandible nearly hori- zontal; upper lip wide, full, pendant, with 4 to 8 rows of coarse, irregular papilla; lower lip very broad, coarsely papillose, cut to the base; dorsal fin long and low, its anterior rays + longer than the last; pectorals, ventrals and caudal short; anal long. Colour, black- ish above, paler below, the fins dark; breeding males with the sides rosy. Besides the 7 species described above, 12 others of less im- portance are recognized as occurring in North America. Moogadee Catostomus pocatello Gilbert & Evermann One of these, the Moogadee of the Fort Hall Indians of Idaho, is of some food value. 53 GENUS CHASMISTES JORDAN Head large, broad and flattish above, the sides vertical; eye small, high up, and rather posterior; mouth very large, terminal, the lower jaw in the closed mouth being very oblique; lower jaw long and strong, more than half length of head, its tip, when the mouth is closed, about on a level with the eye; upper jaw very protractile; upper lip thin and nearly smooth; snout usually elevated above rest of head; the premaxillary spines gene- rally forming a conspicuous nose; lower lip moderate, consisting of a broad flap on each side of the mandible, reduced to a nar- row rim in front, the surface of the lip nearly smooth, without papille; nostrils large; fontanelle well developed; gillrakers simple, fringe-like; air-bladder in 2 parts. Species of rather large size, inhabiting the Great Salt Lake Basin and the Klamath Lakes of southern Oregon. Six species are recognized, only 4 of which seem to be of any commercial importance. a. Scales moderate, 60 to 65 in the lateral line. b. Scales 9-63-8; dorsal usually 11; nose prominent; Jzorus, 54 da. Scales small, 75 to 85 in the lateral line. c. Snout prominent, premaxillary spines strongly protruding, form- ing a prominently projecting snout;............. stomias, 55 cc. Snout not prominent, premaxillary spines not forming a pro- minent hump. de wOCAleS 2a 5 altace ered cabaketanaee baths Stand se ee brevirostris, 55 Aids SCALES HT FES OST 2 sori 3) aoe elas oe aie Aone Arb Sette: copet, 56 ca ae . {) WN) (NK i i} if i NNN pba a HMA ae June Sucker of Utah Lake Chasmistes lorus Jordan Known only from Utah Lake, where it is exceedingly abundant, 54 Short-nosed Sucker contributing, with Catostomus ardens, to make that lake the ‘‘greatest sucker pond in the world.” Head 32; depth 5; eye 6 to 7; scales 9-63-8; D. 11; A. 7; inter- orbital space broad, 24 in head; width of the open mouth 34 in head; dorsal elevated in front, its longest ray twice the length of the last and about equal to base of fin; caudal deeply forked, the lower lobe the longer; lower fins small. Colour, dusky above, pale below; back and sides profusely covered with dark punctulations. Length 18 inches or less. Short-nosed Sucker Chasmistes brevirostris Cope This species is known only from the Klamath Lakes of Oregon. It attains a length of 12 to 18 inches and is a food-fish of some value to the Indians, who know it as the ‘“‘ Yen.” Snout 24 to 2? in head; mandible 14 in snout; interorbital width 24 in head; D. 11; A. 9; scales 13-73-12; premaxillary spines not produced to form a hump on the snout; lower lip fold present on the sides of the mandible; each lip with small, inconspicuous, sparse tubercles, in 3 or 4 series on the upper lip; ventrals extending 2 distance to vent; scales with strong concentric striz. Colour, dark above, silvery on lower part of side and on belly; fins all dusky. Klamath Lake Sucker Chasmistes stomtas Gilbert This is another species ot Chasmiistes inhabiting Upper Klamath 55 The Tswam Lake, which is a close rival of Utah Lake for the honour of being the ‘‘greatest sucker pond in the world.” It is the most abundant species of the genus in the Klamath Lakes. It reaches a length of 15 to 18 inches and is of great value to the Indians, by whom it is known as ‘‘ Kahptu.” From all other species of the genus, except C. brevrrostris and C. copet, it is distinguished by its small scales (14 or 15-76 to 82-11), and from C. brevirostris it differs in the deeper head, larger man- dible, more oblique mouth, and by the prominent hump on the snout; mouth inclined at an angle of 40°. Colour, dark above, whitish or silvery below, the two colours separated along a definite line travers- ing the side midway between lateral line and insertion of ventrals. Nas 044.5: ON i RID, JsSaens Lan : Tswam Chasmistes coped Evermann & Meek This is still another species of Chasmistes, inhabiting the Klamath Lakes. It closely resembles C. sfomfas, but may be distinguished from that species by its larger head, larger, more oblique mouth, less prominent snout, and very small fins. This sucker reaches a length of 16 or 18 inches and is used as food by the Klamath Indians. The Indian name is ‘‘ Tswam.” Head 33; depth 4; eye 64; snout 24; D. 10; A. 7; scales 13-80-12. Head very large, cheek very deep; body stout, back scarcely elevated. Colour, upper parts dark olivaceous; under parts whitish; a dark spot in upper part of axil; dorsal and caudal dark; pectoral dark on inner surface; ventrals and anal plain. 55 GENUS DELTISTES SEALE This genus is close to Chasmistes, from which it differs chiefly in the structure of the gillrakers, the very long, slender head, the small horizontal mouth, and the thicker lips. The gillrakers are broad and shaped like the Greek letter A (delta) and their edges are unarmed and entire; lower pharyngeals weak, with numerous small teeth. The single known species is the Lost River sucker (D. Juxatus ), which is the most important food-fish of the Klamath Lakes region. It is apparently resident during most of the year in the deeper waters of Upper Klamath and Tule lakes, running up the rivers in March and April in incredible numbers, the height of the run varying from year to year according to the condition of the streams. The Lost River fish are the most highly prized, and are said to be much fatter and of finer flavour than those ascending the tributaries of Upper Klamath Lake. This species reaches the largest size of any of the Klamath Lake suckers, examples over 3 feet in length and weighing several pounds having been examined. It is of vast importance to the Klamath Indians, who, during the spring run, catch it in immense numbers and cure it for winter use. An attempt has been made to preserve the meat in cans, but apparently without success. Oil has been extracted from the heads and entrails, said to be worth 6oc. to 85c. per gallon. Head 4; depth 4%; snout 22 in head; D. 12; A. 7; scales 12-76 to 81-9. Body elongate; head very long and slender, the snout and cheek especially long; mouth inclined upward at an angle of about 35°; fontanelle large; premaxillary spines forming a decided hump on snout near its tip. GENUS XYRAUCHEN EIGENMANN & KIRSCH The characters of this genus agree in all respects with those of Catostomus except that behind the occiput is a sharp-edged hump produced by the singularly developed interneural bones, giving the adult fish a very grotesque appearance. 57 Razor-back Sucker; Hump-back Sucker Only two species are known, both from the Colorado River. Only one of these is of any food value. The other (X. wncom- pahgre Jordan & Evermann) is known only from the type, a specimen 7 inches long, and may be the young of X. cypho. Razor-back Sucker: Hump-back Sucker Ayrauchen cypho (Lockington) Known only from the Colorado Basin, where it is quite abundant and of considerable value. It reaches a weight of 8 to 10 pounds. Head 4; depth 4; D. 13 or 14; A. 7; scales 13 to 15-72 to 77-13. Body stout, compressed, the head low, the profile ascending to the prominent hump; mouth wide, inferior; upper lip with 2 rows of papillae, the lower deeply divided and with 8 rows ; dorsal fin long and low, with concave edge; caudal broad and strong, with numerous rudimentary rays; scales loosely imbri- cated; anterior part of hump scaleless. Colour, plain olivaceous. GENUS ERIMYZON JORDAN The Chub Suckers This genus may be known by the entire absence of a late- ral line and the plain colouration in the adult. The young have a broad black lateral band and are easily mistaken for Cyprinida. 58 Chub Sucker Chub Sucker Only one species is known, E. sucetfa, the chub sucker or creekfish, which reaches a length of about 10 inches and _ is widely distributed from the Great Lakes and New England south to Texas. Those in the northern part of the range have been regarded as a subspecies, E. sucetia oblongus. GENUS MINYTREMA JORDAN This genus may be known by the incomplete lateral line and the presence of a small blackish spot at base of each scale on side, these forming intetrupted longitudinal lines along the rows of scales. Spotted Sucker The single species is M. melanops, known as the winter sucker or spotted sucker. It reaches a moderate size and is of 59 The Redhorses some value as a food-fish. It occurs in the Great Lakes region and south to North Carolina and Texas, being most common westward. GENUS MOXOSTOMA_ RAFINESQUE The Redhorses Body more or less elongate, sometimes nearly terete, usually more or less compressed; head variously long or short; eye usually large; suborbital bones very narrow; fontanelle always open; mouth varying much in size, always inferior in position, the mandible horizontal, or nearly so; lips usually well developed, the form of the lower varying, usually with a slight median fissure, but never deeply cleft; lips with transverse plice, rarely broken up into papillae; jaws without cartilaginous sheath; oper- cular bones moderately developed, nearly smooth; isthmus broad; gillrakers weak, moderately long; pharyngeal bones rather weak, as in Cafostomus, the teeth rather coarser and strongly com- pressed, the lower 5 or 6 more strongly than the others, which rapidly diminish in size upward, each with a prominent internal cusp; scales large, more or less quadrate in form, nearly equal in size over the body, and not especially crowded anywhere; lateral line well developed, straight or anteriorly curved; fins well developed, the dorsal inserted about midway of the body, its first ray usually rather nearer snout than caudal; anal fin short and high, usually emarginate in the male; caudal fin deeply forked; air-bladder with three chambers. Sexual characters little marked, the males during the spawn- ing season with the lower fins teddened and the anal rays somewhat swollen and_ tuberculate. 60 Nog ra i x # a A _ ~ . Pa ~ LAKE CARP SUCKER OR QUILLBACK. Carpiodes thompsonr The Redhorses This is a large genus, comprising not fewer than 20 species, all of which occur in the eastern United States in the Atlantic and Gulf drainages. There is no representative of the genus on the Pacific Coast. They inhabit both streams and lakes, but prefer the streams. Their spawning time is in the spring, when they run up the rivers and into the smaller streams, sometimes in very great numbers. The species are difficult to distinguish and have been unduly multiplied by authors. They are less tenacious of life than the species of Catosfomus, but equal them in food value. Of the 20 species only about 5 attain a sufficient size to make them of much value for food. The remaining 15 species, which are mostly of small size, are the following: Sucking mullet (M. collapsum), lowland streams of North Carolina; thick-cheeked sucker (M. bucco), Missouri River at St. Joseph; Pedee sucker (M. pidiense), Great Pedee River basin; blue mullet (M. coregonus), Catawba and Yadkin rivers; white mullet (M. album), Catawba and other rivers of North Carolina, green mullet (M. thalassinum), Yadkin River; Texas red-horse (M. congestum), rivers of Texas; Mexican mullet (M. austrinum) Rio Lerma, Mexico; Yadkin mullet (M. robustum) Yadkin River, a doubtful species, perhaps identical with M. macrolepidotum, which occurs from Delaware to the Carolinas; picconou (M. lesueuri), Albany River, Canada, and elsewhere in the far north, the most northern species, but not well known; Neuse River mullet (M. conus), Neuse and Yadkin rivers, perhaps not distinct from M. breviceps; Tangiopahoa mullet (M. peecilurum), southern Mississippi to eastern Texas, jump-rocks (M. rupiscartes ), rivers from North Carolina to Georgia; and jumping mullet (M. cervinum), rivers of the South Atlantic States from the James to the Neuse, abundant about rapids and rocky pools. a. Lips full, the folds broken up into evident papille;....... papillosum, 62 aa. Lips plicate, the folds not forming distinct papille. b. Dorsal fin large, of 15 to 18 rays; lower lip V-shaped, somewhat papillose;...... 02-5... eee eee eee anisurum, 62 bb. Dorsal fin smaller, of 10 to 14 rays. c. Caudal fin with the upper lobe not conspicuously longer than the lower. d. Dorsal fin with its free margin nearly straight; lower fins always ‘red int lifessa soc. catee ede we tects aureolum, 63 White Mullet dd. Dorsal fin with its free margin always more or less incised or concave; lower fins always pale in life. e. Head moderate, 42 in body; back not elevated;........... macrolepidotum, 61 ee. Head very short and blunt, 5 in body; back elevated;... crassilabre, 63 ec. Caudal fin with the upper lobe more or less produced 61 ands falcates. 2s ceckm psi cae hae eee nas. MOFEUICEpS,. OA White Mullet Moxostoma paptllosum (Cope) Coastwise streams from the Dismal Swamp to the Ocmulgee River in Georgia; said to be common. Head 4 to 44; depth 4 to 43}; D, 12 to 14; scales 6-42-5. Body comparatively stout, the dorsal region somewhat elevated and rounded; eyes rather large, high up and well back, the preorbital space longer than in most species; top of head flat; lips moderate, deeply incised, the folds more broken up than in other species; caudal lobes equal. Colour, silvery; back with smoky shading; lower fins more or less reddish. Length 1 to 2 feet. White-nosed Sucker Moxostoma anisurum (Rafinesque) This species reaches a length of 14 feet or more, and is not uncommon in the Great Lakes region and southward in the Ohio basin. Head 3} to 4 in length; depth 3 to 4; eye 4 to 5 in head; depth of cheek 2 in head; D. 15 to 18. Body stout, deep and compressed, the back elevated; head short, heavy, flattish and broad above; eye rather large, midway in head; muzzle rather prominent, bluntish, overhanging the large mouth; upper lip thin; fins very large, the dorsal long and high, its height 1% in length of head, its free border straight, the first ray about as long as the fin; pectorals nearly reaching ventrals; upper lobe of caudal narrow, longer than lower. Colour, very pale and silvery; smoky above; lower fins white or pale red. Common Redhorse Common Redhorse Moxostoma aureolum (Le Sueur) The common redhorse is found from Lakes Ontario and Michigan to Nebraska and south to Arkansas and Georgia. West of the Alleghanies it is everywhere an abundant and-well-known fish. It reaches a length of 2 feet or more and is the most im- portant food-fish of the genus. In the upper Mississippi Valley states it has always been held in considerable esteem by the farm- ers, who were in the habit of snaring, seining, or catching them in traps in great numbers in the spring of the year and salting them for winter use. Like most other well-known species of wide distribution, this sucker has received many common names, among which are the following: mullet, white sucker, large-scaled sucker, and redfin sucker. Head rather elongate, bluntish, broad and flattened above; body stoutish, varying to moderately elongate; lips rather full, the bluntish muzzle projecting beyond the large mouth; greatest depth of cheek more than half distance from snout to preopercle; dorsal fin medium in size, its free edge nearly straight, its longest ray shorter than the head. Colour, olivaceous; sides silvery, paler beneath; lower fins red or orange. Sucking Mullet Moxostoma crasstlabre (Cope) Streams of eastern North Carolina, where it is very abundant. It reaches a length of nearly 2 feet, and, in the spring, is taken in large numbers in the shad seines. Among the vernacular names applied to it are redhorse, horse- fish, redfin, and mullet. Head 42 to 5 in length; depth 34; eye 3% to 4; D. 12 or 13; scales 6-42 to 44-5. Body robust. the back elevated and com- 63 Short-headed Redhorse pressed; head short, broad, flattish above; mouth moderate, the lips full, the lower truncate behind; snout short, little projecting; dorsal fin elevated in front, its edge much incised, its first ray longer than the base of the fin and about as long as the head; caudal lobes equal. Colour, silvery, with smoky shading above, some of the scales blackish at their bases; caudal and anal with some red; top of head, humeral bar and. a broad shade across dorsal fin, dusky. Short-headed Redhorse Moxostoma breviceps (Cope) Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, abundant in Lake Erie. This species reaches a length of a foot or more. Head 5 to 54; depth 33; eye small, 5 in head; D. 12 or 13- scales 6-45-5. Body deep, compressed; head small; snout short and sharply conic, overhanging the very small mouth; form sug- gesting that of the white- fish; caudal fin with the upper lobe fall cate and much longer than the lower, at least in the adult; dorsal fin short, high, and falcate, the anterior rays 1% to 1} times base of fin, the free border much concave; anal long, falcate, reaching beyond base of caudal. Colour, silvery, the lower fins bright red. GENUS PLACOPHARYNX COPE Suckers much like Moxosfoma in all respects, except that the pharyngeal bones are much more developed and the teeth reduced in number, those on the lower half of the bone very large, 6 to 10 in number, nearly cylindric in form, being but little compressed and with a broad, rounded, or flattened erinding surface; mouth larger and more oblique than usual in Moxostoma, and the lips thicker. Only one species known. Big-jawed Sucker Placopharynx duquesnit (Le Sueur) This interesting sucker reaches a length of 2 to 24 feet and is not uncommon from Michigan to Tennessee, Arkansas and 64 Big-jawed Sucker Georgia in the larger streams; it is probably most abundant in the French Broad River and in the Ozark region. Nothing peculiar in its habits is known, and it ranks with the species of redhorse as a food-fish. Head 4 in length; depth 3%; D. 12 or 13; A. 9. Body oblong, moderately compressed, heavy at the shoulders; head large, broad, and flattish above, its upper surface somewhat uneven, eye small, behind the middle of the head; mouth large, the lower jaw oblique when the mouth is closed, the mouth, therefore, pro- tractile forward as well as downward; lips very thick, coarsely plicate, the lower lip full and heavy, truncate behind; free edge of dorsal concave, the longest ray longer than base of fin, 14 in head; upper lobe of caudal narrower than the lower and some- what longer. Colour, dark olive green, the sides brassy, not silvery; lower fins and caudal orange red. 65 GENUS LAGOCHILA JORDAN & BRAYTON This is the most peculiar genus of suckers and may be known readily by the nonprotractile upper lip and the split lower lip. The Hare-lip Sucker single species is the hare-lip sucker, cutlips, split-mouth sucker, rabbit-mouth sucker, pea-lip sucker, or May sucker, L. /acera. Hare-lip sucker, showing lower lip. It is found in clear streams in the Mississippi Valley, as_ the Tippecanoe, Wabash, Clinch, Cumberland, Chickamauga and White River of Arkansas. It is most common in the Ozark region. 66 THE MINNOWS Family V. Cyprinide FisHES with the margin of the upper jaw formed by the pre- maxillaries alone, and the lower pharyngeal bones well devel- oped, falciform, nearly parallel with the gillarches, each with 1 to 3 series of teeth in small number, usually 4 or 5 in the main row, and fewer in the other rows if present; head naked, body scaly, except in a few genera; barbels usually not present, but 2 or 4 small ones present in some genera; belly usually rounded, rarely com- pressed, never serrated; gill-openings moderate, the membranes broadly joined to the isthmus; gills 4, a slit behind the last; no adipose. fin; dorsal fin short in all our species; ventrals abdo- minal; air-bladder usually large and commonly divided into 2 parts; stomach without appendages, appearing as a simple enlarge- ment of the intestine. The Cyprinid@ constitute a very large family of fishes of mod- erate or small size, inhabiting the fresh waters of the Old World and North America. The family contains about 200 genera and more than 1,000 species, of which about 225 are found in our waters. This number greatly exceeds that of any other family of fresh-water fishes. Not only are the species very numerous, but the individuals are usually exceedingly abundant. Most of our species are very small fishes, usually not exceed- ing a few inches in total length, and, on account of their great uniformity in size, form, and colouration, they constitute one of the most difficult groups in all zoology in which to distinguish genera and species. Our Eastern species rarely exceed a foot in length, but in the West are several very large species, some reaching a length of several feet, and all of these are of some food value. Several of the smaller species are good ‘‘boy’s fishes,” and one or more species can usually be found on any boy’s string. They are all sweet, delicious pan-fishes, albeit exasperatingly bony, and various species of minnows constitute the very best live bait the angler can get. The spring or breeding dress of the male is often very pecu- liar; the top of the head and often the fins and portions of the 67 The Squawfish body are covered with small tubercles, outgrowths from the epider- mis; the fins and lower parts of the body are often charged with bright pigment, the prevailing colour of which is red, although in some genera it is satin-white, yellowish, or even black. Although nearly all the Cvprinida@ are very small fishes, there are a few species the individuals of which reach a large size. As so few of the many genera of American Cyprinid@w have any commercial species, generic descriptions have been omitted in the hope that the specific descriptions may suffice. ae : ns cee Squawfish Ptychocheitlus oregonensis Richardson The squawfish is one of the largest of the minnows. _ It reaches a length of 2 to 4 feet, a size which shows strikingly that “‘minnows” are not necessarily little fish. Its geographic range is from British Columbia southward in Pacific Coast drainage to central California. In the Columbia River basin it ascends as far as Shoshone Falls in Snake River, and at least to Flathead Lake in Clarks Fork. It is abun- dant inthe Fraser, and also in the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Salinas, and other lowland streams of California. It is very abundant in the Redfish Lakes, and other lakes of Idaho. Dur- ing the fall and the latter part of summer large schools of this species could be seen, particularly in the evening, swimming about the mouths of the inlets, usually at a depth of 5 to 4o feet, but toward evening they would come to the surface and OS INTRODUCED GOLDEN TENCH, Tinea tinca. NTRODUCED I MAN CARP, Cyprinus carpio. GER The White Salmon feed greedily upon various insects that had fallen upon the surface of the water. Their manner of taking these insects is very much like that of the trout. Frequently they would jump entirely out of the water in their eagerness to secure the falling insect. They will rise to the artificial fly quite freely. By using Royal Coachman and fishing as if for trout excellent sport may be had. They rise to the fly promptly, strike quickly, and fight vigorously for a few moments, after which they allow themselves to be pulled in without much struggle. They will rise to the fly best in the evening, but will at any time take the hook baited with salmon spawn. During the spring and early summer the Squawfish run out into the streams, where they seem to prefer to spawn, but in the fall and winter the streams connected with lakes are apt to be deserted by this fish. In the winter it is sought as an article of food, and fishing through the ice for squawfish is one of the popular winter amusements at the Idaho lakes. In these lakes it rarely attains a greater weight than about 4 pounds, and the usual weight is not over a pound. This fish is highly esteemed by the Indians, hence its most popular name. Other names by which it is known are Sacra- mento pike, chub, big-mouth, box-head, yellow-belly, and chappaul. Head 34 to 4; depth to 54; eye 74 in head, 23 in snout; snout 3; D, 9; A. scales 15 to 17-70 to 80-8, 42 to 60 before the dorsal; teeth 2, 4-5, 2, strong and well hooked, but without grinding surface. Body rather robust, with stout caudal peduncle; head long and pointed; mouth large, the max- illary reaching front of pupil; eye small, much larger in the young; lateral line strongly decurved, much nearer belly than back. Colour, muddy, greenish above, sides somewhat silvery, but chiefly dirty yellowish; belly yellowish or pale; in spring the fins are reddish or orange and the scales more or less dusted with dark specks; young with a black caudal spot. 45 8; White Salmon of the Colorado River Ptychochetlus lucius Girard This species differs chiefly from the squawfish, which it closely resembles, in the much smaller scales, there being 83 to 69 The Utah Lake Chub go in the lateral line. There are no other important differences. Colorado basin; very abundant in the river channels as far up as the mountains of Colorado. This is the largest of the American Cyprinida. It reaches a length of 5 feet or more, and a weight of 80 pounds, though examples of this extreme size are infrequent. At Green River, Wyoming, individuals of 8 and 10 pounds are not at all rare. It is known variously as the whitefish, white salmon, or salmon, and in the Colorado basin, where species of food-fishes are not numerous, it is a fish of considerable importance. Nothing distinctive is known of its habits or methods of capture. Py Pay wos) ey Ef Mi i i ff i is Utah Lake Chub Leuciscus lincatus (Girard) Head 34; depth 33; eye 7; D. 9; A. 8; scales 10-55 to 65-5; teeth 2, 5-4, 2, short and stout, one of them with grind- ing surface. Body robust, elevated anteriorly, the sides com- pressed, although the back is very broad; head broad, the Interorbital space flattish; adult with the profile concave, straight or convex in the young; snout broad, elevated at the tip; premaxillary on level of pupil; mouth very oblique, the mandible projecting; maxillary reaching front of eye; scales large, sub- equal, broadly exposed, firm; lateral line decurved; dorsal nearly median, inserted directly over ventrals; caudal evenly forked, the peduncle long and deep; pectoral short, reaching # distance to ventrals; ventrals about reaching vent. Colour, dark, the scales much dotted, the edges quite dark, often forming lines along the rows of scales. Length 12 to 15 inches. One of the largest and most widely distributed species of: the genus, abundant everywhere in the Great Basin of Utah, and 79O The Hornyhead in the Snake River basin above Shoshone Falls. In Utah Lake it is exceedingly abundant, as it is also in Jacksons Lake, Yellowstone Lake and other similar waters, where, owing to its large size, it is of some importance as a food-fish. It is said to be very destructive to the eggs of trout, a belief which may be justified by the facts, but we are not aware that the matter has ever been fully investigated. Besides this species of Leuciscus there are in America about 24 other species, all of which are small and of little importance except as boy’s fishes. With a few exceptions they are species of the Western States, and are perhaps most valuable to the Indians or in those regions where better fish are rare. Then in Lake Tahoe, the Klamath Lakes, and various other lakes of Nevada, California and Oregon are found three species of the genus Ruiilus, closely related to Leuciscus, none of them of much food value. Hornyhead Flybopsis kentuckiensis (Rafinesque) The hornyhead is found from Pennsylvania to Wyoming and south to Alabama, on both sides of the Alleghanies; everywhere common in the larger streams, seldom ascending small brooks; one of our most widely distributed and best known minnows. In different parts of its range it is known as the hornyhead, river chub, Indian chub, or jerker. Wherever it is found at all, every boy who goes a-fishing is familiar with it. As a game-fish it is the most active and vigorous of its tribe. Any sort of hook baited with an angleworm or white grub is a lure the hornyhead can seldom resist, and he bites with a vim and energy worthy of a better fish. The fight he mukes, though it would not wholly satisfy the veteran black bass angler, is quite enough to fill the youthful Walton with unbounded joy and pride. But as his experiences widen his chief interest in the horny- head lies in the fact that it is one of the best of live baits for nobler fish. For muskallunge, pickerel, walleyed pike, and black bass of either species, as a live bait it is not surpassed; large individuals for muskallunge and increasingly smaller ones for the others, those for the small-mouthed black bass being not over 3 to 5 inches in length. 71 The Cone-head Minnow A hardy, active minnow, and of an attractive colour, as a live bait it is unsurpassed. Head 4; depth 44; D. 8; A. 7; scales 6-41-4, 18 in front of dorsal; teeth 1,4-4,1, or 1,4-4,0, sometimes 4-4. Body stout, little elevated, and not much compressed; head large, broadly rounded above; snout bluntly conical; mouth rather large, subterminal, little oblique, the lower jaw somewhat the shorter; upper lip below level of eye; maxillary not reaching front of eye; barbel well developed; dorsal fin rather posterior, slightly behind insertion of ventrals: caudal broad, little forked; scales large, not crowded anteriorly; lateral line somewhat decurved. Colour, bluish-olive above; sides with bright green and coppery reflections; a curved dusky bar behind opercle; scales above with dark borders; belly pale but not silvery, rosy in males in spring; fins all pale orange, without black spot; males in spring with a crimson spot on each side of head; adults with top of head swollen, forming a sort of crest covered with tubercles; young with a dark caudal spot. Length 6 to 12 inches. Cone-head Minnow Mylopharodon conocephalus (Baird & Girard) Head 34; depth 42; eye 7; snout about 3; D. 8; A. 8; scales 17-74-7. Body elongate, subfusiform, compressed ; head broad and depressed; the snout tapering; mouth horizontal, the jaws about equal, the maxillary extending to the eye; eye small, preorbital elongate; interorbital space as wide as length of maxillary, 3 in head; scales rather small, loosely imbricated ; dorsal fin a little behind ventrals; caudal fin 14 in head, the lower lobe the longer; caudal peduncle very long, 44 in length of body. Colour, dark, paler below, no red. This minnow reaches a length of 2 or 3 feet and is of some value as a food-fish. It is found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin basin. Columbia Chub Mylochetlus caurinus (Richardson) The Columbia chub occurs in the streams and lakes of British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon, chiefly in the Columbia River basin and waters about Puget Sound. In the Columbia basin it ascends in Clarks fork at least as far as Flathead Lake, and in Snake River to Shoshone Falls. 72 The Fallfish In the Snake River this minnow is one of the most abundant fishes, and is locally known by the misleading names “fresh-water herring” and ‘‘ whitefish,” and, at one place, they are even called trout. The name ‘‘ whitefish” for this minnow is rather more than local in its application, as it is used not only on Snake River, but at Flathead Lake and perhaps elsewhere. At the salmon fisheries along the Columbia and Snake rivers it is quite abun- dant, and, after salmon fishing has begun, schools of 30 to 50 or more can be seen at any time. They are particularly attracted by the offal thrown into the river when the salmon are dressed, and by throwing a few salmon eggs into the water, good-sized schools could be called up at any time. This fish seldom attains a greater length than a foot, and is, like most members of the family, a bony species; nevertheless, it possesses some importance as a food-fish. At some places in the Columbia basin it is served as ‘‘ whitefish” at the hotels, and elsewhere it is peddled over the country as ‘“‘trout” or ‘‘ fresh-water herring.” It takes the hook readily and possesses considerable game qualities. The best bait seems to be salmon spawn, but it will bite at almost anything, a piece of liver, a grasshopper, or a fish’s heart or eye. It will fight vigorously for a time, and large individuals will often continue the fight until brought to net. Head 42; depth 44; eye 5; snout 34; D. 8; A. 8; scales 12-77-7; teeth 1 or 2,5-5,2 or 1. Body moderately slender; head bluntly conic; interorbital space broad, convex; mouth horizontal or nearly so, the maxillary not reaching front of eye; suborbital bone wide; preorbital elongate; teeth hooked in the young, some of them becoming blunt with age. Colour, dark olivaceous above, yellowish silvery on sides, white or pale beneath; a dark or red- dish lateral band, below which is a pale stripe, under which is a dark stripe which extends about to vent; fins pale; belly and sides with much red in breeding males. Fallfish Semotilus corporalis (Mitchill) Length a foot to 18 inches. Abundant from the St. Lawrence basin to the James, east of the Alleghanies, in clear, swift streams, rock pools, below dams or falls, and in clear lakes; not found west of the Alleghanies. The Fallfish The fallfish is much the largest of our eastern Cyprinidae, ranking with the western and some European forms. Though ordinarily not exceeding a foot or 15 inches in length, examples 18 inches or even longer are not rare. An example weighing 34 pounds has been recorded from Canadian waters, and several ex- amples, each weighing 3 pounds, have been taken in the outlet of Lake Winnepesaukee. The veteran angler, William C. Harris, has taken a 2-pound fish of this species on the artificial fly from Lycoming Creek, Pennsylvania. Many anglers who are familiar with the fallfish speak enthus- lastically of its game qualities. The character of the waters in which it lives and the large size which it attains would readily suggest a minnow of unusual strength and gaminess. The common names which this fish has received are numer- ous. The early Dutch settlers of New York called it corporaalen or corporal, and elsewhere it has been variously called chub, roach, silver chub, or wind-fish. Thoreau says it is a ‘‘soft fish and tastes like brown paper, salted.” Head 4; depth 4; eye 43; D. 8; A. 8; scales 8-49-4, 18 to 22 before the dorsal; teeth 2,5-4,2, hooked, without grinding sur- face. Body oblong, robust, little compressed; head large, convex, the snout bluntly conic; mouth large, terminal, somewhat oblique, the lower jaw included; premaxillary below the level of the eye, the maxillary barely reaching front of orbit; eye moderate, rather high up and anterior; a small barbel on maxillary just above its extremity, not at its tip as in most American minnows, not always evident in the young; scales large, not much crowded anteriorly; dorsal fin somewhat behind middle of body, just behind ventrals, or midway between nostril and base of caudal. Colour, brilliant; steel-blue above, sides and belly silvery; males in spring with the belly and lower fins rosy or crimson; no spots on the fins. 74 The Common Chub Common Chub Semotilus atromaculatus (Mitchill) This fish closely resembles the preceding, from which it may be readily distinguished, however, by the more posterior position of the dorsal fin (midway between middle of eye and base of caudal, and well behind ventrals), the closer crowding of the scales on anterior part of body, and the presence of a large black spot on base of anterior dorsal rays. The scales also are somewhat smaller, the number in the lateral line being usually 50 to 55. Colour, dusky bluish above, side with a vague, dusky band, black in the young, disappearing in the adult; belly whitish, rosy in males in spring; dorsal fin always with a con- spicuous black spot on base of anterior rays which is bordered with red in the male; a dark vertebral line; scales everywhere edged with dark punctulations; a dusky bar behind opercle; males with snout coarsely tuberculate in spring; young with a small black caudal spot. The common chub is found from Maine westward to Wyom- ing and south to Georgia and Alabama, everywhere abundant, particularly in small creeks, where it is often the largest and most voracious inhabitant. It reaches a length of a foot or less and is one of the most common species seen on the small boy’s string. Its food value is not great, though it serves a useful purpose in many a region where better fish are rare. Moreover, it is an excellent bait minnow for bass, walleyed pike, pickerel, and muskallunge. Among the common names borne by this fish are horned dace, chub, and creek chub. 75 THE TRUE EELS Family VI. Anguillide “A youthful eel resided in a tiny tidal pool; He was lithe as gutta-percha, and as pliable; From his actions and contractions he appeared to be a fool, But his virtue was completely undeniable.”’ —Carryl. THE true eels are characterized by their peculiar fine imbedded scales in association with a conical head and a general resemblance to the conger eels. The scales are inconspicuous, narrow and placed in series at angles with each other. The Anguillide approach more nearly than most of the other eels to the type of the true fishes. In one respect, that of the minute ova and concealed generation, how- ever, they differ widely from the true fishes. The single genus of this family is Angud//a, with one species in our waters. Common Eel Anguilla chrysypa Rafinesque The common eel is familiar to every one who has lived in Eastern North America, and who has given any attention to things out doors. On our Atlantic Coast it ranges from New- foundland to Mexico and Central America, and is also abundant among the islands of the West Indies. It is found likewise along the Gulf Coast. Unlike other eels it ascends freshwater streams long distances, and may be found even in the head- waters of nearly all the rivers of the Atlantic Coast and the Mississippi Valley. It is frequently found in lakes which would seem to be difficult to reach from the sea, but however great the barriers appear to be, it is certain that they have not been in- surmountable, and that the eels got into the lakes from some connecting water. The eel is really a freshwater fish, whose real home is in the freshwater rivers and lakes, but which runs down to salt 76 (A NCRLIT' 9978 see Shar “AZISTVYUNILVN & LNOGV ‘(WdASAYHO VTIINONY) 143 NOWWO9 3 The Common Eel water only at spawning time. Such fishes are called catadromous species, and their movements at spawning time are in marked contrast with, and the exact opposite of, those of the anadromous fishes (such as the salmon and the shad) whose true home is in salt water, but which run up freshwater streams to spawn. The method of reproduction of the common eel was long a mystery, and even to this day it continues to be such among the illiterate and uninformed. While its method of re- production has long been fully understood, scarcely a year passes that does not bring to the U. S. Fish Commission a communication from someone who claims that he has discovered that the lamprey—an animal belonging to an entirely different class from the eel, and only most remotely related to it—is really the female eel! Jacoby has remarked that the eel was from the earliest times a riddle to the Greeks; while ages ago they knew the manner of reproduction among other fishes, they were not able to make any such discovery regarding the common eel. The Greek poets, following the usage of their day, which was to attribute to Jupiter all children whose paternity was doubtful, were accustomed to say that Jupiter was also the progenitor of the eel. Aristotle states in his ‘‘ History of Animals” that eels have no sexes, nor eggs, nor semen, and that they rise from ges entera, the entrails of the sea. Some have thought that by this expression Aristotle meant earthworms, while others have claimed that the Greeks used this. term for all sorts of creeping, limbless things living in soil or mud, and that these were spon- taneously generated. ‘““When we bear in mind,” says Jacoby, ‘‘the veneration in which Aristotle was held in ancient times, and_ still more throughout the middle ages—a period of nearly 2,000 years—it could not be otherwise than that this wonderful statement should be believed, and that it should become embellished by numerous additional legends and amplifications, many of which have held their own in the popular mind even to this day.” There is no other animal concerning whose origin and ex- istence there is such a number of false beliefs and_ ridiculous fables. Though Aristotle’s absurd views continued to receive cre- ” 77 The Common Eel dence for many centuries, there were those who accepted them only in part, or rejected them altogether. Pliny maintained that young eels spring from the slime and fragments of skin which come off when eels rub themselves against the rocks. Albertus Magnus (1,200 years later) accepted Pliny’s views, but says he has heard that eels are also born alive from eels! Rondelet (400 years still later) says that eels are born not only from putrefied matter, but also from eggs produced by copulation of male and female eels. Walpiglie (17th century) declares that the ovaries of eels are fatty productions, which he calls ‘‘striz adipose.” Redi, of the same period, claimed that eels are produced just the same as other fishes are, while Leuwenhcek, an expert microscopist, found certain small parasites in the bladder of an eel, and, mis- taking the bladder for the uterus, thought these parasites were young eels. Not until the 18th century was the presence of ovaries in the female eel demonstrated by Sancassini, a learned surgeon of Comacchio, Italy. But his demonstration was questioned by other investigators. Apparently the first to describe fully the ovaries and eggs of the eel was the Italian naturalist, Mondini, in 1777, so that the discovery of the female eel must date from him. The search for the male eel was scarcely less prolonged or less interesting. The details need not be given here. Not until 1873 was anyone successful. On November 29 of that year, Dr. Syrski, then at Trieste, made the important discovery, which many other investigators have since verified. It is now comparatively easy to distinguish the sexes of the eel. In the first place the male is smaller than the female of the same age. The ovaries of the female are two yellowish or reddish-white elongate bodies, as broad as one’s finger, lying along- side the backbone, arranged in numerous transverse folds, extending throughout the entire length of the abdominal cavity. These two bodies are so large as not to be easily overlooked, but they contain such a quantity of fatty cells, and the eggs imbedded in them are so small and delicate, that one might easily believe, even after a superficial microscopic examination, that the whole organ consists only of fat. The testes, or spermatic organs of the male, are not ribbon-shaped like the ovaries, but represent two 78 Pdnshay? PILI E “TI NOWNOO The Common Eel longitudinal rows, each with about 50 lobules. These spermatic organs can be distinguished at once from the ovaries, not only by their lobular form, but also by their shining glassy appear- ance. In 1877 Jacoby made careful investigations of a number of problems concerning the eel, and since then other investigators have worked upon the same problems, until now all essential or important facts in the life history of the eel are well under- stood. These may be briefly stated as follows: The common eel spawns in salt water, usually off the mouths of rivers, on mudbanks, to which they go in great numbers at the spawning time, which is in the fall. On these mudbanks the eggs are laid, fertilization takes place, and the young eels develop within two or three months after hatching. At the beginning of the second spring these young find their way to mouths of the rivers, which they ascend in incredible numbers. In these freshwater streams and lakes they remain until of adult size, when they return to the sea for spawning purposes. This seaward migration takes place in the fall, at which time large numbers are caught in traps. During this migration, the eels, like the salmon and the shad, do not take any food. Having once reached the sea, they do not remain close to shore, but go out a distance to deeper water, where the development of the reproductive organs takes place very rapidly. This development is extraordinarily rapid when the immature state, in which the migrating eels are found, is considered; they probably become sexually mature within five or six weeks after reaching the sea. The spawning then takes place, after which both the old males and females die, never returning to fresh water the second time. The very unusual rapid development of their reproductive organs has such an effect upon the systems of the adult eels that they die soon after the act of reproduction. This is the reason that adult eels are never seen migrating up-stream. The down-stream movement occurs usually at night, com- mencing soon after sunset, is strongest from midnight to 2 o'clock a.m., and ceases an hour or more before sunrise. The common eel is remarkably prolific. The number of eggs produced by a single female 32 inches long has been esti- mated at 10,700,000. In the spring of the year thousands of young eels may be seen at the foot of waterfalls and dams, 79 The Common Eel trying to make their way up stream. Professor Baird has esti- mated that in the spring and summer one might see hundreds of wagon loads of young eels at the foot of Niagara Falls, crawling over the slippery rocks and squirming in the seething whirlpools. In their feeding habits eels are chiefly scavengers, feeding upon all manner of refuse, but preferring dead fish or other animal matter. They are a very undesirable inmate of rivers in which fish are caught in gillnets. It is said that the des- truction of shad and herring by eels in the Susquehanna and other Atlantic coastal streams is enormous. It is not infrequent that when a gillnet is lifted the greater part of the catch con- sists simply of heads and backbones, the remainder having been devoured by myriads of eels in the short time the net was left out. The spawning shad is considered by them a_ special delicacy, and are often found emptied at the vent and com- pletely gutted of the ovaries. Sometimes a shad, apparently full, is found to contain several eels of considerable size. The commercial value of the common eel as a_ food-fish has long been well established. It justly holds a high rank as an article of food among all who are familiar with it, and in the markets it always brings a good price. The eel is caught in all sorts of ways—in traps, eel-pots, seines, and on set-lines; and ‘‘ bobbing for eels”’ is a classic in angling methods. Body elongate, compressed behind, covered with imbedded scales which are linear in form and placed obliquely, some of them at right angles to the others; lateral line well developed; head long and conical, 2 to 2} in trunk; eye small, over angle of mouth; teeth small, subequal, in bands on each jaw, and a long patch on the vomer; tongue free at the tip; lower jaw projecting ; gill-openings small and_ slit-like ; nostrils superior, well separated, the anterior with a slight tube; distance from front of dorsal to vent 1% to 2 in head; pectoral fins 2% to 3% in head Colour brown or yellow-olivaceous, nearly plain, paler below, the colour, quite variable. The common eel reaches a considerable size. An example taken in 1899 in Lake Maxinkuckee measured 43 inches in length, and weighed 6} pounds. Examples 4 to 5 feet long have been reported, though the average length of those caught probably does not exceed 2} to 3 feet. 80 THE CONGER EELS Family VIT. Leptocephalide Tus family includes those eels which are scaleless, and have the tongue largely free in front, the body moderately elongate, the end of the tail surrounded by a fin, the posterior nostril remote from the upper lip and near the eye, and the pectoral fins well developed. All the species are plainly coloured, gray- ish or dusky brown above, silvery below, and the dorsal edged with black. The 3 recognized genera contain about 15 species, inhabiting most warm seas, usually at moderate depths. Most of the species undergo a metamorphosis, the young being loosely organized and transparent, band-shaped and with a very small head. a. Vomerine teeth in bands, none of them canine-like. b. Dorsal fin inserted behind the pectoral, but nearer pectoral SthAN Vel tose car aA. lien aE cael po ase ones esac Leptocephalus, 81 bb. Dorsal fin beginning over the gill-opening; Congermurena, 81 aa. Vomerine teeth uniserial, some of them canine-like; Uroconger, 81 The 2 species of Leptocephalus in our waters are L. conger and L. caudilimbatus. The former is the conger eel which is generally common on both coasts of the Atlantic, from Cape Cod to Brazil in America. It occurs also on the coasts of Africa and Asia, but is not known from the eastern Pacific. It reaches a length of 7 or 8 feet and, though not much used in this country, it is an important food-fish in Europe. The other species (L. caudtlimbatus) is found in the tropical parts of the Atlantic. It is not uncommon in the West Indies where it is used as food, and it ranges north at least to Pensacola and the Bahamas. It also occurs about Madeira. Five species of Congermurena are found in our limits. They are all of small size and of little food value. Only one species of Uroconger is known from our waters. It is of no value as a food-fish. 81 THE. MORAYS Family VII. Murenide THESE may be distinguished from all other eels by the small round gill-openings and by the absence of pectoral fins. The body and fins are covered by a thick leathery skin, the occipital region is elevated through the development of the strong muscles which move the lower jaw, and the jaws are usually narrow and armed with knife-like or else molar teeth. The morays inhabit tropical and subtropical waters, and are especially abundant in crevices about coral reefs. Many of the species reach a large size, and all are voracious and pugnacious. The colouration is usually strongly marked, the colour cells being highly specialized. a. Vertical fins well developed, the dorsal beginning before the vent. b. Posterior nostril an oblong slit, the anterior in a short tube; Enchelycore, 83 bb. Posterior nostril circular, with or without a tube. c. Teeth all, or nearly all, acute, none of those in jaws obtuse or molar-like. d. Anterior nostrils without tube; vomerine teeth in many series; lips: -waith:ia: tree? foldics sons cates tie ehacs Pythonichthys, 83 dd. Anterior nostrils each with a long tube; vomerine teeth in 1 or 2 series; lips continuous with skin of head. e. Posterior nostrils without tube, the margin sometimes slightly raised. f. Dorsal fin inserted behind the head, over or behind the gill- OPENING ceva Riek cuties de Geena means ce mcats Rabula, 83 Ff. Dorsal fin inserted on the head, considerably before the gill- OPENING ota seen ean sea reset reeeae ens Gymnothorax, 83 ce. Posterior nostrils, as well as anterior, each with a conspicuous UID Cy viece Meets secre waiaadancrore s aeat en inite acts ata daresete. Murena, 83 cc. Teeth mostly obtuse, molar-like;.... ............ Echidna, 83 aa. Vertical fins rudimentary, confined to the end of the tail. g. Cleft of mouth short, not half length of head; snout moder- ate, about half the gape; tail about as long as trunk; Uroptervgius, 83 rg. Cleft of mouth long, nearly half head; snout very short, less than one-fourth the gape; tail very short, about half rest of DOG Ptituaeuis eu se ener eee at emi een siaceeies Channomurena, 83 Os wn The Morays Of these 8 genera only Gymnothorax contains any species of much importance to us. The species of Gymnothorax are numerous in our waters. They are the most active and voracious of eels, many of them very pugnacious, and most of them live in shallow water about rocks and reefs. The common spotted moray (G. moringa) is found in the West Indies, north to Charleston and Pensacola and south to Brazil. It is the most abundant eel in the West Indies, reaches a length of 2 to 3 feet, and is used extensively for food. The conger eel of California (G. mordax) is found from Point Conception to Cerros Island. It is abundant about the Santa Bar- bara Island and is remarkable for its ferocity. It is a food-fish of some importance. There are about 15 other species of Gymmnothorax in our waters, but none of them possesses much food value. Enchelycore has one species, common in the West Indies, Pythonichihys, Rabula, Echidna, Uropterygius, and Channomurena, have each from 1 to 4 species, in our tropical waters. None is of much food-value. 83 THE TARPONS Family IX. Elopide Bopy elongate, more or less compressed, covered with silvery cycloid scales; head naked; mouth broad, terminal, the lower jaw prominent; premaxillaries not protractile, short, the maxillaries form- ing the lateral margins of the upper jaw; an elongate bony plate be- tween the branches of the lower jaw; eye large, with an adipose eye- lid; bands of villiform teeth in each jaw and on vomer, palatines, pterygoids, tongue, and base of skull; no large teeth; opercular bones thin, with expanded membranous borders; a scaly occipital collar; gill-membranes entirely separate, free from the isthmus; branchiostegals numerous (20 to 35); gillrakers long and slender; belly not keeled nor serrated, rather broad and covered with ordinary scales; lateral line present; dorsal fin inserted over or slightly behind the ventrals; caudal fin forked; no adipose fin; dorsal and anal depressible into a sheath of scales; pectorals and ventrals each with a very long accessory scale; pyloric cceca numerous. Genera 3, species 4 or 5, forming 2 well-marked subfamilies, both widely distributed in the tropical seas. The species are not much valued as food, the flesh being dry and bony, but they are among the greatest of game fishes. In our waters we have two genera, each represented by a single species. a. Pseudobranchie none; body oblong, covered with large scales: anal fin larger than the dorsal; last ray of dorsal produced into avlone. Mlanme nts Pxcchcatia soca sey sion eureka lama neasa tered at Tarpon, 85 aa. Pseudobranchiz large; body elongate, covered with small scales; anal fin smaller than the dorsal; last ray of dorsal not produced INS as lament eena ns alte tek suse Agr Ache ae eae Elops, 87 GENUS TARPON JORDAN & EVERMANN Body oblong, compressed, covered with very large, thick, silvery, cycloid scales; belly narrow but not carinated, its edge with ordinary scales; lateral line nearly straight, its tubes radiating widely over the surface of the scales; dorsal fin short and high, inserted behind the ventrals, the last ray long and filamentous; anal tin falcate, much longer than the dorsal, its last ray produced ; caudal widely forked, and more or less scaly. Only one species known. S4 The Tarpon Tarpon Tarpon atlanticus (Cuvier & Valenciennes) The tarpon occurs on our Atlantic Coast from Long Island to Brazil, being most common southward, particularly on the coasts of Florida. It is a common fish about Porto Rico, where it evidently breeds. The tarpon reaches a length of 2 to 6 feet and a weight of 30 to more than 300 pounds. The largest one on record taken with a hook weighed 209 pounds, and the largest taken with a harpoon weighed 383 pounds, if we may believe the record; but examples weighing Over 100 pounds are not often seen. Among other names by which the tarpon is known are tarpum, savanilla, savalle sabalo, grand ecaille, and silver king, the last being one of its best and most expres- sive designations. The silver king is the greatest of game fishes. There is none more celebrated or deserving of higher praise. Only the few for- tunate anglers who, happily situated, are able to spend their winters in Florida or elsewhere on our southern coast, have actually ex- perienced the pleasure of tarpon fishing, but every lover of the rod has heard of the silver king and has hoped that he might some day have an opportunity to test the great fish’s strength and skill. Among the places on our southern coast where excellent tarpon fishing has been obtained are along the west coast of Florida from Punta Gorda southward to Indian River and Lake Worth, about Key West, in Mississippi Sound, and at Galveston and Corpus Christi, Texas. Fort Meyers, on the west coast of Florida has, perhaps, been the most popular resort. 85 The Bony-fish; Ten-pounder Head 4; depth 34; eye 4.%; snout 5; maxillary 12; D. 12; A 20; scales 5-42-5; branchiostegals 23; dorsal filament longer than the head. Colour, uniform bright silvery, darkish on back. The propor- tional measurements in the young are somewhat different, in examples of 3 inches long being as follows: Head 33; depth 4%; eye 34; snout 44. GENUS ELOPS LINNA:US Body elongate, covered with small, thin, silvery scales; dorsal slightly behind ventrals, its rays short; lateral line straight, its tubes simple. Large fishes of the open seas, remarkable for the develop- ment of scaly sheaths. Only a single species in our waters. Bony-fish ; Ten-pounder Elops saurus Linnzus An abundant and widely distributed fish, found in all tropical seas; common in America north to the Carolinas and the Gulf of California. On our coasts it is probably most numerous in Florida. It reaches a length of 2 to 3 feet and a weight of several pounds. The young are ribbon-shaped, long, thin, and transparent, passing through a metamorphosis analogous to that seen in the conger eels. They are at first band-shaped, with very small head and _ loose, transparent tissues. From this condition they become gradually shorter and more compact, shrinking from 34 inches to 2 inches in length. During these stages the young of this species, the lady-fish, and other fishes which undergo similar changes, are the so-called 86 TENPOUNDER, Elops saurits BONEFISH, Albula vulpes The Bony-fish ; Ten-Pounder ‘« ghost-fishes ” which are sometimes thrown up on the beach in large numbers by the waves. The bony-fish rejoices in a multiplicity of vernacular names, among which are big-eyed herring, piojo, matajuelo real, chiro, Liza, Francesca, ten-pounder, and John Mariggle. Its excellent qualities as a game-fish are only beginning to be appreciated. Head 44; depth 5 to 6; eye 4 to 5; snout 44; maxillary 12; mandible 14; interorbital 52; D. 20; A. 13; V. 15; B. 30; pectoral 1%; ventral 2; caudal $; scales 13-110 to 120-12; gular plate 3 to 4 times as long as broad. Body very elongate; head small and pointed; mouth very large, the extremely long maxillary reaching far beyond the eye; jaws subequal; caudal lobes long and slender. Colour, bluish above; the sides silvery; white beneath. 87 THE LADY-FISHES family X. Albulide Bopy rather long, not much compressed, covered with rather small, brilliantly silvery scales; head naked; snout conic, subquad- rangular, shaped like that of a pig and overlapping the small, in- ferior, horizontal mouth; maxillary rather strong, short, with a distinct supplemental bone; premaxillaries short, not protractile; jaws, vomer, and palatines with bands of villiform teeth; broad patches of coarse, blunt teeth on the tongue; eye large, median in head, a bony ridge above it, and almost covered with an an- nular adipose eyelid; preopercle with a broad, flat, membranaceous edge; pseudobranchie present; gill-membranes entirely separate and free from the isthmus; a fold of skin across gill-membranes anteriorly; no gular plate; lateral line present; belly flattish; cov- ered with ordinary scales; caudal widely forked. This family contains but a single species. Lady-fish; Bone-fish; Banana-fish Albula vulpes (Linnzus) This beautiful and active fish is almost universally distributed on sandy coasts in all tropical seas. It ranges northward as far as San Diego and Long Island, and is generally abundant. It is a fish of very attractive appearance, usually litttle valued as food, though in some places, as at Key West, it is held in high esteem. As a game-fish it is highly appreciated by those famil- iar with it. It resembles, in this respect, the ten-pounder. 88 Lady Fish; Bone Fish; Banana Fish The young of this species pass through a metamorphosis, analogous to that seen in the conger eels, the ten-pounder, and the awa. They for a time are elongate, band-shaped, with very small head and loose transparent tissues. From this condi- tion they become gradually shorter and more compact, shrinking from 3 or 3% inches to 2 inches in length. In the Gulf of Cali- fornia where this species abounds, these band-shaped young are often thrown by the waves on the beach in great masses. Head 33; depth 4; D. 15; A. 8; scales 9-71-7. Upper lobe of caudal the longer; a broad band of peculiar, elongate, mem- branaceous scales along middle line of back; accessory ventral scale large. Colour, brilliantly silvery on sides, olivaceous above; back and sides with faint streaks along the rows of scales; fins plain; axils dusky. Length 14 to 3 feet. §9 THE MOONEYES Family XT. Hiodontide Bopy elongate, compressed, covered with moderate-sized, brilliantly silvery, cycloid scales; head naked, short, the snout blunt; mouth moderate, oblique, terminal, the jaws about equal; premaxil- laries not protractile; dentition very complete; premaxillary and dentary bones with small, wide-set, cardiform teeth; maxillaries with weak teeth; a row of strong teeth around the margin of the tongue, the anterior canine and very strong; between these is a band of short, close-set teeth; vomer with a long, double series of close-set, small teeth; similar series on the palatines, sphenoid and pterygoids; eye very large, the adipose eyelid not much developed; preorbital very narrow; nostrils large, those of the same side close together, separated by a flap; gill-membranes not connected, free from the isthmus, a fold of skin covering their base; no gular plate; branchiostegals 8 to 10; gill-rakers few, short and thick; no pseudobranchiz; lateral line straight; belly not serrated; dorsal fin rather posterior; anal elongate, low; ventrals well developed, caudal strongly forked; no adipose fin; stomach horseshoe-shaped; without blind sac; one pyloric coecum; air-bladder large; no ovi- duct, the eggs falling into the cavity of the abdomen _ before exclusion. This family contains a single genus, with 3 species, inhabit- ing the fresh waters of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley. They are all handsome and gamy fishes, of little value as food. GENUS HIODON LE SUEUR Characters of the genus included above. a. Belly in front of ventrals carinated; dorsal with 9 developed TAN Sista tedster roils, $oec era ane eee A ate ted Coes antes alosoides, 91 aa. Belly in front of ventrals not carinated; dorsal with 11 or 12 developed rays. b. Belly behind ventrals carinated; eye 3 in head;...fergisus, 92 bb. Belly nowhere carinated; eye 2} in head;........selenops, 93 go Toothed Herring; La Queche - Toothed Herring ; La Queche Fhiodon alosoides (Rafinesque) This fish is found in the upper Mississippi Valley and north- ward, and is most common northwestward. It prefers the lakes and larger streams. It is a beautiful, attractive fish, reaching a length of 8 to 12 inches. This and the next species, while of little value as food, are of considerable interest to the anglers of the upper Mississippi Valley states. They are eager biters and take indiscriminately the feathered lures, small spoons, grasshoppers, grubs and other natural bait. According to Mr. W. C. Harris, they rise freely to the arti- ficial fly in the early spring months, but seem to disregard it as warm weather approaches, at which time they favour the grass- hopper above all other lures. In middle Canada they are said to take the fly in the latter part of August, and anglers of that section prize highly the sport of casting for them. In these waters this fish is said to leap, when hooked, repeatedly in the air. Head 41; depth 34; D. 9; A. 32; scales 6-56-7. Body closely compressed, becoming deep in the adult, the ventral edge everywhere carinated; maxillary reaching beyond middle of eye; caudal peduncle rather stouter than in the next species, and the fin not so deeply forked; back less arched and snout blunter than in the other species, the mouth larger and more oblique, the pec- torals and the ventrals shorter. Colour, bluish above, sides sil- very, with golden lustre. GI The Mooneye Mooneye Fliodon tergisus Le Sueur This fish closely resembles the toothed herring, from which it may best be distinguished by its larger dorsal fin and in having the belly in front of the ventrals not carinated. The mooneye reaches a length of a foot or more, and is found throughout the Mississippi Valley, the Great Lakes region and northwestward at least to the Assiniboine River. It is usu- ally common in the larger streams and lakes, and is a_ very handsome fish, not valued as food, the flesh being dry and full of small bones. As a game-fish it does not differ materially from the toothed herring. Head 43; depth 3; eye 3; D. 12; A. 28; scales 5-55-7. Body oblong, moderately compressed; eye large, the maxillary barely reaching its middle; pectoral fin not reaching ventrals; the latter scarcely reaching vent; belly behind ventrals somewhat carinated, but not in front. Colour, brilliantly silvery, olive- shaded above. Southern Mooneye Southern Mooneye Fliodon selenops Jordan & Bean In certain southern rivers, the Tennessee, Cumberland and Alabama, is found this species of Hiodon which differs from H. tergisus chiefly in not having the belly at all carinate. Nothing has been recorded as to its habits. Head 44; depth 4; eye 24; D. 12; A. 27; scales 50. Body more slender than in the other species, little compressed; not much elevated, the belly nowhere carinated; eye very large; pectoral not reaching ventrals; colouration, clear silvery. 93 THE MILK-FISHES Family NTI. Chanide Bopy oblong, compressed, covered with small, firm, adherent scales; lateral line distinct; abdomen broad and _ flattish; snout depressed; mouth small, anterior, the lower jaw with a_ small symphyseal tubercle; no teeth; eye with an adipose eyelid; gill- membranes broaaly united, free from the isthmus; branchioste- gals 4; pseudobranchie well developed; an accessory branchial organ in a cavity behind the gill cavity; dorsal fin opposite the ventrals; anal shorter than the dorsal; mucous membrane of the cesophagus raised into a spiral fold; intestine with many con- volutions; colour silvery. The Awa or Milk-fish This genus contains 3 species, only one of which is found in our waters. This is Chanos chanos, the milk-fish, or awa, a fish of very wide distribution. It is found on most sandy shores of the Pacific and Indian oceans. It is very abundant in the Gulf of California and among the Hawaiian Islands, where it is an important food-fish. In the Hawaiian Islands it is found with the ama-ama, or mullet, in the artificial fish-ponds of the old kings. The awa reaches a length of 2 to 5 feet. 94 THE HERRINGS Family XIII. Clupeide Bopy oblong or elongate, usually much compressed, covered with cycloid or pectinated scales; belly sometimes rounded, sometimes compressed, in which case it is often armed with bony serratures; head naked, usually compressed; mouth rather large, terminal, the jaws about equal; premaxillaries not pro- tractile; teeth mostly small, often feeble or wanting; gillrakers long and slender; gill-membranes not connected, free from the isthmus; branchiostegals usually free, 6 to 15; pseudobranchize present; no lateral line; anal fin usually rather long, caudal forked. This is a large family, embracing about 30 genera and 150 species. Most of the species are saltwater, inhabiting all seas, and usually swimming in immense schools. Many species are anadromous, ascending freshwater streams to spawn, and some species remain in fresh water permanently. The northern and freshwater species, as in many other families, differ from the tropical forms in having a larger num- ber of vertebrze. None of the species is considered a game-fish, but many of them are among the most important food-fishes. In American waters the family is represented by 16 genera, and about 38 species, some 10 of which are of commercial importance. a. Scales with their posterior margins entire and rounded; in- testinal canal of moderate length. bs Vomer- with» teeth S024 5 bey eel. ee le mie ate te Clupea, 96 bb. Vomer without teeth. c. Ventral scutes very weak, the belly more or less rounded; ventrals under middle of dorsal;......... ..-Clupanodon, 99 cc. Ventral scutes strong, the belly compressed; ventrals below or slightly behind front of dorsal. d. Premaxillaries meeting at a large angle, so that the tip of the upper jaw does not appear to be notched; cheek longer than deep;....--..--.. eee eee eee eee Pomolobus 101 dd. Premaxillaries meeting in front at a very acute angle, so that the emarginate front of the upper jaw receives the 95 The Common Herring slender tip of the lower; fore part of the cheek very deep, deeper than long;..............-.0.-2005- Alosa, 104 aa. Scales with their posterior margins vertical, and pectinate or fluted; intestine elongate;................5. Brevoortia, 108 GENUS CLUPEA LINN/ALUS The True Herrings The true herrings have the body elongate, the vertebre numerous, the ventral serratures weak, and an ovate patch of small but persistent teeth on the vomer. The few species belong to the northern seas, where the number of individuals is very great, exceeding perhaps those of any other genus of fishes. In America there are but 2 species, both of which spawn in the sea. a. Belly serrate both before and behind ventrals; anal rays Me ipee ta cocrartc rec ropteain eae pty tere AULA eases rr harengus, 96 aa. Belly serrate behind ventrals only; anal rays 14;........ pallasi, 99 PRN ‘i i AUN SM) NAAN ie PepONe Aa \ Common Herring Clupea harengus Linnzeus The herring is beyond question the most important of food fishes in the Atlantic, if not in the world. Distributed as it is throughout the whole of the North Atlantic, it affords occupation for immense fleets of fishing boats, and according to an_ esti- 96 The Common Herring mate made by Professor Huxley, the number taken every year out of the North Sea and Atlantic is at least 3,000,000,000, with a weight of at least 1,500,000,000 pounds. This estimate is probably too low. Carl Dambeck estimates the average yield of herring in Norway from 1850 to 1870 at 1,452,000,000 pounds, and the annual yield on the Swedish coast has been put at 300,000,000 pounds. In 1873 the catch on the Scotch coast was 188,000,000 pounds, which employed 45,494 men, using 15,095 boats. In the same period 15,331 boats were used in the English fisheries. If to these we add the yield on the coasts of Ireland, Germany, Belgium, France and America, the total is enormous. But 3,000,000,000 herring is probably no greater than the number contained in a single shoal, if it covers half a dozen square miles, and shoals of much greater size are on record. And, according to Professor Huxley, there must be scattered through the North Sea and the North Atlantic, at one and the same time, scores of shoals, any one of which would go a long way toward supplying the whole of man’s consump- tion of herring. The herring is found in the temperate and colder parts of the North Atlantic. On our coast it has been found as_ far south as Cape Hatteras, though it is not abundant south of New England. It rarely enters brackish water, but spawns in the sea. Unlike many other fishes, the herring, as well as other species of Clupeide, are regarded as particularly delicious at spawning time, and most of the herring fisheries are carried on when the fish are in full roe. The herring fishery in America is entirely a shore fishery. With the exception of a few occasionally taken for bait by the line fishermen on the banks, our herring are all caught in the immediate vicinity of the shore. Although the herring fishery in America has never assumed the importance which it has long held in Europe, the herring is probably no less abundant here than on the other side of the Atlantic. The principal herring fisheries on our coast are north of Cape Cod, and Newfoundland is the most northern point where important fisheries are located. From the Bay of Fundy to Cape Cod the fishing-ground is practically continuous. The herring fisheries are carried on chiefly by means of brush weirs, gillnets, and torching. The latter method is the most primitive, and is saia to be effectual only after the 97 The Common Herring weather has become cool. Formerly a_birch-bark torch, now one of oil, was fixed to the bow of the boat, which is rapidly towed through the water by several fishermen, while another with a large dip-net is stationed in the bow. The fish rise toward the light in numbers so long as the boat is kept moving rapidly, and large quantities are dipped into the boat. At other times the torch is used to lure the fish into the weirs, the light being then extinguished, and the operation repeated as often as necessary. Gillnets, however, are now the appliances chiefly in use in the herring fishery. They are set at some distance below the surface, and anchored at one or both ends. The quantities caught are very great, frequently sufficient to sink the buoys. The food of the herring consists of small animal organisms, chiefly of two small crustaceans, viz.: copepods, or ‘‘red seed,” and schizopod crustaceans, or the ‘‘shrimp” of the fishermen. Among the enemies of the herring which may be mentioned are the cod, haddock, pollock, hake, dogfish, albacore, squid, por- poises, seals and finback whales, each of which is very des- tructive. As a food-fish the herring is of very great importance. It is utilized in many different ways. The great quantities brought to Gloucester, New York and elsewhere in winter from New- foundland are sold fresh. Those caught on the New England coast are smoked, salted or pickled, packed as sardines or used as bait chiefly in the cod fisheries. On the Maine coast the most important use is as sardines. Head 43; depth 44; eye 4; D. 18; A. 173 scales 57; ventral scutes 28+13; vertebrae 56. Body elongate, compressed; scales loose; cheek longer than high; maxillary reaching middle of eye; upper jaw not emarginate, the lower jaw much_ projecting; vomer with a small ovate patch of small permanent teeth; pala- tine teeth small or absent; tongue with small teeth; gillrakers very long, fine and slender, about 40 on lower arm of first arch; eye longer than snout; abdomen serrated in front as well as behind, the serratures weak. Colour, bluish, silvery below, with bright reflections; peritoneum dusky. 98 California Herring California Herring Clupea pallasit Cuvier & Valenciennes The California herring, known in some earlier publications as Clupea mirabilis Girard, is found in the North Pacific from San Diego to Kamchatka and is everywhere known as “herring.” It is scarcely different in size, appearance, or qualities from the Atlantic species. It is found the entire length of our Pacific Coast, being exceedingly abundant northward. All the bays and outlets of Puget Sound are filled with them in summer. South of Point Conception they are seldom seen except in winter. They are so abundant in San Francisco Bay in spring that prac- tically no market can be found for them. At San Diego they spawn in the bay in January. Farther north the spawning season is later. They are fattest and bring the best price in early winter. They are smoked and dried, or salted, or sent fresh to the markets. Sometimes oil is expressed from them. The California herring is an excellent food-fish, and large quan- tities are used annually. It reaches a length of 18 inches. Head 44; depth 4; D. 16; A. 14; scales 52. Lower jaw strongly projecting, the upper not emarginate; belly scarcely com- pressed in front of ventrals, serrate only between ventrals and anal; gill-rakers very long and slender; vomerine teeth weaker than in the Atlantic herring; usually a few teeth on tongue and premax- illaries; insertion of dorsal slightly nearer front of eye than base of caudal. Colour, bluish above, silvery on sides and below; perito- neum dusky. GENUS CLUPANODON LACEPEDE The True Sardines This genus is close to C/upea, which it resembles in form of body and the weak ventral serratures. It differs, however, in having no teeth on the vomer; teeth in jaws mostly weak; scales thin and deciduous; adipose eyelid present; gillrakers very numerous. There are about 6 species in this genus, all confined chiefly to the 2 temperate zones, and all closely related to the 99 California Sardine European sardine, C/upanodon pilchardus, with which they all agree in richness of flesh. The 3 genera, Clupea, Clupanodon and Pomolobus, are all closely related and perhaps should be united. a. Opercle conspicuously striate; side with a series of round black SPOTS)... ee ee ee eee eee caruleus, 100 aa. Opercle scarcely striate; side without black spots; pseudohispanicus, 100 California Sardine Clupanodon ceruleus (Girard) This excellent food-fish reaches a length of a foot, and occurs on our Pacific Coast from Puget Sound southward to Magdalena Bay. It is abundant on the California coast, and spawns in the open sea. It resembles the European sardine, but has no teeth, and the belly is less strongly serrate. Head 4; depth 5; D. 14; A. 17; scales 53; scutes 18-+14; ver- tebre about 50. Body slender, subfusiform, the back rather broad; ventral serratures very weak; maxillary reaching nearly to middle of eye; mandible little projecting, the tip included; no teeth in mouth; gillrakers longer than the eye, very slender and numer- ous, close-set, some 50 or 60 on lower limb of arch; a frill of en- larged scales with dendritic striz about nape and shoulder; insertion of dorsal considerably nearer snout than base of caudal. Colour, dark bluish above, silvery below; a series of round black spots running backward from level of eye, bounding the dark colour of the back; similar smaller spots above, forming lines along the rows of scales; these spots sometimes obscure or wanting, especially in old examples; tip of lower jaw yellow; lower part of dorsal yel- lowish; peritoneum black; flesh darker and more oily than that of the herring. Spanish Sardine Clupanodon pscudohispanicus (Poey) This is called sardina de Espafia in Cuba and bang in Jamaica. It is found from Pensacola southward and is abundant about Cuba. It is sometimes carried north in the Gulf Stream to Woods Hole and Cape Cod. It reaches 8 inches in length and in the West Indies is of considerable value as a food-fish. 100 The Alewives It very closely resembles the European sardine (Clupanodon pilchardus), but is distinguished by the absence of radiating Stria on the opercles. From the California sardine it is distin- guished by the smooth opercles, unspotted sides, and the pres- ence of minute teeth on tongue and lower jaw. GENUS POMOLOBUS RAFINESQUE The Alewives This genus is very close to Clupea from which it seems to differ only in having no teeth on the vomer. As here understood this genus contains 4 known_ species, each of some value as food. a. Teeth present in the jaws, those on tip of each jaw mostly PERSISTENE ons eae oars cee nee aa neta ate chrysochlorts, 101 aa. Teeth in jaws disappearing with age. b. Peritoneum pale. c. Head long, about 4 in length;................. mediocris, 102 cc. Head shorter and heavier, about 42 in length; pseudoharengus, 103 DOs Penitometinn (lac kiss eatyeky setts aa secne sees Mtge oa i wstivalis, 104 Fresh-water Skipjack ; Blue Herring Pomolobus chrysochloris Rafinesque This species is found in all the larger streams of the Mis- sissippi Valley and has been introduced through canals into Lakes Erie and Michigan. As ordinarily seen it is strictly a fresh-water fish, but along the Gulf coast it enters salt water where examples of large size and excessive fatness are occasionally taken. In Lake Erie it is called ‘‘sawbelly,” from the ventral scutes. This species reaches a length of 15 inches, rarely takes the hook, and is of very little value as a food-fish. Head 33; depth 33; eye 44; D. 16; A. 18; scales 52; vent- ral scutes 20+13. Body elliptical, much compressed; head rather slender and pointed, its upper profile straight; lower jaw strongly Io! Tailor Herring ; Hickory Shad projecting, its tip entering the profile; upper jaw emarginate; premaxillary, and often tip of lower jaw, with persistent teeth of moderate size; maxillary large, reaching posterior part of eye; eye large, well covered by adipose eyelid; caudal peduncle slender, the caudal fin well forked; gillrakers comparatively few, short, stout, and coarse, about 23 below angle of arch; opercle with radiating and branching striz. Colour, brilliant blue above, sides silvery with golden reflections; no dark spots behind opercle; peritoneum pale. Tailor Herring; Hickory Shad Pomolobus medtocris (Mitchill) This species of herring, which is also known as_ fall her- ring and mattowacca, is fairly common from Cape Cod to Flor- ida) The name Mattowacca is said to be derived from the Indian name for Long Island, which was Mattowaka or Mattowax. In the Potomac River it is called ‘‘tailor shad” or ‘‘ fresh-water tailor,” in contradistinction to the bluefish which is called ‘“‘salt- water tailor.” : The centre of abundance of the tailor seems to be in the vicinity of Chesapeake Bay where it usually makes its appearance in the rivers in the spring before the shad. Northward it does not usually enter streams, but southward it does so regularly. It reaches a maximum length of 24 inches, though examples of more than 3 pounds’ weight are not often seen. This species is caught in great quantities in pound-nets and is hawked about the streets of Washington and other cities in 102 Alewife; Branch Herring the spring, and is often sold as shad to the unsuspecting. Very soon the market for them ceases and they are then used as fer- tilizer. It is also often sold with the alewife and glut herring, 1 tailor counting as 2 herring. Head 4; depth 33; D. 15; A. 21; scales 50; scutes 20+16. Head rather long; lower jaw considerably projecting, the upper emarginate; dorsal fin inserted nearer snout than base of caudal. Colour, bluish silvery; sides with rather faint longitudinal stripes; peritoneum pale. Alewife; Branch Herring Pomolobus pseudoharengus (Wilson) This is known also as wall-eyed herring, big-eyed herring, spring herring, blear-eyed herring, ellwife, Gaspereau, and doubt- less by many other names. It is found on our Atlantic coast from the Carolinas northward and is very abundant. It enters fresh-water streams to spawn and the run usually precedes that of the shad by 2 or 3 weeks. It is found also in certain small lakes in New York tributary to the St. Lawrence and in Lake Ontario where it is exceedingly abundant. It seems to be land- locked in these lakes and is greatly dwarfed in size. In Lake Ontario myriads die every year in early summer. Head 42; depth 34; eye 34; D. 16; A. 19; scales 50; scutes 21+14; gillrakers 30 to 40 below the angle. Body rather deep and compressed; head short, nearly as deep as long; maxillary 103 Glut Herring ; Summer Herring reaching posterior margin of pupil; lower jaw somewhat projec ting, the upper emarginate; eye large; gillrakers long, but shorter and stouter than in the shad; lower lobe of caudal the longer. Colour, bluish above, sides silvery; indistinct dark stripes along the rows of scales; a blackish spot behind opercle; perito- neum pale. i Sia) se = 4 Glut Herring; Summer Herring Pomolobus e@stivalis (Mitchill) This species occurs on our Atlantic coast from New Eng- land to the Carolinas. It is less abundant northward than the alewife and appears in the streams somewhat later than that species. Southward it is sometimes exceedingly abundant, hence the name ‘“‘glut her- ring.” Other names by which it is known are blueback, black- belly, saw-belly, and kyach. As a food-fish it is less valuable than the alewife. Head 5; depth 34. Very similar to the preceding, from which it is best distinguished by the black peritoneum; bod more elongate, the fins lower, the eye smaller, and the back darker; first ray of dorsal not equal to base of fin. GENUS ALOSA CUVIER The Shad Body deep, compressed, deeper than in related American genera; the head also deep, the free portion of the cheek deeper than long; 104 Common Shad; American Shad jaws toothless; upper jaw with a sharp, deep notch at tip, the premax- illaries meeting at a very acute angle; otherwise as in Pomolobus, to which this genus is closely allied. There are 2 or 3 American species. a. Gillrakers very numerous, usually more than 100 on first arch; sapidissima, 105 aa. Gillrakers less numerous, not more than 7o on first arch; alabame, 108 i ON soe el HP IN AEG eae TT SN A NEINTERY Common Shad; American Shad Alosa sapidissima (Wilson) The shad is found on our Atlantic coast from Florida to New- foundland, its centre of abundance being from North Carolina to Long Island. The principal shad rivers are the Potomac, Susquehanna, and Delaware. In the early history of the country the abundance of the shad excited unbounded astonishment. Nearly every river on the Atlantic Coast was invaded in the spring by immense schools, which, in their upward course, furnished an ample supply of choice food. But through ever-increasing fishing operations the supply gradually diminished until 30 years ago when the Federal and various State governments began hatching the shad artificially. So successful have these efforts been that, notwithstanding greatly increased fishing operations and the curtailment of the spawning-grounds, the supply in recent years has not only been maintained but largely augmented in many streams. One of the satisfactory results of the artificial propagation of useful food-fishes—satisfactory because they are absolutely proved and can- not be questioned—has been the introduction of the shad into the waters of our Pacific Coast in which no shad were previously found. 105 Common Shad; American Shad At various times between 1871 and 1880, 619,000 shad fry were planted in the Sacramento River, and in 1885 and 1886 910,000 were placed in the Columbia River. There young shad found the environ- ment congenial, suitable spawning grounds were found, and they have thrived so well that they have spread to San Diego on the South and to Fort Wrangel on the North—a distance of more than 2,000 miles. The shad is now one of the most abundant and most delicious food- fishes in the markets of San Francisco and other west coast cities. The shad is an anadromous fish which passes most of its life in the sea, performing annual migrations from the ocean to the rivers for the sole purpose of reproduction. Little is known of its life in the ocean, the places to which it resorts are unknown and but little is known regirding its food. In the spring it ascends to suitable spawn- ing grounds, which are always in fresh water, occupying several weeks in depositing and fertilizing its eggs in any given stream. It appears in the St. Johns River, Florida, as early as November, but not in great abundance until February and March. Beginning with the Savannah and Edisto rivers in January, the run in the different streams to the northward is successively later, the height of the run in the Potomac being in April, in the Delaware early in May, and the Miramichi River, in New Brunswick, about the last of May. The main body ascends when the water temperature is 56° to 66°, the number diminishing when the temperature is over 66°. They come in successive schools, the males preceding the females. Of 61,000 shad received at Washington from March 19 to 24, 1897, g0% were males. Toward the close of the season males were extremely scarce. Formerly the shad ascended many streams much farther than they are now able to go, owing to the erection of many impassable dams, beyond which the fish cannot go. As the shad enter the rivers only for the purpose of spawning, the fisheries are necessarily prosecuted during the spawning sea- son, and often upon the favourite spawning-grounds. So great is the demand for this delicious food-fish, and so assiduously do the fishermen ply their vocation with many kinds of gear during the period when, under ordinary circumstances, the fish should be protected, that the shad-fisheries would long since have been a thing of the past had it not been for artificial prop- agation. During the spring of 1900 the U. S. Fish Commission 106 Common Shad; American Shad planted in the Atlantic Coast streams a total of 241,056,000 young shad. The shad is very prolific. Single fish have been known to yield from 60,000 to 156,000 eggs, though the usual number does not exceed 30,000. The eggs are very small, semi-buoyant, and usually require 6 to 10 days for hatching, the time varying with the temperature of the water. Unlike most other fishes shad roe is considered a great del- icacy when fried; and ever since the days of George Washington and John Marshall ‘‘planked shad” has been regarded as the acme of success in the preparation of a delicious fish for the table. And a planked shad dinner at Marshall Hall, near Mount Vernon, is quite sure to constitute a feature in the spring programme of many Washington societies. After entering the rivers, the shad take but little, if any, food previous to spawning, but after casting its eggs it will strike at flies or other small shining objects, and it has been known to take the artifical fly. Though there is but one species of shad on our Atlantic Coast it has received almost as many vernacular names as there are rivers which it enters, as Potomac shad, Susquehanna shad, Delaware shad, North River shad, and Connecticut shad; and the people on each particular stream regard their shad as the best; and all are right, for the sweetness and delicate flavour of the shad depend much upon its freshness. The shad one gets from a nearby river are apt to reach the table fresher than those shipped from a distance. The shad is the most valuable river fish of the Atlantic Coast, and, next to the Chinook salmon, the most important species inhabiting the fresh waters of North America. Among all the economic fishes of the United States only the cod and the Chinook salmon exceed it in value. In 1896 the shad catch of the Atlantic seaboard numbered 13,145, 395 fish, weighing 50,847,967 pounds, and worth to the fishermen $1,656, 580. Head 44; depth 3; D. 15; A. 21; scales 60; ventral scutes 21+16. Body comparatively deep; mouth rather large, the jaws about equal, the lower fitting into a notch in the tip of the upper; gillrakers extremely long and numerous, usually about 4o-+68, the total varying from 93 to 119; fins small, the dorsal much nearer the snout than base of caudal; peritoneum white. Colour, bluish above, sides silvery white; a dark spot behind opercle, and sometimes several along the 107 Alabama Shad line dividing the colour of the back from that of the side, these evident when the scales are off; axil dusky. The shad reaches a length of 2 to 24 feet, though the average weight is less than 4 pounds. Vii Teva ey nt a ND) SRR NRA as Alabama Shad Alosa alabame Jordan & Evermann In the Black Warrior River of Alabama, about Pensacola, and doubtless in other rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, is found a species of shad resembling the common shad but differing from it in not having nearly so many gillrakers, in having a sharper, more pointed snout, smaller notch in the upper jaw, more projecting mandible, and more slender maxillary. It also reaches maturity at a considerably smaller size than the common shad, the various examples seen measuring only 15 inches each in total length. Nothing is known of its habits except that it appears at Tusca- loosa, Alabama, in limited numbers early in April, and that the young have been seen in salt water at Pensacola. GENUS BREVOORTTA_ GILL The Menhadens Body elliptical, compressed, deepest anteriorly, tapering behind; head very large; cheek deeper than long; mouth large, the lower jaw included; no teeth; gillrakers very long and slender, densely set, appearing to fill the mouth when it is opened; scales deeper 108 Menhaden; Mossbunker; Pogy than long, closely imbricated, their exposed edges vertical and fluted or pectinated; dorsal fin low, rather posterior; anal fin small; intestine long; peritoneum dusky. This genus contains only a few species, all inhabiting the At- lantic, and probably spawning in brackish water in the spring. They are coarse, herbivorous fishes, not greatly valued as food, but having several other very important uses. Menhaden; Mossbunker; Pogy Brevoortia tyrannus (Latrobe) The menhaden occurs from Nova Scotia to Brazil, and is by far the most abundant fish on the eastern coast of the United States. Several hundred thousand have been taken in a single draft of a purse-seine. A firm at Milford, Connecticut, captured in 1870, 8,800,000; in 1871, 8,000,000; in 1872, 10,000,000, and in 1873, 12,000,000. In 1877, 3 sloops from New London seined 13,000,000. Though this was an unprofitable year the Pemaquid Oil Company took 20,000,000, and the town of Booth Bay alone took 50,000,000. Though no decrease was visible up to 1880, since that time many fishermen believe a very great decrease has taken place. This, however, has not been proved, and many intelligent ob- servers deny that any appreciable decrease has really occurred. The food of the menhaden consists almost wholly of plank- ton—the minute unicellular alge, and the smaller animals which swarm in untold myriads at the surface of the sea, particularly along the coasts. 109 Menhaden; Mossbunker; Pogy The spawning time and method are not well understood. According to Goode, the breeding grounds are probably on the off-shore banks, and the eggs are presumably cast in late winter or early spring. Recently the menhaden has been found breeding in brackish water in Buzzards Bay. The fecundity of the menhaden is very great, exceeding that of the shad and the herring. More than 140,000 eggs have been taken from one fish. The enemies of the menhaden are many, and include every predaceous animal swimming in the same waters. Whales and dolphins and sharks follow the schools and destroy multitudes; one hundred have been taken from a shark’s stomach. All the large carnivorous fishes feed upon them, the tunny being the most des- tructive. Dr. Goode, in 1880, estimated the total number of men- haden destroyed annually on our coast by predaceous animals at a million million of millions, compared with which the number des- troyed by man is scarcely more than infinitesimal. As Dr. Goode has so happily said, the menhaden’s place in nature is not hard to surmise; swarming our waters in countless myriads, swimming in closely packed unwieldy masses, helpless as flocks of sheep, near to the surface and at the mercy of every enemy, destitute of means of defence and offence; their mission is unmistakably to be eaten. Besides entering so largely into the food-supply of many impor- tant food-fishes, though of little value itself as food for man, the menhaden is nevertheless a fish of very gréat commercial impor- tance; As a bait fish in the mackerel, cod and halibut fisheries it is unexcelled. In 1877 more than 80,000 barrels, or 26,000,000 fish, valued at $500,000, were used for this purpose. As a source of oil the menhaden is of greater importance than any other marine animal. After the oil is expressed the residue sup- plies a valuable manure when made into manufactured fertilizers. Though little valued in the United States as a food-fish, never- theless many barrels of salted menhaden are shipped to the West Indies, and some are consumed along our own coast. They have been packed in oil, after the manner of sardines, for domestic and foreign consumption. A preparation resembling Liebig’s ‘‘ Extract of Beef” has also been prepared from this fish. And as a food for domestic animals in the form of ‘‘fish meal” the menhaden is Menhaden; Mossbunker; Pogy of value. After all, however, the menhaden must ever be of great- est value as food for other fishes. The menhaden has received perhaps more common names than any other American fish. Dr. Goode enumerates at least 30 which have been given to it. Head 34; depth 3; D. 19; A, 20; scales 60 to 80. Head rather short and heavy; fins comparatively short, the height of the dorsal less than the length of the maxillary; height of anal less than half length of maxillary; pectoral not reaching ventrals; dorsal inserted slightly behind ventrals, or about midway between tip of snout and base of caudal; scales moderate, strongly serrated, irregularly arranged, those before dorsal strongly pectinate; opercle strongly striated; gillrakers much longer than eye. Colour, bluish above, the sides silvery, with a strong brassy lustre; fins usually yellowish; a conspicuous dark scapular blotch, behind which are often smaller spots. Length 12 to 18 inches. THE ANCHOVIES Family XTV. Engraulide Bopy elongate, more or less compressed, covered with thin, cycloid scales; head compressed; mouth very large, more or less oblique, usually overlapped by the compressed, pointed, pig-like snout; gape very wide, the maxillary long and slender, reaching far beyond the eye, in some species even beyond the head; pre- maxillaries not protractile, very small and firmly joined to the maxillaries; teeth usually small, sometimes obsolete, usually fine and even, in a single row in each jaw; canines sometimes present; eye large, well forward, no adipose eyelid; opercles thin and mem- branaceous; gillrakers long and slender; gill-membranes separate or joined, free from the isthmus; pseudobranchie present; no lateral line; belly rounded or weakly serrate. Small, carnivorous shore fishes, usually swimming in large schools on sandy shores; abundant in all warm seas, occasionally entering rivers. The family contains about 9 genera and 80 species, and is closely related to the C/uperda. a. Teeth in jaws ail small, if present; no canines. b. Insertion of dorsal before that of anal. c. Gill-membranes nearly or quite separate, free from the isthmus. d. Vertebre about 41 in number; bones firm; species chiefly CRO PICAly sei omc ues yi cten Pek i re ch tora fetes Anchovia, 112 dd. Vertebre about 45; bones rather feeble; species of temperate BE QUO MS Maca viaraien oneal fants Sut ceo ae cen ahe Muara, mein Engraulis, 115 ec. Gill-membranes broadly united, free from the isthmus; Cefengraults, 115 bb. Insertion of dorsal behind front of the very long anal; gill- IMeMPraties: Sepalatek-iscnre neste aren cote, tetas Pterengraulis, 115 aa. Teeth in jaws unequal, some of them enlarged and canine- [eK Ciena ae en ater es kee tee Accent anaes Lyeengraulis, 115 GENUS ANCHOVIA JORDAN & EVERMANN The Silvery Anchovies Body oblong, compressed, covered with rather large, thin, deciduous scales; belly rounded or weakly compressed; snout coni- 112 Striped Anchovy cal, compressed, projecting beyond the very large mouth; maxillary narrow, little movable, usually formed of 3 pieces, extending back- ward far beyond the eye, but not beyond gill-opening; anal fin moderate, free from caudal; dorsal inserted about midway of body, behind the ventrals; flesh rather pale and dry and more or less translucent. This is a large genus, containing 50 or more species, about 20 being found in our waters. In the following key and descriptions are included only those species which have some food value. None of them possesses any interest to the angler. a. Anal rays 19 to 24. b. Silvery lateral band very sharply defined, as broad as eye, not much narrowed anteriorly; A. 20; gillrakers only 2 long as CVC, eee ee ee eee ee ee eee eee eee brownt, 1 13 bb. Silvery lateral band throughout narrower than the eye; A. 23; gillrakers nearly as long as eye;.........-... delicatissima, 113 Was Atal fays-25 (01264 ce sie inane seein tnalen sine anes mitchillt, 114 Striped Anchovy Anchovia brownit (Gmelin) This little fish reaches a length of 4 to 6 inches and is found from Cape Cod to Brazil. It is very abundant southward in the West Indies and on both coasts of Florida. It is the most abundant American species. Head 32; depth 42; eye 34; snout 5; D. 15; A. 20; scales qo. Body rather elongate, compressed, not elevated; belly compressed, serrulate; head rather short, the snout projecting much beyond tip of lower jaw; teeth rather strong; maxillary extending beyond base of mandible, but not quite reaching gill-opening; eye large; cheek triangular; gillrakers long; anal fin with a sheath of scales; dorsal inserted nearer caudal than snout. Colour, olivaceous, translucent, sides silvery; the silvery lateral band very distinct and about as wide as eye. Western Anchovy Anchovia delicatisstma (Girard) This anchovy reaches a length of 3 inches and occurs on the coast of southern California and southward. 113 Little Anchovy It is locally very abundant and is, as its name indicates, a most delicate little food-fish. Head 44; depth 4%; D. 13; A. 23; scales 40. Head short, nearly as deep as long; eye large, much longer than the blunt snout which projects considerably beyond the lower jaw; gillrakers numerous, slender, nearly as long as eye; maxillary reaching past root of mandible; lower lobe of caudal the longer; dorsal inserted midway between base of caudal and front of eye. Colour, very pale olivaceous, translucent, with some dark points, and a silvery lateral band not as wide as eye. Little Anchovy Anchovia mitchilli (Cuvier & Valenciennes) This small fish reaches a length of but 2 to 24 inches and is the smallest species of anchovy on our coast. It is found from Cape Cod to Texas and is generally abundant on sandy _ shores and in river-mouths. It is one of the species entering into the composition of ‘‘ whitebait.” Head 34; depth 4; eye 3; D. 14; A. 25 or 26; scales 37. Body rather short and deep, strongly compressed, the belly com- pressed and slightly serrated; head short, compressed and bluntish; snout very short, not longer than pupil; eye very large; maxil- lary about reaching edge of opercle; teeth in each jaw; cheek broadly triangular, almost equilateral, smaller than eye; opercle short, oblique; gillrakers rather long; dorsal inserted midway between caudal and middle of eye; anal very long; scales thin, caducous. Colour, translucent whitish, the sides silvery with an_ ill-defined narrow silvery band scarcely wider than pupil; fins rather yellowish ; many dark dots on fins and body. Sardina Bocona Anchovia macrolepidota (Kner & Steindachner) This anchovy occurs from the Gulf of California to Panama and is very abundant about Guaymas where it is often cast up dead on the beach in great numbers. It is one of the largest anchovies, reaching a length of 7 or 8 inches. Head 33; depth 3; D. 15; A, 28 to 30; scales 35,-9. Body very short and deep, both dorsal and ventral outlines strongly arched; head 4 longer than deep; snout very short, not longer than pupil and not 114 California Anchovy projecting far beyond lower jaw; maxillary narrow, rounded behind, extending to angle of preopercle; gillrakers fine, long, and very numerous; abdomen slightly compressed; scales adherent; origin of dorsal slightly behind middle of body; ventrals very small; pectorals rather long. Colour, silvery, side with an indistinct bluish band. “a GENUS ENGRAULIS CUVIER This genus contains those spindle-shaped anchovies of the north and south Temperate zones which have the body little compressed, the sides rounded, the vertebra in increased number (44 to 47), the flesh rather dark, and tender and somewhat oily but not translucent, the bones soft, the appearance and the flesh resembling that of the sardines. Only one species within our limits. California Anchovy Engraulis mordax Girard This species reaches a length of 7 inches and occurs on our Pacific Coast from south Alaska to Lower California. It is extremely abundant, swimming in large schools. It is one of the largest of the anchovies and the most valuable food-species. The flesh is rich and oily, comparatively dark, and easily torn, as in the sardines. Head 34; depth 54; D. 14; A. 22; Br. 14; scales 40; vertebree 45. Body spindle-shaped, form resembling that of a sardine, little com- pressed, rounded above, slightly carinated below, but not serrated; head long, anteriorly compressed, the snout pointed and protruding; head nearly twice as long as deep; eye large, very near the tip of the snout; maxillary extending beyond root of mandible; small teeth on jaws; opercle deeper than long, placed obliquely; gillrakers much longer than eye. Colour, bluish above, silvery on side and below, not translucent; no silvery lateral band. The 2 species of Cefengraulis (C. mysticetus and C. edentulus) and the one each of Prerengraulis (P. atherinoides) and Lycengraulis (L. grossidens) are small tropical fishes of little value. II5 THE WHITEFISH, SALMON AND TROUT Family XV. Salmonide Tue characters of the Salmonida are well known and need net be repeated here. As now restricted this is no longer one of the large families of fishes, albeit it is one of the most im- portant, and for beauty, activity, gaminess, quality for food, and size of individuals, different members of the family stand easily with the first among fishes. There are about 10 genera and nearly 100 species. The Sa/lmonidwv are confined to the northern hemisphere, and north of the 4oth parallel they are nearly everywhere abundant wherever suitable waters are found. Some of the species, espe- cially the larger ones, are marine and anadromous, living and grow- ing in the sea, and entering fresh waters only for spawning purposes; still others live in running brooks, entering lakes or the sea as occasion serves, but not habitually doing so; others again are lake fishes, approaching the shore, or entering brooks in the spawning season, at other times retiring to waters of considerable depths. Some of them are active, voracious, and gamy, while others are comparatively defenceless and will not take the hook. The large size of the eggs, their lack of adhesiveness, and the ease With which they may be impregnated, render the members of this family especially adapted to fish-cultural operations. The Salmonide are of comparatively recent evolution, none of them occurring as fossils unless it be in recent deposits. The in- stability of the specific forms and the absence of well-defined spe- cific characters may in part be attributed to their recent origin, as Dr. Gunther has suggested. The family contains 2 well-marked subfamilies, the Coregonine (the whitefishes and lake herrings) and the Sa/monine (the salmons, charrs and trouts). Coregonine : a. Mouth not deeply cleft, the mandible articulating with the quadrate bone under or before the eye; dentition more or less feeble or incomplete; scales moderate or large. Species imperfectly anadromous, or confined to lakes or rivers. 116 The Whitefishes b. Jaws toothless or nearly so; scales large; maxillary short and broad, with a broad supplemental bone. c. Premaxillaries broad, with the cutting edge nearly vertical or directed backward, the lower jaw short and more or less included; cleft of mouth short;.......... .... Coregonus, 117 cc. Premaxillaries with the cutting edge nearly horizontal and directed forward; lower jaw long, projecting beyond the upper; cleft of mouth long;............... Argyrosomus, 130 bb. Jaws, vomer, palatines, and tongue with bands of teeth; maxillary very long; lower jaw prominent; anal fin elongate; Scales; MOdErates ice a teen aka He eeee sins Stenodus, 142 Salnionine : aa. Mouth deeply cleft, the long lower jaw articulating with the quadrate bone behind the eye; dentition strong and com- plete; conical teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines; tongue with 2 series of strong teeth; scales small. d. Anal fin elongate, of 14 to 17 rays;....... Oncorhynchus, 143 dd. Anal fin short, of 9 to 12 developed rays. e. Vomer flat, its toothed surface plane; teeth on shaft of vomer in alternating rows or in one zigzag row, and_ placed directly on the surface of the bone, not on a free crest. Species black-spotted;........-.....-.......1....Salmo, 159 ee. Vomer boat-shaped, the shaft strongly depressed and without teeth; spotted with gray or red. f. Vomer with a raised crest, armed with strong teeth, extend- ing backward from the head of the bone, free from its shaft, hyoid bone with a broad band of strong teeth. Species spotted with gray, without bright colours; Cristivomer, 203 ff. Vomer without a raised crest, only the head being toothed; hyoid bone with very weak teeth or none. Species red- spotted, the lower fins with bright edgings; Salvelinus, 206 GENUS COREGONUS ARTEDI The Whitefishes , Body compressed; head more or less conic, compressed, the snout more or less projecting beyond the lower jaw; mouth small, the maxillary short, not extending beyond the orbit, with a well-developed supplemental bone; teeth extremely minute, if present; scales moderate, thin, cycloid, rather firm; caudal fin i17 The Whitefishes deeply forked; pseudobranchiz large; gillrakers varying from short and thickish to long and slender; air-bladder very large; eggs small. Species about 18, inhabiting clear lakes of northern Asia, Europe and America, in Arctic regions descending to the sea. Most of them spawn in late fall or winter near the shore, at other seasons often frequenting considerable depths. All the species are highly valued for food, the flesh being generally pale and of excellent flavour. The colouration is very uniform; bluish-olivaceous above, silvery on the sides and below. a. Gillrakers short, thickish, about 12 to 16 in number on the lower limb of the arch; maxillary short, broad, not reach- ing the eye, the supplemental bone mostly narrow and sharply elliptical. b. Mouth comparatively large, the maxillary about 4 in head; gillrakers very short and thick, 10 to 16; body oblong, the back not elevated. c. Scales large, 60 to 63 in lateral line;....... .-++-coultert, 119 cc. Scales small, 72 to 90 in lateral line. ad. Supplemental bone of maxillary rather narrow; scales 83 to go. é. Head moderate, blunt, 4} to 5 in body; gillrakers short, Os Tos 1OWel fins; pale onset coh cee ho williamsont, 119 ee. Head very short and blunt, 5% in body; gillrakers short and slender, about 7+14; fins all blackish;........ kennicotti, 121 dd. Supplemental bone of maxillary very broad, semi-circular; SGal@S= 72 TOs SSO sets viet cen iy eases canaatsi need tins richardsont, 121 bb. Mouth small, the maxillary 5 to 54 in head; gillrakers shorter and thicker, about 7+10, about 5 in eye; body elongate, the back not elevated, not much compressed; quadrilateralis, 122 aa. Gillrakers numerous, long and slender, 17 to 20 on the lower limb of the arch; maxillary long, less than 4 in head, the supplemental bone ovate. f. Tongue toothless or nearly so; back elevated; head very low and short, especially in old individuals. g. Back elevated, not greatly compressed; supplemental bone of maxillary nearly twice as long as deep;....c/upeiformus, 123 gg. Back elevated and much compressed; supplemental bone of maxillary more than 2 as deep as long;........ nelsonit, 130 Jf. Tongue with 3 series of small teeth; body elongate, com- PRESS OC seticetas Geer en eraitha onmenntanney ney wivuesatan erase labradoricus, 123 Rocky Mountain Whitefish Coulter’s Whitefish Coregonus coulterit Eigenmann This species is a small fish first discovered in 1892 in the Kicking-Horse River at Field, British Columbia, one of the head- waters of the Columbia River. Up to the present time no other specimens have been obtained. It reaches a length of 8 or 10 inches or less, and would doubtless be a good food-fish but for its small size. Nothing distinctive is known as to its habits or game qualities. Rocky Mountain Whitefish Coregonus williamsoni Girard Two species of whitefish are known from western North America, the species just described and the present one. While Coulter’s whitefish is known from but a single locality, the Rocky Mountain whitefish is of very wide distribution, occurring in all suitable waters from the west slope of the Rockies to the Pacific and from Utah to British Columbia. It prefers the cold, clear lakes, such as those of Idaho, Oregon and Washington, but is also found in many streams. Those living in the lakes remain in comparatively deep water except during the spawning season, which occurs in late fall or early winter, when they run out into the tributary streams, in some places in incredible numbers. This is particularly true at Big Payette Lake and in other Idaho lakes. II9 Rocky Mountain Whitefish This species attains a length of a foot or more, and a weight of about 4 pounds, though the average is considerably less. During the spring and early summer they take the fly freely, as well as the baited hook. Though not as game as the trout of the same region, they are sufficiently so to afford much sport, especially when caught from the swiftly flowing streams. The smallness of the mouth of this fish requires the use of hooks of very small size. When bait is used, very small grasshoppers, salmon eggs and small bits of fresh meat of almost any kind have proved effective. Among the places where excellent sport with this fish may be had, may be mentioned the headwaters of Salmon River and Big Payette Lake in Idaho, streams near Dillon, Montana, lakes Pend d’Oreille and Coeur d’Alene, and Provo River, Utah. As a pan-fish it holds very high rank. Examples 7 to 10 inches taken in 20 to 60 feet of water are usually very fat, and most delicious, and cannot be surpassed in sweetness and deli- cacy of flavour. Among the fishes of the Northwest there is none more richly deserving of preservation than this mountain herring. Though this species is most widely known as the mountain herring, it is also called Williamson’s whitefish, Rocky Mountain herring, Rocky Mountain whitefish, and in some places grayling. Head 44 to 5; depth 4 to 5; eye 44; snout 34 to 4; D. 10 to 12; A. 10 to 12; scales 9 or 10-78 to 88-7 or 8; gillrakers I1 to 15+7 to 10; pectoral 14; ventral 12; maxillary 4; mandible 3; longest dorsal ray 14. Body oblong, but little compressed; head short, conic, the profile abruptly decurved; snout compressed and somewhat pointed at tip, which is entirely below level of eye; preorbital broad, 2 width of eye; maxillary short and very broad, reaching orbit, thus appearing longer than in other species owing to the shortness of the snout; supplemental bone narrow; snout in the males produced and pig-like in the breeding season; adipose fin very large, extending behind the anal; gillrakers short and thick, shorter than the pupil; scales of back and side in breeding season covered with prominent tubercles. Colour, bluish above, silvery on sides, whiter below; breeding males with the under parts white; all the fins tipped with black; caudal and adipose fins steel- blue. The parrmarks persist on the young for a year or more. The whitefish found in the headwaters of the Missouri River has been described as a subspecies (cismontanus) of the preceding, 120 “ANCHLIT‘O9 9 NSIS SAAT “AZISTVYUNLVN “e LNOav ‘(SINOISN39Sav¥ SNT3HdINIdq) VYOW VHEV9 ‘GNIH prreteye] Broad Whitefish; Muksun from which it was supposed to differ in its somewhat more slen- der body, shorter pectoral and ventral, lower dorsal, and smaller scales. The two are probably not distinct. The waters of the Missouri Basin from which whitefish have been reported are the Yellowstone, Madison, Redrock, Beaverhead, Gibbon and Gallatin rivers, Horsethief Springs, and Big Goose Creek, a tributary of Tongue River, Wyoming. Broad Whitefish; Muksun Coregonus kennicott? Milner This species, known also as Kennicott’s whitefish, and the Delta whitefish, was described from Fort Good Hope, British America, in 1883. Since then it has been observed in the Meade, Kuahroo, Kuwuk and Yukon rivers of Alaska, and in Great Bear Lake. These localities indicate its known geographic range. The broad whitefish is one of the largest species of the genus. It reaches a weight of 30 pounds, and as a food-fish is held in high esteem. It is said by Dr. Dall to be abundant in the Yukon in both winter and summer, and that it spawns in September when it enters the small tributary streams. Nothing is known as to its game qualities or other habits. Head 52; depth 42; eye 54; D.11; A. 14; scales 10-87 to go-10. Head small and very blunt; mouth inferior, the high blunt snout but little projecting; premaxillaries wide and vertically placed; maxillary reaching slightly beyond vertical at front of eye; preor- bital narrow, its greatest width only + its length, or 4 diameter of eye; gillrakers 6 or 7+14, short and slender; tongue with a round patch of weak, bristle-like teeth, resembling those of the inconnu; adipose fin large, a wide strip at base covered with small scales. Colour, probably very dark in life; fins all blackish in spirits, with a bluish tinge, Richardson’s Whitefish Coregonus richardsonit Giinther Only the type specimen of this species is known. It was described from some unknown locality in British America. It is very similar to the common whitefish, also to the broad whitefish, with which it may prove identical. Nothing is known regarding its habits or food-value. 121 Menominee Whitefish Menominee Whitefish Coregonus quadrilateralis Richardson This species is known as menominee whitefish (Lakes Supe- rior and Michigan), round whitefish (British America), frostfish (Lake Champlain and Adirondack lakes), shadwaiter (Lake Winnepesaukee), pilotfish (Lake Champlain), chivey (Maine), Chateaugay shad (Chateaugay Lake), and blackback (Lake Michi- gan). The round whitefish is found in the lakes of New England, westward through the Adirondacks and the Great Lakes, thence northward into Alaska, from which it may be seen that this species is the most widely distributed of the American white- fishes. The menominee reaches a length of 12 to 15 inches, and a weight of 2 pounds; the average weight of those taken to market, however, does not exceed one pound. This species, like all others of its genus, spawns in the fall, but nothing distinctive is known of its habits. It is ordinarily found in rather deep water of the lakes, and does not often enter streams. It is not regarded as a game-fish, but as an article of food it ranks with the other smaller whitefishes. Con- siderable quantities are taken each year in Lake Champlain and the small Adirondack lakes, while in Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior still larger quantities are caught, gillnets being the gear usually employed for the purpose. Head 5; depth 4%; eye 53; D. 11; A. 10; scales 9-80 to go-8; maxillary 54; mandible 33; gillrakers about 7+10, 4 to 5 in eye. Body elongate, not elevated nor much compressed, the back rather broad, the form more nearly round than in any other species; mouth very small and narrow, inferior, the broad maxil- lary not reaching to opposite the eye; head long, the snout com- pressed and bluntly pointed, its tip below level of eye; profile not strongly decurved; preorbital wider than pupil; mandible originating under middle of eye; adipose fin small; gillrakers short and stoutish. Colour, dark bluish above, silvery below. 122 Common Whitefish Common Whitefish Coregonus clupetformis (Mitchill) This important and delicious food-fish is known also as hump- back, bowback and highback whitefish (Lake Superior), and Otsego Bass (Lake Otsego, N. Y.). It is the most important and one of the most abundant of all the whitefishes. It is found throughout the Great Lakes region from Lake Champlain to Lake Superior, and possibly to Lake Winnipeg. It has been reported commercially from Lake of the Woods, Lake Winnipeg and Northwest Territory, but all references to its occurrence west of Lake Superior need verification. Ail specimens of so-called whitefish from Lake of the Woods which have been examined by any ichthyologist belong to a different species—the Labrador whitefish (Coregonus labradoricus), and this is doubtless the species which the Canadian Fish Commission re- ‘ports call the ‘‘ whitefish,” when referring to localities west of Lake Superior. The common whitefish lives habitually in the deeper waters of the lakes, coming out into more shallow water at spawning time, which, in the Great Lakes, is from late October into December. While its habits are perhaps better understood than those of any other species of whitefish, there still remain many important facts in its life history which are obscure or little understood. Besides the regular migration from deep water to the spawning grounds in the fall, there appear to be other rather definite movements, as, for example, in Lake Erie, where the species is most abun- dant. During the greater part of the year it seems to be mainly confined to the deeper waters of the eastern part of the lake. From there 2 regular movements occur, one in the spring, the other in the fall, which greatly increase the area of its distribu- tion during a limited period. There is practically no fishing for this species in January, February and March, during which time the whereabouts of the fish is not known. The gillnetters generally begin to set for whitefish early in April, and continue until the end of December following. This deep-water fishing is confined to the eastern part of the lake. The gillnet grounds extend mainly from about 5 miles off shore to the middle of the lake, the depth ranging from about 12 £23 The Common Whitefish to 30 fathoms, and the bottom consisting of clay and mud. There is greater or less movement of the fish within these limits, of which the fishermen have cognizance, and which seems to be influenced by changes in the season and weather. In the early spring the best fishing is said generally to be obtained eastward of Dunkirk, in relatively shallow water, the body of fish working westward and into deeper water as the season advances, and again returning to the deeper water as the winter comes on. It is probable, however, that the early spring distribution in abundance is more widespread than the above would indicate, judging from the extent of territory which the fishermen may then occupy. The extent of the gillnet catch varies greatly with the season, caused partly by the condition of the water and partly by the with- drawal of a portion of the fish, as explained further on. The sea- son opens with a large catch, which continues into May, but then falls away into June, when scarcely any fish can be’ obtained. This circumstance is attributed by the fishermen chiefly to the formation of a slime on the bottom, which also covers the nets and makes it difficult to handle them. These conditions may persist for a week or two in July, when good fishing revives, especially in the deeper waters, in which the best catches of the year are made, during August and September. The remainder of the season affords much poorer return as a whole than the sum- mer, due, undoubtedly, to the spawning run, which takes a large proportion of the fish away from this region. The two seasonal movements above referred to are both shoreward and toward the western end of the lake, and it is during their continuance that the poundnet catch is made. The spring movement occurs mainly during the latter half of April and in May, although a few stragglers may be found in June. It is felt along both shores as far as the Bass Islands and Kingsville, Ontario, but on the south side of the lake it is most pronounced east of Ashtabula. It extends but a short distance onto the western platform, where only small and irregular catches are now obtained about the Bass Islands and Kelleys Island, although for- merly they were more abundant there. The fall movement is much heavier and much more wide- spread than the spring, and is actuated by the breeding instinct, which leads the fish to seek spawning grounds, to a large extent, at a great distance from their normal habitat. It begins on a 124 The Common Whitefish small scale in September, during which month a few individuals are sometimes captured in the poundnets on the platform. — It does not become pronounced, however, until in October and, in- cluding the up and down runs, continues through November and more or less into December, although very few fish are taken during the last mentioned month; that is to say the poundnet catch seems to be obtained chiefly, if not almost en- tirely, from the up run, making it possible that the bulk of the down run keeps farther offshore. The fall run strikes in along both shores the same as the spring, but at the western end of the lake the fish now become widely distributed over the platform, and a large number pass through the Detroit River into Lake St. Clair. There is consider- able difference in the dates of the appearance of the fish at different places, especially on the platform, but this diversity is of only local significance. It is not improbable that during the western movement acertain proportion of the fish also proceed through the deeper waters until they reach the platform, but ‘nothing positive has been learned regarding this matter, as the schools are never followed by the gillnetters as in the case of the herring. After the whitefish reach their spawning grounds on _ the western platform, they give rise to an extensive local gillnet fishery of very limited duration. During their passage up the Detroit River, mainly in the latter part of October and the early part of November, they are caught by means of seines, and in Lake St. Clair a few are taken in the pound nets. It is interesting to note that during the spawning period a large body of fish still remains in the deeper water, where the gillnetters continue to take them, though in smaller quantities than in the summer and in the early fall. The entire distribution of the spawning grounds of the white- fish in Lake Erie is not known. During the spawning season a part of the fish remain in their normal deep-water habitat, but it is not probable that they spawn there. The regular fall move- ment carries a very large body to the western platform, where many well-defined spawning grounds occur. These are chiefly rocky reefs and shoals, characterized in part by the water-worn surfaces of the common limestone of the region, the so-called honeycombed rock. Hard gravelly and sandy bottoms in some 125 The Common Whitefish places are also said to serve the same purpose, but this fact has not been entirely substantiated. The distribution of the grounds on the platform is from the neighborhood of Kelleys Island to near the Michigan shore, on both sides of the boundary line. Some of the best known are two shoals north of Kelleys Island; the reefs and rocky shores about and in the neighborhood of North Bass, Midde Bass, Rattlesnake and Green islands; the reefs about the Hen and Chickens, Niagara Reef, and occasional patches off the mainland shores. The depth ranges mostly from about 4 to 20 feet, but is sometimes greater. It is in these places that the gillnet fishing is carried on during the spawning time, and mainly here and in the Detroit River that the eggs have been obtained for the artificial propagation of the species, The fish taken in the Detroit River are mostly bound for Lake St. Clair, although the river itself is said to contain one or more spawning places. It seems scarcely credible that the great stock of whitefish which has characterized the deeper waters, where the catch has many times exceeded that of all the remainder of the lake com- bined, can have been maintained solely through the agency of that body of fish which reaches the western platform, and it is possible that extensive spawning areas will sometime be dis- covered farther east. One small ground is known to be located between Dunkirk and Westfield, N. Y., and two others are reported off Port Dover and Port Burwell, Ontario. The spawning time varies somewhat in different years, de- pendent on the conditions of the weather and also with respect to the locality. Our information on this subject is mainly limited to the platform, where the dates have been accurately determined in connection with fishcultural operations, as follows: Ripe eggs have been obtained, but only rarely, as early as the latter part of October, the first being taken generally in the early part of November. Spawning may continue into the first week of December, but the last eggs are seldom secured later than Decem- ber 1, generally a few days before that date. The bulk of the eggs have usually been obtained between the 1oth and 25th of November, but sometimes beginning as early as the 5th or 6th and continuing as late as the 28th, which dates may be consid- ered to mark the limitations of the main part of the spawning season. These figures are based on the averages for several years and for the different grounds where eggs are procured for 126 The Common Whitefish the hatcheries. In any one place the bulk of the spawning may be, and generally is, completed in a much shorter space of time, from 5 to 10 days. They begin to fish for the hatcheries on the Detroit River in the latter part of October, but the fish are not then ripe and are penned until the eggs mature. The general run of the whitefish taken in Lake Erie ranges from about 14 to 5 or 6 pounds, but seldom exceeds 4 or 5 pounds. This applies to all parts of the lake, but the average size may differ more or less in different places or in the catch by different kinds of apparatus.. The species, however, attains a weight of 12 pounds and more, and some have been reported weighing as high as 20 pounds, but these extreme sizes are now practically extinct. Individuals weighing 8 or 9 pounds are con- sidered very large for Lake Erie at the present time. It has been impossible to ascertain satisfactorily the average size of the fish in the catch of any one fishery. In several fares landed by the gillnet tugs at Dunkirk in August, 1894, the average by actual weight was found to be between 24 and 3 pounds, only a very small number weighing as low as 14 and 12 pounds, while the largest weighed about 5 pounds. Accord- ing to the statements of the fishermen, the average weight on the platform ranges all the way from 24 to 4 pounds, these figures, which are only estimates, being based in part upon the poundnet and in part upon the gillnet catch. The dealers would prefer to handle no whitefish weighing less than about 14 pounds, and some would place the minimum size suitable for market as high as 2 pounds. From the observations of fish-culturists, the smallest fish from which eggs may be obtained on this lake weigh from 14 to 2 pounds. In that event the genera! catch of whitefish on Lake Erie may be expected not to include immature fish, and the minimum size desired for market would about correspond with their earliest mature size, 14 to 2 pounds. It is questionable, however, especially in the case of a rapidly decreasing product, whether its extensive capture in the first year of maturity should be allowed. It is claimed by some that very large quantities of immature whitefish are caught in certain places, but the evidence in respect to that matter lacks confirmation. According to the testimony, comparatively few whitefish weighing under 14 pounds reach the 127 The Common Whitefish platform, the number being somewhat larger in the spring than in the fall, but at no time great enough to make their capture a question for serious consideration. Nothing is definitely known regarding the general distribution and habits of the young, but they are supposed to remain chiefly in the deep waters of the lake. Many are reported to be taken in the herring gillnets in that region, and also in the poundnets on some parts of both the north and south shore, but the men actually concerned in those fisheries deny that the quantity is ever excessive. The subject is important and should be further investigated. As far as known the habits of the common _ whitefish in other lakes do not differ from those of Lake Erie, and the de- crease in the catch in other waters has been proportionally great. The spawning habits of whitefish confined in pens have been observed. The fish rise to the surface, occasionally in pairs, sometimes, but rarely, in trios of 1 female and 2 males, the female emitting a quantity of spawn at each rise. The males, always the smaller fish, persistently follow the female and dis- charge milt at the same time the eggs are emitted. Whitefish reach maturity in the 3d or 4th year. A _ full- grown individual deposits from 10,000 to 75,000 eggs, depend- ing on the fish’s size. A rule for determining the approximate spawning capacity is to allow about 10,000 eggs for each pound of the fish's weight. The eggs are 4 of an inch in diameter, and 36,000 make a fluid quart. In nature the eggs of the whitefish are subjected to the at- attacks of many enemies for nearly 5 months. The mud-puppy, commonly known as ‘‘lizard” or ‘‘water-dog’’ by the people along the lakes, is especially destructive. During the month of January, 1897, many of these animals were pumped up with the water supply of the Put-in-Bay station. The stomachs of a con- siderable number of them contained whitefish and cisco eggs, the contents of 1 stomach being 288 whitefish eggs and 4 cisco eggs. Another voracious destroyer of whitefish eggs is the common yellow perch (Perca flavescens). The deck of a boat has been covered with the eggs of the whitefish and cisco pressed out of the stomachs of perch taken from gillnets the last of November on the reefs, where they had gone to feed on the eggs. The various smaller Cyprinida@ and some other fishes, craw- 128 The Common Whitefish fish and wild fowl make the eggs of fishes a considerable por- tion of their diet, those which require the longest period in hatching, of course, suffering most. The artificial propagation of whitefish has long since passed the experimental stage and has attained a high degree of perfec- tion. The work can be carried on with great facility, and its value is especially apparent when it is considered that under natural conditions only a very small percentage of the eggs hatch, while through artificial propagation from 75 to 95 per cent are productive. Practically all the eggs taken for hatching purposes are obtained from fish caught by the commercial fishermen, which would otherwise be lost. In the fiscal year 1897-98 the United States Fish Commis- sion hatched and planted 88,488,000 whitefish fry, and in 1898- 99 152,755,000 fry were hatched and liberated in suitable waters. The whitefishes are by far the most important group of fresh-water fishes of North America, and probably of the world. The common whitefish is the best of the tribe, but some of the others nearly equal it in merit, and all are more or less esteemed as food. Among the fishes of the Great Lakes the common whitefish ranks next in value to the lake herring, lake trout, and wall-eyed pike. In 1897 the catch in the United States amounted to about 8,000,000 pounds, having a value of nearly $300,000. If to this is added the yield of lake herring and other species of whitefish. the aggregate is over 57,000,000 pounds, having a value of nearly $800,000. The market value of the whitefishes taken in 1898 in the British Provinces was reported as $877,000, a sum representing about 18,400,000 pounds. The common whitefish reaches a larger size than any other species of whitefish in the United States. Examples weighing over 20 pounds have been taken, but the average weight is under 4 pounds. Whitefish fishing is done chiefly with gillnets set at or near the bottom in comparatively deep water, although considerable quantities are also taken in pound-nets, trap-nets, and seines. A very large part of the catch reaches the market in a fresh con- dition, although formerly considerable quantities were salted. The leading centres of the trade are Chicago, Detroit, Sandusky, Cleveland, Erie, and Buffalo, whence the fish are shipped frozen or in ice to all parts of the country. 129 The Humpback Whitefish Head 5; depth 3; eye 4 to 5; D. 11; A. 11; scales 8-74; vertebree 59; gillrakers usually 1o+17 to 19; maxillary 4. Body oblong, compressed, always more or less elevated, becoming notably so in the adult; head small and short, the snout blunt- ish and obliquely truncated, the tip on the level or lower edge of pupil; width of preorbital less than half that of pupil; maxil- lary reaching past front of orbit; gillrakers moderate, about 2 in eye. Colour, olivaceous above, the sides white, but not silvery; lower fins sometimes dusky. Humpback Whitefish Coregonus nelsonit Bean This whitefish occurs in Alaska from Bristol Bay northward, where it is said to be not uncommon. According to Dr. Bean, Nelson’s whitefish has long been known from Alaska, but it has been confounded with a Siberian species, C. svrok, from which it is really very different. The Russian name is Korabati, while the Tenneh tribes of the Yukon call it Kolokuh. Dr. Dall speaks of it as a common species, and says it is rather bony, inferior in flavour, and that it is generally used for dog-food except in times of scarcity. Head 5; depth 4; maxillary 4; D. 12; A. 12; scales 10-88-8; gillrakers 20 in number, their length 2 in eye. Allied to C. clu- performs, but distinguished by its arched and compressed back. Colour, plain whitish. GENUS ARGYROSOMUS AGASSIZ The Lake Herrings or Ciscoes This genus is very close to Coregonus, from which it differs in the larger mouth, and more produced jaws, the premaxillaries being placed nearly horizontally, and the lower jaw projecting decidedly beyond them. The gillrakers are very long and slender. with about 30 on the lower limb of the first arch; vertebrz 55, These characters are associated with greater voracity, and, in general, greater activity of the species. The species of Argyrosomus are numerous in northern parts of 130 Smelt of the New York Lakes Asia, Europe, and America, and all are valued as food, though not held in as high esteem as the species of true whitefishes. a. Body long, herring-shaped; scales small, uniform, the free edges convex. b. Lower fins pale or merely tipped with dusky; scales punctate with dark points. c. Eye large, not much, if any, shorter than the snout in adult; its length 34 to 44 in head. d. Head long, 4 in body; body slender, its depth 5 to 6 in length; distance from occiput to snout 24 in distance from occiput to dorsal; teeth on tongue; maxillary 3 in head;.osmeriformis, 131 dd. Head long, 44 in length; distance from occiput to snout nearly half its distance from front of dorsal fin. e. Maxillary 34 to 34 in head; gillrakers long and numerous, about HOPE 3O se eis ee kecenoy Neat eset be anthem aaahnt Savane se reiny eto artedt, 132 ee. Maxillary longer, 22 to 3 in head; gillrakers fewer, about 14+25; hoyt, 136 ddd. Head shorter, about 5 in length; distance from occiput to snout about % distance to front of dorsal fin;.......... pusillus, 137 cc. Eye small, shorter than snout, about 5 in head. f. Head short, about 5 in length. g. Body rather slender, the depth equal to length of head; distance from occiput to snout 24 to 22 in its distance from dorsal; base Ol COtSal SHORE xeeeate tte Co ialer tay yawn to mindl lucidus, 137 gg. Body deep, the depth in adult greater than length of head; dis- tance from occiput to snout 24 to 2} in its distance from dorsal; base of dorsal longer;...+ 5.0: .se. sees sete eect laurette, 137 ff. Head long, 4 to 44 in length;.................. prognathus, 138 bb. Lower fins all blue-black;.................... nigripinnis, 139 aa. Body short, deep, compressed, the curve of back similar to that of belly; scales large, larger forward and closely imbricated, the free margins scarcely conveX......-- +--+ e+e sees tullibee, 140 Smelt of the New York Lakes Argyrosomus osmeriformis (H. M. Smith) This small fish has been recorded only from Seneca and Skanea- teles lakes, New York, where it is known as smelt. It doubtless inhabits others of the deep-water lakes of northern New York. Nothing is known of its habits; and its small size, 10 inches or less, renders it of little value as food. Head 4; depth 5 to 6; eye 4; D.9; A. 13; scales 9-83-10; maxil- lary 3; mandible 2; gillrakers 20+ 35, very long and slender, as long as eye. Body very slender, back not elevated; head rather large, its 131 Lake Herring width equal to half its length; eye large, equal to snout; dorsal fin high, its height equal to + depth of body, and 13 times length of base of fin, its origin nearer base of caudal than snout, its free margin nearly straight and vertical; longest anal ray $ length of base of fin; ventral long, equal to height of dorsal, its length equal to } of distance from ventral origin to vent; ventral origin midway between base of caudal and pupil; adipose fin long and slender, of uniform width which is 4+ its length; mouth large, lower jaw projecting; teeth on tongue. Colour, grayish silvery above, sides bright silvery, white below; tips of dorsal and caudal dark. Lake Herring Argyrosomus artedt (Le Sueur) This important food-fish, named by Le Sueur in honour of Petrus Artedi, the ‘‘Father of Ichthyology,” the friend and associ- ate of Linnzus, and perhaps the ablest systematic zoologist of the 18th century, is found throughout the region of the Great Lakes, from Lake Memphremagog on the east to Lake Superior on the west, and northward into the Hudson Bay drainage, and to Labrador. Throughout its range it is the most abundant member of the family. It is taken in enormous quantities each year, and in most of the lakes is the object of a special fishery. The quan- tity taken each year in the Great Lakes is greater than that of all other whitefishes combined, but in value of catch and in food value it does not equal the common whitefish. The species is most abundant in Lake Erie, while Lake Michigan ranks second in importance. The lake herring has a large number of vernacular names. The most widely used are lake herring, or merely herring, and cisco, either of which is, in most places, distinctive. In Lake Ontario it is usually called cisco. The etymology of the word is in dispute. One assigned derivation is from a fish peddler named Cisco, who, about 1830, took the fish through the northern part of New York State and sold it to the farmers as ““Cisco’s herring.” ‘‘Sisco’’ is merely a recent variation in the orthography. Other names for this fish in Lake Ontario are herring, blueback, greenback, blueback or greenback herring, and grayback or grayback herring. These different names are simply 1 3:2 Lake Herring the fisherman's way of distinguishing individual variations in colour, sex, age or time of run. Usually the fishermen claim that the graybacks run in the spring, and that the spring or early sum- mer is their spawning time. The greenbacks and bluebacks run in the late fall, and are regarded, very naturally, as a better fish than the graybacks. In Lakes Erie, St. Clair, Huron and Superior, as well as throughout Canada, this species is known as_ herring or lake herring. In Lake Michigan the names Michigan blueback and shore herring are sometimes heard. Unfortunately the name herring is also applied sometimes to other species. The lake herring has the same general habits as the white- fish, but seems to be more widely disseminated during most parts of the year. During the summer and winter it is mainly restricted in Lake Erie to the deeper waters in the middle of the lake, in its eastern half, and along the northern shore east of Rondeau. From the deep-water region there are two. great migrations into the shoaler and more changeable portions of the lake. In the spring, when the shoal waters become warmer, the fish emerge from their winter habitat and move shoreward and upon the edge of the platform, evidently in search of food. The volume of this migration is less than that of the fall run, and is more fluctuating and irregular. Their presence is generally first noticed in early April, and occasionally large lifts are made in the latter part of that month, though the best fishery is in May. Some are caught in June, but by the first of that month the bulk has left the United States coast for deeper water, although on the Canadian shore east of Pointe Pelee they remain through- out the summer. During the summer months the gillnet tugs from Cleveland and eastern ports find them in deep water well out in the lake, the best season off Erie, the principal fishing centre, being from July to September. The fall migration corres- ponds in a general way with that of the spring, though the incentive is different. Then large bodies of herring seek spawning beds on the platform, over which they become widely distribu- ted. The distribution of their spawning grounds on the platform is less restricted than those of the whitefish, and the herring are not confined to the reefs and rocky bottoms when discharging their eggs. There are doubtless important spawning grounds east of the platform, though their exact location has not been determined. The Cisco of Lake Tippecanoe The spawning of the lake herring takes place in the fall, chiefly in November. The average weight probably does not exceed a pound, and the maximum weight 2 pounds. It is usually caught in gillnets and pound-nets. Head 4 to 5; depth 4 to 42; eye 4 to 5; snout 4 to 5; D. 9 to 11; A. 10 to 13; scales 8 to 10-62 to 87-7 or 8; maxillary 3 to 32; mandible 2 to 24; gillrakers 45 to 58; vertebre 57. Body long, slender and somewhat compressed; dorsal and ventral out- lines but little arched; head pointed; mouth large, jaws subequal, or the lower somewhat projecting; maxillary long, usually reach- ing to vertical of pupil, its length 2} times its width; supplemental bone broad, about half length of maxillary; mandible long, but not usually reaching vertical of posterior edge of orbit; middle of upper jaw on level with lower edge of orbit; caudal peduncle slender but not much compressed, its least depth equal to distance from tip of snout to middle of eye; dorsal fin small, its base about 2 in head, its longest ray 12 in head; pectoral 12 in head. Colour in life, back dull bluish-green, this colour extending down on sides nearly to lateral line; lower part of sides silvery; under parts white or silvery; dorsal fin usually blackish or bluish-black on distal third, sometimes plain, the membrane often punctate with dark; caudal bluish-black at tip; anal and ventrals pure white; pectorals white, edged with dark above. Sometimes the anal has a few black specks at base and on anterior part, and the snout is often more or less dark. The amount of individual variation in this species is very great. The Cisco of Lake Tippecanoe Argyrosomus sisco Jordan In certain small deep-water lakes in northern Indiana and Wisconsin is a small lake herring described originally from Lake Tippecanoe, Indiana, from which fact it has received its verna- cular name. It has been reported also from Crooked, Shriner and Cedar lakes in northeastern Indiana, and from Geneva, La Belle, and Oconomowoc lakes in Wisconsin. To the angler the cisco of Lake Tippecanoe is by far the most interesting of all the American whitefishes, although, like the mountain herring, the fact that it will rise to the fly or that it can be taken on the hook at all, is not generally known. But its 134 The Alaska Herring praises have been sung by William C. Harris, the veteran editor of The American Angler, and that is praise from Sir Hubert himself. In Geneva Lake, Wisconsin, this fish is an abundant species, and is regarded by local anglers and others who have had ex- perience with it as one of the most attractive and interesting fishes to be taken with rod and line; and the fact that it can be taken only for a few days each year adds zest to sport already fascinat- ing. Only during the last days of May or the early ones of June, when the Mayfly is on the wing, is the cisco seen. Then the anglers go in boats out on the lake where the water is 50 to 100 feet deep and where experience has shown the cisco may be found. Until casting begins not a fish can be seen, nor the slightest ripple upon the water; but no sooner have a few impaled ephemeras dropped upon the surface than the ciscoes begin to appear. They can be seen coming up from the depths, ‘‘ their pearly sides burnished by the gleam and glint of the afternoon sun.” In a moment the water all about the many boats is a- ripple with eager fish, every hook has been taken, and the happy anglers are busy removing the catch and dropping it into their boats. The Mayfly is the lure in almost exclusive use, though Mr. Harris succeeded in taking a few fish with an artificial fly. The great tenderness of the mouth of the cisco does not permit the angler to play his fish except at the almost certain risk of losing it. So far as we have been able to learn this species has not attracted the attention of anglers elsewhere. In the small Indiana lakes in which it is found it comes into the inlets or other shallow water for spawning purposes usually between the middle of November and Christmas. The cisco reaches a length of 14 inches and is regarded as a delicious food-fish. This fish does not differ greatly from the lake herring. The head seems to be longer, the eye smaller and the mandible and the maxillary a trifle shorter. The fish is rather smaller than the lake herring. The colour is not especially different. Alaska Herring Argyrosomus alascanus Scofield This herring is known only from 3 specimens, 1 from salt water at Point Hope, Alaska, and 2 others from freshwater at Grantley Harbour, near Bering Straits. 135 The Mooneye Cisco The species reaches a foot in length. It seems most closely related to the lake herring, from which it differs chiefly in the fewer gillrakers. Nothing is known regarding its abundance, distribution, or habits. Mooneye Cisco Argyrosomus hoyt Gill This fish, which is thus far known only from Lake Michi- gan and, possibly from Lake Superior, does not appear to be an abundant species. Until 1894 only 2 specimens were known, but in that year the investigations of the United States Fish Commission showed it to be one of the principal fishes taken in the deep-water gillnet fishery in the western part of Lake Michigan. Very little is known as to its habits. It seems to be a deep- water species and it is not known to come into shallow water. Examples taken between November 5th and 20th were all ripe or nearly so, indicating that to be their spawning time, and _ its spawning beds are probably in deeper water than those of other species. Among other names by which this species is known are mooneye, cisco, kieye, chub, and Hoy’s whitefish. It reaches a length of 12 or 13 inches and is one of the smallest and hand- somest of our whitefishes. From A. prognathus, which it resembles, Hoy’s whitefish may be distinguished by the larger eye, the shorter maxillary and the darker colour. Head 43; depth 43; eye 4% to 4%; snout 32 to 33; maxillary 23 to 3, reaching vertical of middle of pupil; mandible 21; D. 10; A. If or 12; scales 8 or 9-73 to 80-7; gillrakers 14+25 or 26, slender, about 2 in eye; vertebre 56; B. 8 or 9. Body rather slender, compressed, the back somewhat elevated; mouth large, subterminal, the lower jaw shorter than the upper even when the mouth is open; tip of muzzle rather bluntly truncate, some- what as in a true Coregonus: head rather long, slender, and pointed; suborbital and preorbital long and narrow; distance from tip of snout to occiput 2 to 22 in distance from occiput to origin of dorsal fin; fins low; free margin of dorsal very oblique, the length of anterior ray 12 in head, that of last ray less than 136 The Leart Whitefish half that of first; longest anal ray 22 in head, and more than twice as long as the last; pseudobranchie very large; tongue with traces of teeth. Colour, light iridescent blue on_ back, with a few fine dark punctulations reaching about 2 scales below lateral line; sides and under parts rich silvery, brighter than in any other of our Coregoninew, much as in Hiodon and Albula, top of head light olivaceous; cheeks silvery; dorsal, caudal and pec- torals with some dark on their margins; anal and ventrals white, with some dark dustings; the male perhaps a little richer, more iridescent blue on back, and with the scales a little thicker and less closely imbricated. Leart Whitefish Argyrosomus pustllus (Bean) This is perhaps the smallest of American whitefishes, rarely reaching a foot in length and 4 pound in weight. It has the reputation of being more bony than any other species. Its habitat includes practically all of Alaska except the south-eastern portion. It is little used as food except for dogs. Nothing is known as to its habits. Great Bear Lake Herring Argyrosomus luctdus (Richardson) The herring of Great Bear Lake is little known. The only specimens we have seen are 2 obtained in 1894 by Miss Elizabeth Taylor and donated to Stanford University. These are each 16 inches long and are the only specimens received by any museum since Richardson’s time, more than half a centurv earlier. Lauretta Whitefish Argyrosomus laurett@ (Bean) This species is known only from the Yukon River northward to Point Barrow where it is said to be not uncommon. Nothing is known regarding its habits. It is close to A. /uctdus, but seems to have a longer dorsal fin. The Bloater Whitefish Bloater Whitefish Argyrosomus prognathus (H. M. Smith) The bloater is known also as bloat, longjaw, silver whitefish, and, sometimes, cisco or ciscoette. It is known from all the Great Lakes except Lake Erie from which as yet no specimens have been reported. It is probably most abundant in Lakes Ontario and Michigan, where it has good rank as a food-fish. The flesh is firm and of good flavour. By many people it is scarcely less highly esteemed than the common whitefish. It is highly prized in Lake Ontario where it often brings the same price as C. clupeiformis; elsewhere it usually sells for a few cents a pound less. When properly cared for on being caught, this fish is delicious, says Mr. Charles H. Strowger. “When salted it keeps well, and does not lose its freshness when cooked. A great deal of prejudice against the longjaw is enter- tained because of the soft and damaged condition in which the fish is usually sold to consumers. It is a fish that ought to be iced as soon as it is taken from the water and kept cold until used, as it easily softens, and on cooking becomes too greasy for ordinary human palates to enjoy. When fresh caught it is equal, in my judgment, to any fish for delicacy of flavour. It is a splendid fish for baking when of full size, but small- sized fish are always of less value and should not be caught.” The longjaw reaches a length of 8 to 16 inches and a weight ofa pound or less. Very little is definitely known regarding the habits of this species. It seems to be an inhabitant of the deeper parts of the lakes and is not often seen in shallow water. In Lake Ontario it is taken only in depths of 200 to 400 feet. There is much difference of opinion among fishermen as to the spawning time of this fish. Fish with mature roe have been reported as early as May 17, and we have seen ripe fish in late June and July in Lake Ontario. Ripe fish have been reported in July also from Lake Huron. The indications are that the bloater has a prolonged spawning period and that it is somewhat earlier than that of the common white- fish. Scarcely anything is known as to the location of the spawning 138 - The Blackfin Whitefish beds, except that they are probably in relatively deeper parts of the lake. Head 44; depth 34 to 4; eye 5; maxillary 23; mandible 13 to 14; D. 9 or 10; A. 10 to 12; scales 9-75-8; vertebrz 55; gill- rakers about 15-+-28. Body oblong, much compressed, back elevated, the body tapering rather sharply toward the narrow caudal peduncle, the adult having a slight hump as in C. clupetformis ; mouth large and strong; snout straight, its tip on a level with lower edge of pupil; maxillary long, reaching opposite pupil, its length 33 times its greatest width; mandible very long, projecting beyond upper jaw when the mouth is closed, reaching to or beyond posterior edge of the eye; head rather short, deep and pointed; cranial ridges prominent; dorsal rather high, the longest ray 4 longer than base of fin; origin of dorsal nearer tip of snout than base of caudal. Colour, sides uniformly bright silvery, with pronounced bluish reflections in life; back dusky; under parts pure white without silvery; above lateral line the upper and lower edges of the scales finely punctulate with dark, the central part unmarked, producing light longitudinal stripes extending whole length of body; fins flesh-colour or pinkish in life, the dorsal and caudal usually showing dusky edges; postorbital area with bright golden reflection; iris golden, pupil black. Blackfin Whitefish Argyrosomus nigripinnis Gill The blackfin whitefish is known certainly only from Lake Michigan and Miltona Lake, Minnesota, though it has been re- ported from other small deepwater lakes of Minnesota and Wis- consin. It has also been reported from Lake Superior, but all 139 The Tullibee the specimens of so-called blackfin or bluefin that we have seen from that lake are the longjaw. The blackfin is probably the most abundant fish of commercial importance in the deeper waters of Lake Michigan. It occurs in schools, like other members of the group, and is associated with the lake trout and other deep- water species. The spawning season is the same as that of the common whitefish—in November to December. Then the fish come out upon rocky bottom where the eggs are deposited. A favourite resort for blackfin is said to be the Mudhole, a large depression 20 miles east of Sheboygan, in which the depth is about go feet. The principal method by which the blackfin is taken is in the gillnets. It is regarded as a good food-fish. It reaches a length of 18 inches, and a weight of one to 2 pounds. Head 4; depth 4; eye 44; D. 12; A. 12; scales 9 or 10-73 to 77-7 or 8; vertebre 57; gillrakers about 18+30, rather long and slender, 14 in eye or 2 in maxillary. Body stout, fusiform and compressed; head and mouth large; lower jaw slightly pro- jecting; the maxillary 4 greater than eye and reaching vertical of front of pupil; distance from tip of snout to occiput about 34 in distance from snout to origin of dorsal fin; back not arched, profile from occiput to origin of dorsal tin very gently curved; eye rather large, longer than snout; teeth very feeble but appre- ciable on the maxillaries and tongue. Colour, dark bluish above, sides silvery, with dark punctulations; fins all blue-black. This species attains a larger size than any of the other ciscoes, and has a larger mouth than any other except the bloater. It may be readily known by its black fins. Tullibee Argyrosmus tullibce (Richardson) This species was first described from Pine Island Lake, Cum- berland House, British Columbia. It is now known from Lakes Onondaga (New York), Erie, Superior and Michigan; also from Lake of the Woods, Lake Winnipeg, Albany River, Qu’ Appelle River, and other waters northward. It has not been reported from Lake Ontario or Lake Huron. The tullibee attains a length of 18 or 20 inches, and a weight of 34 pounds. It ranks high as a food-fish, but its commerciai importance is as yet limited. The Tullibee In the Great Lakes it is not at all common, but in Lake of the Woods it is quite abundant, and considerable quantities are shipped to Sandusky. In the provinces of Assiniboia and Mani- toba the fish is taken in large numbers for local consumption, in gillnets and in traps made of brush and stones. Writing of the tullibee in the lakes of the western territories of Canada, Mr. F. C. Gilchrist, of Fort Qu’ Appelle, says: ‘“In September they will again be found gradually nearing the shoal water, feeding heavily, and plump with fat and the now swelling ovaries. Later on they appear to eat little or nothing, and devote all their time to playing until about the 25th of October, when they have settled down to the business of propagation, which they have finished by November 10. They prefer shallow water close to the shore with clean sand _ to spawn on, and during the day they may be seen in pairs and small schools, poking along the shores, but at night they come in thousands and keep up a constant loud splashing and flutter- ing, very strange and weird on a calm night. Two years ago | carefully counted the cva from a ripe fish 2} pounds in weight, and found there were 23,700, closely resembling whitefish eggs in appearance, but somewhat smaller. After spawning the fish are very thin, lank, dull in colour, and quite unfit for human food.” Mr. James Annin, Jr., in speaking of the tullibee of Lake Onondaga, says they generally commence running up on to the shoals about November 15, and the season extends _ into December. They come up to the banks or gravelly shoals and spawn in from 3 to 6 and 7 feet of water. They have never been caught with hook in this lake, and an old fisherman told me that he had tried almost every kind of bait, and had used the very finest gut and the smallest hooks baited with Gammarus (freshwater shrimps) and other kinds of natural food—that is he supposed the food was natural to them. At the same time he claims he could see them in large schools lying in the water 8 or 10 feet from the surface. Head 4 to 44; depth 3 to 32; eye 4 to 5; snout about 5; D. 10 to 12; A. 11 or 12; scales 9-68 to 71-8; gillrakers 16 to 18+30 to 34, 1 to 14 in eye; maxillary 34; mandible 2 to 2}. Body short and deep, compressed, the dorsal and ventral outlines similarly curved: head small, conic, and compressed; mouth large, lower jaw project- 41 Bissell’s Whitefish ing; middle of upper lip on a level with middle of pupil; maxillary long, moderately broad, reaching anterior edge of pupil, the width about 3 in its length; supplemental maxillary bone well developed, nearly half length of maxillary, its width 2} in its length; mandible long, reaching posterior edge of pupil; distance from tip of snout to occiput half that from occiput to origin of dorsal fin, which is midway between tip of snout and base of caudal fin; caudal peduncle short, compressed and deep, its least depth about 24 in head; fins all rather large; height of dorsal 14 in head, its base 12 in its longest ray; anal base very oblique, equal to longest ray, which is about equal to base of dorsal fin; pectorals and ventrals long, almost equal to longest dorsal ray; scales firm, considerably enlarged anteriorly; free margins of the scales less convex than in other species, often emarginate, especially on anterior part of body; lateral line straight and in a line with upper rim of orbit; tongue with a patch of fine teeth near the tip; gillrakers numerous, long and slender. Colour, iridescent bluish above, sides and under parts silvery; older individuals darker above, and with more golden reflections on sides; fins all more or less evidently black-tipped; upper edge of pectoral margined with black. From all other whitefishes the tullibee is easily distinguished by the short, deep body and the closely imbricated scales whose margins are scarcely convex or even emarginate. Bissell’s Whitefish Argyrosomus brssellt (Bollman) In Rawson and Howard lakes, Michigan, and perhaps in other small lakes of that state, is found a whitefish closely related to the tullibee and possibly intergrading with it; the maxillary seems, however, to be somewhat longer, the scales are smaller, the lower jaw longer, and the supraorbital bone elongate pear-shaped. Nothing has been recorded as to the habits, size or abundance of this fish. Inconnu Stenodus mackensit (Richardson) The inconnu is a_ large, coarse salmonid inhabiting the larger streams of Alaska and northwestern British America. It is known from the Yukon and Mackenzie rivers, and the tribu- taries of the latter below the cascades; locally abundant and reaching a large size, usually 5 to 15 pounds, but sometimes 30 142 The Pacific Salmon to 40 pounds. Its large size and comparative abundance render the inconnu of considerable commercial importance, especially in the Yukon since the great development of the gold-fields of that region. Little or nothing is known of the habits of this species. Head 42; eye 6; D. 12; A. 14; scales 100; gillrakers 7-+17. Eye less than snout, nearly equalling the narrow interorbital; maxillary reaching the vertical of posterior edge of pupil, its length very slightly more than 4 head; supplemental bone long and narrow, nearly as wide as the maxillary, the anterior end notched, the angle above the notch sharply pointed, the lower angle bluntly rounded; the gillraker in the angle very stiff and bony. GENUS ONCORHYNCHUS SUCKLEY The Pacific Salmon Body rather long, subfusiform, and compressed; mouth wide, the maxillary long, lanceolate, usually extending beyond the eye; jaws with moderate teeth, which become in the adult male enormously enlarged in front during the spawning season; vomer long and narrow, flat, with a series of teeth both on the head and the shaft, the latter series comparatively short and weak; palatines with a series of teeth; tongue with a marginal series on each side; teeth on vomer and tongue often lost with age; no teeth on hyoid bone; anal fin comparatively long, of 14 to 20 rays; pyloric coeca very numerous; gillrakers numerous; ova large and comparatively few. Sexual peculiarities very strongly devel- oped, the snout in the adult males greatly distorted during the breeding season, the premaxillaries prolonged, hooking over the lower jaw, which in turn is greatly elongate and somewhat hooked at the tip; the body becomes deep and compressed, a fleshy hump is developed before the dorsal fin, and the scales become em- bedded in the flesh, and the flesh, which is red and rich in the spring, becomes dry and poor. The American species of this genus, 5 in number, are mostly salmon of large size, ascending the rivers tributary to the North Pacific in America and Asia. The genus is very close to Sa/ino, differing chiefly in the increased number of anal rays. 143 The Pacific Salmon Concerning the habits and distribution of the salmon we quote (with such modifications as later observations necessitate) the fol- lowing, based upon investigations made by Jordan, Evermann, and Gilbert. Of the species of Oucorhvichus, the blueback (O. nerka) pre- dominates in’ Fraser River and in the Yukon’ River, the silver salmon (O. kisutch) in Puget Sound, the quinnat (O. fschawytscha ) in the Columbia and the Sacramento, and the dog salmon in most of the streams along the coast. All the species have been seen by us in the Columbia and Fraser River; all but the blueback in the Sacramento, and all in waters tributary to Puget Sound. Only the quinnat or king salmon has been noticed south of San Francisco. Its range has been traced as far as Ventura River. Of these species, the king salmon and blueback salmon_ habit- ually ‘‘run” in the spring, the others in the fall. The usual order of running in the rivers is as follows: werka, tschawytscha, kisutch, gorbuscha, heta. According to early authors, the /scha- wytscha precedes nerka in Kamchatka. The economic value of the spring-running salmon is far greater than that of the other species, because they can be cap- tured in numbers when at their best, while the others are usu- ally taken only after deterioration. To this fact the worthlessness of Oncorhyuchus heta, as compared with the other species, is prob- ably chiefly due. The habits of the salmon in the ocean are not easily studied. King salmon and silver salmon of all sizes are taken with the seine at almost any season in Puget Sound. This would indi- cate that these species do not go far from the shore. The king salmon takes the hook freely in Monterey Bay, both near the shore and at a distance of 6 to 8 miles out. We have reason to believe that these 2 species do not necessarily seek great depths, but probably remain not very far from the mouth of the rivers in which they were spawned. The blueback and the dog salmon probably seek deeper water, as the former is seldom taken with the seine in the ocean, and the latter is known to enter the Straits of Fuca at the spawning season, therefore com- ing in from the open sea. The run of the king salmon and the blueback begins generally at the last of March; it lasts, with various modifications and interruptions, until the actual spawning season, August to November, the time of running and the propor- 144 The Pacific Salmon tionate amount in each of the subordinate runs varying with each different river. By the last of July only straggling blue- backs can be found in the lower course of any stream; but both in the Columbia and in the Sacramento the quinnat runs in considerable numbers, at least till October. In the Sacra- mento the run is greatest in the fall, and more run in the summer than in spring. The spring salmon ascend only those rivers which are fed by the melting snows from the mountains, and which have sufficient volume to send their waters well out to sea. Those salmon which run in the spring are chiefly adults (supposed to be at least 3 years old). Their milt and spawn are no more developed than at the same time in others of the same species which are not to enter the rivers until fall. It would appear that the contact with cold fresh water, when in the ocean, in some way causes them to run toward it, and to run before there is any special influence to that end exerted by the development of the organs of generation. High water on any of these rivers in the spring is always followed by an increased run of salmon. The salmon canners think, and this is probably true, that salmon which would not have run till later are brought up by the contact with the cold water. The cause of this effect of cold fresh water is not understood. We may call it an in- stinct of the salmon, which is another way of expressing our ignorance. In general, it seems to be true that in those rivers and during those years when the spring run is greatest, the fall run is least to be depended upon. It varies for each of the different rivers, and for different parts of the same river. It doubtless extends from July to December. The manner of spawn- ing is probably similar for all the species, but we have no data for any except the quinnat and the redfish. In these species the fishes pair off; the male, with tail and snout, excavates a broad, shallow ‘‘nest” in the gravelly bed of the stream, in rapid water, at a depth of 1 to 4 feet; the female deposits her eggs in it, and after the exclusion of the milt, they cover them with stones and gravel. They then float down the stream tail foremost. As already stated, a great majority of them die. In the head waters of the large streams, unquestionably all die; and we now believe a// die after once spawning, regardless of where the spawning beds may be. The young hatch in 120 to 180 days. The salmon of all kinds, in the spring are silvery, spotted or 145 The Pacific Salmon not, according to the species, and with the mouth about equally symmetrical in both sexes. As the spawning season approaches the female loses her silvery colour, becomes more slimy, the scales on the back partly sink into the skin, and the flesh changes from salmon-red and becomes variously paler from the loss of oil, the degree of paleness varying much with individuals and with inhabitants of different rivers. In the Sacramento the flesh of the quinnat, in either spring or fall, is rarely pale. In the Columbia a few with pale flesh are sometimes taken in spring, and a good many in the fall. In Fraser River the fall run of the quinnat is nearly worthless for canning purposes, because so many are ‘‘white-meated.” In the spring very few are ‘‘ white- meated,” but the number increases toward fall, when there is every variation, some having red streaks running through them, others being red toward the head and pale toward the_ tail. The red and pale ones can not be distinguished externally, and the colour is dependent upon neither age nor sex. There is said to be no difference in the taste, but there is no market for canned salmon not of the conventional orange colour. As the season advances, the difference between the males and females becomes more and more marked, and keeps pace with the development of the milt, as is shown by dissection. The males have (1) the premaxillaries and the tip of the lower jaw more and more prolonged, both of the jaws becoming, finally, strongly and often extravagantly hooked, so that either they shut by the side of each other like shears, or else the mouth can not be closed. (2) The front teeth become very long and canine- like, their growth proceeding very rapidly, until they are often 4 inch long. (3) The teeth on the vomer and tongue often disappear. (4) The body grows more compressed and deeper at the shoulders, so that a very distinct hump is formed; this is more developed in Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, but is found in all. (5) The scales disappear, especially on the back, by the growth of spongy skin. (6) The colour changes from silvery to various shades of black and red, or blotchy, according to the species. The blueback turns rosy or brick-red, the dog salmon a dull blotchy red, and the quinnat generally blackish. The distorted males are com- monly considered worthless, rejected by the canners and salmon salters, but preserved by the Indians. These changes are due solely to influences connected with the growth of the reproduc- 146 The Pacific Salmon tive organs. They are not in any way due to the action of fresh water. They take place at about the same time in the adult males of all species, whether in the ocean or in the rivers. At the time of the spring runs all are symmetrical. In the fall all males, of whatever species, are more or less distorted. Among the dog salmon, which run only in the fall, the males are hook-jawed and red-blotched when they first enter the Straits of Fuca from the outside. The humpback, taken in salt water about Seattle, have the same peculiarities. The male is slab- sided, hook-billed, and destorted, and is rejected by the canners. On first entering a stream the salmon swim about as if playing. They always head toward the current, and this appear- ance of playing may be simply due to facing the moving tide. Afterward they enter the deepest parts of the stream and swim straight up, with few interruptions. Their rate of travel at Sac- ramento is estimated by Stone at about 2 miles per day; on the Columbia at about 3 miles per day. Those who enter the Columbia in the spring and ascend to the mountain rivers of Idaho must go at a more rapid rate than this, as they must make an average of nearly 4 miles per day. As already stated, the economic value of any species depends in great part on its being a ‘‘spring salmon.” It is not generally possible to capture salmon of any species in large numbers until they have entered the rivers, and the spring salmon enter the rivers long before the growth of the organs of reproduction has reduced the richness of the flesh. The fall salmon can not be taken in quantity until their flesh has deteriorated; hence, the dog salmon is practically almost worthless, except to the Indians, and the hump- back salmon is little better. The silver salmon with the same breeding habits as the dog salmon, is more valuable, as it is found in the inland waters of Puget Sound for a considerable time before the all rains cause the fall runs, and it may be taken in large numbers with seines before the season for entering the rivers. The quinnat or chinook salmon, from its great size and abundance, is more valuable than all the other fishes on our Pacific Coast taken together. The blueback, similar in flesh, but much smaller and less abundant, is worth much more than the combined value of the three remaining species of salmon. The fall salmon of all species, but especially of the dog salmon, ascend streams but a short distance before spawning. They seem 147 The Pacific Salmon to be in great anxiety to find fresh water, and many of them work their way up little brooks only a few inches deep, where they perish miserably, floundering about on the stones. Every stream, of what- ever kind, has more or less of these fall salmon. It is the prevailing impression that the salmon have some Special instinct which leads them to return to spawn on the same spawning grounds where they were originally hatched. We _ fail to find any evidence of this in the case of the Pacific Coast salmon, and we do not believe it to be true. It seems more probable that the young salmon hatched in any river mostly re- main in the ocean within a radius of 20, 30 or 40 miles of its mouth. These, in their movements about in the ocean, may come into contact with the cold waters of their parent river, or perhaps of any other river, at a considerable distance from the shore. In the case of the quinnat and the blueback, their “‘instinct” seems to lead them to ascend these fresh waters, and, in a majority of cases, these waters will be those in which the fishes in question were originally spawned. Later in the season the growth of the reproductive organs leads them to approach the shore and search for fresh waters, and _ still the chances are that they may find the original stream. But undoubt- edly many fall salmon ascend, or try to ascend, streams in which no salmon were ever hatched. In little brooks about Puget Sound, where the water is not 3 inches deep, are often found dead or dying salmon, which have entered them for the pur- pose of spawning. It is said of the Russian River and_ other California rivers, that their mouths in the time of low water in summer generally become entirely closed by sand bars, and that the salmon in their eagerness to ascend them frequently fling themselves entirely out of water on the beach. But this does not prove that the salmon are guided by a marvellous geographical instinct which leads them to their parent river in spite of the fact that the river can not be found. The waters of Russian River soak through these sand bars, and the salmon instinct, we think, leads them merely to search for fresh waters. This matter is in much need of further investigation; at present, how- ever, we find no reason to believe that the salmon enter the Rogue River simply because they were spawned there, or that a salmon hatched in the Clackamas River is more likely on that 148 The Humpback Salmon account to return to the Clackamas than to go up the Cowlitz or the Des Chutes. Commercially speaking the Pacific salmon are unquestionably the most valuable fish in the world. The market value of the entire salmon catch on our west coast, including Alaska, exceeds $13,000,000 annually, and this vast amount is represented chiefly by the 2 species, the chinook and blueback, the catch of the 3 other species being in comparison insignificant. No other fish is so extensively canned or is held in such high esteem. a. Gillrakers 20 to 25, comparatively short and few. b. Scales very small, more than 200 in a longitudinal series; caudal spots. large. “ODlONGtaock neue exe ote gorbuscha, 149 bb. scales medium, 138 to 155 in longitudinal series; pyloric coeca about 150. c. Anal rays 13 or 14; black spots small or obsolete; bran- emMostegals’ 13 “OF TAsge2 s6 Git et Sha elas ake keta, 150 cc. Anal rays about 16; back and upper fins with round black spots; branchiostegals 15 to 19;........-- tschawytscha, 151 bbb. Scales comparatively large, 125 to 135 in longitudinal series, DVIONIC COREa SO 10 SOF asses Heras ane eae eee hisutch, 154 aa. Gillrakers comparatively long and numerous, 30 to 40 in number; scales large; lateral line about 130; back in adult usually unspotted; clear blue in spring. red in fall; young more or JESS SPOtted 5 wet reantciners oe atapetnee esau ear ata lne nerka, 155 Humpback Salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha (Walbaum) The humpback salmon reaches a weight of 3 to 6 pounds 149 The Dog Salmon and is the smallest of the genus. It is found on the Pacific Coast and ascending the rivers of America and Asia from California and Japan northward. In the rivers of Alaska it appears every year in great abundance; in Puget Sound there seems to be a periodicity in its movements, the runs of the alternate, odd years (1887, 1889, etc.) being much larger than in the even years. In the Sacramento River it occurs each year but in very limited numbers and is there known as the lost salmon. Among other names applied to this species are haddo, holia, and dog salmon of Alaska, though it is not the real dog salmon. Branchiostegals 11 or 12; gillrakers 13-++15; A. 15; D. 113 scales 210 to 240, about 170 in the lateral line; pyloric cceca very slender, about 180. Body rather slender, in the female plump and symmetrical,in the fall males very thin and compressed, with the fleshy dorsal hump much developed, the jaws greatly elongated, strongly hooked, and with extravagant canines in front, ventral appendage half as long as the fin. Colour, bluish, sides silvery; back posteriorly, adipose fin, and tail with numerous black spots, those of the caudal fin oblong in form and especially large; be males red, more or less blotched with brownish. This species may be known at once by the very small scales and the coarse, oblong spots on the tail. In Japan is a very similar species, Oncorhynchus masou Brevoort, with equally small scales, but the tail unspotted. The humpback salmon has not usually been regarded as possessing any food-value, but in some of the salmon canneries it is now canned and shipped East and South, where it is put upon the market under fictitious labels and retailed as one of the cheaper grades of salmon. It is often called ‘‘negro salmon.” at the can- neries, but when prepared, the name ‘“‘ pink salmon” is in common use, as distinguished from the ‘‘red salmon,” Oncorhynchus nerka. Dog Salmon Oncorhynchus keta (Walbaum) The dog salmon reaches a weight of 10 to 12 pounds. It is found usually in great abundance from the Sacramento north- ward to Kamchatka and Bering Straits, ascending all suitable streams in the fall, and spawning at no great distance from the 150 The Chinook Salmon sea in the smaller streams, which they enter in marvellous num- bers, crowding upon each other in the most appalling manner. As a food-fish the dog salmon (also known as the calico salmon, hayho, or lekai salmon) is the least valuable of the genus. Not until recent years was it used at all by the can- ners, and even now when used it is put upon the market under fictitious names. At the time of its run the males of this species are much distorted, and the flesh is valueless. This species is the common large salmon or sake of the rivers of Japan. Head 4; depth 4; D. 9; A. 13 or 14; scales about 28-150-30; branchiostegals 13 or 14; gillrakers 9+15; pyloric cceca 140 to 185. General form that of the chinook, but the head rather longer, more depressed and _ pike-like; preopercle more broadly convex behind, and the maxillary extending considerably beyond the eye; gillrakers few, coarse and stout; accessory pectoral scale short, less than half length of fin. Colour, dusky above; sides paler, little lustrous; back and sides with no definite spots, but with fine punctulations which are often entirely obsolete; head dusky, scarcely any metallic lustre on head or tail; caudal dusky, plain, or very finely spotted, its edge usually distinctly blackish; fins all mostly blackish, especially in males; breeding males gen- erally blackish above, the sides brick-red, often barred or mottled. Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tschawytscha (Walbaum) Other names by which this fish is known are = quinnat salmon, king salmon, Columbia River salmon, Sacramento salmon, tyee, tchaviche, and tschawytscha. It is found on both coasts of the Pacific, from Monterey Bay, California, and China, north to Bering Straits, ascending all large streams, especially the Sacramento, Columbia and Yukon, in all of which it is very abundant. It ascends the large rivers in spring and summer, moving up without feeding, until the spawning season, by which time many of those which started first may have travelled a thousand miles or more. The run begins in the Columbia River as early as February or March. At first they travel leisurely, moving up only a few miles each 151 The Chinook Salmon day. As they go farther and farther up-stream they swim rather more rapidly. Those that enter the river first are the ones which will go farthest toward the head waters, many of them going to spawning beds in Salmon River in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, more than 1,000 miles from the sea. Those which enter the river later travel more rapidly, but do not go so far toward the headwaters, while those last to pass by Astoria have so long delayed the movement that they are nearly ready to spawn and, consequently, must travel rapidly and enter the first small tributary streams which they reach. Those which go to the headwaters of the Snake River in the Sawtooth Mountains spawn in August and early September; those going to the Big Sandy in Oregon, in July and early August; those going up Snake River to upper Salmon Falls, in October; while those entering the small Jower tributaries of the Columbia or the small coastal streams spawn even as late as December. Observations which we have made at various places indicate that wherever the spawning beds may be, spawning will not begin until the temperature of the water has fallen to 54° Fahr. If the fish reach the spawning grounds when the temperature is above 54°, they wait until the water cools down to the required degree. It has been often stated and generally believed that the sal- mon receive many injuries by striking against rocks and in other ways while en roufe to their spawning grounds and, as a result from these injuries, those which go long distances from the sea die after once spawning. An examination of many salmon at the time of arrival on their spawning beds in central Idaho showed every fish to be entirely without mutilations of any kind, and apparently in excellent condition. Mutilations, however, soon appeared, resulting from abrasions received on the spawning beds while pushing the gravel about or rubbing against it, and from fighting with each other, which is sometimes quite severe. The spawning act extends over several days, the eggs being deposited upon beds of fine gravel in clear, cold mountain streams. Soon after they have done spawning both males and females die, each individual spawning only once. This is true of all, whether spawning remote from salt water or only a few miles or yards from the sea. The cause of their dying is not conditioned upon distance from the sea, but is general in its application to all species of Pacific Coast salmon. 152 SALMON JUMPING A FALLS The Chinook Salmon There is no other species of fish in the world equalling the chinook salmon in commercial value. Of the 5 species of salmon on our west coast it is approached in value only by the blue- back. It reaches an enormous size; examples have been taken in Cook Inlet weighing 100 pounds, and individuals of 40 to 60 pounds weight are not infrequent. The average weight of those taken in the Columbia River has been stated to be 22 pounds, and for those of the Sacramento River, 16 pounds. The chinook salmon does not take the hook when in fresh water, though it is occasionally taken on the trolling spoon, particularly in the lower Columbia, and at Williamette Falls and in the Sacramento River. In Monterey Bay the chinook salmon is an important game-fish at certain seasons. It is taken ex- clusively by trolling. The best season is from the middle of May to the end of June, though they may be taken as early as February, and rarely, even in January. The anglers usually use a 30-ply line, a 4-inch hook, a 3 to 5 pound sinker, and _ let out about 150 feet of line. The sinker is attached by 24-ply line 20 feet above the hook. A sailing speed of about 4 miles an hour, with the hook sunk 20 to 50 feet beneath the surface (depending upon how the fish are running), is most effective. The best time of day is from sunrise to noon. Trolling spoons are rarely used, a hook baited with common. sardine being much better. The fish caught range in weight from 8 to 60 pounds, the average being 25 pounds. The fish bite freely, but 25 fish by one line is regarded as a big day’s catch. They are very game, and jump out of the water frequently. This splendid salmon is unknown in Japan, its range ex- tending little south of Kamchatka on the Asiatic side. Head 4; depth 4; D. 11; A. 16; Br. 15 or 16 to 18 or 19, the number on the two sides always unlike; gillrakers usually 9+ 14; pyloric cceca 140 to 185; scales 27-146-29, the number in longitudinal series varying from 135 to 155; vertebrae 66. Head conic, rather pointed in the females and spring males; maxillary rather slender, the small eye behind its middle; teeth small, longer on sides of lower jaw; vomerine teeth very few and weak, disappearing in the males; body comparatively robust, its depth greatest near its middle; ventrals inserted behind middle of dorsal; ventral appen- dage half as long as fin; caudal strongly forked, on a_ slender peduncle. Colour, dusky above, often tinged with olivaceous or bluish on sides; silvery below; head dark slaty, usually darker 153 The Silver Salmon than the body, and with few spots; back, dorsal fin and_ tail usually profusely covered with round black spots, sometimes these are few, but never wholly absent; sides of head and caudal fin with a peculiar metallic tin-coloured lustre; flesh rich salmon- colour in spring, becoming paler as the spawning season ap- proaches. In the late summer and autumn the jaws of the male become elongate and distorted, the anterior teeth become greatly enlarged, and the colour more or less tinged or blotched with dull red. Silver Salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum) The silver salmon is blessed with a large number of. ver- nacular names, among which may be mentioned hoopid salmon, coho; kisutch, skowitz; quisutsch, and bielayaryba. Next to the chinook and the blueback it is the most important of the genus. It reaches a length of 15 inches, and a weight of 3 to 8 pounds, and is abundant from San Francisco northward along both the American and Asiatic coasts, entering the shorter coastal streams late in the fall. It occurs in Asiatic waters as far south as Japan. In our waters it is especially abundant in Puget Sound, the fjords of Alaska, and in the shorter rivers of Washington and Oregon. As a food-fish, though inferior to the chinook and the blue- back, it is of great importance. Large quantities are canned every year on the Oregon and Washington coasts; it is one of the best species to ship fresh. Its spawning season is later than that of the chinook. They first appear in the southern end of Puget Sound about the first of September, and the run usually lasts until the first or middle of November. An examination of more than 2,000 examples at Celilo on the Columbia River in September and October indi- cated that their spawning time would not be later than October. This species is common in Japan. Head 4; depth 4; D. 10; A. 13 or 14; Br. 13 or 14; pyloric coeca very large and few, 45 to 80; scales 25-127-29; gillrakers 10+13, rather long and slender, nearly as long as eye. Body slender and compressed; head short, shorter than in chinook of same size, very conical, the snout bluntly pointed; interorbital space broad and strongly convex; opercle and preopercle strongly 154 Blueback Salmon; Sockeye Salmon convex behind, the preopercle very broad, with the lower limb little developed; eye much smaller than in chinook of same size; maxillary slender and narrow, but extending somewhat beyond the eye; teeth very few and small, only 2 or 3 on the vomer, those on tongue very feeble; fins small. Colour, bluish green on back, the sides silvery, with dark punctulations; no spots except a few rather obscure ones on top of head, back, dorsal fin, adipose fin, and the rudimentary upper rays of the caudal; pec- torals dusky, and with dusky edge; sides of head without dark colouration as seen in the chinook; males mostly red in fall, and with the usual changes of form. The silver salmon is easily distinguished from the chinook, which it most resembles, by its fewer scales, fewer pyloric coeca, and fewer branchiostegals. Blueback Salmon; Sockeye Salmon Oncorhynchus nerka (Walbaum) The blueback salmon is found from the coast of southern Oregon, north to northern Alaska and Kamchatka, and Japan. It has been occasionally reported from the Sacramento and Kla- math rivers, but is not at all common south of the Columbia. The principal rivers in the United States which it frequents are the Columbia, Quinialt and Skagit, in each of which very great runs occur. It enters the Fraser in enormous numbers, and_ is the most abundant and valuable salmon in Alaska. The runs in the different rivers begin at different times, depending partly upon the distance of the spawning beds from the sea, and the temperature of the water. The run in the Columbia begins in March or April, and the fish ascend to the headwaters of the Salmon River in Idaho, which they reach in July and August, a journey of some 1,000 miles from the sea. In the Skagit the run begins somewhat later, the fish reaching their spawning grounds in and above Baker Lake in August and September. The run in the Fraser River is synchronous with that in the Skagit, or possibly a little later. In Alaska most of the streams which it enters are relatively short, andthe runs do not begin until a short time before the spawning period. So far as known the blueback enters only such rivers as have lakes in their head- 155 Blueback Salmon; Sockeye Salmon Waters, and the spawning beds are always either in the inlets to the lakes or in the lakes themselves; so far as known there is no exception. Adult Male Blueback Salmon In the Columbia River this salmon is called the blueback; in the Fraser it is the sockeye, sawkeye, or sau-qui; in Alaska it is the red salmon or redfish, while among the Russians it is the krasnaya ryba. In certain small lakes in central Idaho, northeastern Oregon, Washington and British Columbia are found 2 forms of this salmon, one weighing 3 to 7 pounds, and known as the redfish, the other 10 to 12 inches long, and weighing one-half pound. The latter is known as the little redfish, Kennerly’s salmon, or walla. It has been definitely proved that the large redfish come up from the sea and are identical with the blueback salmon. The little redfish does not appear to differ structurally from the large redfish, and has been thought to be the young of that species; if it is not, then the young blueback is unknown. The migra- tion from the sea of these small fish has not been observed, and there is some strong evidence showing them to be resident in the lakes in whose inlets they have their spawning beds. 156 Blueback Salmon; Sockeye Salmon Adult Female Little Redfish These small redfish are known from the Redfish Lakes of Idaho, Big Payette Lake in Idaho, Wallowa Lake in Oregon, Washington, Sammamish, and Ozette lakes in Washington, and many small Jakes in British Columbia and Alaska. Next to the chinook salmon, the blueback is the most im- portant fish on our west coast, while in Alaska it is more val- uable than all other species combined. In the Fraser River it is exceedingly abundant, and is extensively canned along the lower course of that river, and about the northern end of Puget Sound. The annual catch of salmon in Puget Sound amounts to more than $4,000,000, and consists chiefly of bluebacks and chinooks. The blueback salmon reaches a length of 2 feet and a weight of 3 to 7 pounds. It is one of the most beautiful and graceful of the Salmonidw, and as a food-fish is scarcely inferior to the chinook salmon. Its flesh is of attractive colour, rich in oil, and of superior quality when canned. We have carefully observed the spawning habits of both forms of the redfish and the chinook salmon in the headwaters of Salmon River, Idaho, during 2 entire seasons, from the time the fish arrived in July until the end of September, by which time all these fish had disappeared. A number of important questions were settled by these investigations. In the first place, it was found that all of these fish arrived upon the spawning- beds in perfect physical condition so far as external appearance indicated, no sores, bruises or other mutilations showing on any of more than 4,000 fish examined. During the spawning, how- Blueback Salmon; Sockeye Salmon Adult Male Little Redfish, showing condition at end of spawning season ever, the majority became more or less injured by rubbing against the gravel of the spawning-beds, or by fighting with one another. Soon after done spawning every one of these fish died, not only both forms of redfish, but the chinook salmon as well. There was no tendency to run down stream, but they all died on or near their spawning-beds. The dying is not due to the injuries the fish receive while on the spawning-grounds; many were seen dying or dead which showed no external or other injuries whatever. The dying of the West Coast salmon is in no manner de- termined by distance from the sea. Observations made by us and others elsewhere show that the individuals of all the species of Oncorhynchus die after once spawning, whether the spawn- ing-beds be remote from the sea or only a short distance from salt water. The cause of the dying is deep-seated in its nature and general in its application. The cause is the same as that which compasses the death of the ephemera or may-fly after an existence of but a few hours, or of the corn-plant or melon- ~ vine and all annual plants at the end of one season. This species, known locally as benimasu or red salmon, is landlocked in a few lakes (Akan, etc.) in Nemuro, in northern Japan, but it is rare on the Asiatic side south of Kamchatka. Head 4; depth 4; Ds 11; A. 14 10 16% Seales 90-133-20° Br. 13 to 15; gillrakers 32 to 40, usually 14 or 15+22 or 23, as long as eye; pyloric ceca 75 to 95; vertebrae 64; snout 2} in head in fall males, 3} in females; mandible 14 in head in fall males, 13 in females. Body long, elliptical, rather slender; head short, snout long, pointed, sharply conic, the lower jaw included; maxil- 158 The Salmon and Trout lary rather thin and small, reaching beyond eye; teeth all quite small, most of them freely movable; vomer with about 6 weak teeth which grow larger in spawning males; preopercle very wide and convex; opercle very short, not strongly convex; preopercle more free behind than in the chinook salmon; ventral scale about 4 length of fin; caudal fin narrow, widely forked; anal fin long and low; dorsal low; flesh deep red; males becoming extra- vagantly hook-jawed@ in the fall, the snout being then much pro- longed and much raised above the level of rest of head, the lower jaw produced to meet it. Colour, clear bright blue above; side silvery, this overlapping the blue of the back; lower fins pale, the upper dusky; no spots anywhere on adults in spring; the young with obscure black spots above. Colour of breeding male, dark blood red on back and sides, with dark edges to some of the scales; middle of side darker red, but unevenly so, usually darkest at middle of body; under parts dirty white, with numerous fine dark dustings; entire head light olive, tip of nose and sides of jaws dark; under part of lower jaw white; dorsal fin pale red, anal darker red; adipose fin red; ventrals and pec- torals smoky, somewhat red at base. Colour of breeding female, essentially the same, but rather darker on the sides. The small form of redfish is a rich metallic blue on the back, becoming silvery on the lower sides and under parts; back with a few small black spots. During the breeding season it becomes a dirty red, brightest on the middle of the sides; under parts dirty white; top and sides of head dark greenish olive; snout black; lower jaw white, black at tip; dorsal pale red; anal dirty red; other fins dark smoky. The female is darker than the male and not greatly different in colour from the black-speckled trout. GENUS SALMO (ARTEDI) LINNAGUS The Salmon and Trout Body elongate, somewhat compressed; mouth large; jaws, palatines, and tongue toothed, as in related genera; vomer flat, its shaft not depressed, a few teeth on the chevron behind which is a somewhat irregular single or double series of teeth, which in the migratory species are usually deciduous with age; scales large or small, 100 to 200 in a longitudinal series; dorsal and anal fins short, usually with 10 to 12 rays each; caudal fin truncate, emar- ginate or forked, its peduncle comparatively stout; sexual pecu- liarities variously developed, the males in typical species with the £59 The Salmon and Trout jaws prolonged and the front teeth enlarged, the lower jaw being hooked upward and the upper jaw emarginate or perforate; these peculiarities most marked in the larger and migratory species. The species of this genus are of moderate or large size, black- spotted, and abounding in the colder creeks, rivers and lakes of North America, Europe, and Asia; no purely freshwater species occurring in America east of the Great Plains; 3 Atlantic Coast species, one marine and anadromous. The non-migratory species (sub-genus 7riz/fta) occur in both continents, are extremely closely related and difficult to distinguish, if, indeed, all be not necessarily regarded as forms of a single exceedingly unstable, and variable species. The excessive varia- tions in colour and form have given rise to a host of nominal species. European writers have described numerous hybrids among the various species of Salmo, real or nominal, found in_ their waters. We have thus far failed to find the slightest evidence of any hybridism among American Sa’monid@ in a state of nature. Puzzling aberrant or intermediate individuals certainly occur, but such are not necessarily ‘‘ hybrids.” The following interesting and pertinent observations on the species of trout are taken, with some modification, from Dr. Giinther: There is no other group of fishes which offers so many diffi- culties to the ichthyologist, with regard to the distinction of the species, as well as to certain points in their life history, as this genus. The almost infinite variations of these fishes are dependent on age, sex and sexual development, food, and the properties of the water. The colouration is, first of all, subject to great varia- tion, and consequently this character but rarely assists in distin- guishing a species, there being not one which would show in all stages the same kind of colouration. The young in all the species of the genus are barred, and this is so constantly the case that it may be used as a family character. When the young have passed this ‘‘parr’’ stage the colour becomes much diversified. The males, especially during and immediately after the spawning sea- son, are more intensely coloured and variegated than the females, immature individuals retaining a brighter silvery colour and being more like the female. Food appears to have less influence on the 160 The Salmon and Trout colour of the outer parts than on that of the flesh; thus the more variegated examples are frequently out of condition, whilst well- fed individuals, with pinkish flesh, are of more uniform though bright colours. The water has a marked influence on the colours. Trout with intense ocellated spots are generally found in clear, rapid rivers and in alpine pools; in the large lakes, with pebbly bottom, the fish are bright silvery, and the ocellated spots are mixed with or replaced by x-shaped black spots; in dark holes, or lakes with peaty bottom, they often assume an almost uniform blackish colouration. Brackish or salt water has the effect of giving them a bright silvery coat, with or without few spots, none of them ocellated. With regard to size, the various species do not present an equal amount of variation. Size appears to depend upon the abundance of food and the extent of the water. Thus the migratory species do not appear to vary considerably in size, because they find the same condi- tions in all the localities inhabited by them. A widely-spread species, however, like our black-spotted trout, when it inhabits a small mountain pool, with scanty food, never attains a weight of more than a few ounces, while in a large lake or river, where it finds an abundance of food, it reaches a weight of 10 to 15 pounds. Such large trout of the rivers and lakes are frequently described as salmon trout, bull trout, silver trout, steelheads, etc. The proportions of the various parts of the body to one another vary exceedingly, in the same species, with age, sex, and condition. The fins vary to a certain degree. The variation in the number of rays in any one genus (except Oncorhynchus) is inconsiderable and of no value for specific determination. Although some species appear to be characterized by comparatively low dorsal and anal fins, yet the proportion of the height of these fins to their length is a rather uncertain character. In most of the species the fin-rays are longer during the stages of growth or development. The caudal fin especially undergoes changes with age. The young of all species have this fin more or less deeply incised, so that the young of a species which has this fin emarginate throughout life is distinguished by a deeper incision of the fin from the young of a species which has it truncate in a young state. The individuals of the same species do not all attain maturity at the same age or size. Finally, to complete our enumeration of these variable characters, we must mention that, in old males, during and after the spawning season, 161 The Salmon and Trout the skin on the back becomes thickened and spongy, so that the scales are quite invisible or hidden in the skin. After this cursory review of variable characters, we pass on to those which we have found to be constant in numbers of individuals, and in which it is difficult to perceive signs of modification due to external circumstances. Such characters, according to the views of the zoologists of the present day, are sufficient for the definition of species; at all events, in every description they ought to be noticed. The confused and unsatisfactory state of our knowledge of the Salmonid@ is chiefly caused by authors having paid attention to the more con- spicuous but unreliable characters and who have but rarely noted any of those enumerated here : 1. The form of the preopercle in the adult fish. 2. The width and strength of the maxillary in the adult; in the young and in females the maxillary is proportionately shorter than in the adult male. The size of the teeth, those of the premaxillaries excepted. The arrangement and permanence of the vomerine teeth. The development or absence of teeth on the hyoid bone. In old examples these are often lost, and their absence in a species usually provided with them is not uncommon. 6. The form of the caudal fin in specimens of a given size, age or sexual development. 7. The size of the scales as indicated by counting the number of transverse rows above the lateral line. The scales in the lateral line are always more or less enlarged or irregular, and the number of scales should be counted higher up; this is one of the most constant and valuable specific characters. 8. A great development of the pectoral fins, when constant in a number of specimens from the same locality. 9. The number of vertebre. 10. The number. of pyloric cceca. 11. The number of gillrakers. pas a. Vomerine teeth little developed, those on the shaft of the bone few and deciduous; sexual differences strong; breeding males with the lower jaw hooked upward, the upper jaw emarginate or perforate to receive its tip, size large;........... salar, 163 aa. Vomerine teeth well developed, those on the shaft of the bone numerous and peristent; sexual difference less marked, but similar in general character to those in Sa/mo salar. b. Scales always small, 150 to 200 cross-series; a large deep red or scarlet dash on each side concealed below the inner edge of the dentary bone, this rarely obsolete; mouth large, the maxillary 162 Common Atlantic Salmon 12 to 2h in head; hyoid teeth usually present but very small. SI ZOE SVATIOMS ea rer a Mort areca, earns Ue ae a Genk tet oa clarktt, 176 bb. Scales moderate, 130 to 180 cross-series; no red on throat; a red- dish lateral band usually present; mouth moderate, maxillary 2 in head; hyoid teeth wanting. Size very large;..gairdneri, 190 bbb. Scales typically large, in 120 to 130 cross-series; usually no red on throat; a red or yellowish lateral band; mouth small, maxil- lary 2 to 2} in head; no hyoid teeth. Size moderate; trideus, 198 Common Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar Linnzus The Atlantic salmon is perhaps the best and most widely known of all game fishes, and it was doubtless this fish which was sought by the earliest anglers. ‘‘In Aquitania the river salmon surpasseth all the fishes of the sea,” wrote Pliny eighteen hundred years ago. This was the salmon’s christening, and though more than 100 species of Salmonide have been de- scribed, the salmon has always stood pre-eminent as a game- fish, like a Scottish chieftain, needing no other name than that of his clan. The luxurious Romans prized highly the salmon streams in their Gallic and British provinces, if we may trust Pliny and Ausonius, and that this fish was well known to the early English is evinced by the many Saxon names, such as ‘“narr,” “pearl,” “smelt,” “grilse,” “kipper,” and *“baggit,” given it in different stages of its growth. The Normans brought over the name of Latin origin, which they applied to the per- fect adult fish, ready for the banquets of the conqueror. When Cabot discovered Newfoundland in 1497, he found salmon in its waters, but the red men had long before this learned the art of killing them with torches and wooden spears. Salmon inhabit both coasts of the North Atlantic and all its suitable affluents. How far beyond the Arctic circle they range no one knows, though their occurrence in Greenland, Iceland, northern Scandinavia, and middle Labrador is well established. They occur in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, entering the Baltic and the waters of Russia, and, according to some writers, the White Sea. They abound in all the British Islands, where they are protected and fostered with great success. They are, or 163 Common Atlantic Salmon were, also common in France, Belgium, Holland, and Prussia, as- cending the Rhine as far as Basle. The southern limit of their distribution in Europe is Galicia, the northwestern province of Spain, in latitude 43°. ‘‘There is a river in Macedon,” says Fluellen, in ‘‘King Henry the Fifth,” ‘‘and there is also moreover a river at Monmouth: it is called Wye, at Monmouth; but it is out of my brains what is the name of the other river; but ’tis all one, ‘tis so like as my fingers is to my fingers, and there is salmons in both.” But Fluellen was wrong, for there are no salmon in any part of the Mediterranean water system. On the American side of the Atlantic, the presence of salmon in Hudson Bay and on the Arctic coast is not certain. They range far north on the Labrador coast, and in the waters of the Great Lakes system they ascended as far as Niagara Falls. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Maine have many salmon rivers. New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut, a very few good ones. The salmon was at one time very abundant in the Connec- ticut, and it probably occurred in the Housatonic and Hudson. They have also been taken in the Delaware which _ probably marks the southern limit of their distribution on our Atlantic Coast. Salmon were marvellously abundant in Colonial days. It is stated that the epicurean apprentices of Connecticut would eat salmon no oftener than twice a week. ‘‘Plenty of them in this country,” wrote Fuller, ‘‘though not in such abundance as in Scotland where servants (they say) indent with their masters not to be fed therewith above twice a week.” There can be no doubt that one hundred years ago salmon fishing was an im- portant food resource in southern New England. Many Connec- ticut people remember hearing their grandfathers say that when they went to the river to buy shad the fishermen used to sti- pulate that they should also buy a specified number of salmon. But at the beginning of this century they began rapidly to dimin- ish. Mitchill stated, in 1814, that in former days the supply to the New York market usually came from the Connecticut, but of late years from the Kennebec, covered with ice. Rev. David Dudley Field, writing in 1819, states that salmon had_ scarcely been seen in the Connecticut for 15 or 20 years. The circum- stances of their extermination in the Connecticut are well known, 164 40j0S 01MJOS ‘NOMIVS OLLNVILV Common Atlantic Salmon and the same story, with names and dates changed, serves equally well for other rivers. In 1798 a corporation, known as the ‘‘Upper Locks and Canal Company,” built a dam 16 feet high at Millers River, 100 miles from the mouth of the Connecticut. For 2 or 3 years fish were seen in great abundance below the dam, and for per- haps 10 years they continued to appear, vainly striving to reach their spawning grounds; but soon the work of extermination was complete. When, in 1872, a solitary salmon made its appearance, the Saybrook fishermen did not know what it was. At least half of the salmon’s life is spent in the ocean. ‘‘ He is ever bred in fresh rivers,” said Isaac Walton, ‘‘and never grows big but in the sea.” ‘‘He has, like some persons of honour and riches which have both their winter and summer houses, this fresh water for summer and the salt water for winter to spend his life in.’ Most of his tribe, however, are peculiarly fresh-water fishes, though several share his sea-dwelling habits, and others, like the brook trout, descend into salt water when not prevented by temperature barriers. A'l of the family run into very shoal water, and usually to the source of streams, for spawning purposes. ‘‘I am inclined to the view,” writes Dr. Goode, ‘‘that the natural habitat of the salmon is in the fresh waters, the more so since there are so many instances—such as that of the Stormontfield Ponds in England—where it has been confined for years in lakes without apparent detriment.” That the chinook salmon has been kept for years in fresh water ponds in France is another strong evidence of the correctness of this view. The Sebago salmon of the New England lakes, and the ouananiche of Canada never visit salt water, finding ample food and exercise in the fresh waters which they inhabit. Salmon while in salt or brackish water feed on small shrimps, young crabs, and other crustaceans and their eggs. When in the rivers they are supposed to eat but little, though they will make voracious rushes at the angler’s fly. Dr. W. C. Kendall of the U. S. Fish Commission has made a special study of the Atlantic Salmon and the Sebago salmon, and furnishes us the following regarding their habits: The assumption that salmon do not feed after entering fresh water is founded upon the fact that seldom is anything found in their stomachs when caught in traps or by hooks. In traps and 165 Common Atlantic Salmon weirs it is the habit of most fishes either to disgorge the food from fright or, if not immediately removed, to digest it. Most fishes, and salmon ought not to be an exception, take the hook presumably because they are hungry, and except in the case of some gluttonous species, not when gorged with food. It seems more reasonable to believe, and all the evidence is in support of it, that the fish do feed in the early runs, and that they enter the rivers for that purpose. It is hardly credible that salmon would leave regions of abundant food, at a time when there are no other physiological demands, fast for at least 6 months, reproduce, survive and return to another period of feasting. It is also hard to conceive that the fish takes the lure to gratify the angler or just for the fun of the thing. The belief has become almost proverbial, and is perpetuated in fish literature, that the early summer salmon after entering the rivers remain there until the spawning function is performed. It is well known that in some of the smaller streams there are 2 distinct runs, spring and fall; the first, for some unrecognized purpose, the other for reproduction. In Denny's River, Maine, for example, according to a reliable observer of long residence in the region, the early migrations extend from May 15 to July 30 or thereabouts, and the other from October 1 until November. The first run does not remain in the river. What obtains in small streams ought to hold good in large ones. The closely related landlocked salmon in Sebago Lake pur- sues the smelts up the tributary streams as they are on their way to the spawning grounds in the spring, and descends with the return of the smelts to the lake. The fish then bite the hook. In the fall there is another ascent of the streams for spawning purposes, and the fish will very seldom if ever take the hook at that time. The first run is evidently for the purpose of feeding upon the smelts, and, as the early spring run of Atlantic salmon is known to accompany the run of smelts and other species, it would seem to be for the same purpose. We believe the spring run of the Atlantic salmon is a quest for food, and that the fish return to salt water to again ascend the streams late in the fall for spawning purposes. Though salmon enter the rivers in the spring when the temperature of the water is rising, their spawning takes place on a falling temperature, and usually not until the water has 100 Common Atlantic Salmon cooled down to about 50° Fahr. In America the more southern rivers are the first to be entered, and the most northern ones last, the range being from April and May in the Connecticut, to even as late as October in the Miramichi. Ordinarily the salmon will go well toward the headwaters of the streams to establish spawning beds. As the spawning season approaches they lose their trim appearance and their bright colours. They grow lank and misshapen, the fins become thick and fleshy, and the skin, which becomes thick and slimy, is blotched and mottled with brown, green or blue, and vermillion or scarlet. These changes are most apparent in the males, whose jaws become curved so that they touch only at the tips, the lower one developing a large powerful hook. When in this condition, and after spawning, while returning to the sea they are called ‘‘ kelts.” While the eggs are laid late in the fall, they do not hatch until early the next spring. When the fry are 2 or 3 months old they begin to show the vermillion spots and transverse bars called parr-marks, which entitle the fish to be called a ‘‘parr,” and which it retains while remaining in fresh water, and sometimes until 7 or 8 inches long. It remains a parr until the second or third spring, when it descends to the sea, assuming at the time a uniform bright silvery colour, and the ‘‘ parr” becomes a ‘‘smolt.”’ After remaining a time in salt water, the time varying from a few months to 2 years, it returns to fresh water either as a ‘‘grilse’”’ or ‘‘salmon.’’ The ‘‘grilse’’ is the adolescent salmon, weighing 2 to 6 pounds, and is even more graceful than the adult fish. ‘‘There is nothing in the water that surpasses a grilse in its symmetrical beauty, its brilliancy, its agility, and its pluck,” wrote Thaddeus Norris. ‘‘I have had one of 4 pounds to leap from the water 10 times, and higher and farther than a salmon. Woe to the angler who attempts, without giving line, to hold one even of 3 pounds; he does it at the risk of his casting line, or his agile opponent tears a piece from its jaw or snout in its desperate efforts to escape.” Quoting again from Dr. Goode, who can wonder at the angler’s enthusiasm over ‘‘a salmon fresh run in love and_ glory from the sea?’ Hear Christopher North’s praise of a perfect fish: ‘‘She has literally no head; but her snout is in her shoulders. That is the beauty of a fish; high and round shoulders, short 167 The Sebago Salmon waisted, no loins, but all body, and not long of terminating— the shorter still the better—in a tail sharp and pointed as Diana’s when she is crescent in the sky.” : The salmon reaches an immense size. The largest of which we have seen a record was one of 83 pounds, brought to Lon- don in 1821. Perley mentions one of 60 pounds taken long ago in the Restigouche. In the Penobscot examples of 40 pounds have been taken, though that weight is very unusual. The maximum weight of those taken in Maine rivers now does not exceed 25 pounds, and the average is about 10. pounds. The catch of salmon by anglers in the Penobscot Pool at Bangor in 1893 was 87 fish, with a total weight of 1,4774 pounds. The largest weighed 30 pounds, and the average was nearly 17 pounds. The catch in 1900 was 67 fish, with a total weight of 970 pounds. The largest weighed 23; pounds, and the average was nearly 144 pounds. Head 4; depth 4; Br. 11; D. 11; A. 9; scales 23-120-21; ver- tebre 60; pyloric cceca about 65; gillrakers 8+12=20. Body moderately elongate, symmetrical, not much compressed; head rather low; mouth moderate, the maxillary reaching just past the eye; in young the maxillary is proportionately shorter; preopercle with a distinct lower limb, the angle rounded; scales compara- tively large, rather larger posteriorly, silvery and well imbricated in the young, becoming embedded in the adult males. Colour, in adult, brownish above, the sides more or less silvery, with numer- ous black spots on head, body and fins, and red spots or patches on sides in males; the ‘‘ parr’ with about 11 dusky or bluish crossbars, besides red patches and black spots; the colour, as well as the form of the head and body varying much with age, food and condition; the black spots in the adult often X-shaped or XX-shaped. In the lakes of Maine, New Hampshire and New Brunswick and in Lake St. John, the Saguenay and neigbouring waters in Quebec, the salmon is represented by 2 land-locked forms, one in each region, which are here recognized as species. Sebago Salmon Salmo sebago (Girard) The sebago salmon receives this name from Sebago Lake, the locality from which it was first described. It originally occurred in 168 o8ngas ouNvS ‘NONTVS OOVEAS CAMOOTANVI The Sebago Salmon 4 river basins in Maine and perhaps in a few lakes in the British Provinces. In Maine the original habitats were Presumpscot River or Sebago Lake basin, Union River or Reeds Pond (now known as Green Lake) basin, Sebec Lake basin and St. Croix River basin which includes the Schoodic Lakes from which the fish derives also the name of ‘‘Schoodic salmon”; but it is more commonly called landlocked salmon. By fish-cultural operations it has become pretty widely dis- tributed, especially in New England and in New York. As a rule it differs from the sea salmon in the smaller size, rather plumper form, much harder skull-bones, larger scales and different colouration. The Sebago Lake salmon originally attained the largest size, the Green Lake next, followed by the Sebec Lake, those of Grand Lake of the Western Schoodic Chain being the smallest. This condition obtains in part to the present day. At least the Sebago Salmon are the largest and the Grand Lake salmon the smallest of the 4 original regions. Though the stocks of Sebec, Sebago and Green lakes have been perhaps, adulterated by introduc- tion of salmon from other waters, that of Grand Lake has been maintained in its primal integrity. The salmon of Grand Lake seldom exceed a weight of 5 pounds or average more than 2 pounds. In the fall of 1901, among many salmon taken in the weir at Sebago Lake, for fish-cultural purposes, were one of 23, many of 15 pounds and over, and the average was about Io pounds. The habits of the fish are apparently almost in every particular analogous to those of the sea salmon, modified more or less by physical conditions. In Sebago Lake, in the fall, structural and chromatic changes occur, and it ascends tributary streams to spawn. After this function is performed it returns to the lake, which is its ocean, and resorts to deep water. In the spring, as soon as the ice breaks up, when smelts, upon which it extensively feeds, are running up the streams to spawn, the salmon follow them to the shore and up the larger streams and descend with them. During summer they remain in deep water, though they occasionally appear at the surface coincidently with the surface schooling of smelts. 169 The Ouananiche As a game-fish it ranks high but is reputed to be inferior to the oguananiche of the Grand Décharge. In lakes it undoubtedly possesses these qualities to a less degree than the ouananiche of the turbulent waters of the Grand Décharge. But this is not due to inherent inactivity but to external conditions. Rushing waters, single hook and light tackle are $ of the game qualities of any fish. The customary angling appliances on Sebago Lake are a stiff rod, a derrick-like reel, a phantom minnow, archer spinner or murderous gang, all of which, combined with the quiet lake or still waters of Songo River, disincline the fish to prolonged antagonism. But let the angler use a light rod, single baited hook or artificial fly in the quick waters of the Presumpscot River or Grand Lake stream, and he will find at least an epitome of the Grand Décharge. Ouananiche Salmo ouananiche McCarthy The ouananiche is another land-locked relative of the Atlantic salmon. While best known as an inhabitant of the Lake St. John region, Mr. Chambers presents evidence showing it to have a much wider distribution than has been generally assigned to it. He reports it from Arnold Bog, and in the lakes of the Goynish, which enters the St. Lawrence north of the island of Anticosti. It is also said to occur in many streams and_ lakes in the interior of Labrador. Though in most, perhaps all of these waters the ouananiche would, if it so desired, have free access to the sea, it appar- ently does not avail itself of that possibility, and is therefore land-locked so far as all questions of geographic distribution are concerned. The name ‘‘ouananiche” is of Montagnais Indian derivation, and is popularly supposed to mean ‘‘little salmon.” But Mr. Chambers shows that it is probably derived from owen-a, a Mon- tagnais interrogative ‘‘Look there! What is that?” The name is frequently written ‘‘Winninish,’ ‘“ Winnonish,” ‘ Wananishe,”’ and a score of other ways, all variants of the same word. 170 The Ouananiche As a game-fish, those who have had experience with the ouananiche think it has no equal. They may be taken at any time between the going out of the ice and the middle of Sep- tember, though the best fishing is said to be late in May. During the early part of the season it may be taken with bait of worms, pork, pieces of chub, or even ouananiche itself along the shore of Lake St. John. It is occasionally taken then with the artificial fly, but fly-fishing for the ouananiche is usually not a successful method of capturing it. According to Mr. Chambers, who has written a delightful volume on the ouananiche, no better direction can be given for angling for the fish in the lake itself than some of the quaint instructions for catching salmon, of Thomas Barker, in Barker’s Delight, or the Art of Angling: ““The angler that goeth to catch him with a line and hook must angle for him as nigh the middle of the water as he can with one of these baits: He must take 2 bob-worms, baited as handsomely as he can, that the 4 ends may hang meet of a length, and so angle as nigh the bottom as he can, feeling your plummet run on the ground some 12 inches from the hook: if you angle for him with a flie (which he will rise at like a trout) the flie must be made of a large hook, which hook must carry six wings, or four at least; there is judgment in mak- ing these flyes. The salmon will come at a gudgeon in the manner of a trouling, and cometh at it bravely, which is fine angling for him and good. You must be sure that you have your line of twenty-six yards of length, that you may have your convenient time to turne him, or else you are in danger to lose him: but if you turne him you are very like to have the fish with small tackles; the danger is all in the running out both of salmon and trout, you must forecast to turn the fish as you do a wild horse, either upon the right or left hand, and wind up your line as you finde occasion in the guiding the fish to the shore.” At the Grand Décharge the ouananiche will take the fly at any time, but not so freely after the middle of July. In the northern tributaries of Lake St. John they may be taken at the surface during July and August. The Rev. Henry Van Dyke writes thus entertainingly of the ouananiche: 171 The Ouananiche “But the prince of the pool was the fighting ouananiche, the little salmon of St. John. Here let me chant thy praise, thou noblest and most high-minded fish, the cleanest feeder, the merriest liver, the loftiest leaper and the bravest warrior of all creatures that swim! Thy cousin, the trout, in his purple and gold with crimson spots, Wears a more splendid armour than thy russet and silver mottled with black, but thine is the kinglier nature. His courage and skill, compared with thine, ‘Are as moonlight unto sunlight, And as water unto wine.’ ‘The old salmon of the sea who begat thee long ago in these inland waters became a backslider, descending again to the ocean, and grew gross and heavy with coarse feeding. But thou, unsalted salmon of the foaming floods, not lIand-locked as men call thee, but choosing of thine own free will to dwell on a loftier level in the pure, swift current of a living stream, hath grown in grace and risen to a better life. ‘‘Thou art not to be measured by quantity but by quality, and thy five pounds of pure vigour will outweigh a score of pounds of flesh less vitalized by spirit. Thou feedest on the flies of the air, and thy food is transformed into an aerial passion for flight, as thou springest across the pool, vaulting toward the sky. Thine eyes have grown large and keen by peering through the foam, and the feathered hook that can deceive thee must be deftly tied and delicately cast. Thy tail and fins, by ceaseless conflict with the rapids, have broadened and strengthened, so that they can flash thy slender body like a living arrow up the fall. As Launce- lot among the knights, so art thou among the fish, the plain- armoured hero, the sun-burnt champion of all the water-folk.” According to Eugene McCarthy, who has written much and entertainingly concerning the ouananiche, this fish when hooked will jump out of the water 5 or 6 times on an average, and sometimes will jump 10 or 12 times. ““And such jumps! Two or 3 feet out of the water, often toward the fisherman, then a rush deep down—a pause—a suc- cession of jerks that would seem to tear the hook loose—a wild rush of varying distance, and a run back, almost to the angler’s feet. A fish weighing 34 or 4 pounds will make a fight lasting 10 or 15 minutes, often longer, and that means hard work for every moment for the fisherman.” 172 The Ouananiche The average size of the ouananiche is 2} to 34 pounds, though examples weighing 8 pounds are often taken. The ouananiche does not differ greatly from the Atlantic salmon, and is apparently even more closely related to the Sebago salmon. Some ichthyologists and many anglers have maintained that all 3 are identical, and that the Sebago salmon and_ the ouananiche are not worthy even of a subspecific rank. But spe- cific or subspecific rank is not determined by the amount or greainess of differences, but rather by their constancy. However small the differences may be, if they are real and constant, and do not intergrade, they indicate specific distinctness; however great they may be, if not constant, or if they show intergradation, they can be of no more than subspecific value. Subspecific char- acters are usually associated with more or less definite geographic or environmental isolation, and the characters of the subspecies and those of the parent species* will intergrade where the two habitats join or overlap. It seems certain that both the Sebago salmon and the ouanan- iche are geographically isolated forms, each possessing characters by which it is readily distinguished from the other, and from the Atlantic salmon as well. Whether the differential characters intergrade or not has not been fully determined. If they do not, then each should rank as a full species, and bear a binomial instead of a trinomial name. Comparing the ouananiche with the grilse of the Atlantic salmon, Mr. Walter M. Bracket, as quoted by Mr. Chambers, says the eye of the former ‘‘is much larger, the profile rounder, the dark spots larger and much more numerous. In fact, the grilse is much more of an aristocrat than his freshwater cousin, being finer in his proportions and much purer in colour—due, no doubt, to his different habitat and food.” But Mr. Bracket’s use of the term ouananiche includes the Sebago salmon also. Mr. Chambers says of the ouananiche, ‘‘Its fins are larger and stronger [than those of Salmo salar]. . . . Its tail is unusually broad. . . . The eye of the ouananiche is much larger than that of the ordinary salmon, the St. Andrew’s cross-marks upon the sides are closer together, and there are larger and more distinct * Used for convenience for the earlier described form, which may, in reality, be the derived form. 173 The Trout of Western America black spots upon the gill-covers, in shape both round and irregular.” Mr. J. G. A. Creighton says ‘‘the teeth in the ouananiche are larger than in Sa/mo salar, ... the fins are proportionately much larger, especially the tail. . . . The eye is remarkably large, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter in the adult, with a pupil Linch in diameter. These measurements are much greater than in the sea-salmon of 15 to 20 pounds’ weight.” The evidence seems to indicate that the ouananiche is specifi- cally distinct from the Atlantic salmon and from the Sebago salmon, and for the present we prefer to so regard it. The Trout of Western America In the western part of America are found more than a_ score of trout of the genus Sa/mo all closely related and difficult to distinguish. There are representatives in the headwaters of the Rio Grande, Arkansas, Platte, Missouri, and Colorado; also in the Great Salt Lake basin, throughout the Columbia basin, and in all suitable waters from southern California and Chihuahua to Alaska and Kamchatka. Among the various more or less tangible forms that may be recognized, 3 distinct series appear which have been regarded provisionally by us as distinct species. These have been termed the cut-throat trout series, the rainbow trout series, and the steel- head series, each of which has been sufficiently characterized in the key on page 163. The steelhead, or ga/rdneri series, is found in the coastwise streams of California and in the streams 9f Oregon and Washing- ton, below the great Shoshone Falls of Snake River. In the lower course of the Columbia and in neighbouring streams they are entirely distinct from the cut-throat or c/arki series, and no one would question the validity of the 2 species. In the lower Snake River and in other waters east of the Cascade range, the 2 forms or species are indistinguishable, being either undifferen- tiated or else inextricably mixed. The rainbow forms are chiefly confined to the streams of California and southern Oregon. The cut-throat forms are found from Humboldt Bay northward in the coastwise streams of northern California, Oregon and Washington, and all the clear streams on 174 The Trout of Western America both sides of the Rocky Mountains, and in the Great Basin and the headwaters of the Colorado. Along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada there are also forms of trout with the general ap- pearance of steelheads, but with scales intermediate in number (in McCloud River), or with scales as small as in the typical cut- throat (Kern River). In these small-scaled forms more or less red appears below the lower jaw, and they are doubtless what they appear to be, really intermediate between clarkii and gairdnert, A similar series of forms occurs in the Columbia basin, the upper Snake being inhabited by clarkit and the lower Snake by clarkii and gairdneri, together with a medley of intermediate forms. It seems not improbable that the American trout originated in Asia, extended its range southward to the upper Columbia, thence to the Yellowstone and the Missouri via Two-Ocean Pass; from the Missouri southward to the Platte and the Arkansas, thence from the Platte to the Rio Grande and the Colorado, and then from the Colorado across the Sierras to Kern River, thence north- ward and coastwise, the sea-running forms passing from stream to stream as far north as the Fraser where the Kamloops trout would mark one extreme of the series, and re-entering as a dis- tinct species waters long occupied by typical clarkiz. The various forms of cut-throat trout have usually been re- garded merely as subspecies of the species originally described as Salmo clarkii, but as none of them is really known to intergrade with any other we now think it best to consider them all as distinct species. Most of them certainly are good species while a few others may prove wholly undefinable. a. Black spots almost as numerous on the head as on the pos- terior part of the body. b. Scales usually about 160 to 170. c. Spots rather large, irregular and profusely scattered, usually none on the belly. d. Red marks under dentary bones always present. e. Black spots encroaching somewhat on belly;...... clarkit, 176 ee. Black spots not encroaching on belly;............. lewist, 179 dd. Red marks under dentary bones obsolete or nearly so; gibbsii, 179 cc. Spots rather large, sparsely scattered, some on belly and lower side of head;..........................henshawt, 180 bb, Scales very small, about 200 transverse series; fahoensis, 181 175 The Cut-throat Trout bbb. Scales large, usually about 145. Body profusely but finely spotted, the spots numerous both anteriorly and posteriorly; wirginalis, jordant,;, bathecetor, 182-183 aa. Black spots placed chiefly on posterior half of body. ft. No black spots except on tallj.....-......... declivifrous, 184 tf. Black spots on body. g. Scales not very small, about 160; spots of moderate size (Rio= Grande: Basin): Avs ; 4 a] Brook Trout; Speckled Trout But as the trout streams everywhere came to be fished more and more, the trout became smaller and smaller, until now it is a rare trout that escapes the angler’s fly until he has reached a greater weight than a pound or two. The trout are rapidly disappearing from our streams through the agency of the lumberman, manufacturer, and summer boarder. In the words of the late Rev. Myron W. Reed, a noble man, and an excellent angler,—‘‘This is the last generation of trout- fishers. The children will not be able to find any. Already there are well-trodden paths by every stream in Maine, New York, and in Michigan. I know of but one river in North America by the side of which you will find no paper collar or other evidence of civilization. It is the Nameless River. Not that trout will cease to be. They will be hatched by machinery and raised in ponds, and fattened on chopped liver, and grow flabby and lose their spots. The trout of the restaurant will not cease to be; but he is no more like the trout of the wild river than the fat and songless reed-bird is like the bobolink. Gross feeding and easy pond-life enervate and deprave him. The trout that the children will know only by legend is the gold-sprinkled living arrow of the white water; able to zig-zag up the cataract; able to loiter in the rapids; whose dainty meat is the glancing butterfly.” The brook trout is exceedingly variable and many local varieties have been described. The following description will apply well only to typical examples. Head 44; depth 44; D. 10; A. 9; scales _37-230-30; gillrakers about 6+11. Body oblong, moderately “compressed, not *much elevated; ‘héad large, but not very long, the snout bluntish, the interorbital space rather broad; mouth large, the maxillary reach- ing beyond orbit; eye large, somewhat above axis of body; cau- dal fin slightly lunate in the adult, forked in the young; adi- pose fin small; pectoral and ventral fins not especially elongate. Colour, back more or less mottled or barred with dark olive or black, without spots; red spots on side rather smaller than the pupil; dorsal and caudal fins mottled with darker; lower fins dusky, with a pale, usually orange, band anteriorly, followed by a darker one; belly in the male often more or less red; _ sea- run individuals (the Canadian ‘‘salmon trout”) are often nearly plain bright silvery. 209 Dublin Pond Trout Dublin Pond Trout Salvelinus agassisti (Garman) In certain ponds or lakes in New Hampshire, notably Dublin Pond, Lake Monadnock, Centre Pond, etc., is found a trout whose colouration is pale grayish, and with fewer red_ spots, thus resembling the lake trout. Otherwise it does not appear to differ from the brook trout, except that the young are said to be rather more slender, the caudal notch slightly deeper, and the sides more silvery. The young are much darker than the adults. This trout reaches a length of 7 or 8 inches. Dolly Varden Trout Salvelinus parket (Suckley) This interesting charr is found in the streams and lakes of Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and California, south to the Sacramento basin, and northward in coastal streams to the Aleu- tian Islands. It is found only in Pacific drainage. Though res- ident in fresh water, and scarcely at all migratory, it often descends to the sea, and is frequently taken in salt and brackish waters. In small mountain brooks at Unalaska and elsewhere dwarfed forms occur. This is the charr which has been known in the books until recently as Salvelinus malma, under the belief that it was identi- cal with the malma of Walbaum from Kamchatka; but recent investigations have shown the American fish to be distinct from the Kamchatkan species. Dolly Varden Trout In Montana this charr is called salmon trout, in Idaho it is the bull trout, and elsewhere it is charr, western charr, Oregon charr, or Dolly Varden trout, the last being one of the few book names of fishes which have come into general use. This interesting trout is one of the best known species in the West. It reaches a length of 2 to 3 feet, and a weight of 5 to 12 pounds. An example 26 inches long weighed 5 pounds and | ounce. Like its eastern relative it is a voracious fish, feeding freely upon whatever offers, and especially fond of minnows, of which it devours great numbers. At Lake Pend d’Oreille, where the bull trout is an abundant and popular game-fish, we have found 2 species of minnows and one millers thumb all in the stomach of one fish. It has been our pleasure to fish for the Dolly Varden trout in many different waters, among which we recall with particular satisfaction the Pend d’Oreille River from the Great Northern Rail- road to the international boundary, Lake Pend d’Oreille at Hope and Sand Point, the Redfish Lakes and Upper Salmon River, high among the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, and in a little stream near Unalaska, in which dwells a dwarfed Dolly Varden of unusual beauty. During July and August, as well as in early spring, it may be caught in any of these waters. In the smaller lakes it is most abundant about the mouths of the inlets, but the best fishing is usually in the streams, as the fish there will rise to the fly more readily, and are usually more gamy. Anything will serve as a lure—artificial fly, grasshopper or any other insect of fair size, small minnow, a piece of fish or other meat, salmon eggs, trolling spoon or frog, and even the bright coloured leaves of the p2inted cup or other flower. The gameness of the Dolly Varden trout varies greatly with the character of the water and the season, just as with any other game-fish. Those taken in lakes are apt to be sluggish, but when taken in cold streams, with a good, strong, steady current, or in the rapids where the water tumbles and boils, then the Dolly Varden displays the superior game qualities which show its kinship with its eastern and better known congener. Head 34 to 34; depth 4$ to 6; eye 6} to 7; snout 3 to 4; maxillary 1% to 3; D. 11; A. 9; scales 39-240-36; pyloric cceca large, 45 to 50; gillrakers about 8+12. Body rather slender, the 2IT Long-finned Charr back somewhat elevated, less compressed than in Salvelinus fontinalis; head large, snout broad, flattened above; mouth large, the maxillary reaching past the eye; fins short, the caudal slightly forked or almost truncate. General colour, olivaceous, the sides with round red or orange spots nearly as large as the eye, the back with similar but smaller spots, and without reticulations, a feature of colouration which at once distinguishes this from all other American trout; lower fins coloured much as in S. fontrnalis, dusky, with a pale stripe in front, followed by a darker one. Sea-run examples are silvery, with the spots pale or obsolete. Long-finned Charr Salvelinus alipes (Richardson) In northern Europe, from the Swiss lakes and the lochs of Scotland northward, in all cold waters, is found the Saibling or European charr, Salvelinus alpinus. This charr is represented in America by several forms, most of which have usually ranked as subspecies. The first of these is the long-finned charr which in- habits the lakes of Greenland and Boothia Felix about Prince Regent Inlet. In this charr the body is elongate, the head moderate, the snout long and pointed, with the lower jaw projecting beyond the upper; teeth small; maxillary long and narrow, reaching beyond the eye; preopercle very short, with a very short lower limb; opercle and preopercle very conspicuously and deeply striated; fins much developed, the dorsal much higher than long; pectoral very long, reaching more than halfway to ventrals, which are very long; caudal well forked. Greenland Charr Salvelinus stagnalis (Fabricius) This is another charr occuring in the waters of Greenland, Boothia Felix and neighbouring regions. Body rather elongate; pectoral short, 1% in head, not reaching half-way to ventrals; dor- sal about as high as long, the longest ray 1% in head; gillrakers g+15; slender and nearly straight, the longest 2} in eye. Colour, dark green, with lighter irregular green streaks, silvery below; sides everywhere with pale pink spots, the largest 212 The Arctic Charr smaller than eye; upper fins greenish, the lower fins pink. Sea- run examples nearly plain silvery. This trout reaches a length of 1 to 2 feet and is a food-fish of considerable importance to the natives of that region. Arctic Charr Salvelinus arcturus (Ginther) This charr is known only from Lake Victoria, Floeberg Beach, in lat. 82° 34’, andis the most northern Salmonoid known. It has the body rather slender, head small, snout obtuse, mouth moderate, the maxillary in the male reaching to posterior edge of orbit; teeth small; a band of hyoid teeth; caudal moderately forked; head 44; depth 5; D. 11; A. 10; Br. 11; pyloric cceca 31 to 44. Colour, dull greenish, silvery or reddish below; lower fins yellowish; probably no red _ spots. Sunapee Trout; American Saibling Salvelinus aureolus Bean The golden trout of Sunapee Lake was not known to anglers until about twenty years ago, and it was not described and named until 1888. Through the interesting writings of Dr. John D. Quackenbos and others its name is now a familiar one to anglers everywhere, though but few have a_ personal acquaint- ance with the fish in its native waters, for this beautiful trout has a very restricted habitat. So far as known it is native only 213 Sunapee Trout; American Saibling to Sunapee Lake, New Hampshire, and Flood Pond, near Ells- worth, Maine, but through fish cultural operations it has been in- troduced into a number of other lakes. The water of both Sunapee Lake and Flood Pond is ex- ceptionally pure and cold, the bottom temperature varying from 38° to 52°, according to the depth, as giving by Dr. Quacken- bos. The maximum depth of each is over 1oo feet, the bottom is of white sand and gravel, and there is in each an abundance of crustacea and other fish-food. These are the environing conditions which have made the Sunapee trout a fish of surprising beauty and gracefulness. According to Dr. Quackenbos who has a more intimate ac- quaintance with this fish than any other who has written about it, the distinguishing characteristics are as follows: ‘‘ The presence of a broad row of teeth on the hyoid bone between the lower extremities of the first 2 gill-arches; the absence of mottling on the dark sea-green back, and the excessively developed fins; in- conspicuous yellow spots without areola: a square or slightly emarginate tail; a small and delicately shaped head; diminutive, aristocratic mouth, liquid planetary eyes, and a generally graceful build; a phenomenally brilliant nuptial colouration, recalling the foreign appellations of ‘blood-red charr,’ ‘gilt charr,’ and ‘golden saibling.’ As the October pairing time approaches, the Sunapee fish becomes illuminated with the flushes of maturing passion. ‘“The steel-green mantle of the back and _ shoulders now seems to dissolve into a veil of amethyst, through which the daffodil spots of mid-summer gleam out in points of flame, while below the lateral line all is dazzling orange. The fins catch the hue of adjacent parts, and pectoral, ventral, anal, and lower lobe of caudal, are marked with a lustrous white band. “It is a umique experience to watch this American saibling spawning on the Sunapee shallows. Here in all the magnificence of their nuptial decoration flash schools of painted beauties, circling in proud sweeps about the submerged boulders they would select as the scenes of their loves—the poetry of an epi- thalamium in every motion—in one direction, uncovering to the sunbeams in amorous leaps their golden-tinctured sides, gemmed with the fire of rubies; in another, darting in little companies, the pencilled margins of their fins seeming to trail behind them 214 Sunapee Trout; American Saibling like white ribbons under the ripples. There are conspicuous dil- ferences in intensity of general colouration, and the gaudy dyes of the milter are tempered in the spawner to a dead-lustre cad- mium cream or olive chrome, with opal spots. The wedding garment nature has given to this charr is unparagoned. Those who have seen the bridal march of the glistening hordes, in all their glory of colour and majesty of action, pronounce it a spec- tacle never to be forgotten.” That so conspicuous a game and food-fish could have been aboriginal to Sunapee Lake, and for 100 years have escaped the notice alike of visiting and resident anglers, persistent poachers, and alert scientists is accounted for, as suggested by Dr. Quacken- bos, by its habit of remaining almost constantly in deep water, by its spawning on mid-lake reefs late in the fall when angling is out of season and the locality of the beds dangerous of access, and by its comparative scarcity prior to the introduction of black bass in 1868. Quoting still further from Dr. Quackenbos, to whom we are indebted for our account of this fish, ‘‘the Sunapee saib- ling takes live bait readily, preferring a cast smelt in spring, when it pursues the spawning Osmerus to the shores. As_ far as is known, it does not rise to the fly, either at this season, or when on the shoals in autumn. Through the summer months it is angled for with a live minnow or smelt, in 60 to 70 feet of water, over cold bottom, in localities that have been baited. While the smelt are inshore, trolling with a light fly-rod and fine tackle, either with a Skinner fluted spoon, No. 1, or a small smelt on a single hook, will sometimes yield superb sport, as the game qualities of the white trout are estimated to be double those of fovtinalis. ‘“‘The most exhilarating amusement to be had with this charr, after the first hot June days, is in trolling from a sailboat with a greenheart tarpon rod, 300 feet of copper wire of the smallest calibre on a heavy tarpon reel, and attached to this a 6-foot braided leader with a Buell’s spinner, or a live minnow on a stiff gang. The weight of the wire sinks the bait to the requisite depth. When the sailboat is running across the wind at the maximum of her speed, the sensation experienced by the strike of a 4 or 5-pound fish bankrupts all description. A strong line under such a tension would part on the instant; but the ductility of the wire averts this accident, and the man at the reel end of the 215 Sunapee Trout; American Saibling rod experiences a characteristic ‘give,’ quickly followed by the dead-weight strain of the frenzied Salmonoid. To land a fish thus struck implies much greater patience and skill than a suc- cessful battle, under similar circumstances with a 5-ounce 6-strip and delicate tackle. The pleasure is largely concentrated in the strike, and the perception of a big fish ‘fast.. The watchful- ness and labour involved in the subsequent struggle border closely on the confines of pain. The ductile wire is an essentially dif- ferent means from a taut silk line. The fish holds the coign of vantage; when he stands back and with bulldog pertinacity wrenches savagely at the pliable metal—when he rises to the surface in a despairing leap for his life—the angler is at his mercy. But, brother of the sleave-silk and tinsel, when at last you gaze upon your captive lying asphyxiated on the surface, a synthesis of qualities that make a perfect fish—when you disen- gage him from the meshes of the net, and place his icy figure in your outstretched palms, and watch the tropeolin glow of his awakening tones soften into cream tints, and the cream tints pale into the pearl of the moonstone, as the muscles of respira- tion glow feebler and more irregular in their contraction—you will experience a peculiar thrill that the capture neither of ouana- niche, nor fontinalis, nor namaycush can ever excite. It is this after-glow of pleasure, this delight of contemplation and specula- tion, of which the scientific angler never wearies, that lends a charm all its own to the pursuit of the Alpine trout. ‘‘Finally there can be no doubt as to the economic value of the American saibling. It is one of the most prolific of our Sal- monoids, the female averaging 1200 eggs to the pound, and cast- ing spawn when only 2 ounces in weight. It is also a singularly rapid grower where smelt food abounds. The extreme weight proved to have been attained is about 12 pounds, although ac- counts exist of much larger specimens weighing from 15 to 20 pounds. As a rule the greater the altitude the smaller the fish, but the more intense the colouration. This charr is exceptionally hardy and easy to propagate. The eggs bear transportation over the roughest roads without injury.” According to Mr. Merrill, of Green Lake, the saibling fry remain perfectly healthy at a temperature which proves very trying to brook trout fry; both the eggs and the fry display wonderful hardiness under the most trying circumstances. 216 Oquassa Trout; Blueback Trout The young are persistent hiders; any crevice in the bank or lump of clay affords a hiding place. When fed, they will emerge and rise for their food, but will immediately hide again. In feeding, they remain near the bottom, darting up after their food and going back quickly. They are much cleaner feeders than either trout or salmon, picking up all the food that sinks, allowing none to waste. Dr. Quackenbos recommends it in the highest terms to fish culturists and regards it as ‘‘facile princeps, from its rush at the cast smelt to the finish at the breakfast table.” Oquassa Trout; Blueback Trout Salvelinus oguassa (Girard) The blueback trout is the smallest and one of the most handsome of the charrs. It rarely exceeds a foot in length and a few ounces in weight, and is known only from the Rangely Lakes in western Maine. Although quite different in appearance, it shows no important structural differences separating it from the European saibling. Formerly this fish was very abundant, running up the streams in October in immense numbers—running up at night and drop- ping back before morning, so that none was to be seen in the day time. Then the fish were small, only 6 to to inches in length, and 4 to 6 to the pound. Now they are very scarce, and the few that are caught are much larger, sometimes weighing as much as 24 pounds. Head 5; depth 5; eye 34; D. 10; A. 9; scales about 230; gill- rakers about 6+11. Body elongate, considerably compressed, less 217 Lac de Marbre Trout; Marston Trout elevated than in the other species of charrs, the dorsal outline regularly but not strongly curved; head smaller than in any other trout, its upper surface flattish; mouth quite small, the maxillary short and moderately broad, scarcely reaching posterior edge of orbit; jaws about equal; scales small, those along the lateral line somewhat enlarged; pectoral and ventral fins not elongate; caudal fin well forked, in small ones more so than in other species, but more nearly ‘‘square” in large individuals; no concentric striz on opercles. Colour, dark blue, the round red spots much smaller than the pupil, and usually confined to the sides of the body; sides with traces of dark bars; lower fins variegated, as in S. fontinalis. In lakes of Arctic America, about Discovery Bay and Cumber- land Gulf, is found another charr, Sa/velinus oquassa narest (Giinther), usually regarded as a subspecies of the Oquassa trout, from which it does not differ greatly. It reaches a length of a foot or more. Nothing is known of its habits. Colour, green- ish above, sides silvery or deep red, with very small red spots, much smaller than the pupil; lower fins deep red, the anterior margins yellowish white; dorsal fin reddish posteriorly. Lac de Marbre Trout; Marston Trout Salvelinus marstont Garman This interesting charr was described in 1893 by Professor Samuel Garman, from specimens sent him from Lac de Marbre, Ottawa County, Province of Quebec. The distribution of this trout has not been determined. If it is identical with the so-called red trout of Canada, as seems prob- able, it will doubtless be found in most of the suitable waters north of the St. Lawrence and tributary to it. Besides the speci- mens which Professor Garman had from Lac de Marbre, which is near Ottawa, other examples have been obtained from one of the lakes of the Laurentides Club in the Lake St. John district, others from Lac a Cassette, in Rimouski County, only a few miles from the St. Lawrence, and, more recently, many fine examples were secured by Mr. J. W. Titcomb from Lake Saccacomi and the Red lakes in Maskinonge County, township of St. Alexis des Monts, Quebec. These red trout were at first thought to be bottom feeders, and that they would not rise to the fly, but they are now known 218 Lac de Marbre Trout; Marston Trout to take the fly readily, and must be classed among the most beautiful and active of American game-fishes. It is regarded by Professor Garman as allied to the Oquassa trout, from which it differs in the longer maxillary, stronger den- tition, deeply notched caudal fin, larger size and different colouration. It seems even more closely related to specimens which have been identified by Dr. Bean with Salvelinus rosst of Richardson, which may be identical with the Greenland charr. Little or nothing has been recorded regarding its game qualities, but its trim appearance and rich colouration, together with the cold water in which it lives, would indicate a fish well worthy the attention of anglers. Head 5; depth 6; eye about 5; snout 33; interorbital 34; D. 13; A. 13; V. 9; P. 14; Br. 11-+12; vertebre 60; gillrakers 8+14. Body subfusiform, compressed, pointed at the snout, slender at the tail; mouth large; maxillary straight, extending almost to pos- terior edge of eye, bearing strong teeth nearly its whole length; teeth on intermaxillary and mandible stronger; a series of 4 strong hooked teeth on each side of tongue; opercle thin, with few striz; scales very small, apparently about 230 in the series immediately above lateral line, and more than 250 in a row 5 or 6 scales above this; dorsal and anal slightly emarginate; pectoral and_ ventral small, base of the latter slightly behind the middle of that of dorsal; caudal peduncle very slender; caudal lobes pointed, the notch very deep. Colour, back dark brown, unspotted, with an iridescent bluish tint; dorsal dark, clouded, without spots or bands; pectoral, ventrals and anal orange in the middle, yellowish. or whitish toward bases and at their margins; dark colour of back shading into whitish tinged with pink below lateral line; ventral surface white, no doubt reddish in breeding season; head black on top; cheeks silvery, whitish beneath; caudal fin yellowish toward base, brown distally; faint areas of lighter tint suggest a few spots of red in life along lateral line; flesh pink. Ht reaches a length of a foot or more. THE GRAYLINGS Family XVI. Thymallide Tue graylings agree very closely with the Sa/monide@ in external characters and in habits. They differ notably in the structure of the skull and the presence of epipleural spines on the anterior ribs. The parietal bones meet at the middle and separate the frontals from the supraoccipital bone. The conventional statement that the graylings are intermediate between the whitefishes and the trout is not born out by the skeleton. The family contains one genus and about 5 species, all beautiful fishes of the rivers of cold or Arctic regions, active and gamy and delicious as food. The French call the grayling ‘“‘ un umble chevalier” and say he feeds on gold. ‘‘And some think he feeds on water-thyme, for he smells of it when first taken out of the water; and they may think so with as good reason as we do that the smelts smell like violets at their first being caught; which I think is a truth.” (Izaak Walton.) And St. Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, calls the grayling ‘“‘the flower of fishes.” GENUS THYMALLUS CUVIER Body oblong, somewhat compressed, not much elevated; head rather short; mouth moderate, terminal, the short maxillary extend- ing past middle of the large eye, but not to its posterior margin; teeth slender and sparse on the maxillaries, premaxillaries and lower jaw; vomer short with a small patch of teeth; teeth on the palatines; tongue toothless or nearly so; scales small and loose; dorsal fin very long and high; caudal well forked; air-bladder very large; pyloric appendages 15 to 18. Three species, all very closely related, have been recognized in American waters. Arctic Grayling; Poisson Bleu Arctic Grayling: Poisson Bleu Thymallus stgnifer (Richardson) The Arctic or Alaska grayling is known from the Mackenzie, Kowak and other rivers of Alaska, and is said to abound in most clear cold streams even to the Arctic Ocean. It reaches a length of 18 inches and is an excellent food and game fish. Head 54; depth 42; eye 3; maxillary 6; D.24; A. 11; scales 8-88 to 90-11; cceca 18. Body elongate, compressed; head rather short, subconic, compressed, its upper outline continuous with anterior curve of back; mouth moderate, the maxillary extending to below middle of eye; jaws about equal; scales moderate, easily detached, lateral line nearly straight; a small bare space behind isthmus. Colour, dark bluish on back, purplish-gray on sides; belly blackish- gray, with irregular whitish blotches; 5 or 6 deep blue spots anteri- orly; head brown, a blue mark on each side of lower jaw; dorsal dark gray, blotched with paler, with crossrows of deep-blue spots, edged with lake red; ventrals striated with purplish and whitish. Michigan Grayling Michigan Grayling Thymallus tricolor Cope The Michigan grayling is known from various streams in the southern peninsula of Michigan and from Otter Creek, near Keweenaw, in the northern peninsula. It was formerly very abundant in the Au Sable and Jordan rivers, and other streams of northern Michigan, but through the destructive and wholly in- excusable methods by which the lumbering and logging operations have been carried on in that region these streams have been ruined and the grayling practically exterminated. The Michigan grayling began to receive the attention of naturalists, fish-culturists, and anglers about 25 years ago, but no great success was ever attained in its artificial propagation. With anglers it has been held in very high esteem. ‘‘There is no species sought for by anglers that surpasses the grayling in beauty. They are more elegantly formed and more graceful than the trout, and their great dorsal fin is a superb mark of loveliness. When the well-lids were lifted, and the sun’s rays admitted, lighting up the delicate olive-brown tints of the back and sides, the bluish-white of the abdomen, and the mingling of tints of rose, pale blue, and purplish-pink on the fins, they dis- played a combination of colours equaled by no fish outside the tropics.”” Mr. Fred. Mather describes the colouring of the grayling as follows: ‘‘His pectorals are olive-brown, with a bluish tint at the end; the ventrals are striped with alternate streaks of brown and pink; the anal is plain brown; the caudal is very forked and plain, while the crowning glory is the immense dorsal, which is dotted with large, brilliant-red or bluish purple spots, 222 GOLDEN TROUT OF SUNAPEE LAKE. Salvelinus aureolus Montana Grayling surrounded with a splendid emerald green, which fades after death— the changeable shade of green seen in the peacock’s tail,” Head about 5; scales 93 to 98; D. 21 or 22, lower and smaller than in 7. siguifer. Colour, brilliant, purplish-gray; young more silvery; sides of head with bright bluish and bronze reflections; anterior part of side with small, irregular, inky-black spots; ventral fins ornate, dusky, with diagonal rose- coloured lines; dorsal with a black line along its base, then a rose-coloured one, ‘then a blackish one, then rose- coloured blackish, and rose coloured, the last stripe continued as a row of spots; above these is a row of dusky-green spots, then a row of minute rose-coloured spots, then a broad dusky area, the middle part of the fin tipped with rose; anal and adipose fins dusky; central rays of caudal pink, the outer rays dusky. Montana Grayling Thymallus montanus (Milner) The Montana grayling is known to occur only in streams emptying into the Missouri River above the Great Falls, prin- cipally in Smith or Deep River and its tributaries, in the Little Belt Mountains, in Sun River, and in the Jefferson, Gallatin and Madison rivers and their affluents. Like all other grayling it prefers cold, clear streams of pure water, with sandy and gravelly bottoms. The spawning season of the Montana grayling is in April and May, depending upon the temperature of the water. The United States Fish Hatchery at Bozeman, Montana, obtains eggs of the grayling in Elk Creek, tributary to Red Rock Lake. At the approach of the spawning season the fish go up the Jefferson, through Beaverhead and Red Rock rivers, to Red Rock 223 Montana Grayling Lake, 14 miles in length, and through the lake itself to the in- lets at its head. After spawning they return through the lake to the rivers below, none stopping in the lake whose waters seem wholly unsuited to them. At spawning time Elk Creek is fairly alive with grayling on the gravelly shallows, where their large «nd beautiful dorsal fins are to be seen waving, clear of the water, in the manner of sharks’ fins on a flood tide, The artificial propagation of the Montana grayling was begun at Bozeman in 1898 and, under the able direction of Dr. James A. Henshall, the superintendent, has proved very successful. In 1899, 5,300,000 eggs were taken and 4,567,000 fry were hatched and liberated. The number of eggs varies from 2,000 to 4,000 to the fish. As to game qualities, Dr. Henshall regards the Montana gray- ling as fully the equal of the brook trout, or red-throat trout, putting up as good a fight, and often leaping above the surface when hooked. It takes the artificial fly, caddis larve, grass- hoppers, angleworms and_= similar bait. The best artificial flies to use are those with bodies of peacock harl, or yellow-bodied flies, as: Professor, Queen of the Water, Oconomowoc, and Lord Baltimore; or Grizzly King, Henshall, Coachman and_ the like. Small flies should be used, on hooks Nos. 10 to 12. Grayling may be taken from May to November, the best time being in the summer. The average size of this fish is 10 to 12 inches in length and 4 to 1 pound in weight. The largest Dr. Henshall reports were 20 inches long and weighed 2 pounds. At present good grayling fishing in Montana can be had in the tributaries of the Smith or Deep River in the Little Belt Mountains, and in the upper parts of the Gallatin, Madison and Jefferson rivers. The best fishing is near the upper canyon of the Madison, and in Odell, Red Rock and other creeks at the head of Red Rock Lake, the sources of the Jefferson. 224 THE SMELTS Family XVIT. Argentinide THE smelts are small fishes, marine or anadromous, some of them inhabiting deep water; all but one genus confined to the waters of the Northern Hemisphere. There are about a dozen genera with some 15 species, and they may be regarded as re- duced Salmontdw, smaller and in every way feebler than the trout, but similar to them in all respects except in the form of the stomach. Most of them are very delicate food-fishes. a. Ventral fins inserted in front of the middle of the dorsal; mouth large. b. Scales very small, arranged in the male in villous bands; pec- toral broad, of 15 to 20 raySj......---+--05- Mallotus, 225 bb. Scales large, similar in both sexes; pectoral moderate, of 10 to 12 rays. c. Teeth feeble, those on tongue very weak; scales small, ad- Herentites ata neds a ahoeas wera aie aaatucest ed HOLEZCNIIYS, 226 cc. Teeth strong, those on tongue enlarged, canine-like; scales moderate, loosely attached..........-.....+-5. Osmerus, 22 aa. Ventral fins inserted under or behind middle of dorsal; mouth rather small. d. Jaws with minute teeth; similar teeth on tongue and palate; maxillary reaching past front of eye;........ Hypomesus, 230 GENUS MALLOTUS CUVIER The Capelins Body elongate, compressed, covered with minute scales, a band of which, above the lateral line and along each side of the belly, are enlarged, and in mature males they become elongate- lanceolate, densely imbricated, with free, projecting points, form- ing villous bands. In very old males the scales of the back and belly are similarly modified, and the top of the head and the rays of the paired fins are finely granulated. Mouth rather large, the 225 Capelin ; Lodde maxillary thin, extending to below middle of eye; lower jaw pro- jecting; lower fins very large; pectorals large, the base very broad; gillrakers long and_ slender. Capelin; Lodde Mallotus villosus (Miller) The Capelin is found on both coasts of Arctic America, south to Cape Cod and Alaska. It is also found on the Kamchatkan coast, and is generally abundant northward, It is a most delicious little fish, much valued in the far north. The eggs of the capelin are deposited in the sand along Arctic shores in incredible numbers. They are washed up on the beaches, and in about 30 days they are hatched. The beach then becomes a quivering mass of little fishes, eggs and sand, from which the little fishes are borne into the sea by the waves. GENUS THALEICHTHYS GIRARD This genus is intermediate between Ma//otus and Osmerus, differing from the latter in its rudimentary dentition, and in_ its small adherent scales. All the teeth are very feeble, slender and deciduous, although occasionally present on all the bones of the mouth; no permanent teeth on the tongue; scales smaller than in Osmerus, and more closely adherent, larger than in Ma//otus, and similar in the 2 sexes. One species. 226 Eulachon; Candlefish Eulachon ; Candlefish Thaleichthys pacificus (Richardson) The Eulachon is found from Oregon northward, ascending the Fraser and other rivers in spring in enormous numbers. An_ ex- cellent panfish, unsurpassed by any fish whatsoever in delicacy of the flesh, which is far superior to that of any trout; remarkable for ex- treme oiliness, but the oil has a very delicate, attractive flavour. The oil is sometimes extracted and used as a substitute for cod- liver oil, but it is solid and lard-like at ordinary temperatures. When dried these fish have been used as candles, a wick having been placed in them. Colour, white, scarcely silvery; upper parts rendered dark iron- gray by the accumulation of dark punctulations. Length, 10 to 12 inches. GENUS OSMERUS LINN/AGZUS The Smelts Body elongate, compressed; head long, pointed; mouth wide, the slender maxillary extending to past middle of eye; lower jaw projecting; preorbital and suborbital bones narrow; fine teeth on maxillaries and premaxillaries; lower jaw with small teeth, which are larger posteriorly; tongue with a few strong, fang-like teeth, largest at the tip; hyoid bone, vomer, and palatines with wide-set teeth; gillrakers long and slender; scales large and loose; dorsal small, about midway of body, over the ventrals; anal long; ver- tebre 40; pyloric coeca few and small. 227 The Pacific Smelt Small fishes of the coasts of Europe and northern America, sometimes ascending rivers; the flesh of all very delicate and highly valued as food. Five or 6 species and subspecies in our waters. a. Vomer with a cross-series of small teeth; small, weak species spawning in the sea;........-... eeeeee, thaleichthys, 228 aa. Vomer with 2 to 4 strong, fang-like teeth; species stronger in habit, ascending streams. b. Maxillary not reaching posterior margin of eye; depth 6 to 62. in length; colour plainje:.2. 4200 ccss4 cease mordax, 229 6b. Maxillary reaching posterior margin of eye; depth 54; colour brilliant: seit nctsemie gees tec ces teenentonien take seoees dentex, 230 7 fm ae . Pacific Smelt Osmerus thaleichthys Ayres This interesting little fish is found on our Pacific coast from San Francisco northward to Bristol Bay in Alaska, and is usu- ally common. It is a weak, feeble species, its flesh soft and not keeping well, but of excellent flavour. Colour, olivaceous, the sides silvery and somewhat translucent. Length 8 or 9 inches. 228 American Smelt American Smelt Osmerus mordax (Mitchill) This is the smelt of America. It is found along our Atlantic Coast from Virginia to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, entering streams, and is often land-locked. It is abundant in Lakes Champlain and Memphremagog, and in many other lakes in New England, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It enters our rivers and brackish bays during the winter months for the purpose of spawning, when it is caught in immense numbers in nets and by hook and line. In 1622 Capt. John Smith wrote: “Of smelts there is such abundance that the Salvages doe take them up in the rivers with baskets, like sives”; and Josselyn, 55 years later, wrote: ‘‘The frostfish [O. mordax] is little bigger than a Gudgeon, and are taken in fresh brooks; when the waters are frozen they make a hole in the ice, about 4 yard or yard wide, to which the fish repair in great numbers, where, with small nets bound to a hoop about the bigness of a firkin- hoop, with a staff fastened to it, they take them out of the hole.”” Great quantities are taken along the coast and usually after being frozen, are shipped to the larger cities. Those which have not been frozen are termed ‘‘green”’ smelts, and are much more highly esteemed. The principal food of the smelt consists of shrimps and other small crustaceans. Colour, transparent greenish above, sides silvery; body and fins with some dark punctulations. The smelt does not usu- ally exceed 8 or 10 inches in length, but it sometimes exceeds a foot in length and a weight of a pound. 229 Rainbow Herring Examples from Sebago Lake recently obtained by Dr. Ken- dall measure 12 inches in total length, and even larger ones occur in the Belgrade Lakes of Maine. In Wilton Pond, Kennebec County, Maine, is a land-locked smelt which has been recognized as a subspecies of the common smelt under the name Osmerus mordax spectrum. \t seems to be distinguished by a somewhat shorter head and more slender body. In Cobbosseecontee Lake, Maine, is found another subspecies, O. mordax abbotti, which has the head still shorter and the body more slender; maxillary reaching posterior margin of pupil. These subspecies are of doubtful validity. Rainbow Herring Osmerus dentex Steindachner On both coasts of Bering Sea and south to northern China this smelt is found. It is a brilliantly coloured little fish with the flesh of firmer texture than in other species. About Bristol Bay it constitutes an important part of the food of the natives. Colour, pale olive on back, the scales edged with darker; side above lateral line purple, changing below to blue, and then to violet and gold; under parts silvery, with rosy sheen, the belly satiny-white; fins plain, slightly golden. GENUS HYPOMESUS GILL _ The Surf Smelts Body rather elongate, moderately compressed, covered with thin scales of moderate size; head rather pointed; mouth moderate, the short maxillary not quite reaching middle of eye, its out- line below broadly convex; lower jaw projecting; teeth minute, on jaws, vomer, palatines, and tongue; ventrals inserted directly under middle of dorsal; midway between eye and base of cau- dal. Small fishes of the North Pacific. 230 Surf Smelt; Pond Smelt Surf Smelt Flypomesus pretiosus (Girard) This smelt attains a length of a foot and is found on the coast of California and Oregon from Monterey northward, usually abundant and spawning in the surf. A firm-fleshed and fat little fish of delicious flavour, scarcely inferior to the eulachon. Colour, light olivaceous; a silvery band along the lateral line. Pond Smelt Flypomesus olidus (Pallas) This delicious and excellent little food-fish is abundant on both coasts of Bering Sea southward to Japan and the Aleutian Islands. It spawns in fresh-water ponds, and is exceedingly abundant about St. Michaels. From the surf smelt, which it closely resembles, it is distinguished by its higher fins, the longest dorsal ray being only 6 in body; pectoral reaching # dis- tance to ventrals, their length 5 in body; ventrals 6 in body. Colour, dusky, little transparent. 231 THE BLACKFISH Family XVII. Dallide THis family contains but one genus and a _ single species, Dallia pectoralis Bean, known as the Alaskan blackfish. It is found only in the streams and ponds of northern Alaska and Siberia, abounding in sphagnum ponds and found in countless numbers ‘‘ wherever there is water enough to wet the skin of a fish.” It forms one of the chief articles in the food of the natives Alaskan Blackfish who use it also as food for their dogs. It feeds largely upon small plants, worms and crustaceans. Its vitality is extraordinary. It will remain frozen in baskets for weeks and, when thawed out, will be as lively as ever. Turner mentions one swallowed frozen by a dog, thawed out by the heat of the dog’s stomach, and vomited up alive. Length about 8 inches. THE PIKES Family XIX. Esocide Bopy long, slender, not elevated, more or less compressed posteriorly, broad anteriorly; head long, the snout long and de- pressed; mouth very large, its cleft forming about half length of head; lower jaw the longer; upper jaw not protractile; premax- illaries, vomer, and palatines with broad bands of strong cardi- form teeth which are more or less movable; lower jaw with strong teeth of different sizes; tongue with a band of small teeth; head naked above; cheeks and opercles more or less scaly; gill- openings very wide; gill-membranes separate, free from the isthmus; branchiostigals 12 to 20; scales small; lateral line weak, obsolete in the young, better developed in the adult; pseudo- branchiz glandular, hidden; air-bladder simple. Fishes of moderate or large size, inhabiting the fresh waters of Europe, Asia and North America. There is but a single genus with 7 species, one of them cosmopolitan, the others all confined to North America. The species are all noted for their greediness and voracity; ‘‘mere machines for the assimilation of other organisms.” They are all excellent food-fishes and the larger ones are good game-fishes. GENUS ESOX LINN AGUS The characters of the genus included above with those of the family. The 7 species may easily and readily be identified by means of the following key: a. Cheek entirely scaly; branchiostegals 11 to 16. b. Opercles entirely scaly; dorsal rays 11 to 14; colour greenish, barred or reticulated with darker. Branchiostegals normally 12 (11 to 13); scales 105 to 108; dorsal rays 11 or 12; anal rays 11 or 12; snout short, middle of eye nearer tip of lower jaw than posterior mar- gin of opercle; species of small size; the fins unspotted. d. Head short, 34 in length of body; snout 2} in head; eye 23 in snout. Colour, dark greenish, the side with about 20 distinct curved blackish bars; fins pale;....americanus, 234 a) 233 Banded Pickerel dd. Head longer, 34 in length of body; snout 24 in head; eye 2; in snout. Colour, light greenish, the side with many narrow curved streaks of darker, these usually distinct, ir- regular, and much reticulated; fins plain; vermicilatus, 234 cc. Branchiostegals 14 to 16; scales about 125; dorsal rays 14; anal 13; middle of eye midway between tip of lower jaw and posterior margin of opercle. Colour, greenish, with many narrow dark curved lines and streaks, mostly hori- zontal and more or less reticulated; fins plain; reticulatus, 235 bb. Opercles without any scales on the lower half; dorsal rays 16 or 17. Colour, grayish, with many whitish spots, the young with whitish or yellowish crossbars; dorsal, anal, and caudal spotted with black; a white horizontal band bounding naked portion of opercle. Size large;.......... lucius, 236 aa. Cheeks as well as opercles with the lower half naked; bran- chiostegals 17 to 19. d. Sides grayish, with round or squarish blackish spots, not coalescing to form bands;..............-. MaSQUINONgV, 237 dd. Sides brassy, with narrow dark cross-shades, which break up into vaguely outlined dark spots;......... ohiensts, 239 ddd. Sides grayish, unspotted or with very vague dark cross- shadesi.cshi seek aol ee iets +s dminaculatus, 240 Banded Pickerel Esox americanus Gmelin This small pickerel, reaching a length of about a foot, oc- curs only east of the Alleghany Mountains, from Massachusetts to Florida, the westernmost record being Flomaton, Alabama. It is abundant in all lowland streams and swamps of this region. It takes the baited hook readily but is too small to be of much food or game value. Easily known by the complete scaling of cheeks and opercles and in having 12 or 13 branchiostegals. Little Pickerel ; Grass Pike Esox vermiculatus Le Sueur The grass pike occurs abundantly throughout the middle and upper Mississippi Valley and in streams tributary to Lakes Erie and 234 Common Eastern Pickerel; Green Pike; Jack Michigan. It is not known from east of the Alleghanies nor from Texas. Throughout most of its range it is generally common in all ponds, bayous and small sluggish streams, preferring those waters in which there is much aquatic vegetation. It rarely exceeds a foot in length which precludes it being more than a boy’s fish. Br. 11 to 13; scales 105. Colour, green or grayish; side with many curved streaks, sometimes forming bars, but more usually marmorations or reticulations, the colour extremely variable, some- times quite plain; sides of head usually variegated; a dark bar downward and one forward from the eye; base of caudal sometimes mottled; other fins usually plain. Common Eastern Pickerel; Green Pike; Jack Esox reticulatus Le Sueur This species is found from Maine to Florida, Louisiana, Arkan- sas and Tennessee, common everywhere east and south of the Alleghanies. In Maine it was probably native only in the south- western portion of the state, but through the agency of man it is now abundant in practically all the lakes in the southern third of the State, and it is found in some lakes further north. In the other New England States this pickerel is a common and familiar inhabitant of nearly every lake and pond. The same is true of the ponds and lakes of New York, New Jersey and eastern Penn- sylvania. The most southern record is from Crooked Lake, Orange County, Florida. The most western record is from Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, and other tributaries of White River, it being common in the Ozark region. This species attains a length ot 2 feet, and a weight of several pounds. In some places it is a game-fish of considerable importance. It is fished for in all sorts of ways. In New England and elsewhere perhaps the most common method is ‘‘skittering,”” using a piece of perch belly, a minnow, a small frog or a frog-leg. In trolling, as in skittering, almost any lure is effective. It will also take the artificial fly, particularly if it be large and bright in colour, and if used some- what as in skittering. In winter many pickerel are taken through the ice by using live minnow bait. 235 Common Pike; Great Lakes Pike; Pickerel As a food-fish the pickerel occupies a fair rank. Its flesh is firm and flaky and possesses a pleasant flavour, though it is a little dry. Br. 14 to 16; D. 14; A. 13; scales 125; cheeks and opercles entirely scaly. Colour, green of vary-ing shades; sides with golden lustre, and marked with numerous dark lines and streaks, which are mostly horizontal, and by their junction with one another pro- duce a reticulated appearance; a dark band below eye; fins plain. Common Pike; Great Lakes Pike; Pickerel Esox luctus Linnzus This is the most widely distributed and most important species of the family. It is found in all suitable fresh waters of northern North America, Europe and Asia. In North America it is found from New York and the Ohio River northward. It is not found on the Pacific coast, except in Alaska. In the small lakes of the upper Mississippi Valley, and in the Great Lakes it is generally common. It is a common fish in Canada, where it is called ‘‘eithinyoo-cannooshceoo”’ by the Creek Indians. It reaches a length of 4 feet and a weight of 40 pounds or more. Its great size and fairly good game qualities make it a fish which is much prized by many anglers. It is taken in the vari- ous ways by which the eastern pickerel is captured, from which its habits are not materially different. In Europe it is more highly esteemed than with us. Walton devotes an entire chapter to it, concluding with directions how to ‘‘roast him when he is caught,” and declaring that ‘‘when thus prepared he is ‘choicely good ’— 230 The Muskallunge too good for any but anglers and honest men.” In Manitoba it is the jack-fish, according to Mr Ernest Thompson Seton. One of the best streams for great pike fishing of which we know is the Kankakee. In this sluggish river and its connecting lakes this fish is quite common, and reaches a very large size. The largest example of which we have any record as being taken in the Kankakee weighed 264 pounds. Br. 14 to 16; D. 16 or 17; A. 13 or 14; scales 123; cheeks entirely scaly; upper part of opercle scaly, the lower half bare. General colour, bluish or greenish-gray, with many whitish or yel- lowish spots, which are usually smaller than the eye, and arranged somewhat in rows; dorsal, anal and caudal fins with roundish or oblong black spots; young with the whitish spots coalescing, forming oblique crossbars; a white horizontal band bounding the naked part of the opercle; each scale with a grayish V-shaped mark. Muskallunge Esox masquinongy Mitchill Whence and what are you, monster grim and great? Sometimes we think you are a ‘‘ Syndicate,” For if our quaint cartoonists be but just You have some features of the modern ‘‘ Trust.” A wide, ferocious and rapacious jaw, A vast, insatiate and expansive craw; And, like the ‘‘ Trust,” your chiefest aim and wish Was to combine in one all smaller fish, And all the lesser fry succumbed to fate, Whom you determined to consolidate.—Wulcox. 237 The Muskallunge The muskallunge is native to all the Great Lakes, the upper St. Lawrence River, certain streams and lakes tributary to the Great Lakes, and in a few lakes in the upper Mississippi Valley. it also occurs in Canada north of the Great Lakes. It does not seem to be at all abundant anywhere, as the number taken each year in any one of the lakes is small. It is perhaps most com- mon in Lakes Michigan and Erie, and among the Thousand Islands. _ This species is known by many different common names, most of them being variant spellings of the Indian name ‘‘ nos- cononge. ’’’ Among those which deserve mention are: muskallunge, muscalonge, muscallonge, muscallunge, muskellunge, musquellunge, masquinongy, maskinongy and great pike. | Muskallunge is the spel- ling which now seems to be most usually followed. The muskallunge reaches a length of 8 feet, and is a mag- nificent fish, by far the largest of its family, reaching a weight of 100 pounds or more. ‘‘A_ long, slim, strong and, swift fish, in every way fitted to the life it leads, that of a dauntless marauder.”’ As a game-fish the muskallunge is regarded as one of the greatest, though the interest in catching a fish of this species is doubtless due more to its immense size than to any extraordinary game qualities. Nevertheless, it is a good fighter, and able to try the skill of the most expert angler. It is an extremely vora- cious fish, and 80 pounds of muskallunge represents several tons of minnows, whitefish and the like. The usual method of taking the muskallunge is, of course, by trolling, a stout line, heavy hook and large minnow being used. The best live bait species are the fall-fish, river chub and creek chub; medium-sized suckers are also frequently used. Br. 17 to 19; D. 17; A. 15; scales 150. General form that of the common pike, the head a little larger; cheek and opercle scaled above, but both naked on their lower half; scaly part of cheek variable, usually about as wide as eye, scales on cheek and opercle in about 8 rows; eye midway between tip of lower jaw and posterior margin of opercle. Colour, dark gray, side with round or squarish blackish spots of varying size on a ground colour of grayish silvery. Chautauqua Muskallunge Chautauqua Muskallunge Esox ohtensis Kirtland The muskallunge of Chautauqua Lake and the Ohio basin differs greatly in appearance from that of the Great Lakes. As the 2 forms are not known to intergrade and as their habitats are entirely distinct, they are best regarded as distinct species. The Chautauqua muskallunge is known chiefly from Chautauqua Lake, though specimens have been reported from a few other places in the Ohio Valley, viz: the Mahoning River, the Ohio at Evansville, and Conneaut Lake. In the early part of the last century when Rafinesque wrote about the fishes of the Ohio River, the muskallunge was apparently more frequently seen in that river than now. In Chautauqua Lake it is by all odds the most important fish, whether considered from the standpoint of the commercial fisherman or that of the angler. For more than 10 years the State of New York has been* propagating this species with notable success, the total number of fry hatched from 1890 to 1898 being 18, 325,000. These fry have been planted chiefly in Chautauqua Lake, but large and frequent plants have been made in other waters of New York. Many have been put in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, and now the angler among the Thousand Islands may expect to find there not only the Great Lakes muskallunge but this species as well. As a game-fish the Chautauqua muskallunge occupies a high rank, due, doubtless, more to its immense size than to actual fighting power. It is usually taken by trolling either with the spoon or a good-sized minnow. In September the spoon is used; later the minnow becomes more popular. Writing of this species in 1818 Rafinesque said: ‘‘It is one of the best fishes in the Ohio; its flesh is very delicate and divides easily, as in salmon, into large plates as white as snow. It is called salmon pike, white pike, white jack, or white pickerel, and Picareau blanc by the Missourians. It reaches a length of 5 feet.” Dr. Kirtland says that ‘‘epicures consider it one of the best fishes of the West,’ and another affirms that ‘‘as a food-fish there is nothing superior to it. It ranks with the salmon and speckled trout, and surpasses the black and striped bass. The meat is almost as white as snow, fine-grained, nicely laminated, 239 Great Northern Pike and the flavour is perfect.” The quality of the flesh improves upon keeping, and is very much more juicy and of better flavour after a day or 2 on ice. Colour, nearly uniform dark olive-green on back; upper 2 of side rich brassy green with some metallic green; about 25 faint nar- row darker vertical bars extending somewhat below lateral line; lower third of side paler and more brassy, the vertical bars widening into broad darkish blotches, these most greenish on posterior third of body; top of head very dark green; scaled part of head brassy- green, lower part of side of head less brassy and less greenish, it being more silvery, especially on lower part of opercle; rim of lower jaw dusky greenish, rest of lower jaw and throat white; fins dark olive, with numerous darker greenish spots; iris grayish brown. The crossbars are rather broad and do not break up distinctly into diffuse spots, and the fin spots are greenish rather than black. The general colour is a rich greenish brassy with very indistinct darker green crossbars. Great Northern Pike Esox tmmaculatus (Garrard) This muskallunge is known only from Eagle Lake and other small lakes in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. From the Great Lakes muskallunge it differs in having the body entirely unspotted, or with vague, dark cross shades. The tail is a little more slender and the fins are a little higher. This form has not been studied critically and its relations to E. masquinongy and E. ohiensis have not been clearly made out. 240 THE NEEDLEFISHES Family XX. Belonide Voracious, carnivorous, saltwater fishes, bearing a superficial resemblance to the Gar pikes; genera 4 (only 2 in American waters) and species about 50, the majority American. Their habits are ordinarily much like those of the pikes, but when startled they swim along the surface of the water with extraordinary rapidity, skimming the surface, sometimes leaping from the water with a sculling motion of the tail, sometimes remaining out of the water for long distances, but striking it at short intervals with the caudal fin. When thus leaping the large species of the tropics are said to be a source of danger to incautious fishermen, sometimes piercing with their long sharp snout the naked bodies of the savages. Owing to the green colour of their bones, they are not much used as food, though their flesh is excellent. This family contains 2 genera, Tylosurus and Athlennes, the former with several species, the latter with but 1. The only species deserving mention are the common neeedlefish (7. nofafits), the billfish (7. marfnus), and the houndfish or agujon (7. raphi- doma). The agujon, of which we present a figure, is an abun. dant and important food-fish about Porto Rico. It reaches a length of 3 to 5 feet and is a vigorous, active fish, sometimes dangerous in its leaps from the water, and much dreaded by the fishermen. The young sometimes stray northward to New Jersey. 241 THE BALAOS OR HALF-BEAKS Family XXT, Hemtramphide HErBiIvorous fishes of warm seas; mostly shore species, a few pelagic. They feed chiefly on green alge and, like the related forms, swim at the surface, occasionally leaping in the air. Species of rather small size, rarely exceeding a foot in length. Genera about 7; species about 75. Within our limits there are 4 genera and about 11 species. Most of them are of some food value. This family is doubtfully distinct from Exo- cetide and the 2 should be combined. The genus Chriodorus contains a single species (C. atherin- oides) which occurs among the Florida Keys. It is abundant at Key West. It reaches a length of 1to inches and is an ex- cellent little panfish. The genus Hyporhamphus contains numerous species in all warm seas. They are all known as half-beaks and swim in large schools usually near shore, where they feed chiefly on green alge. There are 3 species in our waters, all small and not much used as food, though the flavour is excellent. The com- mon half-beak (H. roberti), of which we give a figure, occurs on both coasts of America, north to Rhode Island and Lower California. It reaches a foot in length. The balaos (genus Hemiramphus) have the body compressed and the sides nearly parallel and vertical. There are 2 species in our waters, both occurring in the West Indies. The genus Emleptorhamphus has the body more slender and more compressed, and the pectoral fins longer. Only 1 species, found in the West Indies, and reaching a length of 2 feet. THE FLYING-FISHES Family XXII, Exocwetide Five genera and about 65 species of carnivorous or herbiv- orous fishes, abounding in all warm seas, mostly pelagic, swimming near the surface, and skipping, sailing or flying through the air, sometimes for considerable distances. In our waters there are about 20 species, only the following deserving any special mention in this work. The most common species off our Atlantic Coast is Parex- ocetus mesogaster, which also occurs among the Hawaiian Islands. It reaches a length of 7 inches. The sharp-nosed flying-fish (Fodtator acutus), of which we present a figure, is found on both RYN 4 \) coasts of tropical America. It is common in the Gulf of Cali- fornia, and is a good food-fish. The common flying-fish (Exocetus volitans) inhabits all warm seas, on our coast north in summer to Newfoundland. The California flying-fish (Cypsilurus caltfornicus), of which we show a figure on next page, occurs from Point Conception to Cape San Lucas. It is very abundant in summer, and is found in great schools about the Santa Barbara Islands. This is the only flying-fish occurring on our Pacific Coast north of Cape San Lucas. It reaches a length of 18 inches, being the largest flying-fish known, and having the greatest power of flight. Where it goes in winter has not been determined, as it has not been seen out- 243 The Flying Fish California Flying-fish (Cypsilurus californicus ) side of Californian waters. It is an excellent food-fish, and is sometimes taken by thousands off Santa Barbara. Whether flying-fishes really fly, or merely soar or sail, is a question which has been much discussed. Competent observers have asserted positively that they have a real flight, while others, equally competent, maintain that the movement of the flying-fish in the air is unaccompanied by any vibration of the pectoral fins, and is sustained only so long as is possible from the impe- tus given upon emerging from the water. Probably the differences in opinion are largely explained by the fact that the different observers have studied different species. Some species, at least the larger ones, have a real flight; the pectoral fins vibrate, and the flight can be prolonged almost indefinitely. We have often seen the fins vibrating just as do the wings of a bird, and Dr. James E. Benedict and others have caught flying-fish in nets when in the air, and have plainly seen the pectoral fins still vibrating. Some of the smaller species seem to move quite differently, and it may be that they do not really fly. The senior author of this work dissents from this common view expressed above, and does not believe that the pectoral fins have any large power of motion of their own, but that they quiver or vibrate only when the muscles of the tail are in action. He has, with Dr. Charles H. Gilbert, had, at Santa Rosa Island, California, the best possible opportunity to observe the motion of Cypsilurus californicus. The flying-fishes live in the open sea. swimming in large schools. They will ‘‘fly”’ a distance of from a few rods to more 244 The Flying Fish than an eighth of a mile, rarely rising more than 3 or 4 feet. Their movements in the water are extremely rapid; the sole source of motive power is the action of the strong tail while in the water. No force is acquired while the fish is in the air. On rising from the water the movements of the tail are continued until the whole body is out of the water. While the tail is in motion the pectoral fins seem to be in a state of rapid vibration, but this is apparent only, due to the resistance of the air to the motions of the animal. While the tail is in the water the ventrals are folded. When the action of the tail ceases, the pec- torals and ventrals are spread out and held at rest. They are not used as wings, but act rather as parachutes to hold the body in the air. When the fish begins to fall, the tail touches the water, when its motion again begins, and with it the apparent motion of the pectorals. It is thus enabled to resume its flight, which it finishes finally with a splash. While in the air it re- sembles a large dragon-fly. The motion is very swift, at first in a straight line, but later deflected in a curve. The motion has no relation to the direction of the wind. When a vessel is passing through a school of these fishes, they spring up before it, moving in all directions, as grasshoppers in a meadow before the mower. During a winter voyage from Norfolk to Porto Rico flying- fish were seen at nearly all times. The species was chiefly Parexocetus mesogaster, and they were particularly abundant between Savannah and the Bahamas, in the Windward and Mona passages, and along the north coasts of Cuba, Santo Domingo, and Porto Rico. And as one goes from San Francisco to Honolulu in June great schools of the same species greet the vessel as it comes in sight of Diamond Head, and continue to play about it until well within the harbour. 245 THE SAURIES Family NXTIT. Scombresocide Tuis family contains 2 genera, Scombresox, which has the beak longer than rest of head, and Cololabis, with the beak about half as long as head. The single species of Scombresox, S. saurus, is known as the saury, skipper, or bluefish. It is found in temperate parts of the Atlantic, on both coasts, north to Cape Cod and France. They swim in schools, and are often seen in the open sea. When pursued by the tunny or mackerels, ‘‘ multitudes mount to the surface and crowd on each other as they press for- ward. When still more closely pursued they spring to the height of several feet, leap over each other in singular confusion, and again sink beneath. Still further urged, they mount again and rush along the surface, by repeated starts, for more than 100 feet, without once dipping beneath, or scarcely seeming to touch the water. At last the pursuer springs after them, usually across their course, and again they all disappear together. Amidst such multitudes—for more than 20,000 have been judged to be out of the water together—some must fall a prey to the enemy; but so many hunting in company, it must be long before the pursuers abandon. From inspection we could scarcely judge the fish to be capable of such flights, for the fins, though numerous, are small, and the pectoral far from large, though the angle of their articulation is well adapted to raise the fish by the direction of their motions, to the surface.”—Goode. The skipper reaches a length of 18 inches, and is a good, wholesome food-fish. Cololabis brevirostris is found on the California coast from San Francisco southward. It reaches a length of a foot or more, and is used to some extent as food. 246 THE SAND ROLLERS Family XXIV. Percopside Tus small family is of special interest because it combines with ordinary Sa/monoid characters the structure of the head and mouth of the Percoids, as may be seen by the accompanying illustration. Only 2 genera known, each with a single species. Percopsis guttatus, the common sand roller or trout perch, is found in lakes and suitable streams from Lake Champlain and the: Del- aware River, west to Kansas and Assiniboia. It prefers cold, clear waters, and is most abundant in the Great Lakes, particu- larly in Lakes Michigan and Superior. It spawns in the spring, at which time it runs into tributary streams in great numbers. Mr. Andrew Halkett, Naturalist of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, Ottawa, informs us that immense numbers are seen in the Moira River every spring. Though reaching a length of only 6 or 8 inches, the sand roller takes the hook readily, and is used as a pan-fish. We have seen boys on the Chicago piers catching them in great numbers. Columbia transmontana is known only from the Umatilla River at Umatilla, Oregon, and the Walla Walla River at Wallula, Washington, both places in the Columbia River Basin- 247 THE SILVERSIDES Family XXV. Atherinide THE silversides are interesting carnivorous fishes, mostly of small size, living in great schools near the shore in temperate and tropical seas; a few species in fresh water; all the species having a silvery band along the side, this sometimes underlaid by black pigment. Genera about 15; species about 70. All of them which are large enough are highly prized as food, hence the common name ‘‘fishes of the king,” pescados del rey, pesce re, or peixe rey. The majority of the species, however, are too small and unimportant to merit more than a brief mention. The principal genera are Atherina, Chirostoma, Menidia, Eslopsarum and Labidesthes. Atherina contains numerous species 5 or 6 of which are found in our waters.