THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
RIVERSIDE
STATE OF ILLINOIS
DEPARTMENT OF REGISTRATION AND EDUCATION
FRANCIS W. SHEPARDSON, DIRECTOR
DIVISION OP THE
NATURAL, HISTORY SURVEY
THE FISHES OF ILLINOIS
STEPHEN ALFRED FORBES, PH.D., LL.D.
AND
ROBERT EARL RICHARDSON, A.M.
SECOND EDITION, 1920
PUBLISHED BY
AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS
STATE OF ILLINOIS
NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY DIVISION
STEPHEN A. FORBES, CHIEF
BOARD OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION
WILLIAN TRELEASE. Biology
JOHN M. COULTER .:.... Forestry
ROLLIN D. SALISBURY Geology
WILLIAM A. NOTES Chemistry
JOHN W. ALVORD Engineering
KENDRIC C. BABCOCK . . . University of Illinois
FRANCIS W. SHEPARDSON . Director
FRANK 0. LOWDEN, GOVERNOR
SPRINGFIELD, ILL.
ILLINOIS STATE JOURNAL Co., STATE PRINTERS
1920
CONTENTS*
PAGE
Introduction xiii
The Topography and Hydrography of Illinois xvii
The Northwestern Uriglaciated Area xviii
The Areas of lowan and Illinoisan Drift xix
The Area of the Wisconsin Drift xxi
The Unglaciated Southern Area xxii
The River Systems xxiii
Rock River System xxiii
Rock River xxiv
Pecatonica River xxvii
Kishwaukee River xxvii
Green River xxviii
The Northwestern Area xxix
Galena River xxx
Apple River xxx
Plum River xxxi
The Mississippi Bluff Drainage xxxi
Edwards River xxxi
Pope Creek xxxii
Henderson River xxxii
Bear Creek xxxii
Bay Creek xxxii
Cahokia River xxxiii
Illinois River System xxxiii
Des Plaines River xxxiv
Kankakee River xxxvi
Iroquois River xxxviii
Illinois River xxxviii
Fox River xlvii
Vermilion River xlix
Mackinaw River
Spoon River
Sangamon River lii
Salt Creek liii
Crooked Creek liii
Apple Creek
Macoupin Creek lv
Kaskaskia River System lv
Kaskaskia River Ivi
Shoal Creek Ivii
Silver Creek Iviii
Big Muddy River System lix
*For species whose page numbers are preceded by a star (*) there are distribution maps
in the atlas accompanying this report.
1Y FISHES OF ILLINOIS
PAGE
The Wabash System ...................................... 1*
Wabash River ......................................... «?
Vermilion River ......................................
Little Vermilion River ................................
Embarras River ......... . ............................ lxiv
Little Wabash River .................................. Ixv
Saline River System ............... ....................... Ixvi
Cache River ............................................. Ixvin
Big Bay Creek ........................................... Ifix
The Lake Michigan Drainage ..............................
On the General and Interior Distribution of Illinois Fishes ......... Ixxii
The General Distribution ................................... Ixxiv
The Interior Distribution .................................... Ixxxiii
The Illinois Basin and the other Districts compared ........... xci
Relations of each District to all the others ................... xcviii
The Fishes of Northern, Central, and Southern Illinois ........ c
Use of Locality Maps ................................. • • • • cnl
Peculiarities of Distribution in the Lower Illinoisan Glaciation . civ
Classification and Use of Ecological Data ....... ............. cyii
Fishes of the Ohio and of the Mississippi Drainage. . . . cviii
Boundary between Northern and Southern Species ............ ex
General Features of Ecological Distribution .................. cxi
Ecological Table .......................................... cxiv
General Summary .......................................... cxix
The Fisheries of Illinois .......................... ............. cxxiii
Explanation of Terms used ..................................... cxxviii
Glossary of Technical Terms ................................... cxxxi
Key to the Families of Illinois Fishes ...........................
Class Marsipobranchii ........................................ 5
Order Hyperoartii ........................... ............... 5
Family Petromyzonidse. Lampreys .................. . ...... 5
Genus Ichthyomyzon Girard .............................
I. concolor (Kirtland). Silvery Lamprey ................ 9
Genus Lampetra Gray ............. ..................... 11
L. wilderi Gage. Brook Lamprey ...................... 11
I) Class Pisces .................................................. 13
15
amily Polyodontidse. Paddle-fishes ........................
Genus Polyodon Lace"p£de ............................... 16
P. spathula (Walbaum). Paddle-fish ................... 16
^rder.Clioiidrostel. . ............. ...........................
Family Acipenseridse. Sturgeons ...........................
Genus Acipenser Linnaeus ...............................
A. rubicundus Le Sueur. Lake Sturgeon ................ 24
Genus Scaphirhynchus Heckel ............................
S. platorhynchus (Rafinesque). Shovel-nosed Sturgeon ..... 27
Genus Parascaphirhynchus Forbes & Richardson ........... 28
P. albus Forbes & Richardson. White Sturgeon ..........
_QrderJRhombpganoidfia .....................................
Family Lepisosteidae. Garpikes ............................ 30
CONTENTS V
PAGE
Genus Lepisosteus Lace"pede 31
L. osseus (Linnaeus). Long-nosed Gar *31
L. platostomus Rafinesque. Short-nosed Gar *34
L. tristcechus (Bloch & Schneider). Alligator-gar 35
^ Order Cycloganoidea 37
Family Amiidae. Bowfins 37
Genus Amia Linnaeus 38
A. calva Linnaeus. Dogfish /. *38
J> Order Isospondvli 42
Family Hiodontida?. Mooneyes 42
Genus Hiodon Le Sueur
H. alosoides (Rafinesque). Northern Mooneye 43
H. tergisus Le Sueur. Toothed Herring 44
Family Dorosomidse. Gizzard-shad 45
Genus Dorosoma Rafinesque 45
D. cepedianum (Le Sueur). Gizzard-shad
Family Clupeidae. Herrings 47
Genus Pomolobus Rafinesque 48
P. chrysochloris Rafinesque. Golden Shad 48
Genus Alosa Cuvier 49
A. ohiensis Evermann. Ohio Shad 49
Family Salmonidae. The Salmon Family 50
Genus Coregonus (Artedi) Linnaeus ' 51
C. clupeiformis (Mitchill). Common Whitefish 51
Genus Argyrosomus Agassiz 53
A. artedi (Le Sueur). Lake Herring 54
Genus Cristivomer Gill & Jordan 55
C. namaycush (Walbaum). Great Lake Trout 56
(4) Order Apodes 58
Family Anguillidae. Eels 58
Genus Anguilla Shaw 59
A. chrysypa Rafinesque. Fresh-water Eel 59
Order Eventognathi 61
Family Catostomidae. Suckers 61
Genus Cycleptus Rafinesque 65
C. elongatus (Le Sueur). Missouri Sucker
Genus Ictiobus Rafinesque : 66
I. cyprinella (Cuvier & Valenciennes). Red-mouth Buffalo.
I. urus (Agassiz). Mongrel Buffalo *70
I. bubalus (Rafine?que). Small-mouth Buffalo
Genus Carpiodes Rafinesque
C. carpio (Rafinesque). Common River Carp
C. difformis Cope. Blunt-nosed River Carp *77
C. velifer (Rafinesque). Quillback
C. thompsoni Agassiz. Lake Carp *79
Genus Erimyzon Jordan 80
E. sucetta oblongus (Mitchill). Chub-sucker *81
Genus Minytrema Jordan 82
M. melanops (Rafinesque). Spotted Sucker
Genus Catostomus Le Sueur . . 84
f?j
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
PAGE
C. catostomus (Forster). Long-nosed Sucker 84
C. commersonii (Lacepede). Common Sucker *85
C. nigricans Le Sueur. Hogsucker *86
Genus Moxostoma Rafinesque 88
M. anisurum (Rafinesque). White-nosed Sucker *89
M. aureolum (Le Sueur). Common Red-horse *90
M. breviceps (Cope). Short-headed Red-horse *91
Genus Placopharynx Cope 92
P. duquesnei (Le Sueur) 93
Genus Lagochila Jordan & Brayton 94
Family Cyprinidae. The Minnows and the Carp 94
Genus Cyprinus (Artedi) Linnaeus 104
C. carpio Linnaeus. European Carp 104
Genus Campostoma Agassiz 110
C. anomalum (Rafinesque). Stone-roller *110
Genus Chrosomus Rafinesque 112
C. erythrogaster Rafinesque. Red-bellied Dace *112
Genus Hybognathus Agassiz 114
H. nuchalis Agassiz. Silvery Minnow *114
H. nubila (Forbes) *116
Genus Pimephales Rafinesque 117
P. promelas Rafinesque. Black-head Minnow *117
P. notatus (Rafinesque). Blunt-nosed Minnow *119
Genus Semotilus Rafinesque 121
S. atromaculatus (Mitch ill). Horned Dace *121
Genus Opsoposodus Hay 124
0. emilise Hay *124
Genus Abramis Cuvier 125
A. crysoleucas (Mitchill). Golden Shiner *126
Genus Cliola Girard 128
C. vigilax (Baird & Girard). Bullhead Minnow *128
Genus Notropis Rafinesque 130
N. anogenus Forbes 132
N. cayuga Meek *133
N. cayuga atrocaudalis Evermann 134
N. heterodon (Cope) *134
N. blennius (Girard). Straw-colored Minnow *137
N. phenacobius Forbes 138
N. gilberti Jordan & Meek *139
N. illecebrosus (Girard) *140
N. hudsonius (DeWitt Clinton). Spot-tailed Minnow *141
N. lutrensis (Baird & Girard). Redfin *143
N. whipplii (Girard). Steel-colored Minnow *145
N. cornutus (Mitchill). Common Shiner *147
N. pilsbryi Fowler 149
N. jejunus (Forbes) *150
N. atherinoides Rafinesque. Shiner *151
N. rubrifrons (Cope). Rosy-faced Minnow *153
N. umbratilis atripes (Jordan). Blackfin *154
Genus Ericymba Cope 156
CONTENTS
PAGE
E. buccata Cope. Silver-mouthed Minnow . .
Genus Phenacobius Cope
P. mirabilis (Girard). Sucker-mouthed Minnow
Genus Rhinichthys Agassiz
R. cataractse (Cuvier & Valenciennes). Long-nosed Dace. .
R. atronasus (Mitchill). Black-nosed Dace 162
Genus Hybopsis Agassiz
H. hyostomus (Gilbert)
H. dissimilis (Kirtland). Spotted Shiner. . . .
H. amblops (Rafinesque). Big-eyed Chub
H. storerianus (Kirtland). Storer:s Chub . . .
H. kentuckiensis (Rafinesque). River Chub Io7
Genus Platygobio Gill |™
P. gracilis (Richardson). Flat-headed Chub 17U
(&) Order Npmp.tngnfl.thi J7^
Family Silurida. Catfishes J.™
Genus Ictalurus Rafinesque lit
I. furcatus (Le Sueur). Blue Cat J'»
I. anguilla Evermann & Kendall
I. punctatus (Rafinesque). Channel-cat. . .
Genus Ameiurus Rafinesque
A. lacustris (Walbaum). Catfish of the Lakes
A. natalis (lie Sueur). Yellow Bullhead
A. nebulosus (Le Sueur). Speckled Bullhead 1»7
A. melas (Rafinesque). Black Bullhead. .
Genus Leptops Rafinesque
L. olivaris (Rafinesque). Mud-cat
Genus Noturus (Rafinesque)
N. flavus Rafinesque. Stonecat
Genus Schilbeodes Bleeker
S. gyrinus (Mitchill). Tadpole Cat
S. nocturnus (Jordan & Gilbert). Freckled Stonecat. . . .
S. exilis (Nelson). Slender Stonecat
S. miurus (Jordan). Brindled Stonecat
? Order Haekmi-
Family Umbrida. Mudfishes
Genus Umbra (Kramer) Miiller *»
U. limi (Kirtland). Mud-minnow - • ***
Family Esocidse. Pikes •••• *™
Genus Esox (Artedi) Linnaeus <J»
E. vermiculatus Le Sueur. Little Pickerel Mo
E. lucius Linnaeus. Common Pike £J7
E. masquinongy Mitchill. Muskattunge
Family Pceciliidse. Killifishes
Genus Fundulus Lacepede ... . . . - - . . - - - - • • • • *LL
F. diaphanus menona (Jordan &Copeland). Menona Top- ^
minnow
F. dispar (Agassiz)
F. notatus (Rafinesque). Top-minnow
Genus Gambusia Poey • • •
Vlll FISHES OF ILLINOIS
PAGE
G. affinis (Baird & Girard). Viviparous Top-minnow *215
Family Amblyopsidse. Blindfishes 217
Genus Chologaster Agassiz 218
C. papilliferus Forbes. Spring Cave-fish 218
(/O) Order Acanthopteri . '. 220
Family Uasterosteidae. Sticklebacks 221
Genus Eucalia Jordan 222
E. inconstans (Kirtland). Brook Stickleback 222
Genus Pygosteus Brevoort 224
P. pungitius (Linnaeus) . Nine-spined Stickleback 224
Family Percopsidae. Trout-perches 225
Genus Percopsis Agassiz 225
P. guttatus Agassiz. Trout-perch *225
Family Atherinidse. Silversides 226
Genus Labidesthes Cope 227
L. sicculus (Cope). Brook Silverside *227
Family Aphredoderidse. Pirate-perches 228
Genus Aphredoderus Le Sueur 229
A. sayanus (Gilliams). Pirate-perch *229
Family Elassomidae. Pigmy Sunfishes . . 231
Genus Elassoma Jordan 231
E. zonatum Jordan. Pigmy Sunfish 232
^Family Centrarchidae. Sunfishes 232
Genus Pomoxis Rafinesque 237
P. annularis Rafinesque. White Crappie *238
P. sparoides (Lacepede). Black Crappie -
Genus Centrarchus Cuvier & Valenciennes 241
C. macropterus (Lacepede). Round Sunfish *241
Genus Ambloplites Rafinesque 242
A. rupestris (Rafinesque). Rock Bass *243
Genus Chaenobryttus Gill 245
C. gulosus (Cuvier & Valenciennes). Warmouth Bass *245
Genus Lepomis Rafinesque
L. cyanellus Rafinesque. Green Sunfish
L. ischyrus (Jordan & Nelson) 250
L. symmetricus Forbes 251
L. euryorus McKay 252
L. miniatus Jordan *253
L. megalotis (Rafinesque). Long-eared Sunfish
L. humilis (Girard). Orange-spotted Sunfish *255
L. pallidus (Mitchill). Bluegill *257
Genus Eupomotis Gill & Jordan 259
E. heros (Baird & Girard) 259
E. gibbosus (Linnaeus). Pumpkinseed *260
Genus Micropterus Lacepede 262
M. dolomieu Lace"pede. Small-mouthed Black Bass *263
M. salmoides (Lacepede). Large-mouthed Black Bass *267
—Family Percidae. Perches 269
Genus Stizostedion Rafinesque 271
S. vitreum (Mitchill). Wall-eyed Pike *272
CONTENTS IX
PAGE
S. canadense griseum (De Kay). Gray Pike *274
Genus Perca (Artedi) Linnaeus 275
P. flavescens (Mitchill). yellow Perch *276
Subfamily Etheostominae. Darters 278
Genus Percina Haldeman 281
P. caprodes (Rafinesque). Log-perch *282
Genus Hadropterus Agassiz 283
H. evermanni Moenkhaus 284
H. phoxocephalus (Nelson) *285
H. aspro (Cope & Jordan). Black-sided Darter *286
H. ouachitae (Jordan & Gilbert) 288
H. evides (Jordan & Copeland) 288
H. scierus Swain 289
Genus Cottogaster Putnam 290
C. shumardi (Girard) *290
Genus Diplesion Rafinesque 291
D. blennioides (Rafinesque). Green-sided Darter *292
Genus Boleosoma De Kay 294
B. nigrum (Rafinesque). Johnny Darter *294
B. camurum Forbes *298
Genus Crystallaria Jordan & Gilbert 300
C. asprella (Jordan) 300
Genus Ammocrypta Jordan 301
A. pellucida (Baird). Sand Darter *301
-Genus Etheostoma Rafinesque 303
E. zonale (Cope). Banded Darter *304
E. camurum (Cope) . Blue-breasted Darter 306
E. iowse Jordan & Meek ' 306
E. jessiae (Jordan & Brayton) *307
E. coeruleum Storer. Rainbow Darter *309
E. obeyense Kirsch 311
E. squamiceps Jordan *312
E. flabellare Rafinesque. Fan-tailed Darter *313
Genus Boleichthys Girard 315
B. fusiformis (Girard) *315
Genus Microperca Putnam 317
M. punctulata Putnam. Least Darter *317
-—Family Serranidse. Sea Bass 318
Genus Roccus Mitchill 319
R. chrysops (Rafinesque). White Bass
Genus Morone Mitchill .- 320
M. interrupta Gill. Yellow Bass *321
-"Family Sciaenidse. Drums 322
Genus Aplodinotus Rafinesque
A. grunniens Rafinesque. Sheepshead
Family Cottidae. Sculpins
Genus Cottus (Artedi) Linnaeus 326
C. ictalops (Rafinesque). Common Sculpin
C. ricei Nelson 327
Genus Uranidea De Kay 328
JS FISHES OP ILLINOIS
PAGE
U. kumlienii Hoy 328
/I .Qrder Anacanthmi 330
Family Gadidse. Codfishes 330
Genus Lota (Cuvier) Oken 330
L. maculosa (Le Sueur). Burbot 331
Selected Bibliography 333
Index 343
LIST OF COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS
Large-mouthed Black Bass, Micropterus salmoides Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
Black Bullhead, Ameirus melus ; 190
Black Crappie, Pomoxis sparoides 240
Black-sided Darter, Hadropterus aspro 285
Black-head Minnow, Pimephales promelas 128
Blackfin, Notropis umbratilis atripes 147
Bluegill, Lepomis pallidus 257
Brook Lamprey, Lampetra wilderi 34
Brook Silverside, Labidesthes sicculus 220
Brook Stickleback, Eucalia inconstans 220
Bullhead Minnow, Cliola vigilax (male and female) 128
Channel-cat, Ictalurus punctatus 180
Chub-sucker, Erimyzon sucelta oblongus 81
Common Shiner, Notropis cornutus 147
Common Sucker, Catostomus commersonii 85
Dogfish, Amia calva 36
Etheostoma iowce 306
Etheostoma jessict 306
European Carp, Cyprinus carpio — three illustrations 104-108
Fan-tailed Darter, Etheostoma flabellare 292
Fresh-water Eel, Anguilla chrysypa , . 59
Fundulus dispar (male and female) 212
"Garman's Sunfish", Lepomis miniatus 253
Gizzard-shad, Dorosoma cepedianum 46
Golden Shiner, Abramis crysoleucas 126
Grass Pike, Esox vermiculatus 44
Green-sided Darter, Diplesion blennioides 292
Green Sunfish, Lepomis cyanellus 249
Hadropterus phoxocephalus 285
Hogsucker, Catostomus nigricans 86
Ictalurus anguilla 179
Johnny Darter, Boleosoma nigrum 296
Lake Sturgeon, Acipenser rubicundus 36
Log-perch, Percina caprodes 282
Menona Top-minnow, Fundulus diaphanus menona 211
Mud-cat, Leptops olivaris 180
Mud-minnow, Umbra limi 211
Notropis cayuga 128
Notropis jejunus 150
Orange-spotted Sunfish, Lepomis humilis .... 255
xi
Xii FISHES OF ILLINOIS
FACING PAGE
Placopharynx duquesnei 93
Quillback, Carpiodes velifer 74
Red-bellied Dace, Chrosomus erythrogaster . 112
Red-mouth Buffalo, Ictiobus cyprinella 68
Redfin, Notropis lutrensis 143
Rock Bass, Ambloplites rupestris 243
Sheepshead, Aplodinotus grunniens 323
Shiner, Notropis atherinoides 158
Short-headed Red-horse, Moxostoma breviceps 92
Short-nosed Gar, Lepisosteus platostomus 34
Small-mouth Buffalo, Ictiobus bubalus 72
Small-mouthed Black Bass, Micropte.us dolomieu 263
Speckled Bullhead, Ameiurus nebulosus marmoratus 187
Spotted Sucker, Minytrema melanops 83
Spring Cave-fish, Chologaster papilliferus 220
Steel-colored Minnow, Notropis whipplii 166
Stonecat, Noturus flavus 197
Stone-roller, Campostoma anomalum 110
Storer's Chub, Hybopsis storerianus 166
Straw-colored Minnow, Notropis blennius 137
Sucker-mouthed Minnow, Phenacobius mirabilis 158
Tadpole Cat, Schilbeodes gyrinus 197
Toothed Herring, Hiodon tergisus 44
Top-minnow, Fundulus notatus 143
Wall-eyed Pike, Stizostedion vitreum 272
White Crappie, Pomoxis annularis 238
Yellow Bass, Morone interrupta '. . . . 321
Yellow Bullhead, Ameiurus natalis 187
Yellow Perch, Perca fiavescens , 276
INTRODUCTION
It is the purpose of the present volume to furnish to those
interested in Illinois fishes a reliable guide to a knowledge of the
species, a careful account of their local and general distribution
and of their relations to their environment, a correct idea of the
function and relative importance of the different species in the
general system of aquatic life, and a fairly full summary of their
habits and utilities so far as these are now known. To this end
the species have, with very few exceptions, been described anew
from the specimens of our collection, with due use, however, of
descriptions already extant; analytical keys have been made,
adapted, or selected, with special reference to the Illinois species;
and our data of geographical and local distribution and of
ecological situation and relationship have been analyzed, to a
considerable extent, by statistical methods.
The collections and field observations of Illinois fishes upon
which this report is based were begun by the senior author in
1876, and were continued by him and by a considerable list of
assistants, at rather irregular intervals, to 1903. With the estab-
lishment of the Illinois Biological Station on the Illinois River at
Havana in 1894, field work in ichthyology became more nearly
continuous than had previously been possible. An especially
interesting study was made at Havana during the winter and
spring of 1898 and 1899 by Mr. Wallace Craig, an assistant of
the State Laboratory, to whom was assigned the duty of making
systematic collections at fixed points by the uniform use of
identical apparatus at each, determining, counting, and recording
all the species obtained in each situation. It was the object of
this investigation to apply, in the field of ichthyology, the quan-
titative method which had been used with distinguished success
in the study of the plankton of the Illinois River and adjacent
waters at the Havana Station. During the summer of 1899 field
work was transferred to Meredosia with Mr. H. A. Surface in
charge, and later it was taken up by Mr. Thomas Large at Mere-
dosia and Ottawa, to which latter place the station equipment
was transferred in 1901. Extensive wagon-trips were made from
time to time through various parts of the state for a study of the
fishes of the smaller streams, the most important of them in 1899
by Mr. Large, to whom we are indebted for the field determi-
nation of many of our specimens and for numerous descriptive
notes on the waters and situations visited.
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Valuable collections have sometimes been obtained, espe-
cially from western Illinois, by arrangement with high-school
teachers, who have fished the streams of their neighborhoods in
accordance with our instructions, and in consideration of our
return of a named series of specimens to their schools.
Our field apparatus consisted mainly of seines of various
size and mesh, from the smallest and finest minnow seines to those
long enough and deep enough for use in our largest rivers. For
collections from weedy ponds and from creeks, and especially
from swift waters or from streams where a shore landing was
difficult, we have depended largely on the so-called "Baird
seine, " a close-meshed minnow seine of medium length with a
wide-mouthed, deep, conical bag of netting in its center. Tram-
mel-nets have been very serviceable in waters through which a
seine could not be drawn, especially in those encumbered by
brush or filled with water-plants. Set-nets or pound-nets of va-
rious size and mesh, both with and without wings, have brought
us much material, especially of the larger and more abundant
species. For our knowledge of these, however, we have depended
largely upon an inspection of fish markets and an examination of
the catches of commercial fishermen, with whom we have, indeed,
made frequent trips to their fishing grounds.
More than 200,000 specimens of our 150 species have been
thus collected and preserved, under about 1,800 accessions num-
bers representing differences of date, location, or situation, and
from more than 450 localities, fairly well distributed through
ninety-three of the one hundred and two counties of the state.
These collections bore, as a rule, permanent labels showing the
date, place, and body of water from which they came, and, in
the majority of cases, some particulars concerning the apparatus
used and the more notable features of the situation. This has
made possible a statistical analysis of the data of relative abun-
dance of the different species under varying conditions, geograph-
ical, local, and ecological, and also of the frequencies of joint or
associate occurrence of the various species, one with another, in
each class of situation or in each place. The results of statistical
comparisons of this kind have been used to some extent in this
report, especially in the chapter on geographical and ecological
distribution, and in the detailed discussions of the leading
families, genera, and species.
A knowledge of the food and feeding activities of fishes is
fundamental to any fair understanding of their place and func-
INTRODUCTION XV
tion in the general system of life, and especially to any just
appreciation of their importance to man. Unfortunately, our
definite knowledge of this field is very limited, and for most of
the statements made concerning the food, feeding habits, and
alimentary structures of fishes, we have had to draw upon the
papers of the senior author, published in volumes I. and II. of the
Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History, and
based upon studies made between the years 1878 and 1888.
In the details of the classification we have followed, with
little variation, Jordan and Evermann's catalogue of "The
Fishes of North and Middle America," published as Bulletin
47 of the U. S. National Museum, but our arrangement of
orders and families is that proposed by Boulenger, in Volume
VII. of the Cambridge Natural History, and followed in the
main by Jordan in his "Guide to the Study of Fishes."
It has not been our purpose to enter into the synonymy
except so far as was necessary to connect the specific names
here used with both the more general publications in this field
and the more special papers on the fishes of Illinois. We have
in all cases referred to the original description of the species, and
have, with few exceptions, made reference also, using the abbre-
viations indicated, to the following books and articles:
Gunther: Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum. (Abbre-
viation, G.)
Jordan and Gilbert: Synopsis of the Fishes of North America. (J.
&G.)
Jordan: Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States.
8th edition, 1888. (M. V.)
Jordan and Evermann. The Fishes of North and Middle America.
(J. &E.)
Boulenger: Catalogue of the Perciform Fishes in the British Museum.
(B.)
Nelson: A Partial Catalogue of the Fishes of Illinois. Bull. 111. State
Lab. Nat. Hist., Vol. I., No. 1: (N.)
Jordan: A Catalogue of the Fishes of Illinois. Bull. 111. State Lab.
Nat. Hist., Vol. I., No. 2. (J.)
Forbes: A Catalogue of the Native Fishes of Illinois. Rep. 111. State
Fish Comm., 1884. (F.)
Forbes: Various papers on the food of fishes. Bull. 111. State Lab.
Nat. Hist, Vols. I. and II. (F. F.)
Large: A List of the Native Fishes of Illinois, with Keys. Rep. 111.
State Fish Comm., 1900-02. (L.)
Richardson: A Review of the Sunfishes of the current Genera Apo-
motis, Lepomis, and Eupomotis, with particular Reference to the Species
found in Illinois. Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist, Vol. VII, Art. III. (R.)
Xvi FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Besides the assistants already mentioned, especial acknowl-
edgments are due to Mr. H. Garman, assistant in the State
Laboratory and collector of much of our material during the early
years of the work; to Mr. A. J. Woolman, who, in 1903, made and
recorded measurements of many specimens of the commoner spe-
cies, and who, by his studies of the osteology of the Catostomidce
opened the way to improved generic definitions of Ictiobus and
Carpiodes] and to Mrs. Lydia M. (Hart) Green and Miss
Charlotte M. Pinkerton, who made, under the supervision of
the field ichthyologist, the colored drawings by which this report
is illustrated. Professor Frank Smith, Dr. C. A. Kofoid, Mr. C.
A. Hart, Mr. J. E. Hallinen, and Mr. E. B. Forbes have, during
their several periods of service on the State Laboratory staff,
added considerably to our knowledge of the fishes of the state.
It is impracticable to give the names of all outside the staff of
the State Laboratory who have been, from time to time, of mate-
rial assistance in the long course of this work, but this list of
acknowledgments would be seriously deficient without particular
mention of Dr. S. E. Meek, of the Field Museum, and Dr. Barton
W. Evermann, of the U. S. Fish Commission, both of whom have
been especially obliging in passing judgment on sets of specimens
of difficult determination, and in scrutinizing the tables of geo-
graphical distribution printed in the introductory part of this
report. It is a pleasure to acknowledge also our indebtedness to
a considerable number of careful and observant fishermen who
have told us much of the habits and behavior of our best-known
fishes. To Messrs. John A. Shulte, of Havana, J. P. Baur, of
the U. S. fisheries station at Meredosia, David Yeck, of Mere-
dosia, W. J. & H. L. Ashlock, of Alton, and Miles Newberry, of
Havana, we owe many facts concerning the life and economy
of our fishes which we should not otherwise have obtained.
More than to any other, the Director is indebted to Mr. R.
E. Richardson — his colleague during three years in the prepara-
tion of this report — for indispensable service in the field, the
laboratory, and the library, and especially for the accumulation
and organization of material of all descriptions, for his critical
study of the collections, all of which were finally handled by
him, and for the preparation or revision of nearly all the technical
descriptions printed in this volume.
S. A. FORBES,
Director of Laboratory.
URBANA, August 1, 1908.
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OP ILLINOIS
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF -ILLINOIS*
/
BY CHARLES W. ROLFE, M. S.
The State of Illinois may be described as a great plain sloping
gently towards the south, the northernmost fifth of which is
underlaid by rocks of Silurian age, while the surface rocks of
the remaining four-fifths are the limestones, sandstones, and
shales of the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian, with small areas
of Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian.
The highest portion of this plain lies in the northern part of
Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties, where the general surface
has an elevation of something over 1,000 feet, and mounds rise
more than 200 feet above this level. The highest point is
Charles Mound, near the Wisconsin line, which is 1,241 feet
above the sea. From this point the surface slopes rather rapidly
to the east and south, declining to an average altitude of about
800 feet in Lake county and of 700 feet in Whiteside county.
South of Whiteside county the surface levels across the state
from east to west are essentially the same wherever the line is
drawn, but southward the surface slopes gradually until an
average level of 400 feet is reached just north of the Ozark
ridge. This ridge is an eastern extension of the Ozark Mountain
range, whose highest peaks in Illinois are Williams Hill, in
Pope county, which reaches an elevation of 1,065 feet, and Bald
Knob, in Union county, 985 feet high. The average altitude of
the ridge is from 750 to 800 feet. South of it the surface slopes
rapidly to the low valley of the Cache River, the general altitude
of which does not exceed 325 to 350 feet. The lowest point
in the state is at Cairo, where low water on the Ohio River is
268.58 feet above the sea.
While the general surface of the state is unusually level,
*The general system of the hydrography of the state is so largely a consequence of its sur-
face geology that it can be clearly understood only by way of its geological antecedents and
relations. For this reason Professor C. W. Rolfe, for many years head of the Depart-
ment of Geology in the University of Illinois, was asked to prepare this chapter. With his
discussion has been incorporated, with his approval, some additional matter relating especially
to the waters themselves, compiled from field notes of the State Laboratory, and from more
general sources. — S. A. FORBES.
-2 F
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
this does not mean that it presents no marked variations. Few
of the 102 counties in the state have a difference of less than 150
feet between their highest and lowest points, while variations
of 300 to 400 feet are often found. These differences, however,
are not due to variations in the general level, but to the presence
of deep preglacial valleys or of moraines, and often of both.
For the present discussion the surface of the state may be
divided as follows:
1. The northwestern unglaciated area.
2. The areas of the lowan and the Illinoisan drift.
3. The area of the Wisconsin drift.
4. The unglaciated southern area.
THE NORTHWESTERN UNGLACIATED AREA
It is believed that at one time the entire northern fifth of
the state was covered by rocks of the Trenton, Maquoketa, and
Niagara formations, these following each other from below up-
ward in the order named, and each covering the entire area.
This portion of the state became dry land at the close of the
Silurian and was not again submerged, except possibly in small
areas and for brief periods; consequently during the millions
of years which elapsed between its emergence from the ocean
and the advent of the first ice-sheet it was subjected to large
erosion in spite of its low relief. At some time during this
long period a low arch was raised across its northwestern corner,
and here erosion became much more effective than on the less
elevated parts.
The streams of that time cut for themselves canons 250 to
300 feet deep, extending entirely through the Niagara and
Maquoketa, but found their base level at or near the surface of
the Galena. An extensive peneplain was formed at this level,
covering most of the area now included in the nine counties
which lie farthest west. At various points over this peneplain,
mostly in its northern and western parts, fragments of the
denuded strata were left in the form of mounds which now rise
above the general surface. Later the base level was lowered
and the rivers began again to deepen their channels, and they
have continued this process until now they flow in trenches cut
in the rock often to a depth of 300 to 400 feet below the general
level. With the mounds rising above the general surface and
with the deep channels in which the rivers flow, the topography
of the country is extremely broken for that of the Mississippi
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS XIX
Valley. Much of the irregularity shown in Jo Daviess county,
however, was produced during and since the glacial period, for
the ice-sheet which advanced on the state from the north was
divided in southern Wisconsin and left this part of our state
untouched.
THE AREAS OF IOWAN AND ILLINOISAN DRIFT
Before describing these areas it is well to call attention to
the fact that the preglacial drainage of the entire state seems to
have been from northeast to southwest, and that while most of
these early stream beds were completely filled by the drift from
the ice-sheets, some of them were so large and deep that they
were not entirely filled throughout their length, and now control
the general direction of our larger streams. Probably, however,
no one of them follows a preglacial channel throughout its
entire length, and nearly all of the smaller streams flow in
postglacial channels, the courses of which have been largely
determined by moraines.
Coming now to the areas mentioned in the last heading, it is
believed that all of that part of the state which lies north of the
Ozark ridge, with the exception of the extreme northwest corner,
was covered by one or more of the earlier ice-sheets, and that,
when these retreated, they left behind them a thick sheet of
drift which filled the smaller channels completely, and some
portions of the larger ones as well. Upon the general surface
thus formed they also laid down ridges of drift which extended
across the country, forming effective dams to the drainage.
These dams, which are called moraines, varied in height from
a few feet to a hundred or more, and from a few rods to one or
several miles in width. They were generally concentric, and so
lay nearly parallel to each other. When they were far apart
they inclosed large areas which had no outlets, and, filled by
rains, formed extensive lakes; but when they were close together
the intervening lakes were necessarily smaller and more numer-
ous. The water supply of the time greatly exceeded evapora-
tion, and so these basins were soon filled to the brim and over-
flowed at the lowest points oFthe moraines which surrounded
them. These openings gradually deepened. Ultimately, by
the lowering of their outlets, and also by filling with deposits,
the lakes were converted into marshy plains or prairies.
During the time in which the lakes were in existence
nothing prevented the growth of vegetation on the confining
xx FISHES OF ILLINOIS
moraines, and so these areas gradually came to be covered with
belts of timber, between which were the lakes or marshes which
afterward became prairies.
As the lakes gradually became marshy, the water, flowing
from one to the other through the concentric moraines, sought
the lowest channels and formed continuous streams. Since
certain of the preglacial channels were not completely filled
with drift throughout their entire lengths they offered depressions
here and there, and the streams followed their course for con-
siderable distances, so that in the end the general direction of
the stream was often largely controlled by these valleys.
As time went on these main streams threw off branches
behind the moraines which in their turn divided and subdivided,
each little branch pushing its channel back towards the nearest
slough. In this way a complete drainage system was gradually
established, but the courses of the larger branches, and many
of the smaller as well, were largely controlled by the moraines
behind which they were developed. Gradually, and long before
the drainage system was complete, those branches which were
pushing backward toward the moraines united with the flood-
water streams which flowed down their sides and began to eat
into the moraines themselves, thus dividing them into series of
isolated hills and short ridges which we now find scattered all
over this area. In some cases they removed the moraines
entirely. Only a few of these old morainic systems have been
studied and are shown on the accompanying map (III.), but
many others are known to exist.
The above is, in brief, the history of this area, and indicates
in a general way how its streams and surface features were
formed. As the drift was deposited on an irregular surface its
depth varied greatly, and in many places the streams have cut
entirely through it, alternately crossing the divides and channels
of former streams, and consequently flowing now on rock and
now on mud beds.
With the establishment of a drainage system, erosion of the
prairies began, and every storm since that time has carried away
portions of the black prairie soil, until now, in many places, it has
nearly or entirely disappeared, leaving the gray to brown, more
or less acid, subsoil at the surface. In the lake beds, which
were protected from erosion, the black soil has been retained
and, in some places, even thick beds of peat have been formed.
Some lakes were so situated that streams flowing into them
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS XXI
brought quantities of sediment. The coarser particles, or sands,
were deposited as soon as the velocity was checked, but the
water in the lake was kept in motion sufficiently rapid so that
the finer sediment was not dropped, but carried away. In this
manner the beds of the lakes were covered with thick layers of
sand. When drainage was established, this sand, then left dry,
was heaped by the wind into dunes and hills. Illustrations of
this may be found in the Winnebago swamps, the sandy areas
of Mason, Kankakee, and Tazewell counties, and in many other
places.
After an interval covering thousands, perhaps tens of
thousands, of years following the retreat of the earlier ice-sheets,
the northeastern portion of the state was again covered by ice.
As this ice melted, its outwash deposited here and there over
the older drift a layer of fine but well-assorted material called
loess. After the ice had disappeared and the climate had be-
come less humid, this loess was rearranged by the wind and
quite probably received additions of similar wind-borne material
from the western plains. We speak of it as having been derived
from the lowan and Wisconsin glaciers, but it is quite certain
that at least some of these deposits were formed during the
retreat of the Illinoisan ice, and rearranged and redistributed
by wind during the great drouth which covered part of the
interval between the earlier and later invasions. Most of the
loess in this state is formed in a broad belt following roughly the
course of the Mississippi and its larger tributaries.
All the elements whose origin is here indicated enter into the
surface of the area now under discussion at various points. The
exact location of many of them will be mentioned in connection
with the description of the various river systems.
THE AREA OF THE WISCONSIN DRIFT
As stated above, long after the retreat of the earlier glaciers
the northeastern corner of the state was invaded by a new ice-
sheet called the Wisconsin glacier. It covered this portion of
the state as far south as Paris and Shelbyville, leaving, when it
retired, a prominent moraine which runs through these places
and then turns northward, passing near Decatur, Clinton, Pekin,
Princeton, Sycamore, and Harvard, as shown on the accompany-
ing map (III.). This ridge is known as the Shelbyville or
Mattoon moraine. In its retreat this glacier left a series of
Xxii FISHES OF ILLINOIS
concentric moraines with intervening lake-beds, the larger of
which are well shown on the map.
Another fact, also partially indicated on the map, is that the
drainage system in the part of the state north and east of the
Shelbyville moraine is not nearly so well developed as in the older
Illinoisan drift area, and consequently the streams do not have
so many branches. As the streams break through the Shelby-
ville moraine, they often change the direction of their courses
entirely, thus forming curious curves. This is doubtless due
to the fact that as the Wisconsin drift sheet is superimposed on
the Illinoisan drift, the beds of the streams developed on the
surface of the latter are continued under the former, while the
streams on the Wisconsin have no relation to them. When the
Wisconsin streams broke through their confining moraines, they
had to find their way to the most accessible Illinoisan stream
as best they could.
The present condition of the area of the Wisconsin drift
with its almost unbroken moraines, its black level prairies, peat
bogs, lake beds, shallow streams, and incomplete drainage is
believed to represent faithfully the condition of the Illinoisan
area at an earlier period in its history, and this correspondence
enables us to interpret many topographic relations in this area
which would not otherwise be apparent. For instance, the
control which the moraines of the Wisconsin area exercise on
the direction of its streams, the position and size of its lakes,
and the location and form of the tracts of black prairie soil are
very evident, and it is believed like control would be just as
evident in the Illinoisan area if the fragments of its moraines
were carefully studied and mapped so that they could be restored
and their influence shown. All that has been said about the
early history of the Illinoisan area applies as well to the Wis-
consin. The only material differences between them are due
to age and consequent degree of development.
THE UNGLACIATED SOUTHERN AREA
A natural division of this area would be into mountain
ridge and coastal plain. Regarding the first, little need be
mentioned beyond the facts that it is a true mountain in
structure, although its altitude is low (about 400 feet, on an
average, above the general level); that it is composed almost
entirely of limestones and sandstones of Mississipian; and that
it presents on its southern slope the only approach to volcanic
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS
phenomena in the state. That portion of the state south of
the Ozarks forms part of the coastal plain which borders the
Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It has all the peculiarities of this
plain, since it is level, sandy, and covered with residual soils.
It is almost entirely drained by the Cache and Big Bay rivers,
principally the former, whose current, owing to a reef across
the channel near Ullin, is very sluggish.
THE RIVER SYSTEMS
With these general principles in mind we come to a more
detailed description of the drainage basins of the principal
streams. Nearly the entire surface of the state is drained by
two sets of streams, viz: the Rock, Illinois, Kaskaskia, and
Big Muddy rivers, direct tributaries of the Mississippi, whose
general direction is southwest; and the Saline, Little Wabash,
Embarras, and Vermilion, tributaries of the Wabash and through
it of the Ohio and Mississippi, whose general direction is south-
east. The drainage basins of these streams will now be described
in order.
ROCK RIVER SYSTEM
The Rock River system drains a part of southern Wisconsin
and most of the northwestern corner of Illinois. Its basin
covers an area of almost 10,820 square miles — 5,510 in Wisconsin
and 5,310 in Illinois (Leverett). This drainage basin is 40 to
50 miles wide in Wisconsin, but near the state-line it reaches a
width of about 80 miles. It narrows again in Illinois to 40
miles, and then to 25 miles. Its length is about 175 miles.
The outline thus formed is comparable to that of a pear, the
stem toward Rock Island. The country in this area is an
undulating semi-prairie region. Large expanses of unbroken
prairie, groves and some more extensive bodies of timber,
swamps, and lakes, are all to be found within its limits. Almost
all of the basin tying within Wisconsin is covered with drift from
the Wisconsin glacier, but near Janesville Rock River breaks
through the " Kettle Moraine" of the Green Bay lobe of this
glacier. South of this the basin lies in drift of lowan and
Illinoisan age. Although the exact boundaries of these drift
areas are not as yet definitely determined, the western border
of the lowan drift probably extends but a few miles west of
Rock River at any point, and for a short distance below Rock-
ford it follows nearly the course of the river. The section of the
basin lying in the Wisconsin drift is characterized by extensive
Xxiv FISHES OF ILLINOIS
swamps and numerous small lakes, the drainage being almost
entirely independent of preglacial lines and consequently im-
perfectly developed. The overflow from the swamps is gathered
into little meandering streams which have cut only small chan-
nels in the soil. The rest of the basin is older country — undulat-
ing, well-drained, and forming excellent farm-land except along
Green River, where there are many swamps and sand-hills.
ROCK RIVER
Rock River is, of course, the principal river in the system.
It rises in Dodge county, Wisconsin, in what was formerly Lake
Horicon, but is now drained and has become an extensive marsh.
The lake, which existed until 1868, although a body of water
formed by an artificial dam, yet occupied the site of an ancient
lake caused by the body of drift which formed a natural barrier
to the passage of the water. Gradually this was eroded and the
lake drained, probably through the same passage which now
forms the channel of Rock River past the village of Horicon.
A dam 200 feet in length, erected at this point, would raise the
water 10 feet and restore the old lake to a large extent (10th
Census). Leaving Horicon, the river runs through the eastern
part of its basin until opposite Oconomowoc, where it turns
abruptly northwest to Watertown. Here it suddenly bends
again to the southwest, following this direction until it reaches
the Illinois state-line near the center of its basin. From here it
winds and curves toward the southwest, following at first the
center of the basin, but finally running decidedly nearer its
western boundary line. It empties its waters into the Missis-
sippi near Rock Island.
Throughout its course Rock River is a bright, clear, swiftly
flowing stream, affording some of the most magnificent water-
powers in the country. Dams have been built at numerous
places and are extensively used for milling and manufacturing
purposes. Although its tributaries, especially at times of fresh-
ets, pour their muddy, yellow sediments into its clear waters,
Rock River still retains its remarkable clearness almost to its
mouth. Here, however, the water is generally quite turbid in
consequence of the sewage and other contaminations which are
poured into it.
The river is nearly 300 miles long — almost one half lying in
Wisconsin. The altitude of its source is 875 feet, and of its
mouth 536 feet, making a total descent of almost 340 feet. The
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS XXV
average slope is 1.2 feet per mile. Its most rapid section is in
Wisconsin, from the mouth of the Catfish to that of the Peca-
tonica, where for 30 miles the average slope is 1.9 feet per mile;
and the next is from Oregon to Sterling and Rock Falls, in
which distance of 36 miles the average slope is 1.31 feet per mile.
Locally there are more sudden descents than these — as at the
Sterling rapids, where there is a fall of 15 feet. The average
low-water flow of Rock River is 3,900 cubic feet per second, and
the average yearly flow is 9,944 cubic feet. The average yearly
flow is 35 per cent, of the annual precipitation, and the ordinary
low-water flow is about .36 cubic feet per second per square
mile (10th Census).
There are 10 large lakes tributary to Rock River. These
are all in Wisconsin and have a total area of 80 square miles.
Among them are Lakes Koshkonong, Mendota, Monona, and
Beaver Dam. Lake Koshkonong, in southwestern Jefferson
county, is an expansion of Rock River 2 miles wide and 10 miles
long, with its foot 6 miles above the mouth of the Catfish
River. A large dam has been erected across its outlet and is
controlled in the interests of the water-power below. To this
and the dams of several other smaller tributary lakes is very
largely due the maintenance of a comparatively uniform flow
in dry and severely cold seasons.
In Wisconsin the banks of Rock River are quite low and
rolling, but at Janesville the river enters a wide preglacial
valley which it follows to a point a little below Rockford, 111.
The stream then turns abruptly westward while the valley
continues southward toward the Illinois River, the valley of
which it enters at Hennepin. This changing of the river course
is doubtless due to the Wisconsin moraine which was left across
its path when the glacier retreated. The water then found an
easier outlet through the preglacial channels of some of its
former tributaries. The valley averages about 3 miles in width,
although in places it reaches a width of 5 miles. Most of the
way the river follows the western edge of the valley, although
just above Rockford it crosses to the eastern side and then back
again. Thus, the eastern banks are usually low while those on
the west are high and steep, in some places rising 75 feet above
the water. W^hen the stream turns westward below Rockford,
it runs for 50 miles through a narrow valley to a point a few
miles below Dixon. For a large part of this distance it flows
through the preglacial channels spoken of above. Through this
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
part of its course the stream maintains a width of 500 feet,
but its valley varies in width from 1,000 feet to fully 1 mile
(Leverett) . It forms long undulating curves, except at Grand
Detour, where it doubles upon itself in short, abrupt bends.
The face of the country along the river is rough, broken, and
timbered. The prairie extends to the water's edge in only a few
places. The bluffs approaching closely to the river are bold,
rocky, and precipitous, rising abruptly at times to a height of
125 feet. The little streams on either side have cut deep ravines
in the banks, often exposing the several formations of the Ordo-
vician. The result is certainly very picturesque and somewhat
awe-inspiring. Below Dixon the bluffs gradually recede and grow
lower until, at Sterling, Rock River begins to flow through a
sandy plain known as the Green River basin, a plain which
lies 25-40 feet above the stream. Here the course of the river
is entirely independent of preglacial lines, and its current is
broad and swift. The bluffs of the Mississippi strike Rock
River at Milan and for several miles above this point they rise
on either side abruptly, in some places towering 150 feet above
the water. They then break away and the river flows in an
alluvial plain of good farming land. This plain is about 5 miles
wide. Near the mouth of Rock River there are several small
islands which divert the river into three channels. Two of these
branches meet again near Milan, flowing into the Mississippi
two and a half miles distant, while the southern stream, known
as Kickapoo slough, pursues a winding course southward and
westward, opening into the Mississippi a few miles south of the
mouth of Rock River.
The upper Rock River is a clear, quiet-flowing stream with
sandy bottom. Lower in its course the bed becomes more often
rocky and the current quickens. Naturally, the water, unless
roiled by freshets, keeps its bright, clear character until well
down near the mouth. Its tributaries, however, at times pour
in a flood of stained and muddy water, making the lower portion
a turbid stream, while, of late, sewage and other contamination
have done much to impair the original brilliancy of the water.
Yet, as Illinois rivers go, it must even now be considered a
clear stream, while the bold bluffs and out-cropping rocks along
its banks make it one of the most picturesque rivers in the state.
The principal branches of Rock River are Pecatonica,
Kishwaukee, and Green rivers.
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS XXVii
PECATONICA RIVER
Pecatonica River rises in Iowa county, Wisconsin, in the
driftless area, and flows south, entering Illinois in the northwest
corner of Stephenson county. It then flows in a course a little
south of west to Freeport, where it turns westward, entering
Winnebago county near the center of its western boundary.
Another turn is then made, to the north and east, the stream
finally emptying into Rock River at Rockton. The Pecatonica
is about 150 miles long, over half of this distance lying in Wis-
consin. Its drainage basin covers 2,225 square miles, of which
780 are in Illinois. Its discharge in ordinary low water is
about 940 cubic feet per second, and the average flow for the
year is estimated to be over 2,300 cubic feet per second. Almost
all of that portion of the basin lying in Wisconsin is included in
the driftless area, the river entering the Illinoisan drift just
above the Illinois state-line. It flows through this drift until,
at a point 10 miles above its mouth, it enters the lowan drift.
For 10 or 15 miles above this point, however, it follows closely
the northern boundary of this drift. The country which the
Pecatonica drains is rolling, partly timber and partly prairie.
The Indian name of the river (spelled Peeka-ton-oke on the
old maps) is said by some authors to mean "muddy," and by
others to mean " crooked. " The river, especially in its lower
portion, would fit either or both. The fall of the river averages
only about half a foot per mile, and throughout its course it
curves and winds about, not abruptly but in long undulating
turns, through its rich alluvial bottoms, which in some places
spread out to a width of 3 miles. Its earthen banks are low
and rounded, and covered with heavy timber.
KISHWAUKEE RIVER
Kishwaukee River is formed by two branches which unite
about 12 miles above its mouth. The northern branch rises in
the Wisconsin moraine in central McHenry county, and the
southern in the same moraine in southern DeKalb county.
Each of these branches is about 50 miles long, the whole system
draining about 1,644 square miles. The lower part of the river
lies in drift of the lowan age, while the upper parts are in that
of the Wisconsin age. The northern branch falls about 25 feet
in the first 3 miles, and below this the descent averages two and
a half to three feet per mile. The southern branch is a little
swifter, with an average fall of about 4 feet per mile. The
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
waters of this river are very clear compared with those of the
Pecatonica. The banks of the river are not precipitous, al-
though rising 40 to 50 feet high at some points. The entire
river valley is low, undulating, semi-prairie country, more or
less wooded.
GREEN RIVER
Green River and its basin are quite distinct in their character
from the other tributaries of Rock River and their basins. The
drainage basin of Green River covers about 1,000 square miles
all of which lies on a lake-plain of sand and gravel outwash from
the Wisconsin glacier, the river following for most of its course
the northern boundary line of the Wisconsin terminal moraine.
The surface soil consists of peat, underlaid by sand and gravel.
Through this the streams have found difficulty in making their
way, unable to cut definite channels through it down to base
level. The country consequently remains very imperfectly
drained, and the waters gathering between the sand-hills have
formed great peat marshes and bogs. Much is being done in
late years, however, toward reclaiming these swamps by means
of extensive tiling and ditching. The following description rep-
resents the condition of this region before this work was so far
advanced as it is at present.
Green River is about 93 miles long, extending from eastern
Lee county southwest across the corner of Bureau county and
then west through Henry county to its northwest corner, there
emptying into Rock River. Its headwaters are found in the
elevated moraine forming the border of the Wisconsin drift in
Southeastern Lee county, and stand 950 to 1,000 feet above tide.
The eastern stream descends rapidly, 25 feet in a mile, to the
sandy plain outside the moraine. There it soon enters the Inlet
swamps lying about 775 feet above tide. These swamps are
10 miles long and 2 to 5 miles wide. Through them the stream
has no definite channel but seems to be entirely lost. They are
mostly covered with a dense prairie grass among whose roots a
thin sheet of water is concealed in the wet seasons of the year.
Towards the center the water is deeper and patches of cattails
and rushes abound. From the western edge of this area, two
to three miles southeast of Lee Center, the surplus waters of the
swamps are gathered into a stream with a well-defined channel.
This leads westward for 15 miles to another wet area, the
Winnebago swamps, making a descent of about 3 feet per mile.
These swamps are very similar to the Inlet swamps but much
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS XXIX
larger. Hills of sand rise in chains and clusters from the midst
of them. These hills were originally heaped up by the winds
from the sands of the old lake-bed. Some of them are 40-50
feet high and are covered with a scattering and stunted growth
of trees. The intervening swamps are fringed with bands of
thick-growing swamp grass on a miry, mucky soil. Within
these are inner fringes of dense cane-like rushes and cattails
growing so thick and tall that it is almost impossible to pene-
trate them. Then come stretches of clear water with hard
sand bottoms. In the next 25 miles, to the crossing of the
Bureau-Henry county line, the stream has a poorly denned
channel, meandering about through a series of marshes among
sand-hills but making a descent of 60 feet. In the remaining
35 to 40 miles to its mouth, the stream falls about 40 feet and
maintains a well-defined channel. In the lower 18 to 20 miles,
below Geneseo, it has excavated a valley fully 20 feet in average
depth and nearly half a mile in width. In this section of its
course its uplands are far less sandy.
Along the whole course of Green River, there are no bold
bluffs except at Lee Center, where some low outcrops of Galena
dolomite are quarried.
THE NORTHWESTERN AREA
The waters of extreme northwestern Illinois differ suffi-
ciently in condition and surroundings from those of the smaller
tributaries of the Mississippi farther south to warrant their
separate discussion in this report. The surface drained by them
is the southernmost part of a tract known to geologists as the
Wisconsin driftless area, a region not covered by ice during the
glacial period, and consequently wholly destitute of glacial
drift. Because of its prolonged exposure to erosion its streams
have reached the limit of their development, and run usually
through deep valleys with rather a swift current, mostly unob-
structed by rapids or falls. As a consequence of this perfect
drainage and rapid flow, the surface waters quickly escape to
the Mississippi; but as the streams are fed to a considerable
extent by springs flowing from the limestone rocks, they rarely
are completely dry. There are no lakes, swamps, or other
reservoirs for the sedimentation of the surface waters, and the
streams are consequently easily roiled by storms, in the intervals
of which, however, the water is comparatively clear.
XXX FISHES OF ILLINOIS
This driftless area of northwestern Illinois contains about
1,030 square miles, and includes all of Jo Daviess county, two
thirds of Carroll county, and a part of Stephenson. The surface
is rolling and somewhat broken, with a general elevation vary-
ing between 700 and 1,000 feet, but rising in mounds and flat-
topped hills to the highest point in the state, an elevation known
as Charles Mound, in Jo Daviess county, 1,241 feet above the
level of the sea. The surface rock of this district is mainly
Galena-Plat teville, with Maquoketa shales and Niagara lime-
stone capping the higher hills.
The principal streams of this region are Galena River to the
north and Apple and Plum rivers farther south. Many addi-
tional smaller streams run down from the hills and bluffs to
open directly into the Mississippi.
GALENA RIVER
Galena River, called Fever River on many maps, rises
chiefly in Lafaj^ette county, Wisconsin, which state contains
also nearly 135 of the 197 square miles of its drainage basin.
It runs with a rather rapid course through the hilly country
of western Jo Daviess county, often over a rocky bed, becoming
comparatively broad and sluggish as it crosses the Mississippi
bottoms west of the town of Galena to empty into the Missis-
sippi River.
APPLE RIVER
Apple River rises in Lafayette county, Wisconsin, and flows
southeast, then southwest and finally south, emptying into the
Mississippi in northern Carroll county, Illinois. It has a length
of about 45 miles and drains an area of 270 square miles. It
crosses the state-line at an elevation of about 950 feet, while its
mouth has an altitude of only 588 feet. In Jo Daviess county,
the upper channel of the river is narrow and the banks are
steep and 150 to 200 feet high. In the lower part, the valley
becomes broader and the banks recede until, in Carroll county,
the river enters the broad bottom-lands of the Mississippi.
Except for the headwaters of the eastern branch, the entire
basin lies in the driftless area and therefore maintains its pre-
glacial course. It has, however, received a marked accession of
drainage because of the blocking of a preglacial tributary of the
Pecatonica. This diversion occurs just below Melville, and for
about 3 miles below this point the stream is in a gorge but little
wider than its bed. The small preglacial Apple River is then
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OP ILLINOIS XXXI
entered. Outcrops of the Niagara formation occur frequently
along the bluffs.
PLUM RIVER
Plum River rises in the northeast corner of Carroll county,
and, following a westerly and southerly direction through many
windings and abrupt turns, finally empties into the Mississippi
in the center of the western boundary of Carroll county. It
rises at an altitude of 900 feet but descends to 800 feet in the
first 3 miles, to 700 feet in the next two and one half miles, and
to 590 feet in the remaining 32 miles of its course. The banks
are often 150 feet high, and in some places are very abrupt,
while at other points a narrow valley of one eighth to one fourth
of a mile intervenes. It is 33 miles long, and drains an area of
307 square miles.
THE MISSISSIPPI BLUFF DRAINAGE
Under this head are included all of the small streams of
western Illinois directly tributary to the Mississippi below those
of the northwestern area. Those here briefly described are
Edwards River, Pope creek, Henderson River, Bear creek, Bay
creek, and Cahokia River. The character of a multitude of
others may be sufficiently inferred from those of this list. The
area drained by these western streams includes two strips of
land bordering the Mississippi, one above and the other two
below the Illinois basin. It consists of the eastern Mississippi
bottoms, varying in width from one to ten miles, and of high
bluffs rising from 150 to 250 feet above the river, usually of loess,
but occasionally with precipitous rock exposures. Many of the
streams rise beyond this range of bluffs on the western prairies.
EDWARDS RIVER.
Edwards River rises in southeastern Henry county, in two
branches, and flows westward through this and Mercer county.
In the western part of the latter it turns southward for a short
distance before emptying into the Mississippi about one and one
half miles below New Boston. Below the junction of its two
headwater streams the course of the river is remarkably straight
and it has few tributaries. This is due to the fact that its basin
lies in a narrow and shallow valley between two ridges having a
general east- west direction, and so the river drains only this
narrow strip. Pope creek, which flows parallel with it on the
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
south, lies in another such valley. Edwards River rises at an
altitude of 800 feet, falls 50 feet in its first one and one half
miles, and another 50 feet in the next 18 miles. The mouth is
about 520 feet above sea-level. The stream has a length of 67
miles, draining an area of 446 square miles.
POPE CREEK
Pope creek rises in northern Knox county and flows west-
ward, emptying into the Mississippi almost opposite the mouth
of Iowa River. It rises at an altitude of 750 feet, but its mouth
lies at 520 feet. Its length is about 50 miles, and its drainage
area is 167 square miles. The bluffs bordering the river are
abrupt and often reach a height of 75 to 125 feet.
HENDERSON RIVER
Henderson River rises in two forks, one in the northwest
corner of Knox county and the other in Warren county, and
flows westward and southward, emptying into the Mississippi
at the center of the western border of Henderson county. It
drains much of northern Henderson, northern Warren, and part
of Knox county, and, although having a total length of scarcely
77 miles, it furnishes drainage through its numerous branches
for an area of fully 500 square miles. It rises at an elevation of
800 feet, and descends 100 feet in its first 10 miles, but below
this the fall is gradual, the altitude at its mouth being 520 feet.
BEAR CREEK
Bear creek drains the southwestern part of Hancock county
and the northern part of Adams — a possible area of 518 square
miles. The main branch rises in southern Hancock county and
flows south and west 48 miles, emptying into the Mississippi
opposite Canton, Mo. The source of this stream is at an eleva-
tion of 670 feet, while the mouth has an altitude of 460 feet.
BAY CREEK
Bay creek drains a large part of Pike county and a little of
northern Calhoun. It rises in northern Pike county and flows
southeastward toward the Illinois River, following a sag be-
tween two Illinoisan drift ridges, and nearly reaching the Illinois
opposite the village of Bedford. It then curves to the south-
west, passes through a gap in the rocky ridge, which to the
north and south constitutes the divide between the Mississippi
and the Illinois, and enters the Mississippi opposite the town
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS XXX111
of Louisiana, Mo. The deflection to the west is due to the
ridge of Illinoisan drift which follows the east border of the
stream and prevents it from entering the Illinois valley. The
river has a length of about 50 miles, rising at an altitude of 850
feet, draining 222 square miles, but falling 100 feet in its first
two miles, and below this averaging a fall of nearly 7 feet to the
mile until it enters the Mississippi flats. The mouth is at an
altitude of about 430 feet.
CAHOKIA RIVER
Cahokia River rises in western Montgomery county,
crosses southern Macoupin county, and flows south and west,
emptying into the Mississippi near East St. Louis. It is about
50 miles long and drains an area of 360 square miles, rising at
an altitude of 640 feet, but falling 120 feet in the first 6 miles.
Below this it descends to 425 feet at Wanda, the point at which
it crosses the Mississippi bluffs and enters the bottom-lands of
that river. The mouth of the stream has an elevation of about
400 feet. The banks above Wanda are steep and abrupt, rising
100 feet or more on either side of the water.
ILLINOIS RIVER SYSTEM
The Illinois and its branches drain an area of 28,100 square
miles, distributed among three states. Of this area, 24,940
square miles are in Illinois, extending in a broad band, 267 miles
long and averaging 100 miles in width, directly across the
center of the state in a northeast-southwest direction. From
the upper extremity of this band are two projections: one north
into Wisconsin, covering 1,020 square miles in that state; the
other east into Indiana, covering 3,140 square miles of its
northern portion. This eastern projection forms the basin of
the Kankakee River, while the northern one includes the basins
of the Fox and Des Plaines rivers. It is the union of the drainage
of these two projections which may be considered as the origin
of the Illinois, this name being applied to the river from the
point of junction of the Kankakee and the Des Plaines in eastern
Grundy county, Illinois. The Illinois flows westward for about
55 miles, turns rather abruptly southwest a little north of
Hennepin and follows this direction until it empties into the
Mississippi at the southern end of Calhoun county. The river
may readily be divided into two parts: the upper Illinois, con-
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
sisting of that portion of the river above the turn at Hennepin;
and the lower Illinois, below this point. The lower part of the
river occupies a preglacial valley, the southward continuation
of the preglacial valley occupied by Rock River in southern
Wisconsin and northern Illinois. The upper Illinois, however,
flows through an interglacial and postglacial valley, the old
"Chicago outlet." This outlet was the line of southwest ward
discharge from the basin of Lake Michigan across the low divides
near Chicago and thence down the Des Plaines and Illinois to the
Mississippi. It has a depth ranging from 20 to 70 feet, the
excavation being almost entirely in beds of drift except for
about 15 miles between Lemon t and Joliet and 40 miles between
Morris and Peru, where rock strata have been eroded. Through-
out its entire length the bluffs are steep like river banks, and
the deposits made by side streams on the edge of the valley
are very meager — a feature which indicates that the stream had
great volume, probably filling the channel from bluff to bluff,
and a current sufficiently strong to carry nearly all of the detritus
brought into it by the side streams.
Since the Illinois is formed by the union of the Des Plaines
and the Kankakee, it may be best to describe those streams first.
DES PLAINES RIVER
The Des Plaines drains a narrow intermorainic strip ex-
tending north and south a distance of 90 miles from Kenosha
county, Wisconsin, to the head of the Illinois in eastern Grundy
county, Illinois. The whole drainage basin covers an area of
about 1,366 square miles, its greatest width being scarcely 2§
miles. This region all lies within the Wisconsin drift, between
two rather large moraines to the east and west of it, and con-
taining many smaller moraines which have prevented the
formation of good natural drainage-lines. The land is, conse-
quently, very imperfectly drained, and contains numerous small
lakes and marshes, although this condition has been much
changed by extensive systems of tiling. A series of measure-
ments by the U. S. Geological Survey gives for the average
discharge 1,100 cubic feet per second. The water of the northern
section is moderately clear, but becomes more turbid and
polluted lower down. The bottom of the river and its tribu-
taries is largely sand and gravel, with rock in its portions of
swiftest descent.
The Des Plaines has its source in an extended marshy valley
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS XXXV
in Kenosha county, Wisconsin. This valley is so nearly level
that at times it is very difficult to tell which way the water flows.
It stands 112 feet above Lake Michigan (Leverett) and drains
northward into Root River as well as southward into the Des
Plaines. The Des Plaines flows nearly parallel with the shore
of Lake Michigan to a point about 10 miles southwest of Chicago.
It then turns southwest for 40 miles, to its junction with the
Kankakee. The course of the upper Des Plaines is governed
by the moraines along the banks of Lake Michigan, following
these more or less in their curves. At Summit it enters into the
" Chicago outlet." At flood stages the upper Des Plaines still
discharges into Lake Michigan through a portion of this old
outlet which is known as "Mud Lake" and South Chicago
River. Probably the entire discharge, until recent years, has
been into the lake instead of down the "Chicago outlet," thus
forming a system entirely distinct from the lower Des Plaines.
In the upper portion of the river the fall averages only a little
over 1 foot per mile, and its branches are almost all short and
small on account of the moraines. The banks, especially on
the west, are quite high, in some places reaching a height of 50
feet, but they are not abrupt.
In the 40 miles from Summit to the mouth of the river, the
valley averages about 1 mile in width and consists of a rather
shallow trough cut out of limestone. This is covered with a
thin bed of drift, and the banks of the river are consequently
low. Just below Summit there are 12 miles which are almost
level, so that the land on each side of the river is poorly drained
and swampy. Below this the river widens into Goose Lake,
three and a half miles long and one third of a mile wide, through
which it makes a descent of about 10 feet. The bed of the river
narrows again, and just above Lockport it begins to descend
very rapidly, dropping about 70 feet in 8 miles. Below this are
two lakes — one, known as Lake Joliet, 2^ miles below Joliet,
and the other, Lake Dupage, near the mouth of the Dupage
River, the two being three miles apart, and the river falling
about 13 feet in the interval (Leverett). In the half mile from
Lake Dupage to the junction of the Des Plaines with the Kan-
kakee another descent of two and a half feet is made. The
only true flood-plain bottoms lie within the seven miles between
Lake Joliet and the head of the Illinois. These are within the
range of backwater from the Kankakee, but are overflowed
only in case of floods from that stream, having been built up
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
to about the average high-water level. A canal, 100 miles
long, called the Illinois and Michigan canal, starts from Lake
Michigan at Chicago, and, cutting through the low summit,
enters the Des Plaines valley. It crosses the river at Joliet,
and then follows along the right bank of this river and of the
Illinois to Peru, where it enters the latter river.
The principal branch of the Des Plaines is the Dupage
River, which rises in southern Lake county, and, flowing south-
ward, empties into the Des Plaines only 4 miles above its junction
with the Kankakee. It is about 50 miles in length, and drains
about 366 square miles of intermorainic country. It is a swiftly
moving stream, the last 11 miles of its course having a fall of
80 feet. Its banks are generally low and rolling.
KANKAKEE RIVER
Kankakee River rises in a large marsh about three miles
southwest of South Bend, St. Joseph county, Ind. It flows in
a southwesterly direction to the southern boundary line of
La Porte county, and then more westerly, crossing the Indiana-
Illinois state-line in southern Lake county, Indiana. It then
flows a little south of west to within a few miles of Kankakee,
where it receives the Iroquois from the south. Thence it pro-
ceeds almost due northwest to near the northeast corner of
Grundy county, where it unites with the Des Plaines to form
the Illinois.
The Kankakee is about 140 miles long; 85 .miles lying in
Indiana. Its drainage basin covers about 5,300 square miles,
of which 3,140 square miles are in Indiana. This basin has its
northern limits in the Valparaiso morainic system, and all of
the important northern tributaries find their sources in the
same system. Its southern limits, in the portion below the
mouth of the Iroquois, are found in the Marseilles moraine.
The Iroquois rises in a somewhat distinct area, draining basins
south of the Iroquois and Marseilles moraines and passing
through a gap in the latter moraine to enter the Kankakee.
The eastern limits of the Kankakee basin are mainly in the
Maxinkuckee moraine of the Saginaw lobe.
Probably the whole of the Kankakee basin was formerly an
old lake, called now by geologists Lake Kankakee, and, at the
same time that the old " Chicago outlet" was full, it may have
been a line of discharge for the St. Joseph River, now a tribu-
tary to Lake Michigan, carrying also a large amount of glacial
drainage from the Saginaw and Lake Michigan lobes.
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS XXXvii
The basin of the Kankakee is generally level, but near the
state-line, at Momence, occurs the first limestone outcrop in
the bed of the river. This ledge or arch has so prevented the
wearing down of the bed that a very large part of the drainage
area in Indiana is one vast swamp. From its source to the
state-line there is a direct distance of only 75 miles, but within
this distance the stream makes 2,000 bends and flows a total
length of 240 miles. The difference in level between its source
and the state-line is but 97.3 feet, showing a fall of but 1.3 feet
to the mile. (Indiana Geological Survey.) The winding of
the river reduces the fall to only 5 inches to the mile. Above
its junction with the Yellow River the amount of water is in-
sufficient to form a well-defined channel. The water has an
almost imperceptible flow, and in many places wild rice, rushes,
lily-pads, and aquatic grasses so choke the channel as to cause
the flooding of the marshes during summer freshets. Below
this point, however, there is quite a definite open channel,
although the small tributaries are usually lost in the marsh
before reaching the main stream. On the immediate border of
the river there is a strip ranging in width from one fourth to
one and one half miles which is heavily timbered. The only other
timber is found on so-called islands whose surfaces rise 10 to 20
feet above the general level of the marsh. The open marsh is
covered with a rank growth of wild grasses, bulrushes, sedges,
reeds, wild rice, and other semiaquatic vegetation. Between
the woodland bordering the river-bank and the marsh, as well
as around the margin of most of the islands, there are dense
thickets of elbow-brush, willows, etc. In 1882 there were
almost 500,000 acres of marsh land within the valley of the
Kankakee. It resembled an immense sponge, slowly absorbing
the water during the wet season and as slowly giving it forth
during the dry, so that the flow throughout the year was quite
regular and uniform in amount. At present, on account of the
drainage of a large part of this marsh, the water flows off much
sooner after it falls, and consequently the river is higher during
the autumn and spring floods and lower at other seasons than
formerly. In general the soil of the marsh is a dark, sandy
loam, very rich in organic matter. It is very porous, but has
the power to take up and retain large quantities of water.
In the 14 miles below Momence, 111., to its junction with
the Iroquois, there is a descent of 25 feet. In the 33.5 miles
from the mouth of the Iroquois to the head of the Illinois, the
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Kankakee falls 103 feet, or an average of 3 feet to the mile.
There are rapids near Altorf and at Wilmington, where sudden
descents of 20 feet are made. In Indiana, as stated above, the
bed of the river is composed mainly of sand and fine gravel,
but at Momence it begins to flow over limestone, and from that
point to its mouth it has a rock bottom, affording good founda-
tions for dams for utilizing water-power and for purposes of
navigation. The inner valley of the river is but little wider
than the stream, and outside this there is a broad bottom
averaging about 2 miles in width.
IROQUOIS RIVER
Iroquois River is the chief tributary of the Kankakee in this
state. It rises in Jasper county, Indiana, flows southwest until
it reaches the center of Iroquois county, Illinois, and then turns
north, emptying into the Kankakee at Waldron, Kankakee
county. It is about 87 miles long and has a watershed of 2,175
square miles, much of which is imperfectly drained. Fully
935 square miles, or nearly half the basin, lies in Indiana. This
part is of the same type as the Kankakee basin, marshy and
sandy. Just before the river reaches Watseka, Illinois, it
crosses the Iroquois moraine, and then traverses what was
probably once a temporary lake-bed. Sand banks, like those
along the Kankakee, follow its valley.
It is a much slower stream than the Kankakee in Illinois.
For the first 12 miles in this state it falls only about two and a
half feet per mile. Below Watseka it descends still more
gradually, falling only 10 feet in the first 20 miles and another 10
feet in the last 9 miles of its course. The Iroquois is about half
the size of the Kankakee above its junction. Although it rises
in the swamp region, it drains a much greater proportion of dry
prairie land than the Kankakee, and therefore is, comparatively,
a " flashy" stream. Its freshets rise sooner, and they pass off
before those of the main river. In the region around Oilman, in
the western part of the basin, are many artesian wells which
add materially to the flow of the river in ordinary low water.
ILLINOIS RIVER
Measured by its relation to their industrial and civic in-
terests, the Illinois is by far the most important river to the
citizens of this state. Larger streams flow along our boundaries,
but none affects so closely the welfare of so many of our people.
Indeed, from its peculiar position and its relation to other
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS XXxix
waters, it has always been an especially important stream. To
the early explorers, traders; and missionaries, as well as to the
aborigines before them, it furnished, together with the Des
Plaines and the Chicago portage, one of the most frequently
traveled waterways through the interior of the country, and
the settlements along its banks were among the earliest in the
state. At a later period it became a useful commercial high-
way, a function which it now seems certain to resume, at no
distant day, on a scale of national importance. Its yield of
fishery products is greater than that of all the other waters of
the state combined,* and it serves an indispensable purpose to
the City of Chicago and to the principal towns upon its banks
in conveying away their liquid wastes, which it renders harmless
by decomposition and useful by converting them more or less
directly into a food supply for fishes.
The Illinois may be regarded as in many respects a typical
stream of the central prairies of the Mississippi Valley, peculiar
now, however, in the enormous amount of sewage which it car-
ries— mainly received from Chicago by way of the drainage
canal — together with the large amount of refuse from distilleries
and cattle-yards along its course. It flows, in most of its length,
down the bed of an ancient outlet of Lake Michigan, by which
the waters of that lake were conveyed to the Mississippi River.
Within this bed it has excavated its own present channel, with
its present bottom-lands or " first bottoms," subject to overflow
at high water. Its second bottoms, above the reach of high
water, are the flood-plain of the former outlet of the lake. This
ancient channel varies in width from 1J/2 to 6 miles, or, if th^
flood-plain of the older river be also included, to a maximum
width of 20 miles, the bluffs on either side ranging in altitude from
450 to 800 feet. The highest points of these bluffs are near Peoria,
and near the mouth of the river in Calhoun county. The water-
sheds bounding the river basin range in height from 700 to 1,000
feet above the sea, the average elevation being 600 or 700 feet.
The length of the Illinois from its origin in the junction of the
Kankakee and the Des Plaines is approximately 273 miles; or, if
its longest tributary, the Kankakee, be added, the total is 413
miles. The length of the stream itself is 28 per cent, greater than
that of a straight line from its origin to its mouth — an unusually
small percentage for the tributaries of the Mississippi. It takes,
*In 1899 the total value of the product of the fisheries of Illinois was $616,452, and that
of the fisheries of the Illinois River was $382,372.
Xl FISHES OF ILLINOIS
in other words, an uncommonly direct course. The area of its
basin is approximately 29,000 square miles, 28,100 of which lie
within Illinois, 1,020 square miles in Wisconsin, and 3,140 in
Indiana. Its basin thus comprises about three sevenths of the
area of the state. It extends diagonally across the center of Illi-
nois from the northeast to the southwest as a broad belt about a
hundred miles in width, the upper end of which expands in a Y-
shaped area to embrace the southwest part of Lake Michigan.
The northern arm of the " Y" is formed by the basin of the Des
Plaines, and the eastern arm by the more extensive basin of the
Kankakee. From its origin, fifty miles southwest of Chicago, it
runs almost due west some sixty miles to a point not far above
Hennepin, where it turns abruptly towards the left, flowing
southwest by south a hundred and sixty-five miles (two hundred
and five by river) to its union with the Mississippi, twenty-five
miles above St. Louis. Its bottom-lands have an average width
of 3.1 miles, from Utica to the mouth of the river. The immediate
banks of the stream are usually higher than the adjacent sur-
faces, and the same may be said of its tributary streams where
they flow through the bottoms of the Illinois. Bayous, lagoons,
marshes, and temporary ponds occur along the course of the
river, especially in its central portion from Hennepin to Mere-
dosia, all subject to invasion or obliteration by the river in times
of flood, but filled, at low water, either from springs or from the
general drainage of their basins. Spring-fed lakes are rather
common along the eastern side of the river, from Pekin to its
mouth, deriving their waters from the rainfall collected by the
second bottoms, at whose margin they usually lie.
This large area of marshes, lagoons, and lakes affects the
life of the river in many important ways. The flood-plain serves
as a storage area for the waters of overflow, greatly delaying the
run-off at times of flood. This delay is still further prolonged,
in many years, by high water in the Mississippi, which often
extends far up the Illinois — in a few instances as much as a
hundred miles. As a result of these conditions the average
volume of water in the stream throughout the year is greatly
increased, and a wider range and breeding ground and a greater
food supply are afforded to the fishes of the stream.
The fall in the Illinois River is but slight — an average of .267
of a foot per mile of its total length. Fifty and seven tenths feet
of this fall occur in the first forty- two miles of its course, and
from Utica to the mouth of the river the total fall is but 31 feet,
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS xli
or an average of .137 of a foot to the mile. The effect of this
slight fall is seen in the sluggish current of the Illinois, which
ranges from .4 of a mile per hour at the lowest water to 1.737
miles when at twelve feet above low-water mark. The usual rate
of flow for ordinary stages varies, however, from 1 J£ to 2 1/2 miles
per hour. The difference between low- water and high-water con-
ditions is immense in many ways, especially because of the great
expansion of water surface resulting from slight changes in level.
The annual range in river levels, as recorded at Copperas Creek
dam, in the twenty-one years from 1879 to 1899 inclusive, varied
from 8.9 feet in 1894 to 17.7 feet in 1882. It is estimated that the
area and volume of the river are not far from a hundred times as
great at the highest water as at the lowest, and the conditions of
aquatic life are thus enormously affected. The contrasts pre-
sented by the Illinois River at high water and at low water
respectively are graphically set forth by Kofoid in his report on
the plankton work of the Natural History Survey, published
in Volume VI. of the State Laboratory Bulletin.
"A trip by boat," he says, " across the submerged bottom-
lands from the Quiver shore [on the east bank, 2% miles above
Havana] to the western bluff in the latter part of May would be
far more enlightening than any description that might be given.
As we leave the sandy shore of Quiver we traverse the clear,
cold, and spring-fed water along the eastern bank with its rapidly
growing carpet of Ceratophyllum [horn wort], and in a few rods
note the increasing turbidity, rising temperature, and richer plank-
ton of the water which has moved down from the more or less
open and slightly submerged bottom to the north. As we cross
the muddy bank of Quiver ridge and enter the main channel of
the river we find rougher water, caused by the wind which usually
sweeps up or down the stream with considerable force between
the bordering forests. The water also appears much more turbid
by reason of silt and plankton, and no trace of vegetation is to
be seen save occasional masses of floating Ceratophyllum or iso-
lated plants of Lemna, Wolffia, or Spirodela [duckweeds]. Huge
masses of cattle-yard refuse, veritable floating gardens, may also
at times be seen moving down the channel or stranded in some
eddy along shore. As we plunge into the willow thicket on the
western shore we have to pick our way through the accumulated
drift lodged in the shoals or caught by the trunks of the trees or
the submerged underbrush. The surface of the water is one mat
of logs, brush, sticks, bark, and fragments of floating vegetation.
Xlii FISHES OF ILLINOIS
with its interstices filled with Lemnacece [duckweed] dotted with
the black statoblasts of Plumatella. From this dark labyrinth
we emerge to the muddy but quiet waters of Seeb's Lake with
its treacherous bottom of soft black ooze. We next enter a wider
stretch of more open territory with scattered willows and maples
and a rank growth of semiaquatic vegetation, principally Polyg-
onums [heart-weed]. The water is clearer and of a brownish
tinge (from the diatoms), while mats of alga? adhere to the leaves
and stems of the emerging plants. A flock of startled water-
fowl leave their feeding grounds as we pass into the wide expanse
of Flag Lake. We push our way through patches of lily-pads
and beds of lotus, past the submerged domes of muskrat houses
built of last year's rushes, and thread our way, through devious
channels, among the fresh green flags and rushes just emerging
from the water. Open patches of water here and there mark the
areas occupied by the "moss" or Ceratophyllum, as yet at some
depth below the surface. The Lemnacece are everywhere lodged
in mats and windrows, and, amidst their green, one occasionally
catches sight of a bright cluster of Azolla. The water is clear
and brownish save where our movements stir the treacherous
and mobile bottom. We now enter a second time the partially
wooded country, and cross the submerged ridge to the sandy
eastern shore of Thompson's Lake. This ridge is covered by
submerged vegetation which has as yet attained but little
growth. The " breaks" of the startled fish show that we have
invaded favorite feeding grounds. The waters are evidently
moving towards the river, and they bear the rich plankton of
Thompson's Lake, while their turbidity is doubtless increased by
the movements of the fish. Schools of young fry can be seen feed-
ing upon the plankton in the warm and quiet waters. Thomp-
son's Lake, the largest expanse of water in the neighborhood,
is wont to be rough in windy weather, but if the day be still we
can see the rich aquatic vegetation which fringes its margin and
lies in scattered masses toward its southern end. Its waters
seem somewhat turbid, but more from plankton than from silt,
though the deep soft mud which forms much of its bottom is
easily stirred. The slender transparent limnetic young of the
gizzard-shad may be seen swimming near the surface. There is
a perceptible drift to the south in the open lake, though this
current is deflected by the elevated banks' of Spoon River
towards the Illinois River, crossing the lower, bottom-lands above
this region. If we push on through the fringing willows at the
THE TOPOGRAPHY AXD HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS xliii
south we find a series of open places locally known as " ponds. "
The warm still waters are turbid in places from the movements
of fish, and at times we see the compact schools of young dogfish
(Amia, calva) and, if we are late enough in the season, the myriads
of young black, tadpole-like catfish (Ameiurus), likewise in
schools, while young carp (Cyprinus carpio) are everywhere.
The new vegetation is already springing from the decaying and
matted stems of the preceding summer. Turning back towards
the river we pass through the heavy timber where the still brown
water, cool and clear, overlies the decaying leaves and vegeta-
tion of last season's growth, now coated with the flood deposits
of the winter. Emerging again upon the river channel, we may
find a turbid yellow flood pouring out from Spoon River, bring-
ing down its load of drift and earth, and marking its course down
the stream as far as the eye can see.
*******
"Contrast with the extent and variety of conditions at flood
the limitations placed upon the stream at low water. Instead of
an unbroken expanse of four or more miles we find now a
stream only 500 feet in width, while the adjacent territory is dry
land save where the sloughs, marshes, and lakes remain as res-
ervoirs. Quiver Lake is now much reduced in width, and it may
be choked with vegetation except in a narrow channel where the
clear water shows little or no current. A half mile below we
find the river water rushing in a narrow " cut-off" across the
ridge of black alluvium into the lower end of the lake. The
wooded banks which separate the river from Quiver and Seeb's
lakes are now crowded with a rank growth of weeds and vines.
The latter "lake" is reduced to a shallow stagnant arm of the
river, whose warm turbid waters are foul with dead mollusks, and
whose reeking mud-flats beneath the August sun shine green and
red with a scum of Euglena. As we pick our way through the
tangle of rank vegetation we come upon Flag Lake, now a sea of
rushes. The discharge from this marsh to the river ceased in the
early summer, and its margins are even now dry, with gaping
cracks. Beyond the marsh we pass to the shore of Thompson's
Lake to find its southern end choked with vegetation, though the
greater part to the north is open water. The woodland and
open ground to the south are now pastures and fields of waving
corn. The only outlet to this large body of water, now somewhat
reduced in area but warm, turbid, and rich in plankton, is a
tortuous slough six miles to the north. The discharge, how-
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
ever, is in any case but slight, the lake being, indeed, not infre-
quently the recipient of river water. Spoon River still pours a
sluggish but constant stream into the river, but save for a
waterbloom of livid green (Euglena) its waters yield but little
plankton. Thus, of all the wide area contributing to the plankton
of the channel at high water there now remain only Thompson's
and Quiver lakes and Spoon River, each much diminished in
volume, but all diversified in character.
" Returning now to the river itself we find a gently sloping
bank of black mud, baked and cracked by the sun's heat, ex-
tending towards the softer deposit at the water's margin. A low
growth of grasses, sedges, and weeds springs up as the water
recedes. The river margin does not often have much aquatic
vegetation. In low-water years, such as 1894 and 1895, a con-
siderable fringe is formed along the shore, but this is quickly
cleaned out on the seining grounds, which occupy a large part of
the shore, as soon as the fishing season opens in July. In years
of normal high- water the vegetation rarely gets much of a
foothold along the shores, even at low-water stages. Save for
the few sandy banks where springs abound, such as those
below Havana along the eastern bluff, there is little, at least in
the La Grange pool, to vary this monotony of mud banks and
fringing willows. The backwaters have been reduced to the
lakes, sloughs, bayous, and marshes which abound everywhere
in the bottom-lands. Many of these, as, for example, Phelps and
Flag lakes, have ceased in their reduced condition to contribute
to the river. Others, like Thompson's Lake, maintain a connec-
tion with the river by means of a long and tortuous bayou or
slough through which the current flows in or out as the relative
levels of the two fluctuate. This lake receives but little water
from a few springs and creeks along the bluffs, and like many
others in the bottom-lands serves only as a reservoir from which
the wateri s slowly drawn off as the river falls, but when once
the lower stages are reached its contributions cease. Still others,
like Quiver and Matanzas, maintain direct and open connection
with the river, and since they receive tributary streams they
continue to feed the river, but in reduced volume. Though the
number of tributary areas is thus much reduced at low-water
stages, the individual peculiarities of the tributary waters in the
bottom-lands become more pronounced. As each one loses its
connection with the general flood it becomes a separate unit of
environment, with its local differences in those factors which de-
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS xlv
termine the character of the plankton developing in its waters.
The resulting contributions may thus differ greatly in amount
and component organisms, and accordingly tend to diversify
the river plankton of low water to a degree even more marked
than that of high water.
"With the confinement of the river waters to the channel
goes a marked condensation of the sewage, which, under con-
ditions of uninterrupted low water, leads at times to an excessive
development of the plankton, or, if the river is closed by ice, to
stagnation conditions. But few years, however, offer such op-
portunites; for, as a rule, in most low- water periods sudden and
heavy rains are wont to occur, which flush the stream, wash
away the sewage and plankton-laden waters, and store anew
the reservoir lakes without causing any considerable overflow.
After each catastrophe of this sort the decline of the flood affords
a new and favorable opportunity for the development of the
plankton."'
The effects of change of temperature, of differences of
turbidity, of chemical conditions of the waters of the stream,
and the like, are discussed at length in Dr. Kofoid's report. f
As a framework to this sketch of the Illinois River and the
waters of the Illinois basin generally, an outline of its geological
surroundings is essential. From its source to Peoria the river
flows through a district covered by the Wisconsin drift. From
Peoria to southern Pike county the outlines of its western border
are covered by the Illinois drift capped by loess. From thence
southward they are nearly free from glacial drift, but are heavily
coated with loess, while those on the east have a moderate
covering of Illinois drift capped by loess. Within the Wisconsin
drift the marshes, bogs, and lakes are of small extent, but the
drainage lines are, on the whole, rather imperfectly developed.
The portion of the basin lying in the Illinoisan is much
better drained. There are almost no marshes or swamps in it,
except those in the bottoms of the river itself, but there are
numerous shallow valleys which are poorly drained.
The Illinois, as stated before, follows the old " Chicago
outlet" as far as its curve near Hennepin. In the 41 miles
from the junction of the Des Plaines and the Kankakee down
to Utica, where apparently a small preglacial tributary of the
Illinois is entered, the course of the present Illinois is independent
*Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist., Vol VI.. Art. II.. pp. 151-156.
fLoc. cit., pp. 168-252.
XM FISHES OF ILLINOIS
of preglacial drainage lines. Almost midway of its westward
course it crosses the Marseilles moraine. This, no doubt, for
a considerable period held a lake in the basin at the head of the
river, the Morris basin, but was eventually cut down to the bed
of this basin. From the Marseilles moraine, westward, the
channel found no prominent drift barriers to remove, but has
been compelled to cut down 50 to 75 feet into the rock in opening
an outlet from the Morris basin into the valley of the lower
Illinois (Leverett).
The part of the " Chicago outlet" lying within the Morris
basin has an average width of 4 to 5 miles. A law bluff, formed
on the northern border of the basin, has a height of 15 to 20
feet, but on the southern border there is no bluff, that side
being heavily coated with deposits of sand. Below Morris the
width of the outlet averages only about one and a half miles.
The excavation is largely in soft St. Peter sandstone, there
being nearly continuous rock bluffs to a height of 60 to 75 feet
above the level of the bed of the outlet. In some places, as at
Starved Rock, the bluffs reach a height of 126 feet. Buffalo
Rock stands out in the valley, a big rocky island.
In the 41 miles to the foot of the rapids near Utica the
stream falls 47 feet, or slightly more than 1 foot to the mile
(Leverett). This fall is far from regular, there being a series
of rock rapids separated by pools.
In the Morris basin the shale bottom has been eroded in
places by the current and the hollows have been filled with
sand, but from the Morris basin to the bend of the river the
rock floor is swept clean.
The old preglacial valley through which the lower Illinois
flows, and where rock bed lies many feet below the bottom of the
present river, seems to have been so imperfectly filled by glacial
deposits that throughout nearly its entire length the stream is re-
established in its old course. The valley ranges in width from
two and a half to fully fifteen miles. Its greatest width is
reached just above the mouth of the Sangamon. The valley is
also very broad at the bend of the Illinois. The narrowest por-
tions are a short section near Peoria, where it passes through the
Shelbyville moraine, and a section embracing the lower 60 miles,
where it traverses the Mississipian and the Silurian limestones.
The Illinois River bottom-lands are covered with patches of
timber, sand banks, mud-flats, and meadows. A good deal of
this area is too low and marshy for cultivation, full of swarnps,
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS
bogs, bayous, and lagoons, many of the latter being parts of old
channels of the stream which have been cut off and rilled up at
both ends as a consequence of local changes in the course of the
stream; but where the elevation is sufficient the soil is a rich
sandy loam. An example of this is found in the "Crow Mead-
ows" in Marshall county. This tract of land is a broad table-
land or second bottom extending from the north line of the
county down to Sparland, widening near Henry to eight or nine
miles between the river and the low bluff-line on the west. It
is beyond the reach of inundations, and is of unsurpassed fertility,
although it contains much sand. The bluffs rise on each side of
the bottom-lands very abruptly in most places, and to a height
reaching at times 125 to 150 feet, cut into sharp ridges by the
valleys of the small streams that drain the adjacent regions.
They are all thickly timbered.
The current of the Illinois from La Salle to its mouth is not
sufficient to carry off the material brought in from the upper
portion of the stream, and therefore it is in the process of silting
up. During the interglacial period when the land-slope was
much less, this part of the river became so filled that now the rock
bottom lies about 100 feet below the present bed of the river.
The principal tributaries of the Illinois are the Fox, Ver-
milion, Mackinaw, Sangamon, and Spoon rivers, and Macoupin,
Crooked, and Apple creeks.
FOX RIVER
Fox River rises in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, a little
northwest of Milwaukee. It flows south and southwest,
emptying into the Illinois River at Ottawa, 111. Its drainage
basin is about 130 miles in length and averages 20 miles in width,
covering an area of about 2,580 square miles, of which 1,020 lie
in Wisconsin. The length of the river is about 172 miles.
The low-water discharge is estimated to be 526 cubic feet
per second, or 0.195 cubic feet per second per square mile. It
is claimed that the stream has fallen off one-half in its low-water
volume since the clearing and cultivating of the land and the
draining of the swamps.
The drainage basin of the Fox lies entirely within the limits
of the Wisconsin glaciation, and is an undulating prairie land
with more or less woodland and some swamps. In this region
the morainic ridges lie very close together and are often inter-
laced, thus making cups or kettles within which lakes were
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
formed. Some of these lakes have been drained so thoroughly
that they have become small prairies, while in other places they
have been unable to cut down their outlets sufficiently. We
have, consequently, a series ranging from quiet land-locked
ponds with gravel bottoms to marshes differing but little from
the ordinary wet prairie or slough, peat bogs, and the dry
prairie land. The bed of the swamps is generally more or less
peaty, varying in composition from ordinary black swamp
muck to true peat. A few of the lakes are from four to seven
miles in length and a mile or more in breadth, while the others
usually cover only one or two square miles, or even less. These
numerous lakelets, ponds, marshes, and bogs furnish, in their
aggregate, a considerable storage for flood waters, and the volume
of the stream is consequently comparatively uniform and its
changes of level are relatively slow. The water of the upper
reaches of the river are usually clear except in times of flood, but
the lower part of the stream is often very impure. Though
much of the river bed below Elgin is in rock, the tributaries often
bring large amounts of sediment, and various manufactories along
the river discharge a large amount of refuse into the stream, and
it has, of late years, become so foul that nearly all fish except
carp and other filth-enduring species have been drowned out.
For a distance of nearly 75 miles from its source Fox River
drains only a narrow strip among the morainic ridges of the
composite belt, its course being determined by a moraine lying
on either side. In this portion of its course its fall amounts to
only a few inches to the mile, and its bed expands at frequent
intervals into lakes and marshes between which are short
stretches having narrow and well-defined channels. The river,
here, has no valley, but the stream averages 150 to 200 feet in
width, flowing between gravel and clay banks. In some places
it runs close to the bluff, while in others a low flood-plain inter-
venes. Its tributaries in this section are very small, all occupy-
ing deep parallel valleys running in an east and west direction
and only turning southward when they reach the lowlands
bordering the river. All of the lakes lie along the line of these
intermorainic valleys. Among those tributary to Fox River
are Lake Geneva, Muskego, and Pewaukee. Fox Lake is
simply a widening of the river-bed.
From the vicinity of Elgin to Yorkville the bed of the river
is alternately rock and mud. This is due to the fact that the
present course of the river lies almost at right angles to a series
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS xlix
of preglacial valleys which were cut by streams then emptying
into Lake Michigan. The present river consequently cuts alter-
nately through the divides and valleys of these old rivers.
Probably much of the underground drainage now follows these
old channels to the lake.
In its passage through Kane and Kendall counties, the fall
of the river is about 3 feet per mile, but in La Salle county it
increases to about 5 feet per mile, making a descent of nearly
125 feet in the lower 25 miles of its course. Near Elgin it
begins a rapid descent to the low plain that lies on the outer
border of the Marseilles moraine and follows this to its mouth.
The stream here, for a few miles, has cut to a depth of nearly
100 feet, but in its passage through the plain its bed is sunk to
a depth of only 40 to 50 feet except for a few miles near its
mouth, where it cuts 125 feet to enter the Illinois. Its channel,
even in the lower 75 miles, has a breadth of only about one
eighth of a mile.
VERMILION RIVER
Vermilion River of the Illinois (not of the Wabash) , about 90
miles in length, drains an area covering about 1,320 square miles.
This is a plain of till about 20 miles wide, which lies immediately
south and west of the Marseilles moraine in Ford, Livingston,
and La Salle counties. The river rises by several branches in
the Bloomington morainic system in southeastern Livingston
and Ford counties, the main stream following the western or
outer border of the inner range of the system from its source to
its mouth, and thus flowing in a northwestward direction and
emptying into the Illinois near La Salle. The plain descends
with the river, so that for 50 miles scarcely any valley is formed
though there is a descent of nearly 100 feet. In the last 40
miles, from Pontiac to the banks of the Illinois, it has scarcely
20 feet of slope, and was apparently occupied by a shallow lake
until a stream had been given time to open a channel from the
Illinois back several miles into the plain. There are sandy
deposits along the southern border of the plain which tend to
confirm this view. In the lower 25 miles the stream corrades
rapidly, making a descent of about 150 feet and cutting its
valley mainly in rock. The channel is very narrow, steep, and
rocky, especially near the mouth of the river, where the walls
rise abruptly 150 feet from the water's edge.
A few miles from the mouth, at a bend in the river, a deep
1 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
canon extends off to the east through Deer Park Glen. It is
about one fourth of a mile long, with perpendicular walls, and
is in the form of an elongated S. It terminates abruptly in a
cirque, open at the top and about 150 feet in diameter at the
bottom, with a fine spring of soft water bubbling up at its base.
In the wet season there is a waterfall of 25 feet which enters it
through a narrow chasm at the head. The walls of the cirque
are about 175 feet high.
The stream is not of much value as a water-power on
account of the unsteadiness of its flow. It has no marshy
gathering ground, and the formations in its basin are mainly
compact till which yields but little water in seasons of drought.
MACKINAW RIVER
Mackinaw River rises in eastern McLean county. It flows
westward through the northern part of this county and across
the southern end of Woodford, then turning southwest into
Tazewell county. From the center of this county it bends
again to the west, following this direction for about 15 miles,
when it turns north and east, emptying into the Illinois a little
below Pekin. It is about 110 miles long, and drains an area
of about 1,200 square miles (Leverett).
The upper part of the river lies inside the main ridges of the
Bloomington morainic system, and drains a plain which lies 300
to 350 feet above the Illinois. This section of the Mackinaw is
about 40 miles in length, most of its course being along the
southern border of the basin. In the first mile it descends 40
feet, but below this its fall averages about 3 feet to the mile.
In its middle course the stream crosses the Bloomington and
Shelbyville morainic systems and the narrow plain separating
them. The width of the valley increases from about one fourth
of a mile in the inner part of the Bloomington belt to about one
half of a mile at the outer part, and to nearly a mile in its passage
across the Shelbyville moraine. Its fall is still rapid, about 3 feet
per mile. There are few tributaries, only a small area being
drained.
In its lower course the Mackinaw River winds about in a
shallow channel, across the Illinois valley for a distance of
nearly 20 miles, making a descent of 75 feet.
This stream is one of the most variable in the state in the
quantity of water it carries, since it is subject to great floods
in wet seasons and becomes nearly dry in seasons of drought.
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS H
This variableness is due to several causes. The principal ones
are its rapid fall, its compact drift-beds, and the absence of
headwater marshes.
SPOON RIVER
Spoon River rises in southern Bureau county. It flows
southwest for almost 100 miles, nearly paralleling the Illinois
River. It then turns abruptly southeastward and in 25 miles
joins the Illinois opposite Havana, about 40 miles below the
mouth of the Mackinaw. It drains about 1,820 square miles.
All of this area except a little in the headwater portion, lies
outside the limits of the Wisconsin drift, occupying a region
covered by the Illinoisan drift upon which there is a capping of
loess. The headwaters lie on the western slope of the Bloom-
ington and Shelby ville morainic systems. The .course of the
main stream, and also of several of its tributaries, appears to
have been determined largely by preglacial drainage lines, but
they are not entirely coincident with these lines.
Its valley is cut mainly in drift, but exposes rock at many
points along the base of the bluffs. The valley is very narrow
except for a few miles before it reaches the Illinois River bluffs,
where it widens out to 2 to 3 miles. In the first mile of its
course it makes a descent of 70 feet. The fall gradually decreases
until, in the last 80 miles, it descends only 2 or 3 feet per mile.
The river receives several tributaries from both the east
and the west, each of which has a length of 15 to 20 miles or more.
These tributaries are widely branching, and the entire watershed
displays a perfection of drainage such as does not occur within
the limits of the Wisconsin drift. Originally the entire basin
was about half timber and half prairie. The prairies are all
small, covering only a few square miles each, and separated by
the strips of timber which line the many streams.
Spoon River is subject to great variations in its water stages
on account of its rapid run-off, due to the rapid descent of the
river-bed and the generally well-drained surface of the basin.
In seasons of drought, springs along the valley afford a consider-
able supply of water, but the low-water discharge is less than
200 cubic feet per second (Leverett) . The current of the Spoon
River is so much stronger than that of the Illinois at the point
where it empties into it, that a delta has been formed at its
mouth.
In FISHES OF ILLINOIS
SANGAMON RIVER
The Sangamon River has the largest watershed of any of the
tributaries of the Illinois. Its drainage basin, covering an area
of 5,390 square miles (Leverett), includes extensive plains
which are now inadequately drained, but which may by extensive
tiling be drained into the river.
The Sangamon rises in eastern McLean county, flowing
southeast for about 10 miles into Champaign county, and thence
south and west until, in Sangamon county, it takes a northwest-
ward course. In northern Menard county it unites with Salt
creek and, flowing westward, soon empties into the Illinois.
The length of the river is about 200 miles. Its source is in the
Bloomington morainic system at an altitude of about 850 feet.
The mouth has an altitude of 429 feet, making a total descent
of about 420 feet. In the first 10 miles it makes a descent of
120 feet, thus leaving about 300 feet of fall for the remaining
170 miles of its course. The fall is far from regular, there being
sections, often several miles in length, in which it is slight,
between which are sections with more rapid fall.
The river flows for its first 90 miles within the limits of the
Wisconsin drift, but leaves this a few miles west of Decatur.
In these 90 miles it receives no tributaries of importance, its
immediate watershed being only 15 to 20 miles wide.
That part of the river valley lying outside of the Wisconsin
drift, although generally shallow, is much wider than the portion
within the limits of that drift sheet, and bears evidence of having
been opened prior to the Wisconsin stage of glaciation. The
river and its branches are bordered throughout most of their
length by strips of timber about half a mile wide on either side.
The river is subject to great variations in volume, there
being in the annual flood-stages a rise sufficient to overflow
banks 8 to 12 feet in height. At such times, being a swift
stream, it probably discharges not less than 15,000 cubic feet
per second, and in extreme floods the discharge probably exceeds
20,000 cubic feet per second. Formerly the flow of the river
was more or less regular. This was due to the fact that the
portion of the basin lying within the Shelbyville moraine was
filled with swamps which absorbed the water as it fell and then
gave it forth very gradually. Now, however, a very complete
system of tile drainage carries off this water very quickly, and so
leaves the river subject to low stages for a large part of the year.
The principal branch of the Sangamon is Salt creek.
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS liii
SALT CREEK
Salt creek is formed by the union of North and South Salt
creeks. North Salt creek has its source between two large
ridges of the Bloomington morainic system in southeastern
McLean county near the source of the Sangamon. It passes
southward through the outer ridge and across the undulating
plain south of it, to its junction with the south fork. South
Salt creek heads on the outer border of the Bloomington moraine,
and flows southwestward across a gently undulating plain to a
point 5 miles east of Clinton, where the two streams unite to
form Salt creek. Above their junction each stream has a
length of 25 to 30 miles. The south branch in its first 2 miles
has a fall of 50 feet, and below this a fall averaging 10 feet to
every three or four miles. The north branch falls 80 feet in its
first 4 miles, with a fall below this averaging 10 feet to every two
miles. From their junction the united streams pass westward
through the Shelby ville moraine, entering the outer border
plain at Kenney, eight miles southwest of Clinton. The general
course of the creek continues westward to its junction with the
Sangamon 50 miles below. It is 92 miles long, draining an
area of 1,940 square miles.
It receives Lake Fork creek from the south about 5 miles
above Lincoln, Kickapoo creek from the north about 4 miles
below Lincoln, and Sugar creek, also from the north, about 12
miles farther down.
The valley of Salt creek is much broader below the mouth
of Lake Fork than above and it seems probable that a larger
stream occupied Lake Fork valley prior to the Wisconsin in-
vasion than that which occupied Salt creek valley. The latter
appears to be almost wholly a post- Wisconsin stream as far
down as its junction with Lake Fork.
Below the junction the stream averages a fall of 10 feet to
every three or four miles, but in the lower two miles the bed has
a fall of 20 feet. The bed and banks of Salt creek, like those of
the Sangamon, are without rock.
CROOKED CREEK
Crooked creek is the last western tributary of the Illinois.
It rises in Hancock county and flows in an irregular course,
southeast, into the Illinois River at a point 14 miles below the
mouth of the Sangamon. The stream is about 60 miles long
liv FISHES OF ILLINOIS
and drains an area of 1 ,350 square miles (Leverett) . Its water-
shed lies immediately southwest of that of Spoon River. It
extends on the northwest nearly to the bluffs of the Mississippi,
there being one tributary in northern Hancock county, from
which the Mississippi bluff is distant less than five miles. No
important tributaries enter from the west, but several creeks
lead into it from the east which have lengths of 15 to 20 miles
or more. These eastern tributaries present a remarkable paral-
lelism, and take a nearly uniform direction about S. 65° W.
One of them, known as East Crooked creek, occupies a valley
which continues beyond this watershed in a direct course to the
Mississippi and is thought to have been formed by a subglacial
stream. Shallow channels may also have been opened by the
same agency along the other eastern tributaries and have occa-
sioned their remarkably direct and parallel courses (Leverett).
The whole of the drainage basin lies in the Illinoisan drift
and is very similar in character to the basin of the Spoon River.
For a few miles near its mouth the course of Crooked creek has
been determined by a preglacial drainage line, but elsewhere the
drainage appears to be nearly independent of preglacial lines.
A portion of the divide between the Spoon River watershed
and the Crooked creek watershed follows a low till ridge.
In the first 14 miles of its course Crooked creek falls 100
feet, but the fall gradually decreases until in the last 20 miles
it is only 10 feet. The bluffs of the river, especially in the lower
part, are high and abrupt, rising to a height of 100 feet from the
water's edge for a large part of the distance. In only a few
places are bottom-lands found. They are short and never
more than one half of a mile in width. Limestone outcrops
are found all along the banks of the river.
APPLE CREEK
Apple creek has a drainage area of about 435 square miles,
which includes southeastern Morgan county, northern Greene
county, and northwestern Macoupin county. It rises in Morgan
county and flows southwestward to its mouth. Its basin has a
length of about 40 miles, and the greatest width is about 15
miles. The river is about 53 miles long.
The entire basin lies within the Illinoisan drift. The lower
course of the river seems to be along the line of a preglacial valley,
but the headwater portion and also a majority of the tributaries
show little dependence upon preglacial lines. The drift is com-
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS lv
paratively thin over much of the basin, and the streams have
cut down into the underlying rocks at many points. The
country near the river is hilly and much broken, the valleys of
the streams having been excavated to a depth of 100 to 200 feet
below the general level of the uplands.
Throughout its course Apple creek is a swiftly flowing stream.
In the first 11 miles of its course it drops 100 feet. For the rest
of the distance the fall averages about 5 feet to the mile.
MACOUPIN CREEK
Macoupin creek rises in northern Montgomery county and
flows southwest into the Illinois. It drains an area of nearly
1,000 square miles (Leverett), consisting of the greater portion
of Macoupin county and parts of Montgomery, Greene, and
Jersey counties. Its watershed is broad in the middle and tapers
toward either end, giving it a broadly ovate outline. The whole
of the basin lies within the Illinoisan drift area. With the
exception of the headwater portion, above Carlinville, the main
stream apparently has its course determined by a preglacial
line, there being a broad depression, deeply filled with drift,
through which the creek takes its course. The tributary streams
appear to be largely independent of preglacial lines.
The basin is composed of gently rolling or nearly level
prairies, which occupy the highlands between the streams and
cover fully one third of the area, and of heavy belts of timber
which skirt the streams. The soil is of a black, peaty character
on the level prairies, becomes chocolate-brown on the more roll-
ing surfaces, and degenerates into a light ash-gray near the
streams.
The creek is about 90 miles long, and drains 989 square
miles. Its fall is varied, some parts, as the lower 17 miles, having
a fall of only one and one half feet to the mile, and other parts
much more, as the four and one half miles just above this, the
fall in this distance being 30 feet. Above this point the average
fall is about 2 feet to the mile. The banks are high, in some
places rising to 100 feet. In a few places the banks recede from
the water's edge, leaving bottom-lands one half to one and one
half miles in width.
KASKASKIA RIVER SYSTEM.
The Kaskaskia River system drains a large part of southern
Illinois, its drainage basin covering an area of 5,830 square
Ivi FISHES OF ILLINOIS
miles. It is about 212 miles long, the narrow upper end reaching
within 40 miles of the state of Indiana. The upper third of the
basin lies in Wisconsin drift, and the other two thirds in the
Illinoisan. The basin is composed of level or undulating
country having black soil in the northern part and chocolate to
light gray soil in the southern, underlaid by yellow to white clay.
Heavy timber lands skirt the rivers, between which lie the
prairies. In the southern parts great drift mounds, usually
topped with timber, rise often from the midst of the prairies.
KASKASKIA RIVER
Kaskaskia River rises in Champaign county in the Cham-
paign morainic system and flows southwest, emptying into the
Mississippi in Randolph county, near Chester, at an altitude of
342 feet. Its descent is generally gradual, the most rapid section
of its course being its passage through Moultrie county, where it
makes a descent of 55 feet in about 18 miles, or 3 feet to the
mile. In the headwater portion there is a fall of only 110 feet
in the first 50 miles. In places there are pools several miles in
length, the most conspicuous of these being in St. Clair county,
where in a distance of 20 miles the fall is scarcely 10 feet.
The upper 80 miles lies in the Wisconsin drift, the stream
emerging from the Shelby ville moraine near Shelby ville. In its
headwater portion the channel of the stream is narrow and shal-
low to the inner border of the Shelby ville moraine. The banks
are muddy as far as Sullivan, but sandy below this. The drainage
of this section of the basin was originally very imperfect, and its
undeveloped streams were often little more than series of swales
and sloughs. Ditches and tile drains have greatly changed these
conditions, however, and the run-off is now fairly prompt and
complete. In crossing the moraine the Kaskaskia valley has an
average depth of nearly 75 feet, and four miles northeast of
Shelbyville the bluffs attain a height of 130 feet, although the
channel is so narrow that it is not much more than a trench.
The valley continues narrow for a few miles after entering the
Illinoisan drift, but widens below the mouth of Robinson creek.
This stream seems to follow the lower course of a drainage line
(probably interglacial) , whose former headwater portion has been
concealed by the Shelbyville drift sheet. Its valley has a
breadth of nearly half a mile, and the Kaskaskia retains this
breadth below the mouth of the creek, increasing to three fourths
of a mile in southern Shelby county. These bottoms are gen-
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS vii
erally 14 to 16 feet above the ordinary stage of water, with
sometimes a second bottom a few feet higher. During the wet
seasons the river often covers the first bottom to a depth of
several feet. The hills on each side of the river are from 60 to
70 feet in height. On entering Fayette county, the river opens
into a broad preglacial valley whose course farther north is buried
under drift. The valley has a width of about 3 miles near
Vandalia, but reaches a greater width farther south. It is so
masked by drift that it presents the appearance of a broad
shallow basin rather than a river valley. It continues nearly to
the mouth of the river, where the width contracts abruptly to
about a mile upon entering the subcarboniferous limestone
which there borders the Mississippi Valley. The bottom-lands
are subject to annual overflow, and are still covered with a
heavy growth of timber.
The stream is subject to great variations in volume as the
compact clay subsoil promotes a rapid run-off and furnishes
but little water in seasons of drought; consequently, in summer
and fall, the river dwindles to a very small size. At times it
may be crossed dry-shod at Vandalia, where it is 60 to 70 feet
wide. A rise of 20 feet in its lower course is not rare in flood
time, and its flood-plain has been built nearly to that height
above the stream-bed.
The two principal tributaries of the Kaskaskia are from the
west — Shoal creek and Silver creek.
SHOAL CREEK
Shoal creek drains an area of 947 square miles, or one
sixth of the entire basin of the Kaskaskia River (Leverett). This
area includes most of Montgomery and Bond counties and west-
ern Clinton county. Shoal creek is made up of three branches
known as West, Middle, and East Shoal creeks. West and
Middle creeks unite to form the West fork, by the union of
which with East creek, twenty miles below, the main stream is
formed. From the rise of its branches to its mouth in the Kas-
kaskia this stream has a total length of 79 miles. The watershed
has a distinct southward slope, the altitude at the headwaters
being 700 to 750 feet, and at the mouth only 400 feet.
The three branches have each formed a channel 50 to 75 feet
or more in depth and nearly one fourth of a mile in average
width in their passage through southern Montgomerjr county,
and a similar depth is maintained as far down as the junction of
Iviii FISHES OF ILLINOIS
the East and West forks near Greenville. Below this point the
valley is more shallow, and the stream soon enters the Kaskaskia
basin, where its bed is but little lower than the basin plain.
East Shoal creek is bordered closely on the east throughout
its entire length by a series of drift knolls and ridges (broken
Illinoisan moraines) . Shoal creek passes through a break in this
system of ridges just below the junction of the East and West
forks, beyond which its course is largely independent of drift
ridges. Middle Shoal creek winds about among prominent drift
knolls near Hillsboro, and West Shoal creek is deflected east-
ward by a ridge of drift at its junction with Middle Shoal creek.
The courses of these streams seem to be mainly independent of
preglacial lines but largely determined by Illinoisan moraines.
East Shoal creek touches the line of a deep preglacial valley
near Greenville, but above that point it has opened a new course,
in places trenching into the rock. Even the lower course seems
to be largely independent of any preglacial line of drainage.
SILVER CREEK
Silver creek rises in the southeastern corner of Macoupin
county, flowing almost due south through eastern Madison and
St. Clair counties and emptying into the Kaskaskia opposite
New Athens. It has a length of about 60 miles, draining an
area of 500 square miles. The basin averages only about 10
miles in width.
At its source the river has an altitude of about 650 feet. In
its first 4 miles it falls 50 feet and in the next 16 miles a descent
of 100 feet is made. In the lower part the fall is much less,
being only 70 feet in the remaining 43 miles.
In its southern half the watershed is diversified by drift
ridges and knolls which rise in some cases to a height of 75 feet
or more above the border districts. These for a few miles in
southeastern Madison county constitute the east border of the
watershed, but just south of the line of Madison and St. Clair
counties the stream passes through the main belt of ridges, and it
has but few prominent ridges and knolls on its east below that
point. At its mouth the stream has an elvation of only 370
feet, and the surrounding country, aside from the knolls, stands
scarcely 400 feet above tide. Silver creek seems to be largely
dependent in the direction of its course on glacial influences. It
cuts into the rock at numerous points along its course, and its
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS Hx
immediate bluffs stand at the general level of the bordering
uplands.
BIG MUDDY RIVER SYSTEM
Big Muddy River system drains an area of 2,390 square
miles lying in an elliptical shape, with a major axis about 70
miles long running almost north and south, and a minor axis
about 50 miles long. This drainage basin includes the greater
part of Williamson, Franklin, Jefferson, Perry, and Jackson
counties, the southeastern portion of Washington county, and
the southern part of Marion county, which forms the extreme
southwestern part of the district covered by the Illinoisan drift
sheet, lying in the low section just north of the Ozark ridge.
The lower 20 miles of the river flows through the Mississippi
bottoms. With the exception of the ridge on the southern bor-
der, which stands 600 to 800 feet above tide, the basin has few
points rising above 550 feet, the average level being 400 to 500
feet. The immediate borders of the main valley fall below 400
feet and the mouth of the stream at low water in the Mississippi
is but 320 feet. The country is made up of gray prairies inter-
sected by rivers whose bottom-lands are below the general level.
These rivers are skirted by timber belts, so that a large portion
of the basin is wooded. The bottom-lands also were formerly
timbered, but parts have been cleared and put under cultiva-
tion. Over the greater portion of the area the drift is very thin,
and rock divides separating the preglacial drainage areas are
plainly discernible. The basin of the Big Muddy has been
subject to long erosion, and consequently the soils are largely
made of clays containing little humus and giving acid reactions.
Big Muddy River has the characteristics of an old stream,
in a land long exposed to erosion. It has cut its bed down to
drainage level, and it runs its crooked course over a broad flood-
plain. It rises in northern Jefferson county, and flows south
and then west and south, emptying into the Mississippi about 5
miles below Grand Tower, Jackson county. It is about 94
miles long. Beaucoup creek enters from the north 25 to 30
miles from the mouth, and Little Muddy River enters from the
same side about 10 miles farther up. These two streams together
drain about the same area as the main stream above the junction,
and Beaucoup creek drains about one half more area than the
Little Muddy. An eastern tributary, Crab Orchard creek, drains
about 250 square miles of the district bordering the Ozark ridge.
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
The river is very sluggish, and its volume is extremely
variable. In the first eleven miles it makes a descent of about
100 feet, but below this the fall is not more than a foot to the
mile. In times of spring flood its broad stream is overloaded with
silt and its bottom a creeping mass, shifting its contour with
every change in rate of flow; and during the summer drouths
it shrinks to little more than a chain of nearly stagnant pools.
Throughout the greater portion of its course Big Muddy
River occupies a preglacial line of drainage and meanders about
in broad bottoms which have been filled with drift and alluvium
to an elevation of from 500 to 600 feet or more above the rock
bottom. Just below Murphy sboro the valley becomes con-
stricted to a width of about a mile in its passage through the
elevated ridge which there borders the Mississippi. In its
course through the Mississippi bottoms its eastern shore hugs
the bluff, which rises 200 to 300 feet above the river. On its
west are the low, flat flood-plains of the Mississippi. Above
Mwphysboro the banks are neither abrupt nor high, and they
and the bed of the stream are chiefly clay.
At Murphy sboro, about 6 miles below the junction of
Beaucoup creek, where the stream is about 160 feet wide, the
water has sometimes risen 30 feet, flooding the surrounding
flats. Backwater from the Mississippi is felt at that point. The
river is very properly named, as it carries great quantities of
alluvium which the current is constantly shifting from one place
to another.
THE WABASH SYSTEM
The Wabash basin, which covers the greater part of Indiana,
includes also about 8,770 square miles of eastern Illinois, drained
by the Big Vermilion, the Embarras, and the Little Wabash
rivers, and by several smaller streams in the southeastern part
of the state. The greater part of its surface lies at an elevation
varying between 300 and 700 feet, with the highlands around
its headwaters and the region of the Shelbyville moraine rising
approximately 100 feet higher. This moraine marks the southern
limit of the Wisconsin glaciation, beyond which lies the lower
Illinoisan. It divides the Wabash valley in Illinois into two
distinctly different regions, the northern of which has the
characteristics of a comparatively recent glaciation, and the
southern those of a glaciated area long exposed to erosion. In
the northern part the streams are few, and their branches are
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS Ixi
few and comparatively short. The uplands were poorly drained
originally, and contained many marshes, sometimes very large,
and many shallow lakes. The soil here is deep, black, rich in
organic matter, slightly alkaline in reaction, porous, and rather
coarsely granulated. In the southern section the soil has been
washed and eroded for thousands of years, leaving it as an ex-
tremely fine-grained, slightly acid residue, from which most of
the organic matter has disappeared. The streams of this
long-exposed southern area have developed themselves freely
in comparatively deep channels, through which their currents
have a sluggish flow, and have lengthened their branches back
to the uplands, which are thus effectually drained by natural
processes. The large streams, especially in their lower courses,
have formed extensive bottom-lands liable to overflow, and,
owing to the thorough natural drainage of the country, the
waters recede to a very low level during times of drought.
Hydrographic conditions in the Wisconsin glaciation have
been greatly changed within comparatively recent years by large
drainage operations, carried on at public expense under the
operation of state law. Swamps, marshes, and lakes have
virtually disappeared, and their places have been taken by rich
and highty cultivated farms. Much less change has been made
in the lower Wabash Valley as a consequence of human occu-
pancy, but the original rather general covering of both lowland
and upland forest has been mainly removed, with the effect to
expose the surface to more rapid erosion than heretofore, and to
increase the extremes of flood and low water.
WABASH RIVER
Wabash River was given, by the earliest explorers, the
name of Ouabouskigou, said to mean "white water" in one of
the Indian tongues, and it bears this Indian name on the maps
of both Joliet and Marquette. This was later contracted by the
French to Ouabache, the spelling of which has since been simply
anglicized. The earlier explorers regarded the lower Ohio and
the Wabash as forming one stream, to which they gave the latter
name, while the upper Ohio bore either its present name or
that of "la Belle Riviere."
The Wabash forms, for 198 miles, the boundary between
Indiana and Illinois, lying in this part of its course in a preglacial
valley, the former bed of a very much larger stream. This val-
ley, five or six miles across in its upper part, is filled with drift
Ixii FISHES OF ILLINOIS
which buries the old stream bed to a depth of 60 or 70 feet, and
is bounded by bluffs rising from 100 to 200 feet above the river.
The Illinois section of the Wabash has a comparatively sluggish
current, its fall being less than eight inches to the mile.
Two, and in some places three, different levels are distin-
guishable in the Wabash valley to-day. The bottom-lands of
the river subject to overflow at ordinary high water are from
twelve to fifteen feet above the stream, and at about the same
height above these are the second bottoms, covered with water
only by exceptional floods; and in some places a terrace level
may be traced half-way up the bordering bluff. The river
flows for the most part along the western side of its valley,
occasionally, indeed, quite close to the bluffs, leaving the bot-
toms largely on the Indiana side of the stream. The bed of the
river is often rocky and the current locally swift, and rapids
greatly interfered in early days with the use of the stream for
transportation purposes. The waters of the Wabash are, like
those of the Illinois and the Kaskaskia, commonly brown and
opaque with suspended silt, never clearing even at the lowest
stages; and the same is true of most of its tributary streams,
especially those of the lower Illinoisan glaciation.
VERMILION RIVER
Vermilion River drains an area of about 1,435 square miles
in Ford, Champaign, and Vermilion counties in Illinois, and a
small section of Fountain and Warren counties in Indiana. It
rises only a few miles from the source of a river of the same name
which flows northwest into the Illinois, to distinguish it from
which it is often called the Wabash- Vermilion or the Big Ver-
milion. Its course is generally south and east, and it empties
into the Wabash 10 miles beyond the Indiana line. It has a
length of about 81 miles, and a fall of 320 feet. Its source is
in the midst of the Bloomington morainic system at an eleva-
tion of 800 feet. It flows thence southward between two ridges,
known as the Roberts and Melvin ridges, and passes through the
latter ridge, falling 70 feet in this distance of 17 J^ miles. At
this point it receives a tributary of about the same length from
the west, which is known as the West branch of the Middle
Fork. This branch also rises at an elevation of 800 feet and
drains a sag or narrow plain between the Melvin ridge and the
outer moraine of the Bloomington system. From this union the
stream takes a southeastward course across the northeast corner
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OP ILLINOIS Ixiii
of Champaign county and into Vermilion county as far as
Potomac, where it turns abruptly southward and passes through
the outer ridge of the Bloomington moraine. A few miles farther
south it receives its larger western tributary, the Salt Fork, and
the united stream then flows east for about 6 miles to Danville,
takes again a southeast course, and follows this direction to its
mouth.
Salt Fork rises in western Champaign county at an altitude
of 740 feet and flows south and then east for a distance of 50
miles. It drains a plain in eastern Champaign and western
Vermilion counties, lying between the Bloomington and Cham-
paign morainic systems.
North Fork rises in northern Vermilion county at an ele-
vation of 720 feet and flows southward for a distance of 37
miles, emptying into the Vermilion at Danville. It drains only
a small area among the ridges of the Bloomington system.
The entire drainage system of the Vermilion is independent
of preglacial lines, the drift over this region being so deep as to
cover completely the old rock divides. The river and its
branches have narrow valleys, and in the upper courses the
banks are only from 10 to 50 feet high, and generally bordered
by scattered patches of timber. In the lower parts the streams
are skirted with strips of woodland from one to four miles in
width, and the banks are steep and high. Bed-rock is not exposed
in the upper portions, but at and below Danville the river has
cut into the Pennsylvanian to a considerable depth.
Generally speaking, the headwaters of all these streams
were originally prairie swales, lying in shallow valleys or in
broad depressions of an otherwise plain surface. Here they
were often choked with weeds in summer, and were very muddy
in times of flood, but in their lower courses they often cut deeply
into the drift, or even into the underlying rock, forming deep
and narrow valleys, sometimes with decidedly gorge-like effect.
In comparison with most Illinois streams, however, the waters
of the Big Vermilion are in general fairly clear, and the bot-
toms relatively clean, forming a transition from the typical
prairie streams to those characteristic of the adjacent Alleghany
plateau.
LITTLE VERMILION RIVER
The Little Vermilion River rises in the southeastern corner
of Champaign county and flows southeast, east, northeast, and
Ixiv FISHES OF ILLINOIS
southwest, a distance of about 60 miles, emptying into the
Wabash River in Vermilion county, Indiana. Of this length
45 miles lie in Illinois. It drains a narrow strip covered by the
Champaign till-sheet lying between two moraines, the northern
of which completely separates the drainage basin of the Little
Vermilion from that of the Vermilion proper. Its total drainage
area is 213 square miles, 179 of which are in Illinois. It rises
at an altitude of 710 feet, and falls 30 feet in its first 4 miles.
In the next 9 miles a descent of only 10 feet is made, below
which a fall of 50 feet occurs in 4 miles. The descent then
becomes more gradual and the stream crosses the state-line at
an elevation of about 500 feet. In its upper part it is little
more than a prairie drain, but it becomes of more importance
farther down, where the banks are 75 to 100 feet high and lined
with strips of timber 1 to 3 miles in width.
EMBARRAS RIVER
Embarras River, 132 miles long, drains an area of about
2,400 square miles in eastern Illinois. Its source is in the
Champaign morainic system, immediately south of the city of
Champaign. For about 20 miles it flows between the outer
and the main ridges of the Champaign system, then cuts through
the outer ridge in northern Douglas county. Thence it bears
southeast, for about 10 miles, to a small till ridge correlated
with the Cerro Gordo moraine, crossing this in southeastern
Douglas county. Its course is then slightly west of south for 25
miles, at which point it leaves the Shelbyville or earliest Wis-
consin sheet of drift, continuing southward 25 to 30 miles
farther, to the neighborhood of Newton, where it changes to
the southeastward and maintains this course to its mouth, a
distance of 50 miles.
The river rises at an altitude of 750 feet, while its mouth lies
only 395 feet above tide, making a total descent of 355 feet, or an
average descent of two and a third feet to the mile. In the last
53 miles, however, the fall is scarcely more than a foot to the mile.
The upper part of the river, lying within the Wisconsin drift,
drains only a narrow strip and has but few tributaries. This sec-
tion of its basin is mostly prairie with woodlands skirting the
larger streams, and the soil is a deep, black, and very fertile loam.
Upon emerging from the Wisconsin drift, the river enters
at once a much broader valley which appears to have been
excavated prior to the Wisconsin stage of glaciation, for the
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS Ixv
valley gravels connected with the Shelbyville moraine head
down the river bottom in a way to indicate the existence of this
valley at the time of their deposition. The valley increases in
width from one mile in Cumberland county to 2 miles in Jasper
county, and 3 to 5 miles in Crawford and Lawrence counties.
Below Newton its course is determined largely by a preglacial
line of drainage, which possibly extends up the valley as far as
the vicinity of Greenup, 18 miles above Newton. In this sec-
tion of the basin strips of timber-land border the streams, and
the bottoms are somewhat swampy and subject to overflow,
but are generally sufficiently dry to admit of some cultivation
when cleared. In Lawrence county, between the Embarras
and the Wabash rivers, there is an extensive marsh, known as
Purgatory swamp, about 10 miles long and from 2 to 4 miles in
width. The banks of the river are 50 feet high in Cumberland
and Jasper counties, but much lower near its mouth, although
the uplands lie 50 to 100 feet above the watercourses.
The interesting contrast between the upper and the lower
courses of this stream, in respect to the number of its tributaries,
the extent of its flood-plain, and the development of its drainage
system generally, is clearly traceable to differences in age
between the two glacial areas through which it flows.
LITTLE WABASH RIVER
Little Wabash River, with a length of 160 miles, drains
about 3,190 square miles in southeastern Illinois. It lies in an
oval basin, much broader in the middle than in its lower and
upper parts. It extends, on the west, to the watershed of the
Kaskaskia and on the east to the Embarras and Bonpas water-
sheds. The entire basin lies in the Illinoisan drift, and is
made up of rolling prairies lying between the broad belts of
woodland which skirt the streams. The difference in level
between the creek bottoms and the adjacent highlands does
not usually exceed 50 to 75 or 100 feet.
The river rises in southwestern Coles county, and flows south
through Shelby and Effingham counties. In northern Clay
county it turns southeast for about 50 miles, and then flows
alternately southwest and southeast until it empties into the
Wabash at the boundary line between Gallatin and White
counties, eight miles, in a direct line, from the junction of the
Wabash with the Ohio River. The length of the river is about
180 miles. Its source is in the Shelbyville moraine at an eleva-
Ixvi FISHES OF ILLINOIS
tion of 740 feet, but it descends within 4 miles to 700 feet, to
650 feet in the next 2^ miles, and to 600 feet 12 miles below.
Another descent of 100 feet is made in the following 31 miles,
while at a point 42 miles below this the 400 feet contour- line is
crossed. The mouth of the stream, 104 miles distant, lies 323
feet above tide. Thus the total descent of the river is 317
feet, giving an average fall of about 1.7 feet per mile.
In the first 40 to 50 miles the main stream is largely inde-
pendent of preglacial lines, and there is consequently little val-
ley. The remainder of its course, however, is determined by
a broad preglacial valley except for a short distance below
Carmi, where it cuts across a projecting spur of hills leading in
from the west. This valley, like others in this region, has been
filled in its lower course with drift and alluvium to a level perhaps
100 feet above the rock bottom (Leverett). It is from an
eighth to a fourth of a mile wide in Effingham county, but
below, reaches a width of one to three miles. At times the
river is bordered locally by precipitous bluffs 40 to 50 or even
100 feet in height, while at other points there is a gradually
sloping surface from the bottoms up to the level of the adjacent
prairie. The river-bottoms are a rich, sandy loam, but are
valued little for agriculture on account of the overflow to which
they are subject during the annual spring freshets. They are,
however, valued for the heavy timber which covers them.
The most important tributary of the Little Wabash is
Skillet Fork which enters from the west near Carmi. The
length of this stream is about 78 miles, not including the wind-
ings of its course, and it has a watershed of nearly 1,080 square
miles. It rises in northeast Marion county and flows south
and then southeast. Its source is at an elevation of 600 feet, but
it has a fall of 100 feet in its first 6 miles and makes another
descent of 50 feet in the next 12 miles. During the rest of its
course it falls but 100 feet. In the upper, swifter section the
precipitous bluffs rise to a height of 60 to 75 feet, and there is
little valley; but in the lower part the stream occupies a pre-
glacial valley similar to that occupied by the Little Wabash.
SALINE RIVER SYSTEM
The Saline River system drains into the Ohio that portion of
southeastern Illinois which lies immediately north of the Ozark
ridge. Its basin covers an area of about 2,000 square miles.
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS Ixvii
lying entirely within the limits of the Illinoisan drift. Part of
the land is quite broken by hills and ledges which range in
elevation from 10 to 80 feet above the high-water mark of the
streams. A large part of the country, however, is level, and
much of the land may be termed "wet," with here and there a
not inconsiderable swamp or pond occupying, probably, old
waterways. The basin is crossed by " Gold Hill, " which extends
through Gallatin and Hamilton counties in an east and west
direction. This ridge, which attains a height of 343 feet above
the high-water mark of the Ohio River, is crossed by the Saline
River a few miles below Equality. The soil is light-colored clay
loam, and a large part of it is still covered with thick timber.
The river is formed in western Gallatin county by the
union of North and South forks, the latter being joined by
Middle Fork in the southeastern part of Saline county. From
the point of its formation the main stream pursues its course
along the base of the Ozark ridge in a southeasterly direction,
emptying into the Ohio River in northeast Hardin county. The
three forks of the river and their principal tributaries are, in the
main, re-established along preglacial lines, and take meandering
courses through broad valleys which have been filled to an
elevation of 50 to 100 feet or more above their rock bottoms.
The main river is about 16 miles long, and in this distance it
makes a descent of only about 35 feet. The banks of the river
along its northern border are low, but on the south they rise
abruptly and often to a height of 150 feet, especially in the upper
half, where the river hugs more closely the base of the ridge.
The South Fork is about 49 miles in length. In the first half
mile, as it descends the ridge, it falls 50 feet, but the fall grad-
ually diminishes to 50 feet in the last 24 miles. Its total descent
is about 300 feet. The banks are rather high, especially along
the south, where they rise 50 to 60 feet above the water's edge.
Middle Fork is only about 26 miles long, with a fall of about 60
feet. North Fork in the first mile of its course has a fall of
about 30 feet. In the remaining 43 miles a descent of about
60 feet is made. The banks of this stream are low and subject
to frequent overflow. In southeastern Hamilton county the
course of the North Fork is entirely lost for about 3 miles as it
crosses a swamp.
The course of the main stream is crooked and the current
sluggish, with long stretches of quiet water where soft black ooze
can accumulate year after year, and where a typically lacustrine
Ixviii FISHES OF ILLINOIS
vegetation can grow. Here Nuphar, Nymphcea, Potamogeton,
and the limnophilous species of filamentous algae abound. In
dry weather the visible flow may almost cease in places, and in
flood a full stream may fill the banks even to overflowing; but it
is never quite a rushing muddy torrent, nor ever quite a dry
creek with scattered pools floored with gravel or naked clay.
CACHE RIVER
Cache River drains the eastern part of Union county, the
southwestern half of Johnson county, the northern part of
Massac county, and most of Pulask and Alexander counties.
The edges of this basin are not clearly defined, but it probably
covers an area of about 623 square miles. It lies entirely in
the driftless area which covers the southern point of Illinois,
just south of the Ozark ridge. The basin is very largely made
up of alluvial bottom-lands which border all the streams, and
which in southern Alexander county extend entirely across the
state from the Cache River to the Mississippi. These bottom-
lands are generally flat, and are interspersed with cypress ponds
and marshes, being mostly too wet for cultivation without a
very thorough system of drainage. They are subject to annual
inundations from the floods of the rivers, and are generally
covered with timber, now being rapidly removed for lumber.
The most elevated portions of these bottom-lands, however,
have a light, rich, sandy soil, very productive when cultivated.
Farther from the streams, the surface of the country is roughly
broken.
The Ohio River may, at one time, have discharged wholly
or in part through " Cache valley," which crosses southern
Illinois a few miles north of its present course. Its point of
connection with Cache valley is immediately north of Metropolis,
where for a distance of 4 to 5 miles a clay deposit has accumu-
lated in the line of the old valley. The surface of this clay
deposit stands only about 75 feet above the present stream, and
is much lower than the surface of the Tertiary deposits on either
side. It is not known as yet, whether the channel formerly
constituted the sole line of discharge for the Ohio or not.
Possibly the river divided its waters between the Cache and its
present channel. The bluffs of the powerful stream which
excavated the valley of the Ohio extend from the Mississippi
half-way across Alexander county, and then turn northeast,
THE TOPOGRAPHY AXD HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS Ixix
leaving a bottom from 3 to 5 miles in w'dth between them and
the Cache.
The headwaters of Cache River are in eastern Union county,
the river winding first southeast, then south-southwest, south,
and east, emptying finally into the Ohio River a few miles
below Mound City. It traverses a distance of about 73 miles,
beginning at an altitude of 500 feet. It falls 50 feet in a little
over 2 miles, 100 feet in the next 15 miles, and only 70 feet in
the remainder of its course. Near its head it has a definite
channel, but just west of the Union- Johnson county line it
enters its first cypress swamp. This, however, is very small,
and the bottom-lands again become higher and drier, averaging
about half a mile in width for the next nine miles. Then for a
distance of about 3 miles there is scarcely any bottom-land,
below which the river enters an extensive cypress swamp having
a width of 5 miles in some places. A few miles above Collins-
burg the bottom again becomes narrow and ledges of sandstone
form the bed of the stream, which here is clear and swift. Below
this point the water is nearly stagnant, brown in color, and full
of drifted logs. The lowlands average about three fourths of a
mile in width to near the mouth of Dutchman creek, where
they spread out to almost two miles. At the Massac county
line, Cache River enters the main swamp region which extends
across Pulaski county, and below these swamps the river winds
about through wide bottoms to its mouth. The backwater of
the Ohio reaches up Cache River hardly as far as Ullin, and
floods above this point are more immediately caused by the
headwaters of the stream when their discharge is impeded by
backwater. The country around the upper Cache is hilly and
precipitous, and so in times of freshets it pours immense quan-
tities of water into this lower flat, which then becomes a reservoir.
As the waters which the Cache carries come from the Missis-
sippian and cretaceous, they are somewhat different in mineral
characteristics from any of the rivers heretofore described.
BIG BAY CREEK
Big Bay creek drains 275 square miles in eastern Johnson
and western Pope counties — an area very similar in character
to that drained by the Cache. The stream rises in northwestern
Pope county, flows southwest into Johnson county, takes there
a southeasterly direction, and empties into the Ohio near Bay
1XX FISHES OP ILLINOIS
City. It has a length of about 40 miles, with an alt'tude of
750 feet at its source and of 300 feet at its mouth. In the upper
7 miles it falls 300 feet and the banks are steep and abrupt;
but below, the river valley expands into a swampy region 3 to
4 miles in width. These swamps connect with those of the
Cache River, and often the headwaters of the latter stream find
their way to the Big Bay and down it to the Ohio. At other
times, high water in the Ohio produces a flow through Big Bay,
the swamps, and down the Cache. Much is now being done,
through tiling and ditching, to separate completely the basins
of the two streams and to make each course distinct. In the
lower 8 miles of its course the banks again hug the river closely,
and rise on either side to a height of 250 to 300 feet.
THE LAKE MICHIGAN DRAINAGE
In the northeastern part of the state there is a narrow belt
of land from ten to twenty miles in width bordering Lake
Michigan and sending its waters into that lake through many
small, short streams, only two of which are of sufficient size to
received especial mention, namely, the Chicago and the Calumet
rivers. Much of this area, including the present site of Chicago,
was formerly part of a great glacial lake known to geologists as
Lake Chicago, which existed at the same time as the " Chicago
Outlet" (see page xxxiv) . It discharged its waters southward
through this outlet instead of northward as at the present time.
This tract of land now lies as a relatively level plain, diversified
with old lake-beaches and low glacial moraines. It is very
poorly drained and is filled with swamps and lakes.
The small short streams are mostly to be found in Lake
county, where they drain a strip from two to four miles in width
directly bordering the lake. They rise in the morainic ridge
which here extends north and south along the shore at an
altitude of about 700 ft., and from its crest they make very
rapid and direct descents to the lake.
Chicago River rises in northern Cook county and flows
south and east for a distance of 29 miles, emptying into Lake
Michigan about a mile and a half north of the Illinois Central
station in Chicago, and draining an area of 226 square miles.
It rises in a swampy area at an elevation of 630 ft. above tide
and makes a descent of 20 ft. in the first two and a half miles of
its course. Below this, however, it has almost no fall, the mouth
THE TOPOGKAPHY AXD HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS Ixxi
of the stream lying at about 600 ft. above tide. Nine miles
from its source Chicago River is joined by a branch from the
east. This latter stream rises in Lake county in another swampy
intermorainic area at an elevation of 660 ft., and in its length
of 12 miles makes a descent of 50 ft. Although the upper
courses of this stream and of the main river can not be definitely
traced farther up-stream than mentioned above, they seem to
drain indirectly a series of marshes lying between moraines
extending north and south within those directly bordering Lake
Michigan and bounded on the west by the Des Plaines water-
shed. About one mile from its mouth Chicago River is joined
by the South Branch. This river connects with the Des Plaines
near Summit and, as stated in the description of the latter
river, it has afforded a line of discharge for the upper Des
Plaines from the time of the withdrawal of the lake down to
historic times. The size and depth of its channel are such as to
seem to demand the work of a stream as large as the Des Plaines.
Even in quite recent years this river at high-water has been
known to overflow into the South Chicago channel and thus
to discharge some of its water into Lake Michigan. With the
exception of a few miles at the headwaters of North Fork, the
entire drainage system lies within the limits of old Lake Chicago.
The southward course of the stream outside of the lake bottom
is occasioned by till ridges of the Lake Border morainic system,
the one on the east preventing direct discharge into Lake
Michigan. Within the limits of Lake Chicago the stream follows
the slope of the old lake bottom.
Calumet River has its headwaters in the Valparaiso mo-
rainic system south of Michigan City, Indiana. Its numerous
tributaries also rise in this system, and they and the main
stream, on descending from this ridge, flow in the lowland
formerly covered by Lake Chicago. Here their courses are
controlled to some extent by the lines of sand-dunes formed
along the benches of the old lake, and, to a slight extent, by
till ridges. The streams have almost no fall, and the section
through which they flow is filled with swamps and lakes. The
course of the river is meandering, and at times it is almost
impossible to determine the direction of the flow of water, as in
the swampy region near Blue Island. Lake Calumet, near
Pullman, Illinois, is the largest of the many tributary lakes.
The mouth of the stream is at South Chicago, Illinois, at an
altitude of about 580 ft.
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
ON THE GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION
OF ILLINOIS FISHES
The geography of Illinois is, in its most obvious features, so
simple and so monotonous that one naturally expects a similar
simplicity and monotony in the geographic distribution of its
plants and animals. The plan of its hydrography is as little
complicated as the geography of its land areas. Surrounded on
more than two thirds of its circumference by three large rivers,
the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Wabash, with Lake Michigan
covering a narrow strip at its northeast corner and draining a
bordering region of scarcely greater area, its other waters flow
southwestward into the Mississippi and southward into the
Wabash and the Ohio, all mingling finally opposite its southern-
most extremity for their journey to the Gulf. Its principal
watersheds are inconspicuous ridges or slightly elevated plains,
most of them originally more or less marshy, and the head-
waters and tributaries of its various stream systems so approach
and intermingle that in times of flood they formed an interlacing
network, through which it would seem that a wandering fish
might have found its way in almost any direction and to almost
any place.
Its climate varies considerably, of course, within the five
and a half degrees of its length from north to south, but by
nsensible gradations, with no lines of abrupt transition anywhere
to set definite boundaries to the range of its aquatic species.
Its surface geology is more diversified than its topography,
and its soils, although uniformly fertile throughout most of the
state, differ notably in their origin and physical constitution,
some of these differences being such as to affect more or less
the surface waters and, through them, to influence the conditions
of aquatic life. The extreme northwestern and the extreme
southern parts of the state are bare of drift; but the surface of
all the remainder of the state, excepting a small area above
the mouth of the Illinois, has been repeatedly worked over by
ice in the course of the successive divisions of the glacial period.
The oldest glaciated area, known as the lower Illinoisan glacia-
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION Ixxiii
tion, covers the greater part of southern Illinois and a narrow
belt of the southeast part of the central section of the state.
Next to this at the northwest, and immediately east of the
lower half of the Illinois River, is the middle Illinoisan; above
this, in the west-central part of the state, between the Illinois
River and the Rock, is the upper Illinoisan; and still farther
north, in the Rock River basin, are the lowan and Preiowan
glaciations, reaching northward across the Wisconsin boundary.
East of the last three mentioned, and north of the southern
Illinois district, the Wisconsin glaciation, the most recent of the
series, covers about a fourth of the state. It is to the peculiar
features of the lower Illinoisan glaciation especially, that we
shall presently be compelled to pay particular attention, because
of their evident effect on the distribution of a considerable
group of our fishes.
The topographical relations of the state to the surrounding
territory are as simple and open as its own interior hydrography,
and there is little to suggest the possibility of anything in the
least peculiar in the general constitution or the relat ons of its
fauna, or anything problematical or especially interesting in
the details of the distribution of its native fishes. We shall find
reason to believe, however, that this appearance is misleading,
and that the subject, studied in detail, contains matter of
unusual interest, and presents problems of considerable difficulty,
a solution of which will lead us to some novel results.
It is true, however, generally speaking, that the distribution
of Illinois fishes reflects, in uniformity and relative monotony,
the features of the topography of the state. A few species
occurring in Lake Michigan and characteristic of the Great
Lakes are, in fact, the only Illinois fishes which are definitely
and permanently separated from their fellows in other Illinois
waters by what may be ca'led geographical conditions, and
these conditions are not physical obstacles to their passage
from Lake Michigan to the Illinois River.
Excluding, for the moment, these fishes special to the Great
Lakes, we find elsewhere in Illinois a general commingling and
overlapping of the fish population of the surrounding territory,
the limits to whose range are climatic, local, and ecological, but
topographic only in a secondary sense.
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
THE GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
Most of the 150 species of the native fishes of Illinois range
far and wide in all directions beyond its narrow boundaries,
thus illustrating the breadth and the simplicity of our geo-
graphical affiliations with the surrounding territory; but a con-
siderable number, on the other hand, coming into Illinois from
one direction, do not pass beyond it in another, some part of
the boundary of the general area of their distribution passing
through our state. Several southern fishes go no farther north
than Illinois; some northern fishes go no farther south; some
eastern species find here their western limit; and a few western
species range no farther east. The comparison of these geo-
graphical groups whose areas overlap by their borders here in
Illinois is a matter of special interest to the student of distribu-
tion, because it is in them that we find indicated the more
remote affinities of our fish fauna, and from them, if anywhere,
we may glean suggestions of its various origins.
It will be convenient for a discussion of this subject to
divide the general expanse over which Illinois fishes are dis-
tributed, into the following twelve districts: 1, the upper Mis-
sissippi Valley, including the Missouri and its tributaries; 2, the
lower Mississippi Valley, including the Ohio and its tributaries;
3, the far North, extending northward from the headwaters of
the Mississippi, east to the Lake Superior drainage, and west
to the Rocky Mountains; 4, the far Northwest, separated from
the preceding by the Rocky Mountains range; 5, the Great
Lake region; 6, the district of Quebec and New England; 7, the
Hudson River district; 8, the north Atlantic drainage, from New
England to the Chesapeake Bay; 9, the south Atlantic, from
the Chesapeake Bay to Florida; 10, the peninsula of Florida; 11,
the east Gulf district, bounded by the Mississippi drainage on
the west; and 12, the west Gulf district, bounded by the Missis-
sippi drainage on the east, and extending west and south to
include the Rio Grande and its tributaries. The following
table shows the recorded distribution of our species over the
territory so divided.
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION
TABLE OP THE GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OP ILLINOIS FISHES
Ixxv
Silvery lamprey (Ichthyomyzon) ....
Brook lamprey (Lampetra)
Paddle-fish (Polyodon)
Lake sturgeon (Acipenser)
Shovel-nosed sturgeon
White sturgeon (P. albus) . ...
Long-nosed gar
Short-nosed gar
Alligator-gar
Dogfish (Amia)
Mooneye (alosoides)
Toothed herring (tergisus)
Gizzard-shad (Dowsoma)
Skipjack (chrysochloris)
Whitefish
Lake herring
Lake trout
Eel
Black-horse (Cycleptus)
Red-mouth buffalo (cyprinella)
Mongrel buffalo (urus)
Small-mouth buffalo (bubalus)
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
TABLE OF THE GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF ILLINOIS FISHES — continued
Great Lake Basin
Quebec and New England
&
a
W
North Atlantic
South Atlantic
Florida Peninsula
East Gulf
Lower Miss, and Ohio
Upper Miss, and Mo.
West Gulf and Rio Grande
Far Northwest
Far North
River carp (carpio) . .
-|-
4-
4-
Blunt-nosed carp (difformis)
-f
4-
Lake carp (ihompsoni) ...
4-
+
4-
Quillback carp (velifer)
4-
4.
4-
4-
+
4-
+
-(-
-|-
-[-
-}-
-|-
4-
4-
4-
+
-)-
-|-
-f-
4-
4-
-j-
4-
-j-
-j-
-|-
-j-
4.
4-
4-
4-
+
-(-
-f-
-f-
4-
4-
White-nosed sucker (anisurum)
Common red-horse (aureolum)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
4-
+
4-
4-
4-
Short-headed red-horse (breviceps) ....
Placopharynx duquesnei
+
4-
+
+
4-
+
4-
Harelipped sucker (Lagochila)
4-
4-
4-
4.
_(-
4-
4.
4-
4.
Red-bellied dace (Chrosomus)
4-
+
+
-f
4-
4-
Silvery minnow (H . nuchalis)
+
+
+
4-
4-
4-
4-
Hybognathus nubila
4-
4-
Black-head minnow (P. promelas) . . .
4.
+
4-
4-
+
4-
Blunt-nosed minnow (P. notatua)
Horned dace (Semotilus)
Opsopaeodus emilice
+
+
-}-
+
+
+
+
+
+
-f-
+
+
+
+
+
4-
+
+
4-
Golden shiner (Abramis)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION Ixxvii
TABLE OF THE GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF ILLINOIS FISHES — continued
Bullhead minnow (Cliola vigilax)
Notropis anogenus
N. cayuga
N. cayuga atrocaudalis
N. heterodon
Straw-colored minnow (N. blennius) . .
N. phenacobius
N.gilberti
N. illecebrosus
Redfin (N. lutrensis)
Spot-tailed minnow (N. hudsonius) . . .
Silverfin (N. whipplii)
Common shiner (N. cornutus)
Notropis pihbryi
N. jejunus
Shiner (N. atherinoides)
Notropis rubrifrons
Blackfin (N. umbratUis atripes)
Ericymba buccata
Sucker-mouthed minnow (Phenacobius)
Long-nosed dace (R. cataractae)
Black-nosed dace (R. atronasus)
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
TABLE OF THE GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF ILLINOIS FISHES — continued
Hybopsis hyostomus
Spotted shiner (H. dissimilis)
Silver chub (amblops)
Storer's chub
River chub (kentuckiensis)
Flat-headed chub (Pldtygobio)
Blue cat (furcatus)
Ictalurus anguilla
Channel-cat (punctalus)
Great Lake catfish (Idcustris)
Yellow bullhead (natalis)
Common bullhead (nebulosus)
Black bullhead (melas)
Mud-cat (Leptops)
Common stonecat (N. fidvus)
Tadpole cat (<S. gyrinus)
Freckled stonecat (S. nocturnus)
Slender stonecat (S. exilis)
Brindled stonecat (S. miurus)
Mud-minnow
Grass pike (Esox vermiculalus)
Pike (E. Indus)
GENERAL .VXD INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION
TABLE OF THE GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF ILLINOIS FISHES — continued
c
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Muskallunge
4
4
4
4
4
Menona top-minnow (F. diaphanus m.)
+
+
+
Striped top-minnow (F. dispar)
+
4
4
+
Common top-minnow (F. notatus) ....
+
+
+
4
+
Viviparous top-minnow (affinis)
+
+
+
4
+
4
+
Chologaster papilliferus
4.
Brook stickleback
+
+
+
4
Nine-spined stickleback
+
+
4
4
+
Trout-perch
4
,
4
4
4
4
Brook silverside
4
+
4
4
4
4
Pirate-perch
4
+
4
4
4
Pigmv sunfish (Elassomo) . . .
4
4
White crappie (annularis)
+
+
+
4
4
Black crappie (sparoides)
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
Round sunfish . .
,
4
4
4
Rock bass
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Warmouth (ChcRnobryttus)
4
+
4
4
4
4
4
Green sunfish (cyanellus)
4
4
4
4
Lepomis ischyrus
4
L. symmelricus
4
+
L. euryorus
4
+
Lepomis miniatus
4
+
4
4
1XXX FISHES OF ILLINOIS
TABLE OF THE GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF ILLINOIS FISHES— continued
1
1
a
.2
C3
O
-
H
s
O
S
.0
1
1
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Long-eared sunfish
4-
+
+
4-
+
+
+
Orange-spotted sunfish (humilis)
+
4-
4-
Bluegill (pallidus)
4-
4-
+
4-
4-
Eupomotis heros
4.
4
Pumpkinseed (gibbosus)
+
4-
+
+
4-
+
Small-mouthed black bass
4
4
+
+
+
4-
4-
4
4-
Large-mouthed black bass
4
4
4
+
4-
4-
4
+
+
4-
4
Pike-perch (S. vitreum)
4-
+
4-
+
4-
'+
4
4
Sauger (S. canadense griseum)
4.
4.
4
+
Yellow perch
4.
4.
4.
4-
4-
4-
4-
Log-perch (P. caprodes)
4.
4.
4-
Hadropterus evermanni
H. phoxocephalus
4-
+
+
Black-sided darter (H. aspro)
+
+
4
+
+
Hadropterus ouachitx
4-
H. evides . . .
4-
4.
4.
H. scierus
4-
Cottogaster shumardi
4.
4-
4-
Green-sided darter (blennioides)
+
Johnny darter (B. nigrum)
4-
4-
+
+
4-
4
+
4-
Boleosoma camurum
•+
4-
+
4-
Crystallaria asprella
+"
4.
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION
TABLE OF THE GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF ILLINOIS FISHES— concluded
1
P
•2
0
0
rvj
Q
^j
o
=
>
03
•r)
•a
£
1
1
1
S
§
1
h Atlantic
'3
rt
1
§
.1
§
1
t Gulf and
Northwest
I
^
^
%
r;
-f^
*c
-g
^
P«
CO
O
<&
&
i
&
1
1
^
&
1
1
£
Sand darter (Ammocrypta)
+
+
+
+
Banded darter (E. zonale)
+
+
+
+
Blue-breasted darter (E. camurum)
4-
4-
4-
Etheostoma iowce
4-
4-
E jessice
4-
4-
4-
4-
+
Rainbow darter (E coeruleum) .
4-
4-
4-
4-
+
4-
4-
4-
Fan-tailed darter (E flabellare)
4-
4-
4.
4_
4-
4-
Boleichthys fusiformis
4-
4-
4-
4-
+
+
Least darter (Microperca)
+
White bass (Roccus chrysops)
+
+
+
+
Yellow bass (Morone)
4-
^_
Sheepshead (Aplodinotus)
+
+
+
+
+
+
Miller's thumb
4-
+
+
+
+
4-
+
Coitus ricei
4_
Burbot (Lota) ....
4-
4-
4-
4-
4-
+
Number of species
108
53
19
40
45
23
56
134
131
47
4
37
Ixxxii
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Arranged according to the number of Illinois species in each,
these districts succeed each other in the following order.
DISTRICTS
No. of
species
Per cent, of
all Illinois
species
Lower Mississippi and Ohio valleys
Upper Mississippi and Missouri valleys
The Great Lake basin
The east Gulf district
134
131
108
56
89
87
72
37
53
36
The west Gulf and Rio Grande district
The south Atlantic district
47
45
31
30
The north Atlantic district
The far North
The Florida peninsula
The Hudson drainage
The far Northwest
40
37
23
19
4
27
25
15
13
3
Next to the two Mississippi Valley districts and the Great
Lake basin, which average 124 Illinois species, our fishes are
most largely represented in the east Gulf and the Quebec and
New England districts, averaging 54 Illinois species — the first
closely related to the lower Mississippi, and the second a con-
tinuation eastward of the Great Lake basin. Then follow the
north and south Atlantic and the west Gulf districts, with an
average of 43 species; the far North, the Florida peninsula, and
the Hudson River districts, with 37 to 19 species; and, finally,
the far Northwest, with but 4 Illinois species.
The northern and the southern affiliations of the assemblage
of fishes represented in our Illinois collect'' ons may be contrasted
by comparing the list of Illinois species occurring in either or
both of the more northerly divisions — that is, the far North
and the Quebec and New England districts — on the one hand,
with a list of those found in either or all of the three most
southerly districts — that is, the Florida peninsula, the east
Gulf, and the west Gulf and Rio Grande — on the other hand.
In this northern list of Illinois fishes there are 64 species, and in
the southern list there are 77; but 25 of these species are more
or less common to both north and south, leaving 39 Illinois
fishes distinctively northern in their distribution and 52 dis-
tinctively southern. Northern and southern species thus mingle
in our territory in unequal proportions, the southern element
largely preponderating.
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION Ixxxiii
If we look to the further distribution of the northern and
southern elements of our fish population, distinguishing north-
eastern from northwestern species, and southeastern from
southwestern, we find that the southeastern species largely
outnumber the southwestern in Illinois, and that the north-
eastern outnumber the northwestern. Thus there are 47 species
of the west Gulf and Rio Grande region in this state, and 58
species of the east Gulf and Florida districts.
Further, there are more species known as common to Illinois
and the far northeast than there are to Illinois and the south-
western district of the west Gulf and the Rio Grande. Not-
withstanding the much greater distance from us of the Quebec
and New England district, there are 53 of the fishes of that
region known in Illinois to 47 of those of the west Gulf district.
The northeastern fishes have, however, been much more carefully
collected than the southwestern, and an equal knowledge of
both districts might change these relative numbers.
THE INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION
The interior distribution of the fishes of the state may best
be exhibited by treating each considerable stream-system as a
unit, and comparing the fishes of each such system with all the
others. The state may be convenient" y divided into ten such
hydrographic districts, as follows:
1. The Galena district, including the streams of the north-
western unglaciated area, most of which empty into the Mis-
sissippi through Galena, Apple, and Plum rivers. 2. The Rock
River district, extending southward and westward from the
northern boundary of the state to the Mississippi at the mouth
of the Rock. 3. The Illinois district, including the entire
drainage of the Illinois River. 4. The Michigan district, a
narrow strip along the borders of Lake Michigan — the Lake
Michigan drainage — most of which centers in the Chicago and
the Calumet rivers. 5. The Mississippi River, and an irregular
strip adjacent not included in any of the more definite river
systems and mainly drained by small streams of the bluffs and
neighboring highlands. This district is divided by the lower end
of the Illinois basin. 6. The Kaskaskia basin. 7. The Illinois
drainage of the Wabash, including that stream itself so far as
it helps to form the boundary line between Illinois and Indiana.
8. The basin of the Big Muddy River, in the southwestern part
of the state. 9. The Saline River basin, in the southeastern
Ixxxiv
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
part of the state. 10. The Cairo district, the driftless area of
extreme southern Illinois, drained by the Cache River and
smaller tributaries of the Ohio. The Ohio itself is included in
this last district.
The following list and table gives the details of the distri-
bution of the species in a way to show the number of collections
of each species made by us from each district. A cross opposite
a species name indicates that the species occurs in the basin
mentioned at the head of the column, but that it is not repre-
sented by preserved collections affording numerical data.
INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION OP ILLINOIS FISHES BY RIVER SYSTEMS
SPECIES AND NUMBER OF COLLECTIONS OF EACH
Districts
Sections
J3
s
&
0
1
£
3
1
."2
.22
O
M
•fi,
03
s
"S
«
s
.2
1
s
15
•a
T3
9
Q
?
"3
O
M
a
^S
s
1
^
i
I
if
02
1
1
I
1
Number of species
44
92
128
57
97
69
95
42
55
101
120
123
119
Collections made
13
73
1115
20
57
41
103
10.
18
95
269
1083
192
Silvery lamprey
1
1?
1
+
1
T
•
+
Brook lamprey
1
1
4-
0
4-
Paddle-fish
s
4-
4-
1
0
4-
4-
Lake sturgeon
+
4-
4-
Shovel-nosed sturgeon
4-
4-
+
+
0
4-
White sturgeon
4
0
_j_
0
Long-nosed gar
1
flO
1
10
1
+
4
+
Short-nosed gar . . . .•
1
52
4
+
1
+
4-
+
Alligator-gar . .
4.
4-
,
0
4-
4-
Dogfish
?7
1
+
1
2
1
4-
4-
Mooneye
1
+
0
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION
Ixxxv
INTERIOR DISTR.BUTION OF ILLINOIS FISHES BY RIVER SYSTEMS
SPECIES AND NUMBER OF COLLECTIONS OF EACH — continued
Districts
Sections
-8
•fl
tainage
§
•8
1
S3
1
Q
>>
tS
Q
g
•3
I
I
3
1
I
-
-i
O
1
1
•|
at
«
a
2
t!
-S
+3
o
1
i
1
1
a
i
a
1
g
o
ft
0
1
Toothed herring
8
i
+
7
+
+
4.
Gizzard-shad
i
3
89
i
i
7
2
3
+
+
Skipjack
2
1
3
2
+
+
+
4-
Whitefish
+
+
0
0
Lake heiring
+
+
0
0
Lake trout
,
+
o
o
Eel
4-
4-
4.
4-
4.
Black-horse
1
2
0
+
Red-mouth buffalo
1
1
28
9
2
1
+
+
+
Mongrel buffalo
1
17
i
1
+
+
+
Small-mouth buffalo
1
1
46
i
9
2
+
+
+
+
River carp
1
11
2
1
+
1
+
+
+
+
Blunt-nosed carp
1
6
54
8
15
21
3
3
+
+
+
Lake carp
10
1
+
+
0
Quillback carp
1
19
39
1
1
8
1
+
+
+
+
Chub-sucker
4
48
2
21
47
6
7
10
+
+
+
Striped sucker
1
1
13
i
13
16
1
1
3
+
+
+
Common sucker
1
14
69
9
5
26
3
9
4.
4.
4.
*•
Long-nosed sucker
+
+
0
0
Hogsucker
1
11
61
1
9
27
1
+
+
+
White-nosed sucker
2
14
+
1
+
+
+
Ixxxvi
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION OF ILLINOIS FISHES BY RIVER SYSTEMS
SPECIES AND NUMBER OF COLLECTIONS OF EACH — continued
Districts
Sections
1
1
0
1
B
G
H
a]
.1
2
s
J>
O
>>
"En
Q
o3
%
s
CO
I
.&
'J2
«j
-
T)
3
Q
*3
*O
•a
o3
\
s
g
2
•5
£
•5
o
1
1
1
1
I
03
bC
s
1
'S
O
o
fc
1
1
I
Common red-horse
2
13
90
5
10
25
1
2
+
+
+
Short-headed red-horse
4
39
1
3
7
2
+
+
+
+
Placopharynx duquesnei ....
1
1
+
1
+
+
+
+
Harelipped sucker
+
0
0
+
Stone-roller
1
20
99
14
9
36
1
1
10
+
+
+
Red-bellied dace . . .
4
13
2
4
+
+
+
Silvery minnow
2
6
86
1
16
10
27
6
11
18
+
+
+
Hybognathus nubUa
1
3
1
1
+
+
+
Black-head minnow
8
67
12
6
5
+
+
+
+
Blunt-nosed minnow
3
33
162
3
19
31
77
8
13
25
+
+
+
Homed dace
1
9
72
16
10
24
4
6
14
+
+
+
Opsopoeodus emiliae
3
49
1
1
1
18
3
6
4
+
+
+
Golden shiner
1
18
183
1
8
19
50
7
10
10
+
+
+
Bullhead minnow
1
14
110
5
22
38
1
3
2
+
+
+
Notropis anogenus
2
_j_
0
0
Notropis cayuga
1
4
29
2
5
1
1
+
0
N. heterodon
5
81
1
1
4
3
+
+
+
Straw-colored minnow ....
1
22
108
4
9
6
44
2
1
+
+
+
Notropis phenacobius
2
+
0
0
N.gilberti
3
15
10
2
+
+
+
N. illecebrosus
2
1
17
+
+
+
+
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION
Ixxxvii
INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION OF ILLINOIS FISHES BY RIVER SYSTEMS
SPECIES AND NUMBER OF COLLECTIONS OF EACH — continued
Districts
Sections
f
73
1
1
!
2
Q
Bj
§
•a
—
1
•o
1
1
3
1
1
1
i
1
i
i
i
a
I
1
1
1
J
1
Spot-tailed minnow
4
133
4
4
2
+
+
+
Redfin
1
142
9
16
4
4
1
10
+
+
+
Silverfin
3
34
116
1
8
29
71
2
3
6
+
+
+
Common shiner
1
19
105
11
14
22
1
12
+
+
+
Notropis pUsbryi
1
+
0
0
N . jejunus
1
5
21
1
10
5
2
5
+
+
+
Shiner
3
8
82
6
8
4
19
4
6
11
+
+
+
Notropis rubrifrons
2
4
8
+
+
0
Blackfin
2
9
67
3
25
56
5
11
19
+
+
+
Ericymba buccata
4
25
58
+
0
+
+
Sucker-mouthed minnow. . .
2
15
78
13
17
36
1
4
8
+
+
+
Long-nosed dace
1
o
0
+
Black-nosed-dace
1
4
1
+
0
+
Hybopsis hyostomus
2
1
+
+
0
Spotted shiner
6
3
1
1
+
+
+
Silver chub
2
10
37
4
2
0
+
+
Storer's chub
1
7
7
5
4
4
+
+
+
River chub
1
12
90
8
10
16
+
+
-j-
Flat-headed chub
3
0
0
+
Blue cat
1
1
2
0
-f
+
Ictalurus anguilla
+
+
+
0
+
+
Ixxxviii
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION OF ILLINOIS FISHES BY RIVER SYSTEMS
SPECIES AND NUMBER OF COLLECTIONS OF EACH — continued
Districts
Sections
•8
;
1
•2
•c
c
§
"S
8
I
>
n
P
'5.
IS
^
1
1
1
°o
2
•|
§
1
.1
g
,£3
1
,a
o
1
H
i
1
1
o3
bC
m
3
1
a
1
Channel-cat
17
108
7
17
26
2
1
2
+
4-
4-
Great Lake catfish
4-
4.
0
0
Yellow bullhead
3
82
10
18
3
4
6
4-
4-
4-
Common bullhead
42
1
1
4
4-
Black bullhead
1
11
144
19
15
35
4
6
10
+
+
Mud-cat
4-
3
22
2
1
2
+
+
4-
4-
Stonecat
2
3
32
1
1
2
+
+
4-
0
Tadpole cat
2
132
11
14
21
3
8
5
+
Freckled stonecat
5
1
2
+
0
+
4-
Slender stonecat
1
1
2
2
4-
+
4-
Brindled stonecat
1
1
26
5
1
0
4-
+
Mud-minnow
8
18
1
1
4
1
1
6
4-
4-
4-
Grass pike
5
61
1
4
11
19
7
6
9
4-
4-
+
Pike
2
17
1
1
1
,
4-
0
Muskallunge
+
0
0
Menona top-minnow
11
7
+
4-
4-
0
Striped top-minnow
1
75
1
8
5
4-
+
+
Common top-minnow
1
6
66
6
23
58
8
17
27
4-
+
+
Viviparous top-minnow ....
1
1
4
1
2
9
0
4-
4-
Chologaster papilliferus
6
0
0
4-
Brook stickleback....
1
2
+
0
0
GENERAL AND INTERIOR ' DISTRIBUTION
Ixxxix
rNTERiOR DISTRIBUTION OF ILLINOIS FISHES BY RIVER SYSTEMS
SPECIES AND NUMBER OF COLLECTIONS OF EACH — continued
Districts
Sections
J8
1
1
0
•g
1
1
2
^
0
5
03
^
•c
B
$
J3
rj
'S<
S
73
1
"
PH
I
'55
3
M
Is
5
_
o
&
M
.2
o
13
'S
Jj
§
§
2
fj
1
43
"3
O
i
s
1
1
1
1
bO
S
I
3
o
fc
a
1
Nine-spined stickleback
1
-j-
o
o
Trout-perch
14
1
-j-
o
Brook silverside
1
6
89
2
2
1
21
+
Pirate-perch
54
9
11
7
11
9
+
_l_
+
Pigmy sunfish
5
1
0
0
+
White crappie
2
9
119
2
13
6
14
3
3
6
,
I
-f
Black crappie
8
130
3
15
8
13
3
1
Round sunfish
1
1
1
2
8
o
0
Rock bass
4
35
1
3
2
1
1
2
+
Warmouth
3
83
3
5
10
6
6
11
+
+
+
Green sunfish
2
20
158
16
33
57
7
12
15
+
+
+
Lepomis ischyrus
1
3
•
.
0
L. symmelricus
2
3
4
0
+
L euryorus
1
0
_l_
0
24
1
2
+
Long-eared sunfish
3
37
1
27
57
7
8
16
Orange-spotted sunfish ....
5
112
22
15
23
2
3
3
+
+
+
Bluegill
2
7
179
1
6
3
18
1
1
6
+
+
+
Eupomotis heros
5
1
0
0
_^_
Pumpkinseed
4
82
4
2
1
1
+
Small-mouthed black bass .
16
69
5
2
8
1
3
+
+
+
xc
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION OF ILLINOIS FISHES BY RIVER SYSTEMS
SPECIES AND NUMBER OF COLLECTIONS OF EACH — continued
Districts
Sections
J3
«
1
£
0
-8
a
T3
•fi
i
5
1
1
«
§
'ft
oS
I
.g
w
1
s
1
1
1
1
|
as
C
Q
s
1
1
JS
o
1
H
3
1
A
1
.SP
1
1
I
6
1
Large-mouthed black bass . .
7
135
4
13
8
33
2
4
12
+
+
+
Pike-perch
3
20
1
13
1
+
+
+
+
Sauger
1
13
3
1
+
+
0
Yellow perch
,
75
3
6
-|-
4.
o
Log-perch
4
35
3
5
9
8
1
2
Hadropterus evermanni
3
0
+
0
H . phoxocephaltis
12
58
3
10
6
2
+
+
+
Black-sided darter : .
2
15
70
1
22
42
2
7
11
+
+
+
Hadropteriis ouachitee
1
0
0
+
H. evides
1
,
o
o
H . scierus
1
1
0
0
Cottogaster shumardi
14
2
1
0
+
+
Green-sided darter
+
36
0
+
+
Johnny darter
3
22
100
3
10
27
58
1
6
8
+
+
+
Boleosoma camurum
1
45
2
2
12
17
7
11
10
+
+
+
Crystallaria asprella
1
3
2
1
+
+
+
Sand darter
3
7
2
16
Banded darter
1
11
21
1
Blue-breasted darter
2
6
1
1
0
+
0
Elheostoma iowce
2
4
1
1
+
0
+
E. jessice
4
119
5
11
14
2
1
4
+
+
+
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION
INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION OF ILLINOIS FISHES BY RIVER SYSTEMS
SPECIES AND NUMBER OF COLLECTIONS OF EACH — concluded
Districts
Sections
1
|
1
1
|
f_,
S
Q
^
"C
5
J
1
1
1
|
&
I
1
1
0>
a
Q
g
^
1
^
03
O
1
1
1
03
1
s
1
g
o
£
1
1
Rainbow darter
2
9
39
1
2
29
1
4
13
+
+
+
Etheostoma obeyerise
1
0
0
+
E. squamiceps
1
1
1
7
0
+
+
Fan-tailed darter
1
6
11
1
1
14
3
+
+
+
Boleichthys fusiformis
1
13
5
18
3
8
8
+
+
+
Least darter
1
10
j
+
0
_l_
White bass
1
2
36
2
12
1
-f
-L.
Yellow bass
1
95
5
-f
-f
Sheepshead
1
53
13
1
1
1
+
Miller's thumb
5
6
+
+
+
Cottus ricei
+
+
0
.0
Uranidea kumlienii
+
+
0
0
Burbot
3
1
+
+
0
THE ILLINOIS BASIN AND THE OTHER DISTRICTS COMPARED
The key to the distribution of Illinois fishes within the state
is the species list of the Illinois basin. Covering fully one half
the area of Illinois, and extending in a broad belt diagonally
northeast and southwrest across its northern two thirds, this
basin contains nearly every variety of stream, lake, pond, and
marsh to be found between the Great Lakes on the one hand
and the giant flood of the Mississippi on the other, and it is to
be expected that its fish population will be highly typical of
XC11
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Illinois as a whole. It includes, in fact, more than four fifths
of the species on our Illinois list, and the special features of the
various other basins and areas may best be seen by comparing
them with this characteristic central basin as a type.
The following is a list of the species of the Illinois system
obtained by us in collections, arranged in the order of the
frequency of their appearance in 1,115 collections made from
that stream and its tributary waters.
SPECIES OP THE ILLINOIS BASIN, AND NUMBER OP COLLECTIONS
CONTAINING EACH
Species
Collections
Species
Collections*
Golden shiner
183
Common red-horse
90
Bluegill
179
Gizzard-shad
89
Blunt-nosed minnow
Green sunfish
162
158
Brook silverside
Silvery minnow
89
86
Black bullhead ... .
144
Warmouth
83
Redfin (lutrensis) .
142
Shiner
82
Large-mouthed black bass
135
Yellow bullhead
82
Spot-tailed minnow.
133
Pumpkinseed . .
82
Tadpole cat
132
Notropis heterodon
81
Black crappie
Etheostoma jessice .
130
119
Sucker-mouthed minnow
Yellow perch
78
75
White crappie
Silverfin
119
116
Striped top-minnow
Horned dace
75
72
Orange-spotted sunfish
Bullhead minnow
112
110
Black-sided darter
Common sucker
70
69
Straw-colored minnow
Channel-cat
108
108
Small-mouthed black bass
Blackfin
69
67
Common shiner
Johnny darter
105
100
Bla!ck-head minnow
Common top-minnow
67
66
Stone-roller
99
Hogsucker
61
*A cross (+) in this column indicates the known occurrence of a species which is not repre-
sented in our collections from the Illinois basin.
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION
XC111
SPECIES OF THE ILLINOIS BASIN. AND NUMBER OF COLLECTIONS
CONTAINING EACH — continued
Species
Collections
Species
Collections
Yellow bass
River chub
Blunt-nosed carp
Pirate-perch
Sheepshead
Short-nosed gar
Opsopceodus emilice. . .
95
90
54
54
53
52
49
Grass pike
Hadropterus phoxocephalus
Pike
Notropis giiberli
White-nosed sucker
Trout-perch
Cottogaster shumardi
61
58
17
15
14
14
14
Chub-sucker
Small-mouth buffalo
Boleosoma camurum
Common bullhead
Quillback carp
48
46
45
42
39
Striped sucker
Red-bellied dace
Sauger
Boleichthys fusiformis
Silvery lamprey
13
13
13
13
12
Rainbow darter
Short-headed red-horse
39
39
Menona top-minnow
Fan-tailed darter . . .
11
11
Long-eared sunfish
White bass
37
36
River carp
Least darter
11
10
Rock bass . .
35
Lake carp
10
Log-perch
35
Paddle-fish
8
Stonecat
32
Toothed herring
8
Notropis cayuga
29
Notropis rubrifrons
8
Red-mouth buffalo
28
Storer's chub
7
Dogfish
27
Sand darter
7
Lepomis miniatus
Mud-cat
24
22
Blue-breasted darter . .
Freckled stonecat
6
5
Notropis jejunus
21
Miller's thumb
5
21
4
Long-nosed gar
20
Ericymba buccata
4
Pike-perch ... .
20
Skipjack
3
XC1V
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
SPECIES OF THE ILLINOIS BASIN, AND NUMBER OF COLLECTIONS
CONTAINING EACH — concluded
Species
Collections
Species
Collections
Mud-minnow
18
Spotted shiner
3
Mongrel buffalo
17
Lepomis ischyrus
3
Hadropterus evermanni
3
Brindled stonecat
1
Burbot
3
Slender stonecat
1
Notropis phenacobius
2
Brook stickleback
1
Silver chub
2
Round sunfish
1
Lepomis symmetricus
2
Lepomis euryorus
1
Notropis anogenus
2
Hadropterus scierus
1
N. illecebrosus
2
Lake sturgeon
+
Viviparous top-minnow
1
Shovel-nosed sturgeon
+
Mooneye .
1
Alligator-gar
-f
Black-horse
1
Eel
+
Plaoopharynx duquesnei
1
Ictalurus anguilla
+
Notropis pilsbryi
1
Muskallunge
+
Hybopsis hyostomus
1
Green-sided darter
+
Blue cat
1
Of the twenty-three Illinois species which have not been
taken by us in the Illinois River or its tributaries, two are dis-
tinctively western fishes, and occur but rarely anywhere within
our limits; nine are southern species, few of which have been
found as far north as the mouth of the Illinois, and one other is
only southern in this state ; two are northern species which barely
reach our borders; five are typical fishes of the Great Lakes;
one has been found by us only in the main Mississippi and the
Ohio; one is a subterranean fish of strictly local occurrence;
and the two remaining species are very rare in this state.
Further particulars as to the species of these various geo-
graphical groups are given in the following classified list.
ILLINOIS SPECIES N.OT FOUND IN THE ILLINOIS BASIN
WESTERN (2): NORTHERN (2):
Hybognathus nubtta Long-nosed sucker
Flat-headed chub Nine-spined stickleback
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION XCV
SOUTHERN (10): MAIN MISSISSIPPI (1):
Harelipped sucker White sturgeon
Pigmy sunfish
Round sunfish SUBTERRANEAN (1):
Eupomotis heros Chologaster paptiliferus
Hadropterus ouachitce
H. evides RARE IN ILLINOIS (2) :
Crystallaria asprella Brook lamprey
Etheostoma obeyense Long-nosed dace
E. squamiceps
• Brindled stonecat
GREAT LAKES (5):
Whitefish
Lake herring
Lake trout
Cottus ricei
Uranidea kumhenii
As the Illinois basin contains 128 of the 150 species taken
by us in the state, it is evident that the other and smaller basins
must differ from this negatively rather than positively. Being
not only much smaller, but also much less complex than the
Illinois district, and offering less variety of situations for fishes
as homes and places of resort, they may lack many species which
find a fit environment somewhere in the Illinois or its dependent
waters, but can contain relatively few not found there as well.
Regarded from this standpoint, the Michigan district is
farthest removed from the Illinois ichthyologically, and of its
fifty-seven species nine (16 per cent.) are wanting in the Illinois
basin. The Cairo district differs much less, eight of its one
hundred and one fishes being without representation in our
collections from the Illinois system. Next follows the Wabash
basin in Illinois, with ninety-five species and a difference from
the Illinois basin of 6.1 per cent.; the Galena district, with
forty-four species and a difference of 4.6 per cent.; the Saline
district, with fifty-five species, and a difference of 3.8 per cent.;
and the Mississippi and its marginal area, with ninety-seven
species, 3.2 per cent, of which are wanting to the Illinois streams
and lakes. The Kaskaskia and the Big Muddy, on the other
hand, which are scarcely more than extensions of the Illinois
district downward to the southern end of the state, contain
virtually no fishes not in the main district, the Kaskaskia but
one out of sixty-nine (1.4 per cent.), and the Big Muddy none
out of forty-two species. The Rock River district differs from
the Illinois by only three species out of ninety-two (3.2 per
cent.). - These data are presented more compactly in the table
following.
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SMALLER DISTRICTS AND THE ILLINOIS BASIN
Species
Districts
Species
in
dis-
not
found
in Illi-
Ratios
of differ-
trict
nois
ence
basin
Illinois
128
57
9
.16
Cairo
101
8
.08
Wabasb ,
95
6
.061
Galena
44
2
.046
Saline
55
2
038
Mississippi
97
3
'.032
Rock River
92
3
.032
Kaskaskia
69
1
.014
Big Muddy
42
0
.000
Five species were found in the Illinois system and not in
any other — three of them minnows of the genus Notropis
(anogenus, phenacobius, and pilsbryi), one of them a sunfish
(Lepomis euryorus) , and one of them a darter (Hadropterus
evermanni). All of these species have been very rare in our
collections, occurring only from one to three times each, and it
was probable that they would be found, if at all, where the largest
number of collections was made.
The Galena district is distinguished from the Illinois basin
especially by the presence of a minnow and a darter (Hybog-
nathus nubila and Crystallaria asprella), the latter southern in
its main range, and the former western, not occurring, indeed,
farther east than western Illinois. These two fishes appear in
the Rock River basin also, together with another distinctively
western darter (Hadropterus evides). In the Michigan district,
besides the five lake fishes already referred to — the whitefish,
the lake herring, the lake trout, and two cottoids or miller's
thumbs, Cottus ricei and Uranidea kumlienii — are the brook
lamprey, the long-nosed sucker, the Great Lake catfish, and one
of the sticklebacks (Pygosteus pungitius). All but the lamprey
(which is rare in Illinois) are northern species not taken by us
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION XCV11
in the Illinois valley. The Mississippi district is distinguishe
from the Illinois by the presence of the rare white sturgeon
(Parascaphirhynchus albus), hitherto taken only in the Missis-
sippi itself, arid by a southern darter and a western minnow
already referred to. In the Kaskaskia district we find another
southern darter (Etheostoma squamiceps). The six fishes of the
Wabash district not found in the Illinois or its tributaries, are
all southern species. The Big Muddy list contains no species
not found in the Illinois basin; and the Saline River district
contains two southern darters (Etheostoma squamiceps and E.
obeyense). And, finally, among the eight species by which the
Cairo district differs from the Illinois are three southern and
two western species, a cave-fish, and two species of general
distribution but rare in Illinois (Lampetra wilderi and Rhinichthys
cataractce) .
Thus, of the twenty- three Illinois fishes not found by us in
the waters of the Illinois basin, eight are distinctively southern,
six are purely northern, if we include in this number the Great
Lake fishes, four are western, one is an extremely local cave-
fish, and four are so rare in Illinois that their appearance in any
waters is a matter of unusual chance. The limitation upon the
range of these imperfectly distributed species is thus climatic
and general, and not geographic or local. This state lies on the
extreme borders of their proper territory, and they are not found
more commonly in our waters because climatic and other general
conditions most favorable to their maintenance, here reach the
vanishing point.
LISTS OF SPECIES DISTINGUISHING DIFFERENT DISTRICTS FROM THE ILLINOIS BASIN
GALEXA DISTRICT (2):
Hybognathus nubila (Western)
Crystallaria asprella (Southern)
ROCK RIVER DISTRICT (3):
Hybognathus nubila (Western)
Hadroplerus evides (Western)
Crystallaria asprella (Southern)
MICHIGAN DISTRICT (9):
Brook lamprey (rare)
Long-nosed sucker (Northern)
Whitefiah (Great Lakes)
Lake herring (Great Lakes)
Lake trout (Great Lakes)
Great Lake catfish (Northern)
Nine-spined stickleback (Northern)
Coitus icei (Great Lakes)
Uranidea kumlienii (Great Lakes)
—7 P
MISSISSIPPI STRIP (3):
White sturgeon (rare; Mississippi only)
Hybognathus nubila (Western)
Crystallaria asprella (Southern)
KASKASKIA RIVER DISTRICT (1):
Etheostoma squamiceps (Southern)
WABASH DISTRICT (6):
Harelipped sucker (rare; Southern)
Pigmy sunfish (Southern)
Eupomotis heros (Southern)
Hadropterus ouachitce (Southern)
Crystallaria asprella ^Southern)
Etheostoma squamiceps (Southern)
SALINE RIVER DISTRICT (2):
Etheostoma obeyense (Southern)
E. squamiceps (Southern)
XCviii FISHES OF ILLINOIS
CAIRO DISTRICT (8):
Brook lamprey Chologaster papttliferus (subterranean)
Hybognathus nubtia (Western) Pigmy sunfish (Southern)
Long-nosed dace (rare in Illinois) Eupomotis heros (Southern)
Flat-headed chub (Western) Etheostoma squamiceps (Southern)
RELATIONS OF EACH DISTRICT TO ALL THE OTHERS
In the foregoing discussions and analyses the fishes of the
various districts have been compared with those of the largest
and most central district as a type; but a fuller and more accurate
idea of the composition of the fish population of Illinois and of
its relations in the various hydrographic divisions of the state
may be obtained by a comparison of the species of each of our
ten districts successively with those of all the others. This
may be done in an exact and uniform manner by determining
for each pair of districts the ratio which the number of species
common to the pair bears to the whole number of species occur-
ring within the area of both the districts taken together as one.
In the Galena district, for example, there are 44 species recorded,
and in the Saline River basin there are 55, a total of 99; but as
26 of these species have been found in both these districts, this
number has been taken twice in the above addition, and the
number of species found by us in the entire area of these two
districts is consequently 73. The ichthyological affinity of these
two areas is evidently to be measured by the ratio which the
number of species common tq both bears to the whole number
of species found in either or both the areas — in this case, the
ratio of 26 to 73, or 36 per cent. That is, 36 per cent, of the
fishes found in either of these two districts have been found by
us in both of them.
A similar analysis of the data for each of the forty-five pairs
which it is possible to make up from our ten hydrographic dis-
tricts, yields the material for the following table of common
species and of ratios of affiliation. This table shows, in the
lower left-hand part, the number of species common to each
pair of districts, and in the upper right-hand part the ratios
which these numbers bear to the number of species occurring
in each pair of districts taken as one. The number of species
common to any two districts will be found in the lower left-
hand part of the table, where the column for one district inter-
sects with the line for the other, and the ratio of affiliation for
the same pair of districts will be found in the opposite part of
the table at the intersection of the line for the first with the
column for the second. A simple inspection of the figures in the
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION
XC1X
latter part shows at once which districts are most alike and
which are most unlike in respect to their fish inhabitants. Thus,
the Rock and Illinois basins and the Mississippi are the most
closely related, according to these data, with affiliation ratios
of 68-72 per cent, and an average of 70; and the Michigan,
Galena, and Big Muddy districts are the least alike, with ratios
of 20-28 per cent, and an average of 23. The two highest
single ratios of ichthyological affiliation are those of the Illinois
and Mississippi rivers (.72) and of the Big Muddy and Saline
(.70).
NUMBER OF SPECIES COMMON TO EACH PAIR OF DISTRICTS, AND RATIOS
OF SUCH COMMON NUMBERS TO THE WHOLE NUMBER
OF SPECIES IN EACH PAIR
Districts
1
1
£
«'
I
f
1
1
5
S
2.
1
O
S
,H
J
c8
"cl
bo
^3
'3
S3
O
PH
H
S
S
w
^
3
00
0
<j
"*
eq
eo
*
*
CO
^
06
05
0
1. Galena
45
32
20
41
40
38
28
36
37
.352
2. Rock River
42
68
35
69
59
63
40
47
62
.542
3. Illinois River
42
89
35
72
53
66
33
41
68
.52
4. Michigan
17
39
48
34
25
29
22
23
32
.283
5. Mississippi
41
77
94
39
54
61
34
42
66
.525
6. Kaskaskia
32
60
68
25
58
66
52
63
53
.517
7. Wabash
38
72
89
34
73
66
41
53
68
.534
8. Big Muddy
19
38
42
18
35
38
40
70
39
.398
9. Saline River
26
47
53
21
45
48
52
40
49
.471
10. Cairo
39
74
93
38
79
59
76
40
51
.521
Total species
44
92
128
57
97
69
95
42
55
101
Number of collections
13
73
1115
20
57
41
103
10
18
95
The data of this table may be generalized by bringing into
comparison the average of the ratios of affiliation for each district
with those for all the rest, as shown in the column of figures
farthest to the right. If the ten districts are arranged in the
order of the size of their average ratios, they readily fall into
C FISHES OF ILLINOIS
two groups, the first of six districts, with relatively high ratios,
and the second of four, with relatively low ratios. The first
group comprises the basins of the larger rivers — the Mississippi,
the Rock, the Illinois, the Kaskaskia, the Wabash, and the Ohio,
each with its more or less complex system of tributaries. The
average ratio for this group is 52.7 per cent. The second group
is made up of small, widely separated districts, containing only
small streams and lakes, except that one of them includes a little
of the shallow southwestern border of Lake Michigan. In this
group are the northwestern driftless area, the Saline River and
its tributaries, the Big Muddy district, and the Michigan district,
with an average affiliation ratio of 37.6.
If we average separately, for these groups, the ratios of
each district to all the other districts of its group, we obtain for
the first and higher group a ratio of mutual affiliation of 63 per
cent., and for the lower group a similar ratio of 33 per cent.
It is thus made clear that the districts most typical of our Illinois
fauna are the first six above mentioned, while those most indi-
vidual and peculiar — least closely affiliated among themselves
and each with all the others — are the Michigan, the Galena, the
Saline, and the Big Muddy districts, excepting only the relation
of the two last mentioned which, as already said, is unusually close.
THE FISHES OF NORTHERN, CENTRAL, AND
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
If mere difference in latitude, involving a climatic difference
within a range of five and a half degrees, limits the distribution
o£any of our fishes, the fact should appear upon a comparison of
the species list of the northern, central, and southern sections of
the state, although due caution must, of course, be exercised
that other and more local causes are not confused with climatic
ones. The division of the state here adopted is shown on Map
II. of the accompanying atlas.
The fishes of these three divisions number 119 species for
northern, 123 for central, and 119 for southern Illinois, respec-
tively. Fourteen species have been found by us only in the
northern division, 9 only in the southern, and 5 only in the cen-
tral, and 89 species are found in all three sections. Twelve
species occur in both northern and central Illinois, but not in
southern, 17 in both southern and central Illinois, but not in
northern, and 4 in both the northern and southern divisions of
the state, but not in the central.
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION
FISHES OF LIMITED DISTRIBUTION IN ILLINOIS
Illinois Distribution
General Distribution
Hj.ecies Peculiar to Northern Illinois
Whitefish
Lake herring
Lake trout
Long--nosed sucker
Notropis anogenus
N. phenacobius
N. pilsbryi
Great Lake catfish
Muskallunge
Brook stickleback
Nine-spined stickleback
Hadropterus evides
Coitus ricei
Uranidea kumlienii
Species Peculiar to Southern Illinois
Harelipped sucker
Long-nosed dace
Flat-headed chub
Chologaster papilliferus
Pigmy sunfish
Round sunfish
Eupomotis heros
Hadropterus ouachitce
Etheostoma obeyense
Species in Northern and Central Illinois,
but not in Southern
Lake carp
Great Lakes
Northern
Southern
Northern
Rather general
Great Lakes
Southern
General; rare in Illinois
Western
Local; cave
Southern
Northern
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
FISHES OF LIMITED DISTRIBUTION IN ILLINOIS — concluded
Illinois Distribution
General Distribution
Nolropis cayuga
N. rubrifrons
Hybopsis hyostomus
Stonecat
Pike
Menona top-minnow
Trout-perch
Lepomis ischyrus
Sauger
YelJow perch
Burbot
Species in Southern and Central Illinois
but not in Northern
Paddle-fish
Shovel-nosed sturgeon
Alligator-gar
Mooneye
Black-horse
Ericymba buccata
Silver chub
Blue cat
Ictalurus anguilla
Freckled stonecat
Brindled stonecat
Viviparous top-minnow
Lepomis symmetricus
Coltogaster shumardi
Green-sided darter
Etheostoma squamiceps
General
Northern and southwestern
Northern
General
Northern
Great Lakes
General
Southern
Northern
General
Southern
General
Southern
General
Southern
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION Clll
An examination of the general distribution of the species of
these sectional lists of Illinois fishes shows, as was to have been
expected, that the distinctively northern Illinois fishes are chiefly
northern in their outside range, and that those of southern Illinois
are mainly southern. Thus, of the 14 especially northern Illinois
fishes, 11 are northerly in their general distribution *and 1 is
southerly; while of the 9 distinctively southern Illinois species,
6 are southerly in. their general range, 1 is western, and 1 is a
cave-fish local to Illinois. The species found in the northern
and central sections of the state and not in the southern are
varied in their distribution, 6 of them ranging northward from
Illinois, and 4 of them in all directions, while 1 has been thus far
found in Illinois only. The central and southern fishes, on the
other hand, comprise 7 southern species, 1 of northern and 8 of
general range, and 1 whose distribution is not recorded. Includ-
ing only species whose general area shows that their restricted
occurrence in Illinois is a feature of their geographical distribu-
tion at large, and excluding fishes special to the Great Lakes,
we have twenty-six species whose distribution in this state seems
limited by conditions connected with differences in latitude
merely — twelve of these species essentially northern and fourteen
of them southern.
ESPECIALLY NORTHERN SPECIES IN
ILLINOIS (16):
Whitefish
Lake herring
Lake trout
Long-nosed sucker
Lake carp
Notropis anogenus
Great Lake catfish
Mooneye
Pike
Muskallunge
Menona top-minnow
Brook stickleback
Nine-spined stickleback
Trout-perch
Coitus ricei
Uranidea kumlienii
ESPECIALLY SOUTHERN SPECIES IN
ILLINOIS (14):
Alligator-gar
Blue cat
Ictalurus anguilla
Freckled stonecat
Harelipped sucker
Notropis pilsbyri
Viviparous top-minnow
Pigmy sunfish
Round sunfish
Lepomis symmetricus
Eupomotis heros
Hadropterus ouachitce
Eiheosioma
E. squamiceps
USE OF LOCALITY MAPS
In the foregoing discussion of the sectional distribution of
Illinois fishes no account has been taken of differences in the
frequency of the occurrence of the species in the different sections
in which they have been found, a single occurrence in southern
Illinois, for example, counting for as much as fifty such occur-
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
rences in the northern part of the state. That highly interesting
and important peculiarities of distribution are concealed by this
gross method of comparison is made evident by an examination
of the maps of the distribution of our collections of the various
species accompanying this report, where the data are presented
in a way to show, not the number of collections, it is true, in
which each species was represented, but the number and dis-
tribution of localities from which the species has been obtained.
From such a study of these maps it appears that the northern half
or two thirds of this state is more favorable to a considerable
number of species than the southern part, since these species have
been taken there in a much larger number of localities; and also
that a small group of species of wide general distribution has been
found by us with surprising frequency in the Wabash drainage
in this state as compared with that of adjacent districts.
The preference of certain species for the northern part of
Illinois over the southern is clearly illustrated by the distribution
maps of the following fifteen species : Noturus flavus Carpiodes
thompsoni, Notropis cayuga, N. hudsonius, N. rubrifrons, Hybop-
sis dissimilis, H. kentuckiensis, Fundulus diaphanus, Percopsis
guttatus, Eupomotis gibbosus, Stizostedion canadense, Perca
flavescens, Etheostoma zonale, Roccus chrysops, and Morone in-
terrupta. With few and slight exceptions, all the species of this
varied list, representing eight families and twelve genera, are
so definitely lim'ted to the northern half of this state that one
gets the impression, as he examines these maps in succession,
that some invisible barrier to their southward dispersal exists in
the neighborhood of the Sangamon River.
PECULIARITIES OF DISTRIBUTION IN THE LOWER ILLINOISAN
GLACIATION
That the distribution of these more northerly species is not
limited by the watersheds is shown by the fact that they range
across the state indifferently into all the stream systems of
northern Illinois. It is not until we compare with our distribu-
tion maps a map of the surface geology of the state (Map III.)
that we find a plausible explanation of a part, at least, of this
peculiar distribution, for all but one of the species above men-
tioned are wholly excluded from the area of this glaciation, and
this excepted species (Hybopsis dissimilis') appears in but one
locality within the lower glaciation, and that a short distance
within its border, on the upper Kaskaskia.
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION CV
Especially significant in this relation are several cases in
which species of this list range southward in the eastern part of
the state upon the upper tributaries of the Kaskaskia and the
Embarras, for in so doing they simply follow southward the
course of the Shelbyville moraine which forms the boundary
between the Wisconsin and the lower Illinoisan glaciations in
east-central Illinois. The maps for Noturus flavus, Hybopsis
dissimilis, H. kentuckiensis, and Stizostedion canadense are ex-
amples.
That this coincidence of distribution and surface geology
points to a true explanation is further shown by the maps for
twenty-two other species which range more definitely to the
southward than the foregoing twelve, but which nevertheless
avoid the southern glaciation more or less completely and to an
unmistakable degree. For example, 19 of our 94 collection
localities for the hogsucker (Catostomus nigricans) lie below the
Springfield parallel, but only three of them are in the lower
Illinoisan glaciation, and these are barely within its borders.
Of our thirty localities for the short-headed red-horse (Moxostoma
breviceps) only two are in this glaciation, and these are near its
boundaries on the Embarras and the Kaskaskia. The very
abundant minnow Campostoma anomalum was taken by us from
one hundred and sixty localities, thirty-one of which are south
of the Sangamon and eight of them from the non-glaciated area
of the Cairo district, but only one of the entire number is within
the lower glaciation, and that is on the upper Kaskaskia just
across the limiting moraine. The map for Notropis cornutus
shows one hundred and sixty-one localities from which collections
of this species were made, ninety of them below the Sangamon
and twenty-nine in the Cairo district, but only three are in the
southern glaciation. Other species testifying to the same effect
will be found in the following list of fishes absent from this
characteristic southern Illinois district.
ILLINOIS FISHES RARE OR WANTING IN THE LOWER ILLINOISAN GLACIATION
Short-nosed gar N. rubnfrons
Common bullhead Spotted shiner
Stonecat Storer's chub
Lake carp River chub
Quillback carp Pike
Common sucker Menona top-minnow
Hogsucker Trout-perch
Short-headed red-horse Pumpkinseed
Stone-roller Small-mouthed black bass
Red-bellied dace Sauger
Cvi FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Nolropis cayuga Yellow perch
N. heterodon Banded darter
Straw-colored minnow Rainbow darter
Notropis gilberti Fan-tailed darter
Spot-tailed minnow White bass
Common shiner Yellow bass
Notropis jejunus Miller's thumb
FISHES TOLERANT OF THE LOWER ILLINOISAN GLACIATIO
Dogfish Silver chub
Channel-cat Grass pike
Yellow bullhead Common top-minnow
Black bullhead Viviparous top-minnow
Mud-cat Pirate-perch
Tadpole cat White crappie
Brindled stonecat Round sunfish
Chub-sucker Warmouth
Striped sucker Green sunfish
Silvery minnow Long-eared sunfish
Blunt-nosed minnow Orange-spotted sunfish
Opsopceodus emilice Large-mouthed black bass
Golden shiner Black-sided darter
Bullhead minnow Boleosoma camurum
Silverfin Sand darter
Shiner Etheostoma jessice
Blackfin Boleichthys fusiformis
Ericymba buccata
Among the ninety-eight Illinois species for which distribu-
tion maps have been prepared, thirty-four belong clearly to this
group of fishes which seem to avoid the conditions common to
the flat gray lands of the southern part of the state. Thirty-five
species, on the other hand, are distributed over this glaciation in
a way to indicate a tolerance of its conditions if not an indiffer-
ence to them, the data concerning the remainng twenty-nine
species being ambiguous or indecisive in this respect.
Two facts concerning the soil and waters of the lower Illi-
noisan glaciation may be held to account, at least in part, for
the failure of certain species of fishes to thrive in its streams.
Compared with the other regions of the state, this oldest of our
glaciation areas has developed its drainage system to a point
such that the rainfall runs off rapidly in a large number of small
streams, leaving no marshes or ponds to hold back the waters
during periods of dry weather. It is a level country whose
streams fill up quickly and run down rapidly, the smaller ones
drying up completely during the midsummer drought, which is
here more marked than farther north. These variable and tem-
porary creeks are, of course, less favorable to the maintenance of
a varied and permanent fish population than the waters of the
earlier Illinoisan or the Wisconsin areas.
GEXEEAL AND IXTEEIOR DISTRIBUTION CV11
As a further consequence of its geological antiquity, involv-
ing degenerative chemical changes and a long-continued leach-
ing, the soil of this lower glaciation has become an extremely
fine-grained, light-colored clay which, when compact, sheds water
almost completely, but which washes into the streams as a fine
detritus that remains persistently in suspension and renders the
waters very urbid for a long time after a rain. Standing pools,
indeed, never become even approximately clear. So persistent
is this turbidity, due to very finely divided matter in suspension,
that the chemists of the Water Survey find it almost impossible
to free the water wholly from suspended solids even by repeated
filtration. Furthermore, this soil has a definitely acid reaction,
to which is due a notable physical difference between the soils
of this area and those of the later glaciations west and north of it.
A surplus of lime in a soil coagulates or granulates it, causing its
ultimate particles to cohere in larger granules, while in an acid
soil this effect is entirely wanting. This lack of granulation in a
very finely divided soil increases, of course, the permanent
muddiness of its waters as compared with those of the areas in
which lime in the soil renders it alkaline.
The acidity of this southern soil seems not to be of a kind or
amount to affect the surface wraters sensibty and directly, since
the water samples from this region analyzed by the State Water
Survey show a soft water, slightly alkaline, and chemically un-
objectionable as a medium for fishes.
CLASSIFICATION AND USE OF ECOLOGICAL DATA
That these conditions are a part, at least, of the cause of the
phenomenal distribution of southern Illinois fishes may be shown
by a comparison of our ecological data for the fishes of the two
lists — one composed of those adapted to the conditions of the
lower Illinoisan glaciation and the other of those avoiding them.
In the organization of the data of our collections of Illinois fishes,
those concerning the character of the water body in which collec-
tions were made were classified in a way to show the number of
collections of each species taken from each class of situation.
By reducing these numbers to ratios of frequency of occurrence,
we have a means of exhibiting the preference of species with
respect to the situations in which each occurs. Pimephales
notatus, for example, was found twenty times over a muddy
bottom to thirty-four over a bottom of mud and sand, and to
forty-six over a bottom of rock and sand. Aphredoderus
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
say anus, on the other hand, was found sixty-two t mes on a
muddy bottom to nineteen times in each of the other situations.
By tabulating data of this description separately for each of
the two lists of species referred to— thirty-four species in the one
list and thirty-five in the other — and averaging the ratios for
each group separately, significant evidence was obtained of the
factors which affect the distribution of these fishes.
The species which distribute themselves freely over southern
Illinois are those which are generally tolerant of turbid waters,
as shown by the fact that 32 per cent, of all our collections of
this group came from muddy streams and ponds, 34 per cent,
from situations where the bottom was composed largely of rock
and sand, and 24 per cent, from a bottom of sand and mud.
The species avoiding the central area of southern Illinois, on
the other hand, are, as .a rule, intolerant of muddy waters, only
10 per cent, of all our data-bearing collections of this group
coming from such situations, while 61 per cent, of them were
from bottoms of rock and sand, and 29 per cent, from those of
sand and mud. It is consequently clear that the suspended
detritus of the streams of southern Illinois and the clay and mud
of which their banks and bottoms are commonly composed, are
an important part, at least, of the cause of the smaller variety of
fishes in these waters; and these conditions trace back through
the character of the soil to the geological history of the central
part of southern Illinois.
FISHES OF THE OHIO AND OF THE MISSISSIPPI DRAINAGE
A comparison and classification of our distribution maps
from another point of view enables us further to distinguish two
rather definite groups of species coincident in great measure,
but not wholly so, with the two groups which we have found in
an opposite relation to the lower Illinoisan glaciation. No less
than 27 of our species have either an exclusive, or at least a
strongly preponderant, distribution in the Mississippi drainage
in the western and northern parts of the state, while 8 species,
on the other hand, are very definitely preponderant in the Ohio
drainage in the southern and eastern parts. Nineteen of the 27
species of the first list are also on the list of species excluded from
the region of the lower Illinoisan glaciation, while 6 of the 8
species of the second list are also on that of species distributed
freely through this southern Illinois district. We have evidence
here of another influence strongly affecting distribution, coin-
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION C1X
cident in part with that already discussed, but independent of
it also in part, the two causes, or sets of causes, operating to-
gether to determine the actual range of most of the species of
limited distribution in this state.
The impression produced by an examination of the two sets
of maps for the fishes above mentioned, is that of a small group
of species, on the one hand, which enter the state from the south
and east by way of the Wabash and the smaller tributaries of
the Ohio, and, on the other hand, of a much larger group, most
of which have entered the state from the west and north, making
their way to its interior mainly by the Illinois and the Rock, but
sometimes by the Kaskaskia and the Big Muddy also. Species
of the Ohio group sometimes seem to spread into the headwaters
of adjacent streams, especially into the branches of the Kaskaskia
where these come nearest to the Embarras, and into those of the
Big Vermilion of the Illinois which are nearest to the Little
Vermilion of the Wabash. Some species, however, remain care-
fully within the tributaries of the Wabash system.
It seems possible that this appearance of an approach to
the state and entrance upon its territory from opposite directions
is not altogether deceptive, and that the annual movements of
the fishes of the state, up the streams at the time of the spring
floods, downwards with the recession of the waters, and still
farther downwards, for many species, into deeper water in the
winter, may take these two contingents of our fish population
in opposite directions, from and towards local centers of popula-
tion for the species, situated on opposite sides of the state.
Whether and where such local centers of population actually
exist, is a question which can not be answered definitely for
lack of numerical or statistical data in the faunal lists and other
literature of geographical distribution for the surrounding states.
If they exist, the Wabash fishes would constitute one such sys-
tem, and those of the Mississippi and its tributaries, another.
If we may speculate still further upon this subject, we may
perhaps surmise that a general critical analysis of the fish popu-
lation of the larger area of which Illinois forms the central part,
would enable us to distinguish fairly well-defined districts, each
with its characteristic assemblage of prevalent species, so asso-
ciated and ecologically related as to form a balanced assemblage
of species, all so adjusted to each other and so advantageously
placed in their environment as to constitute a closed system,
ex FISHES or ILLINOIS
which the characteristic species of adja'cent areas can not enter,
or in which they can not permanently remain.
DSTRIBUTION CHIEFLY IN THE OHIO DRAINAGE
Brindled stonecat Pirate-perch
Green-sided darter Notropis illecebrosus
Boleichthys fusiformis Ericymba buccata
Chub-sucker Long-eared sunfish
DISTRIBUTION CHIEFLY IN THE MISSSSIPPI DRAINAGE
Short-nosed gar White bass
Stonecat Yellow bass
Lake carp Common bullhead
Notropis cayuga Short-headed red-horse
Spot-tailed minnow Red-bellied dace
Notropis rubrifrons Notropis gilberti
Spotted shiner Long-nosed gar
Pike Dogfish
Menona top-minnow Mongrel buffalo
Trout-perch Black-head minnow
Pumpkinseed Hybognathus nubUa
Sauger Redfin
Yellow perch Rock bass
Banded darter
BOUNDARY BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN SPECIES
Recurring next to the distinction made on another page
(ciii) between northern and southern fishes whose areas ex-
tend into IH'nois but not beyond, and comparing the distribution
of these groups within the state, as given on Map CIII., we see
that northern and southern species meet and mingle in the
western part of the state from Meredosia to Pekin on the Illinois,
and from Quincy to Dallas City on the Mississippi, but that in
eastern Illinois they are separated by a wide interval extending
from Cook county to the mouth of the Embarras, in which
interval we have never taken any representative of either group.
The distinctively southern species, although most abundant
south of the line 28° "30", nevertheless go up the Waba h to the
Embarras, up the Kaskaskia to Shelby county, up the Mississippi
to Henderson county, and up the Illinois to Pekin, also following
the branches of the Sangamon to Logan county. The northern
species, on the other hand, although most abundant above
40° 20", come down the Illinois to Meredosia, and down the
Mississippi to Quincy.
The boundary between the northern and southern species
thus appears as a broad belt some fifty miles in width, extending
two thirds of the way across the state just about its center, but
GENERAL AND INTERIOK DISTRIBUTION CXI
widening to a distance of one hundred and seventy-five mi es
on the eastern boundary.
GENERAL FEATURES OF ECOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION
In addition to the general distribution of Illinois fishes over
the North American continent, their general or partial distribu-
tion within the state, and the unevenness of their distribution
over the different divisions of the state, hydrographic, climatic,
and geological, there are also recognizable differences and in-
equalities of distribution corresponding to the size of the water
bodies in which the species are found, to the nature of the
bottom and the consequent clearness and purity of the waters,
and to the existence and rate of current or flow in the waters
inhabited by them. In this class of divisions, geological dis-
tribution merges into ecological relation, the distribution of
species being no longer by geological areas, but by ecological
situations. In this sense two species may occupy precisely the
same territory without ever coming into any effective contact
with each other, because they are differently related to certain
features of their environment.
As an explanation of the more general facts of distribution
requires an analysis and interpretation of continental, terrestrial,
and even cosmic agencies affecting it, so an understanding of
what we may call the ecological distribution of a species, requires
a corresponding analysis of the ecological features of the region.
Such an analysis can here be carried but a little way, since the
ecological data borne by our collections' are only of a very general
type; but such as they are, they may, if used with discretion, add
definiteness and detail and some degree of statistical precision
to our knowledge of this part of the subject
The attention of the reader is called especially to the in-
teresting manner in which our statistics of associate occurrence
exhibit the frequent tendency of closely allied species inhabiting
the same territory to avoid each other's company, and thus to
evade competition with one another, by the choice of different
haunts and situations within the area of their common habita-
tion. In .consequence of this tendency, we sometimes find widely
unlike species more closely and commonly associated in our
collections than like, the ecological repulsion of each for its
similars bringing dissimilars together in more or less definite
associate groups. Apparent examples of this reaction may be
found in the body of this report in the discussion of the suckers,
Cxii FISHES OF ILLINOIS
the minnows, the catfishes (especially the bullheads), the top-
minnows, and the sunfishes.
Ninety-seven of our species have been collected in large
enough numbers, and from a sufficient variety of locations, to
give us data for comparison with reference to the general charac-
ter and size of the water bodies which they prefer; 62 species
furnish available data concerning the bottom or substratum of
these water bodies; and 49 species, data concerning current and
rate of flow. The numbers of collections for the various species
covered by these figures vary greatly from a minimum of 10
collections of a species to a maximum of 376. Unfortunately,
the larger and more important fishes are commonly represented
by the smaller numbers of collections, and statements made
concerning these are less likely to be found fairly accurate and
generally correct than are those concerning the smaller fishes,
represented by larger numbers of collections.
One available set of our data may best be presented in
tabular form, for such use as the student may wish to make of
them; and to this table we add, as an illustration of its use, only
a few statements concerning the more conspicuous ecological
groups of our Illinois fishes.
By assorting the species according to the size of the ratios
of frequency of occurrence for each class of situations distin-
guished in this table, we may separate those strongly preferring
the given situation from those apparently avoiding it. In this
way we learn that the species occurring in our collections with
disproportionate frequency in the larger rivers of the state are
the mud-cat (Leptops olivaris), one of the river carp (carpio),
the toothed herring (Hiodon tergisus), and the sheepshead
(Aplodinotus) , among the larger fishes; and a small darter
(Cottogaster shumardi), the trout-perch (Percopsis guttatus}, and
a minnow (Hybopsis dissimilis) among the smaller fishes.
The principal larger fishes of the smaller rivers make a much
longer list, comprising the hogsucker, two of the native carp
(velifer and difformis) , a species of red-horse (aureolum) , the rock
bass, and the small-mouthed black bass; and the principal
smaller species are six darters (Etheostoma zonale, Hadropterus
phoxocephalus, H. aspro, Diplesion blennioides, Etheostoma cceru-
leum, and Ammocrypta pellucida), a stonecat (Noturus flavus),
and Hybopsis kentuckiensis, and four other minnows, all of the
genus Notropis (rubrifrons, gilberti, blennius, and cornutus}—
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION CXUl
their ratios running from 70 per cent, for rubrifrons to 41 per
cent, for cornutus.
The species of our list which have from 50 to 100 per cent, of
their representatives in creeks, as illustrated by our collections,
include three sunfishes (the green sunfish, the round sunfish, and
the long-eared sunfish), three suckers (the common sucker, the
chub-sucker, and the striped sucker), four darters, ten minnows,
and the brindled stonecat.
The larger species found most abundantly in lakes, ponds,
and other stagnant waters were the common bullhead, the
buffaloes, the yellow perch, the white bass, the yellow bass, the
large-mouthed black bass, and five sunfishes (both crappies, the
warmouth, the pumpkinseed, and the bluegill) ; and the smaller
kinds were the smallest of our fishes (Microperca punctulata),
another darter (Boleichthys fusiformis) , two minnows (Notropis
cayuga and N. heterodori), the mud-minnow, and a killifish
(Fundulus dispar).
Turning next to the 62 species for which our data of pref-
erence or avoidance of a muddy bottom are available, we find
7 species whose ratios of frequency of occurrence in such situa-
tions range from 43 to 88 per cent., and which may consequently
be called limophagous fishes. These are the warmouth sunfish,
the black and the yellow bullheads, the pirate-perch, a single
darter (Boleosoma camurum), and two minnows, the golden
shiner and the common shiner (Notropis cornutus) .
It is interesting to find, by an examination of our maps,
that all these 7 species are freely distributed over the lower
Illinoisan glaciation of the southern part of the state, where, as
we have already shown, only fishes indifferent to a peculiarly
persistent turbidity of the water are likely to occur.
By selecting from this same list of 62 species those with the
lowest ratios of frequency over a muddy bottom, we get 13 species
(with ratios of 4 to 10 per cent.) which evidently avoid such
situations; and these, again, are without exception so distributed
that the area of the lower Illinoisan glaciation is almost never
entered by them. These are one of the native carp (velifer), a
species of red-horse (aureolum), the small-mouthed black bass,
two darters (Hadropterus phoxocephalus and Etheostoma coeru-
leum) , five minnows (Campostoma anomalum, Notropis heterodon,
Ericymba buccata, Hybopsis kentuckiensis, and Notropis blennius),
two stonecats, and the little brook silverside (Labidesthes) .
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
A more precise statement and a fuller discussion of the
ecological relations of our fishes, including statistics of com-
panionship for the various species, as shown by the frequency
of their joint occurrence in collections, must be left for later
contributions.
Attention may be profitably called, in conclusion, to the
economic significance of the details of distribution of the various
species, as influenced both by geographical and ecological con-
ditions, since a proper understanding and application of these
facts will prevent wasteful efforts to introduce species where
they do not belong and can not thrive. Indeed, the more de-
tailed our knowledge of favorable, and even optimum, conditions
for the different species, and the more exact, also, our acquain-
tance with the relations of each species of fish to its companion
species in any associate assemblage, the more intelligent, and
hence the more successful, in the long run, will be our efforts to
extend the range and multiply the numbers of the more useful
species and to lessen the numbers of those especially injurious.
ECOLOGICAL TABLE
ALL ILLINOIS SPECIES WITH AT LEAST TEN AVAILABLE RECORDS E^CH*
Water (97 species)
Current (49 species)
Bottom (62 species)
8
£
1
4*
Species
o
|
1
1
I
|
W i
1
£
E
,*"
I
1
1
1
1
1
•a
c
|
^
0}
3
'f
s
co
a
J2
3
I
1
3
1
1
1
'3
5
1
a
1
rf
1
£
if.
it
_3
'5
T3
?
1
a
**
*
H?
£
o
j
<j
02
53
^
^
^
PH
S
151
Long-nosed gar
35
25
10
7
22
• • • <
152
Short-nosed gar
57
28
24
4
25
155
Dogfish ,.
37
18
7
6
30
207
Channel-cat
171
20
32
27
8
31
68
19
13
75
21
44
35
*The figures of thie table, except those in the columns for available collections, are ratios
of frequency of the species in our collections, computed with due reference to the comparative
numbers of collections of all kinds made in each situation.
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION
CXV
ECOLOGICAL TABLE— continued
ALL ILLINOIS SPECIES WITH AT LEAST TEN AVAILABLE RECORDS EACH
8
Water (97 species)
Current (49 species)
Bottom (62 species)
a
03
s
•o
Species
Available collections
•£
1
Smaller rivers
1
0
Lakes, ponds, etc.
Available collections
Swift to moderate
Sluggish to stagnant
1
Available collections
•g
Rock and sand
Mud and sand
215
Yellow bullhead. ........
122
7
6
37
23
14
36
43
21
35
43
34
23
217
Common bullhead
48
15
5
4
44
218
Black bullhead
244
8
21
37
26
38
37
53
10
56
54
46
221
222
Mud-cat
Stonecat
30
41
53
10
21
63
5
34
8
58
34
15
60
13
26
24
8
223
Tadpole cat
193
17
5
23
41
21
48
43
9
45
29
27
44
231
Brindled stonecat
30
3
36
(30
.....
13
8
62
30
261
Red-mouth buffalo
39
13
9
48
262
Mongrel buffalo
19
17
7
45
264
Small-mouth buffalo
52
14
12
4
49
265
River carp
15
47
8
10
266
268
289
Blunt-nosed carp
Quillback carp .
102
70
132
9
10
3
42
50
19
30
19
71
12
5
1
16
19
49
47
39
25
32
47
25
21
14
47
28
79
21
4
13
36
60
44
43
36
43
Common sucker
294
Hogsucker
99
4
63
25
4
71
20
63
17
59
54
46
302a
Chub-sucker
131
9
12
57
14
23
52
48
57
32
39
29
303
305
314
Striped sucker
White-nosed sucker
Common red-horse ......
46
18
143
2
7
9
31
44
32
53
20
40
3
G
4
47
19
26
32
42
57
28
15
65
6
55
39
319
Short-headed red-horse. . .
55
13
25
15
22
14
14
43
43
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
ECOLOGICAL TABLE— continued .
ALL ILLINOIS SPECIES WITH AT LEAST TEN AVAILABLE RECORDS EACH
Water (97 species)
Current (49 species)
Bottom (62 species)
5
a
m
a
a
a
a
1
Species
le collectio
1
rivers
3
le collectio
moderate
i to stagna
le collectio
1
1
"O
a
m
1
o
•n
Availab
1
Smaller
6
1
JS
1
1
3
I
it
1
,0
J3
1
1
K
Mud an
328
Stone-roller .
195
3
37
55
j
65
63
23
14
105
7
57
36
334
Red-bellied dace
23
10
71
340
Silvery minnow
183
12
36
32
7
30
47
40
13
67
33
40
27
349
Black-head minnow
95
14
30
48
4
12
50
42
8
44
25
41
34
350
Blunt-nosed minnow
376
0
34
43
12
108
50
34
16
202
20
46
34
355
Horned dace
151
4
28
63
2
42
48
36
16
81
17
47
36
391
Opsopceodus emttwe
40
13
8
36
32
394
Golden shiner
303
12
17
29
32
28
32
57
11
82
44
29
27
398
Bullhead minnow
187
17
81
28
7
36
67
17
16
62
11
44
45
405
Notropis cayitga
29
13
26
57
13
54
38
8
15
27
73
406
N.heterodon
92
19
1
19
60
14
7
22
71
408
Straw-colored minnow
185
7
44
37
3
63
49
26
25
103
10
50
40
420
Notropis gtiberti
30
2
49
43
2
18
11
45
44
426
Notropis illecebrosus
11
100
428
Spot-tailed minnow
147
28
5
2
39
10
20
80
432
Redfin . . .
163
24
32
20
14
13
46
38
16
55
27
40
33
448
Silverfin. . . .
268
0
39
40
4
65
54
26
20
126
13
56
31
456
Common shiner
178
2
41
50
4
76
45
36
19
102
44
48
8
476
Notropis jejunus
51
27
19
13
11
12
25
67
8
485
Shiner
206
20
36
15
11
23
57
30
13
48
21
64
14
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION
ECOLOGICAL TABLE— continued
ALL ILLINOIS SPECIES WITH AT LEAST TEN AVAILABLE RECORDS EACH
Water (97 species)
Current (49 species)
Bottom (62 species)
1
I
Species
BO
1
1
1
1
1
I
a
.2
1
T3
1
£
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
c
3
to
•c
•£
i
o>
S
•**
£
H
'O
2
^
a>
,
1
3
"5
3
1
§
§
1
1
|
1
|
|
1
•5
1
.2
o3
1
•§
1
7
^
3
DO
6
3
1
1
>
8
a
489
Notropis rubrifrons
13
4
70
26
11
45
18
36
11
82
18
498a
Blackfm
208
3
32
65
69
41
45
14.
109
17
43
40
499
Ericymha buccata
74
1
18
81
14
43
29
28
38
8
63
29
501
Sucker-mouthed minnow .
15ft
5
36
53
1
53
53
24
23
.92
15
51
34
528
Spotted shiner
11
50
27
22
533
Silver chub
41
5
29
66
13
77
15
7
20
30
55
15
534
Storer's chub
28
21
32
11
10
536
River chub
129
4
41
51
1
55
53
24
23
74
8
43
49
674
Toothed herring
10
46
16
677
Gizzard-shad.
105
17
32
7
20
22
23
55
22
919
Mud minnow
34
7
24
S
49
922
Grass pike
111
7
16
34
30
14
36
57
7
29
38
21
41
939
Menona top-minnow ....
17
42
49
966
Striped top-minnow
83
11
3
72
957
Common top-minnow ....
208
6
25
49
12
34
41
50
9
81
32
42
26
1000
Viviparous top-minnow . .
17
12
21
32
12
1145
Trout-perch
15
52
4
19
1147
Pirate-perch
100
18
5
42
21
14
21
72
7
37
62
19
19
1177
Brook silverside
120
13
28
13
36
16
31
44
25
21
10
62
28
1381
White crappie
166
15
19
17
34
14
64
29
7
43
35
49
16
CXV111
PISHES OF ILLINOIS
ECOLOGICAL TABLE— continued
ALL ILLINOIS SPECIES WITH AT LEAST TEN AVAILABLE RECORDS EACH
Water (97 species)
Current (49 species)
Bottom (62 species)
8
0
a
-
a
a
^
a
1
Species
1
1
1
S
g
«
!
1
"S
T3
w
1
1
1
•c
1
1
^
•
§
$
•n
e9
1
o
•-5
1
i
^
Smaller
1
i
1
Swift to
1
i
Variable
Availabl
1
1
Mud an<
1382
Black crappie
179
17
16
10
42
28
25
50
25
1383
Round sunfish
11
69
30
1385
Rock bass
48
7
49
24
13
20
55
15
30
27
48
52
1387
Warmouth
122
12
17
12
45
17
88
12
1391
Green sunfish
313
7
25
52
11
80
39
45
16
156
28
41
31
1397
Lepomis miniatus
23
10
11
41
1399
Long-eared sunfish
112
2
12
76
4
17
41
47
12
41
37
63
1400
Orange-spotted sunfish . . .
174
12
25
34
20
21
38
38
24
60
30
35
35
1403
Bluegill
214
16
10
7
54
24
25
58
17
1408
Pumpkinseed
85
6
17
4
56
1409
Small-mouthed black bass
100
6
43
23
19
40
55
18
27
50
6
68
26
1410
Large-mouthed black bass
211
8
20
17
40
19
58
26
16
48
19
54
27
1413
Pike-perch
36
16
10
8
33
1414
Sauger
16
36
4
25
1415
Yellow perch
83
20
7
3
51
1417
Log-perch
60
10
38
27
19
14
93
7
20
100
1418
Hadropterus phoxocephalus
85
7
57
27
3
32
87
13
48
6
94
1421
Black-sided darter
159
6
42
47
1
49
70
30
76
16
84
1436
Cottogaster shumardi
16
55
4
18
1443
Green-sided darter
24
46
53
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBTJTION
CX1X
ECOLOGICAL TABLE— concluded
ALL ILLINOIS SPECIES WITH AT LEAST TEN AVAILABLE RECORDS EACH
Water (97 species)
Current (49 species)
Bottom (62 species)
s
d
§
c
I
"c
S
I
Species
1
1
I
&
2
o
t!
jj
-a
^
TJ
8
1
•3
'o
to
8
1
§
§
g
1
M
1
1
S*
1
3
i
3
1
1
1
1
o
"3
1
02
1
1
'i>
j3
1
'3
3
I
3
1446
Johnny darter
234
3
25
53
16
71
68
32
126
11
89
....
1448
Boleosoma camurum
107
9
23
42
17
17
41
59
39
60
40
1450
Sand darter
19
13
47
39
1461
Banded darter
32
3
74
23
18
89
11
19
11
89
1474
Etheostoma jessice
158
20
19
16
24
12
83
17
31
23
67
1477
Rainbow darter
80
3
44
45
1
29
83
17
37
8
92
14S9
Elheostoma squamiceps .
10
35
64
1490
Fan-tailed darter
30
9
87
4
11
100
1494
Boleichthys fusiformis ....
56
1
12
24
62
21
33
67
1497
Least darter
12
4
95
1529
White bass
56
28
8
46
1531
Yellow bass
100
20
4
52
1871
Sheepshead
57
29
16
1
27
GENERAL SUMMARY
The principal conclusions of this chapter may be thus sum-
marized:
1. The 150 native species of Illinois fishes here recognized,
are so distributed within and without the state as to indicate an
unequal commingling of the f aunse of the surrounding territories,
southeastern species preponderating over southwestern, north-
eastern over northwestern, eastern over western, and southern
over northern.
CXX FISHES OF ILLINOIS
2. The Illinois basin may be taken as typical, in its fish
population, of the ichthyology of the whole state — occupying, as
it does, a central position, including more than half the area of
the state, and containing a great variety of waters and situations
fit for the habitation of fishes, and more than four fifths of the
species found anywhere in Illinois. The more important fishes
of the state not known from this basin are a few distinctively
northern species, most of which are peculiar to the Great Lakes,
and a few southern species which do not range as far north, in
this state, as the mouth of the Illinois. The remainder are very
rare in our territory, most of them coming from the west and
south, and they are extremely insignificant elements of our fish
fauna.
3. If the ten stream systems of the state be brought into
comparison one with another, it appears that the six larger
areas, containing the largest streams and presenting the greatest
variety of situations, are much more closely affiliated ichthyo-
logically than are the four smaller areas. The least closely
affiliated with each other and with all the rest >are the Michigan
district of northeastern Illinois and the Big Muddy basin in the
southwest. The closest relations are those between the Illinois,
the Rock, and the Mississippi.
4. In the absence, in Illinois, of geographical barriers to
the dispersal of fishes, the causes influencing their distribution
are climatic, geologic, and ecological. As Illinois extends
through 5.5° of latitude, differences of climate between the
northern and the southern sections of the state are sufficient to
affect, in considerable measure, the distribution of its plant and
animal species — differences which, in its ichthyology, express
themselves in the presence in northern Illinois, but not in
southern, of 17 species of general northward range; and in
southern Illinois, but not in northern, of 14 species of general
southward range. These two groups of species meet and mingle
in the great north and south -rivers of the western half of the
state, in an area of common occupation about fifty miles in
width, from the latitude of Springfield northward, while on the
eastern boundary of the state, occupied by small streams of
various direction, these groups are separated by an interval of
about a hundred and seventy-five miles over which no repre-
sentative of either group has been taken.
5. Geological limitations to the dispersal of fishes are
illustrated by peculiarities of distribution in southern Illinois as
GENERAL AND INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION CXxi
related to the area of the lower Illinoisan glaciation, which 34
species evidently avoid while 35 other species enter upon it
freely and inhabit it successfully. A comparison of the ecologi-
cal relations of these two groups of species as represented by our
collection records, shows that they are strongly distinguished
by the repugnance of the first group, and the indifference of the
second, to waters with a muddy bottom, collections of the first
group having been made from such situations in an average
ratio more than three times as great as that for the second.
The waters of this region, on the other hand, are remarkably
and persistently turbid, never clearing themselves spontaneously.
This is owing in part to the extremely fine division of the soil,
and in part to its generally acid character and the consequent
lack of " granulation, " or cohesion of its ultimate particles in
granules, such as occurs in the alkaline soils of the other geological
areas of the state. The surface waters of the district are soft
and slightly alkaline, but contain much silica, and much solid
matter in suspension which it is extremely difficult to remove
completely by any ordinary filtering or precipitation process.
The inference is plain that it is to this condition of the waters —
due to the geological history of the soil of this region — that the
unequal distribution of these fishes is largely to be attributed.
6. In consequence of another clearly recognizable ine-
quality of distribution, partly coincident with the two preceding
and partly independent of them, two additional groups may be
distinguished; one of 8 species, distributed in this state mainly
through the Ohio and Wabash drainage, and the other of 27
species, distributed through the Mississippi and its more north-
erly tributaries. The general distribution throughout the
country at large of each of these two groups of species is quite
varied, and offers no hint of a reason for these differences in
Illinois Two hypothetical explanations are suggested — the
first presupposing different centers of population outside the
state, from and towards which these species move, into and out
of Illinois streams, with the spring rise, summer recession, and
winter cooling of the waters, one of these centers to the west and
north, and one to the east and south; and the second presuppos-
ing an organization of the fish population into more or less
distinct communities of mutually well-adjusted species, each
community so adapted to its environment that members of
adjacent communities can not successfully intrude upon its
territory.
CXXii FISHES OF ILLINOIS
7. An analysis of our statistical data of ecological distri-
bution gives us many instances of a marked difference in pref-
erence of situation between nearly related species inhabiting
the same area, the effect of which is to break the force of a
competition between these species such as would prevail if they
were similarly distributed ecologically as well as geographically.
Closely related species are, as a consequence, ofte/i ound much
less frequently associated in their common territory than either
is with widely unlike species of the same geographical range.
Exceptions to this rule are found where similar species occupy
adjacent areas of distribution which merely overlap by their
borders.
8. A table of the broader ecologica1 relations of 97 species
of Illinois fishes is made the basis of a lew general statements,
but that subject as a whole is reserved for more detailed treat-
ment elsewhere.
I 3
THE FISHERIES OF ILLINOIS CXX111
THE FISHERIES OF ILLINOIS
Since the state and the nation maintain, in their commissions
of fish and fisheries, special agencies for the investigation and
promotion of economic ichthyology, the Natural History Survey
is not constructively responsible for work in this field. The
subject of our fisheries is, however, an essential part of the science
of ichthyology broadly considered — a division, indeed, of ich-
thyological ecology, of which the reciprocal relations and inter-
actions of fishes and men are as legitimate and necessary a part
as those of fishes and any other factor of their ecological environ-
ment. The economic element has, consequently, been taken
into account in our discussion of species and the larger groups,
and a brief resume of its principal features is evidently appro-
priate to this introduction.
The distinction of Illinois as a fish-producing state is to be
found in its relation to the Mississippi River and some of the
most important branches of that stream. Bordered by the
main river for the whole length of its longest side, by the second
largest tributary of the Mississippi for 130 miles of its south-
eastern boundary, and by the Wabash for 198 miles on the
east, the state is also traversed diagonally by the Illinois River,
admirably adapted, by its sluggish current, by the many bottom-
land lakes connected with it at low water, by the extensive
breeding-grounds afforded to fishes during the period of the
spring overflow, and by the vast abundance of fish food in its
waters at all seasons of the year, to support an unusually large
and varied fish population. Illinois is consequently far in the
lead of all the states of the Mississippi Valley in respect to
river-fishery products. It markets a larger value per annum in
fishes taken from flowing streams than all the states immediately
surrounding it taken together. The total for this state in 1899
was $517,420, and that for Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana,
and Wisconsin combined was $435,137. Illinois furnishes, in-
deed, more than one third of the fishes sent to market from all
the streams of the Mississippi Valley, — valued in 1899 at
$1,473,040. Furthermore, the Illinois River and its tributaries
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
produced in 1899, 72 per cent, of all the fishes taken from the
streams of the state, and a fourth of the entire fish product of
the Mississippi Valley came in that year from this one stream.
The totals for the different Illinois stream systems were as
follows: Illinois, $371,110; Mississippi, $118,278; Wabash,
$38,065; Ohio, $20,029; Kaskaskia, $3,002; Big Muddy, $1,136.
The Great Lake fisheries in Illinois waters are of insignifi-
cant proportions. The total longshore product for Cook and
Lake counties during the last census year was $12,500 — about
$2,000 less than the sum derived from our river turtles alone.
The river fisheries of the state gave employment in 1899 to
2,389 men, and utilized a capital of $225,000. Sixteen steam-
boats, 200 house-boats, and 1,500 row-boats were used in these
fisheries, together with about 45 miles of seines, 10 miles of
trammel-nets, half a mile of gill-nets, and 14,000 fyke-nets,
pound-nets, and traps. The seines and the fyke-nets together
yielded about 80 per cent, of the product, the seines bringing
in $251,562 and the fyke-nets $210,054, Set-lines yielded
$37,191; trammel-nets, $24,185; traps, $2,707; gill-nets, $1,290;
drift-lines, $1,141; pound-nets, $811; and hand-lines, $701.
The dozen most productive kinds of Illinois fishes, according
to the statistics of the last census year, were as follows : Euro-
pean carp, $244,322; buffalo, $111,707; catfishes and bullheads,
$68,535; sheepshead or drum, $17,729; crappie, $14,419; sunfish,
$12,067; black bass, $10,842; suckers and red-horse, $7,845;
paddle-fish, $6,210; white, yellow, and rock bass, $5,601; lake
and shovel-nosed sturgeon, $3,904; wall-eyed pike, $1,174.
About three dozen of our 150 species of Illinois fishes have
a marketable value as food, and a dozen more may be classed as
edible, although not popular enough or abundant enough within
our limits to have any commercial value as Illinois products.
A dozen of the more useful species are of really good quality,
and half of these are among the best of the fresh- water fishes.
In the following list the edible species are distinguished in classes
of graduated importance, according to our judgment of the
estimation in which these fishes are generally held. A few species
are put in a lower class than their quality would call for because
of their infrequent occurrence in our fisheries.
Although the fisheries of the state are not, it must be ad-
mitted, commercially of the first importance, they are of suffi-
cient economic interest to make it the duty of all concerned to
preserve them carefully and to take all practicable measures for
THE FISHERIES OF ILLINOIS
CXZV
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CXXT1
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
their improvement and development. Making due allowance for
fishes sold in local markets, distributed by peddlers, eaten by
those who take them, and not represented, consequently, in
published statistics of the trade, it may fairly be said that our
Illinois fisheries now yield at the rate of a pound a day, through-
out the year, of cheap and desirable food to about 80,000 per-
sons— virtually equivalent to one meal of fish a day for a quarter
of a million people. It is encouraging to conclude, from a
comparison of available statistics, that we have no reason to
believe that the general fishery product of our rivers is now
declining, either in value or amount. On the contrary, according
to reports of the State Fishermen's Association published from
1897 to 1901, the total value of the Illinois River product in-
creased by 60 per cent, during that interval, being $207,685 for
1897 and $351,753 for 1901. The yield of carp increased in
value 69 per cent, during this period; that of buffalo, 88 per
cent.; of black bass, 32 per cent.; of catfish and bullpouts, 41
per cent.; of crappie, 47 per cent.; of sunfish and yellow perch,
154 per cent.; and that of striped bass, 27 per cent., — the only
important species then reported as diminishing being the sheeps-
head, or fresh-water drum, commonly marketed as white perch,
the yield of which declined 27^ per cent.*
COMPARATIVE STATISTICS, FISHERIES ILLINOIS RIVER, 1897 AND 1901
COMPUTED FROM REPORTS OF THE ILLINOIS FISHERMEN'S ASSOCIATION
1897
1901
Carp . .
99059
167 266
Fuffalo
48139
90357
Black bass
3434
4532
Drum
20452
14838
Catfish and bullpouts
Spoonbill. . .
26,283
36,933
232
*Unpublished data of shipments from Illinois River points, recently furnished me through
the courtesy of Mr. N. H. Cohen, President of the Illinois State Fish Commission, enable me to
compare the total product of this river for 1906 and 1907 with that for 1899 as contained in the
R«port of the United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for the year ending June 30,
1901. Against a total product of the Illinois River of approximately 14J^ million pounds in
1899 we have for 1906 16,149,076 pounds, and for 1907 13,218,137 pounds, or an average for
the two latter years of 14,683,606 pounds.— S. A. F.
THE FISHERIES OF ILLINOIS CXXV11
COMPARATIVE STATISTICS, FISHERIES ILLINOIS RIVER, 1897 AND 1901— concluded
1897
1901
Sunfish and perch
3080
7830
Striped bass
3,234
4,117
Crappie
4,004
5,880
Dogfish
10,460
207,685
342,445
A large part of the increased yield is doubtless due, how-
ever, to a mere enlargement of fishing operations, illustrated by
the data for 1894 and 1899, which show that the number of men
employed increased in the interval between these years by 44
per cent, and the capital invested by 44J4 per cent. This
favorable condition of our fisheries is doubtless due in part to
natural conditions, and evidently also in great measure to state
leg slation effectively controlling the times and methods of
capture, and providing for the recovery and restoration, to
streams suitable for their maintenance, of fishes left stranded on
the river bottoms by the retreat of the waters of overflow.
It will be seen from the foregoing that the Illinois River,
with its tributary lakes and streams, is by far the most important
fishing ground within the boundaries of Illinois, and that this
stream and its dependencies are gifts of nature to the state,
valuable in many ways, which we should fully appreciate and
utilize to the best advantage, allowing no single interest to
destroy or overshadow any other. Measures for its utilization
as a sewage outlet for great cities and as a commercial highway
between the Mississippi and the Great Lakes, and for the recla-
mation of its enormously fertile bottom-lands, should not be
taken without due regard to its importance and promise as a
perpetual source of cheap and healthful food to the people of
the state and country.
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
EXPLANATION OF TERMS AND MEASUREMENTS MOST FREQUENTLY
USED IN KEYS AND DESCRIPTIONS
1. GENERAL BODY PROPORTIONS
The length of the fish is measured from the tip of the snout (muzzle) to the base of the caudal
rays (end of last vertebra). It does not include the caudal fin, and does not necessarily
include the last scales, which in most scaled fishes encroach more or less on the base of the
fin. In fishes with a heterocercal tail the length is measured on the median line to the point
where that line crosses the line of insertion of the caudal rays.
The depth of the fish is the vertical distance through the body at its deepest part.
The width of the fish is taken at the widest part of the body.
The caudal peduncle, or tail, is the tapering portion of the body behind the base of the last ray
of the anal fin. Its length is taken from a vertical from that point to the base of the mid-
caudal rays. The depth of the caudal peduncle is taken at its slenderest part.
The profile is the curve from the front of the dorsal fin to the tip of the snout.
2. THE HEAD AND CONTIGUOUS PARTS
The length of the head, ordinarily called "head" in descriptions, is measured from the tip of the
snout to the extreme hinder margin of the bony portions of the opercle. It includes the
opercular spine in percoid fishes.
The width of the head is taken at its widest part.
The interorbital space, or distance, is the horizontal distance on the top of the head between the
eyes.
The diameter of the eye, called "eye" in descriptions, is taken lengthwise, the form of the orbit
not always being round.
The nose, or snout, is measured from the tip of the upper jaw to the anterior margin of the orbit.
The length of the upper jaw, referred to as "maxillary" in descriptions, is measured from the tip
of the upper jaw (premaxillary symphysis) to the posterior end of the maxillary.
The gill-rakers are counted both above and below the angle or bend of the gill-arch, the upper
number being mentioned first, and rudiments being omitted. The formula 35+60, for
example, indicates 35 rakers on the upper and 60 on the lower limb; if the number on the
upper limb of the arch is unknown or unessential, it is indicated as " X ".
The teeth. For explanation of dental formulae used in description of Cyprinidce, see foot-note,
pp. 102-103.
3. THE FINS
Fins may be either soft or spinous, or may consist partly of soft rays and partly of spines. The
rays of the soft fin or portion are distinguished from spines by theii articulated or jointed
structure. The peculiar "cross-marks" on the soft ray are, as a rule, easy to make out
with the naked eye unless the specimen is very small or the fin rays are covered with thick
skin or dark pigment. In cases of doubt the epidermis may be scraped away from a part
of the ray or spine and a lens used. In counting the fin rays, rudimentary rays are omitted.
Rudimentary rays are those rays, in general, at the beginning of the fin which are unbranched,
membraneless, closely appressed the one to the other, and in ordinary cases not more than
half the length of the fully developed rays. This limitation does not, however, apply to
the so-called " club-shaped " short first dorsal ray of certain Cyprinidce (Pimephales and
Cliola spp.), which is separated from the ray back of it by a well-developed membrane.
The last ray of the dorsal and anal fins is often split nearly or quite to the base and appears
as two rays, although counted as only one (Fig. 3). In descriptions, Arabic numerals are
used to indicate fin rays and Roman numerals to indicate spines. If a fin contains both
EXPLANATION OF TERMS AND MEASUREMENTS CXX1X
spines and soft rays in a continuous series, a comma is used to separate the numerals indi-
cating the two portions, "Dorsal X, 13," for example, indicating a single dorsal fin with
10 spines and 13 soft rays. Two separate dorsal fins are indicated by a dash separating
the numerals, "Dorsal X-12" and "Dorsal X-I, 12," indicating respectively: first, a single
spinous dorsal of 10 spines followed by a separate soft dorsal of 12 rays; and second, a spinous
dorsal of 10 spines followed by a separate second dorsal fin consisting of a single spine and
12 soft rays.
The height of a fin is measured on the longest ray.
The length of a fin is measured along its base.
The origin or insertion of a fin — identical terms — is that of its first ray, or spine. The position
of a fin is, technically, the distance from the tip of the snout to the base of its first ray or
spine. For example, it may be said of a fish that the "position of the dorsal fin" is con-
tained more, or less, than twice in the fish's length
4. THE SCALES
The most ready indication of the size of the scales in a fish is furnished by the enumeration of
the scales in the lateral line, or, if that is absent, of those in a line along the horizontal axis,
as nearly as possible, from the upper corner of the gill-opening to the base of the caudal
rays. It is customary in descriptions to include also counts of the scales in oblique series
from the middle line of the back to the lateral line and including it; and the number between
the lateral line (not including it) and the median line of the belly in front of the anal fin.
These counts are expressed in a conventional formula, "Scales 6-42-9," for example,
indicating 6 scales in an oblique series above the lateral line, 42 in the lateral line (or in a
longitudinal series from the gill-opening to the base of the caudal rays), and 9 in oblique
series below the lateral line.
cxxx
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
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GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS
GLOSSARY OF ANATOMICAL AND OTHER TECHNICAL TERMS*
Abdominal ventral fins. Ventrals which are inserted posteriorly, the pelvic bones having no
connection with shoulder girdle. (See key to families, b, note, p. 1.)
Acanthopterygian. Spiny rayed. Said of the numerous families of fishes related to the basses
and perches, in which part or all of the rays of at least one dorsal fin and the first ray of the
ventral fins are of a spinous (unarticulated) character. (See spine and ray.}
Accessory caudal rays. Short, procurrent rays on the upper and lower (rather than posterior)
part of the caudal peduncle.
Accessory pectoral scale. An enlarged scale at the base of the pectoral fin in certain herring-like
fishes.
Actinosts. Small bones at the base of the paired fins.
Adipose fin. A fleshy fin-like structure behind the dorsal fin, as in salmons and catfishes. This
is sometimes more or less continuous with the caudal fin, being separated from it only by
a notch.
Air-bladder. A sac filled with air or other gases, lying beneath the backbone, and either adherent
or not to the walls of the visceral cavity. It may be simple (most teleosts) or divided into
compartments by constrictions (Catostomidce and Cyprinidae) or of a cellular structure
(some Ganoidei). It is typically connected with the oesophagus by a duct, which is closed
in many recent forms.
Ammocoetes. A name applied to the larval form of lampreys
Amphicoelian Concave both before and behind. Said of the vertebrae of fishes generally,
with the except on of certain forms. (See opisthocaelian.)
Anadromous. Running up rivers from the sea to spawn, as do shad and some salmonoids.
Anal. Pertaining to the anus, or vent.
Anal fin. The fin on the median line behind the vent. (Fig. 1, a )
Anal papilla. A protuberance, usually bilobed, in front of the genital pore and behind the
vent in darters and sculpins.
Angular. A bony element of the lower jaw.
Antrm-se. Directed forward.
Anus. The posterior external opening of the alimentary canal; the vent.
Arterial bulb. (See conus arteriosus.)
Articular. A bony element of the lower jaw.
Articulated. Jointed. (See ray.)
Auditory ossicles. (See Weber ian ossicles.)
Barbel. An elongated, feeler-like projection, usually about the mouth, chin, or nose, as in the
carp, and in catfishes.
Branchial. Of the gills (branchiae).
Branchiostegals. Bony rays supporting the membranes which close the branchial cavity below.
(Fig. 1, br.)
Buccal. Of the mouth.
Caducous. Falling off. Said of certain plate-like scales on the belly of darters.
*In the preparation of this glossary, that of Jordan's Manual of the Vertebrates (ed. 8)
has been of substantial assistance, and, naturally, some of the definitions will be found to be
the same. In addition, however, a good many new terms have been inserted, and many old
definitions amended, applied to particular cases, extended to more informative dimensions, or
simplified by reference to figures.
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
GLOSSARY OP TECHNICAL TERMS CXXxiii
Caecum. A blind sac, or tubular diverticulum, connected with the alimentary canal. (Fig.
2, pyl.)
Canines. Conical teeth (in jaw) which are larger than the rest, as in the pike-perch.
Cardiform. Said of teeth which are coarse and sharp, like wool-cards.
Carinate. Keeled; having a sharp median ridge. Said of the belly of certain herring-like fishes.
Catadromous. Going down to the sea to spawn, as does the common eel.
Caudal. Pertaining to the tail or caudal fin.
Caudal peduncle. The fleshy (usually tapering) end of the body, between the anal and caudal
fins. (Fig. 1, cp.)
Centrum. The body of a vertebra.
Chiasma. The union of the trunks of the optic nerves, in ganoid fishes. In teleostean fishes
(recent bony forms) the optic nerves cross or interlace without uniting to form a solid
chiasma.
Chin. The space between the two rami of the lower jaw.
Chondrocranium. The rudimentary cartilaginous cranial skeleton, corresponding to the primi-
tive skull of cartilaginous fishes, of which traces remain in recent bony forms.
Clavicle. An element of the shoulder girdle.
Compressed. Flattened from side to side.
Conus arteriosus. A muscular and contractile bulb between the ventricle and the root of the
aorta. It is furnished interiorly with one or more transverse rows of pocket-shaped valves
to prevent a backward flow of the blood. (Fig. 2, aob.)
Coracoid. (See hyper- and hypo-coracoid.)
Ctenoid. With the posterior edge pectinated. Said of the scales in most spiny-rayed fishes.
Cycloid. Smooth-edged. Said of the concentrically striated (not ctenoid) scales of typical
soft-rayed fishes.
Dentary. An element of the lower jaw, usually bearing teeth.
Dentate. With tooth-like notches.
Depressed. Flattened from above downwards.
Depth. The vertical diameter or distance through, as of the body or head of fishes.
Dorsal. Pertaining to the back.
Dorsal fin. The fin on the back, in front of the adipose fin, if that is present. (Fig. 1, dl,
and d2.)
Ectopterygoid. A paired bone of the roof of the mouth. (Fig. 1 and Fig. 56, ecp.)
Emarginate. With a slight, shallow notch at the tip. Said of the caudal fin of fishes. (Fig. 7.)
Enlopterygoid. A paired bone of the roof of the mouth, behind the ectopterygoid. (Fig. 56, enp.)
Falca'e, Scythe-shaped.
Falciform. (See falcate.}
Fauna. The assemblage of animals inhabiting a region.
Filament. Any slender or thread-like structure.
Fi'amentous. Slsnder or thread-like; said of certain elongated fin-rays in some fishes.
Fontanelle. An unossified space in the roof of the skull, filled with cartilage or covered with
membrane.
Foramen. A hole or opening.
Frontal. One of the anterior bones of the roof of the skull.
Fulcra. Spine-like structures bordering the anterior rays of the fins in ganoid fishes.
Furcate. Forked.
Fusiform. Spindle-shaped. Said of the form of fishes which have the body tapering both
anteriorly and posteriorly, and but little or not at all compressed.
Ganoid. A term applied to scales or plates of bone covered by enamel. Those of the gars are
examples.
Ganoid fishes. A name applied to the families of sturgeons, paddle-fishes, gars, etc. (See
analytical key to the orders of Teleostomi, p. 13.)
QUl-arches. The bony axes of the gills. (Fig. 2, ug and Ig.)
CXXX1V FISHES OF ILLINOIS
GUI-membranes. The thin wall of skin, supported by the branchiostegals, and closing the gill-
cavity below. (Fig. 8 and 9.)
GUI-rakers. A series of tooth- or filament-like bony appendages placed along the anterior edge
of the first gill arches. (Fig. 2, gr.)
Graduated. Becoming progressively longer in one direction. Said of the spines in the fins of
certain fishes.
GiUar plate. A bony plate imbedded in the skin between the sides of the lower jaw of certaia
ganoid fishes.
Haemal spine. The lower spine of a caudal vertebra.
Heterocercal. Unequally lobed. Said of the tail of a fish in which the vertebral column is bent
upward posteriorly. (Fig. 4, 5, and 6. See also note under c, of key to families, p. 1.)
Homocercal. Equally lobed. Said of the tail when the backbone stops (at least apparently)
at the middle of the base of the caudal fin. (Fig. 7. See heterocercal.)
Hyoid. A bone in the floor of the mouth; tongue bone. (Fig. 57, hy.)
Hyomandibular. One of the chain of bones forming the suspensorium of the lower jaw (i. e.,
connecting it with the skull).
Hypercoracoid. An element of the shoulder girdle.
Hypocoracoid. An element of the shoulder girdle.
Hypural. The expanded last vertebra.
Imbricated. Overlapping, like shingles on a roof.
Infraoral. Below the mouth. Said of the teeth of the mouth disc below the cesophageal open-
ing in lampreys. (Fig. 10.)
Infraorbitals. A chain of small bones below the eye.
Interneurals. The bones to which the dorsal fin rays are attached.
Interoperde. A bone of the lower part of side of head. (Fig. 1, io.)
Interorbital space. The space between the eyes on top of the head.
Isocercal. With the vertebrae becoming progressively smaller backward, as in the codfishes.
Isospondylous. With the anterior vertebrae simple. Said of the herring- and pike-like fishes,
which lack the Weberian ossicles found in the suckers, carps, and catfishes. (See Weberian
ossicles.)
Isthmus. The fleshy interspace between the gill-openings.
Jugular. Pertaining to the throat. Said of the ventral fins or vent when placed in advance of
the attachment of the pectorals.
Keekd. (See connate.)
Larva. The young of an animal, if differing in an important way from the adult.
Lateral line. A series of sensory muciferous tubes along the sides of a fish.
Leptocephalus. A name applied to the larval form of the eel.
Lingual. Pertaining to the tongue.
Lingual teeth. The serrated teeth on the "tongue" (i. e., at the opening of the oesophagus) ia
lampreys. (Fig. 10.)
Lunate. With a broad and shallow notch.
Mandible. The lower jaw. (Fig. 1, md.)
Maxillary. The posterior element of the lower jaw. (Fig. 1, mx.)
Metapterygoid. One of the chain of bones connecting the lower jaw with the skull.
Molar. With a flattened, grinding surface. Said of teeth.
Muciferous. Producing or containing mucus.
Muscular impressions. The visible diagonal lines or grooves marking externally the interval*
between the muscle plates. (See myotome.)
Muzzle. The anterior extremity of the head.
Myolome. A muscle plate. (See muscular impressions.)
Nape. The part of the neck next to the occiput. (Fig. 1, np.)
Nasal. A bone of the nose.
Neural spine. The upper spine of a vertebra.
GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS CXXXV
Notochord. The embryonic cartilaginous vertebral column, persistent in lampreys, sharks, and
rays, and most ganoids.
Nuchal. Pertaining to the nape.
Obsolete. All but disappeared; only faintly apparent.
Occiput. The back of the head.
Ocellus. An eye-like spot.
Opercle. The gill-cover. (Fig. 1, o. See operculum.)
Operculum. A bone of the side of the head, forming the major portion of the covering of the
gill cavity.
Opercular flap. A backward prolongation of the posterior angle of the opercle. (Fig. 62, 63.)
Opercular gill. A rudimentary gill on the lower inner face of the operculum in gars and stur-
geons. It is a true gill, receiving venous blood, in which respect it differs from a pseudo-
branch. In the gars, in which there is both an opercular gill and an exposed pseudo-
branch, meeting at an angle on the inner face of the operculum, the opercular gill may be
recognized by its inferior position and by the downward and backward direction of its gill-
filaments. (See pseudobranch.)
Opisthoccelian. Concave behind only; said of the vertebrae of gars, which connect by ball and
socket joints, as in reptiles.
Orbit. The bony eye-socket.
Ossicula auditus. (See Weberian ossicles.)
Palatine. A paired bone of the roof of the mouth. (Fig. 56, pi.)
Papilla. A small fleshy projection.
Papillose. Covered with papillae.
Parietal. One of the roofing bones of the skull.
Pectinate. Having teeth like a comb.
Pectoral. Pertaining to the breast.
Pectoral arch. (See shoulder girdle.)
Pectoral fins. The anterior or uppermost of the paired fins. (Fig. 1, p.)
Pectoral girdle. (See shoulder girdle.)
Pelvic arch, or girdle. The bones to which the ventral fins are attached; pubic bones.
Peritoneum. The membranous inner lining of the abdominal cavity.
Pharyngeal bones. Bones representing a fifth gill-arch, behind the gills, opposed to each other,
usually in several upper and one lower pairs, as masticatory structures, for which purpose
they are, as a rule, armed with teeth. (Fig. 57, Iph. and Fig. 56, uph.)
Physostomous. Raving the air-bladder connected with the oesophagus by an open duct.
Plectospondylous. Having the anterior vertebrae modified and furnished with Weberian ossicles.
(See Weberian ossicles.)
Plicate. With wrinkle-like folds.
Postclavicle. An element of the shoulder girdle.
Postfrontal. A roofing bone of the skull.
Post-temporal. The element of the shoulder girdle which connects it with the skull.
Prefrontal. An anterior roofing bone of the skull.
Premaxillary. The paired bone forming the front of the upper jaw. (Fig. 1, pmx.)
Preoperde. A bone of the cheek. (Fig. 1, po.)
Preorbital. A large bone lying in front of the eye.
Procurrent. Coming forward. Said of small accessory caudal rays encroaching on the caudal
peduncle in front of the base of the caudal fin.
Protractile. Capable of being drawn forward. Said of premaxillaries which are extensible for-
ward and are separated (when retracted) from the skin of the forehead by a groove.
Pseudobranch. A rudimentary gill-like structure, not functioning as a gill, developed on the
upper inner side of the opercle, differing from true gills in the fact that it is supplied with
arterial rather than venous blood. The pseudobranch may be exposed in the branchial
cavity (as in the perch) or covered entirely by skin or hidden in the spiracular cavity (as
in sturgeons and the paddle-fish). (See spiracle and opercular gill.)
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Pterygoids. Paired bones of the roof of the mouth. (See entopterygoid and ectopterygoid.)
Pubic bones. (See pelvic girdle.)
Punctulate. Dotted.
Pyloric cceca. (See caecum.)
Quadrate. One of the chain of bones connecting the lower jaw with the skull.
Ray. An articulated cartilaginous rod supporting the membrane of a fin. (Fig. 1, d2r. See
spine.)
Retrorse. Turned backward.
Rudimentary. Undeveloped.
Scapular arch. (See shoulder girdle.)
Scute. A bony or horny plate.
Shoulder girdle. The framework of bones, in most fishes connected with the skull, to which
the pectoral fins are attached, including the post-temporal, clavicle, postclavicle, hyper-
coracoM, and hypocoracoid.
Soft dorsal. That dorsal fin or portion of it which consists of soft rays only. (Fig. 1, d2r. See
spinous dorsal.)
Spine. Fin rays which are unbranched and unarticulated, and, as a rule, more or less stiffened
and sharpened apically. (Fig. 1, d2s. See ray.)
Spinous dorsal. The dorsal fin or portion of it which consists of unbranched, unarticulated
spines only. (Fig. 1, d2s. See soft dorsal.)
Spiracle. An opening in the head, anterior to and above the opercular opening, representing a
primitive gill-cleft, in paddle-fishes and in some sturgeons.
Spiral valve. A spiral infolding of the wall of the intestine in ganoid fishes.
Subopercle. The bone below the opercle. (Fig. 1, so.)
Suborbitals. (See infraorbitals.)
Subulate. Awl-shaped.
Supplemental maxillary. A small bone lying on the upper posterior edge of the maxillary.
Supraoccipital. The unpaired bone at the back of the skull, usually with a crest above.
Supraoral. Above the mouth.
Symphysis. The point of junction of the two parts of the lower jaw in front; the tip of the chin.
Symplectic. A bone connecting the hyomandibular and quadrate.
Sw-im-bladder. (See air-bladder.)
Teleost. A name applied to fishes which have the skeleton fully ossified, embracing most recent
forms. (See ganoid.)
Terete. Cylindrical and tapering.
Tessellated. Marked with checks or squares, as in mosaic work.
Thoracic. Pertaining to the chest or thorax.
Thoracic ventral fins. Ventral fins which are attached far forward, nearly beneath the pectorals,
the pelvic bones being connected with the shoulder girdle. (See key to families, bb, note,
p. 2.)
Truncate. Cut squarely off.
Vent. The external opening of the alimentary canal; anus.
Ventral. Pertaining to the abdomen.
Ventral fins. The posterior or lower paired fins, corresponding to the posterior limbs in higher
vertebrates. (Fig. 1, v.)
Vertebra. A single bone of the spinal column.
Vertical fins. The fins (dorsal, anal, and caudal) on the median line of the body, in contradis-
tinction from the paired fins (pectorals and ventrahj).
Vuliform. Of the form of villi. Said of teeth which are slender and crowded closely together
in velvety bands.
Vomer. The anterior bone of the roof of the mouth. (Fig. 56, vo.)
Weberian ossicles. A chain of small bones developed in connection with the modified anterior
vertebra; and connecting the air-bladder with the ear in suckers, carps, and catfishes.
KEY TO THE FAMILIES OF ILLINOIS FISHES
KEY TO THE FAMILIES OF ILLINOIS FISHES
a. External gill -openings, seven on each side; nostril single, median; no paired
fins; mouth circular, suctorial; no true jaws Petromyzonidae. Page 5.
aa. External gill- openings, one on each side, the gills covered by an operculum;
nostrils paired; one or two pairs of fins not median; mouth more or less
obviously a transverse cleft.
b. Ventral fins, abdominal* or wanting.
c. Tail evidently heterocercal.t
d. Body naked or with 5 series of bony shields.
e. Body naked; mouth horizontal Polyodontidse. Page 15.
ee. Body with 5 series of bony bucklers; mouth inferior. . Acipenseridae. Page 21.
dd. Body with cycloid scales or rhombic (ganoid) plates.
f. Body with rhombic (ganoid) plates; dorsal fin short (of about 10 rays), pos-
terior Lepisosteidae. 'Page 30.
ff. Body covered with cycloid scales; dorsal fin long (of about 50 rays)
Amiidae. Page 37.
cc. Tail not evidently heterocercal.
g. A single soft dorsal fin, without spines, except in scaleless forms and in the
carp, which has two pairs of maxillary barbels. (In forms with an adipose
fin the ventrals are inserted distinctly nearer the anal than the pectorals.)
h. Vent behind insertion of ventrals when ventrals are present; body eel-shaped
in forms without ventrals.
i. Head naked.*
j. Body more or less completely scaled § (the scales small and sometimes hard
to make out in eel-shaped forms); head without barbels or with not more
than 2 or 4 (all maxillary).
k. Gill-membranes "free"^f from isthmus, i. e., split far forward and meeting
in an acute angle. (Fig. 8.)
I. No adipose fin; belly narrow, carinated; silvery fishes.
m. Lateral line present Hiodontidae. Page 42.
mm. Lateral line wanting.
n. Last rays of dorsal fin much elongated; mouth small, low
Dorosom idse. Page 45.
nn. Dorsal fin normal, its last rays not elongated; mouth large, terminal, oblique.
Clupeidae. Page 47.
* In this key understood to mean that the first ventral ray or spine is inserted evidently
nearer to the first (soft) rays of the anal than to the angle under the throat formed by a union
of free gill-membranes, or (in case the gill-membranes are not free from the isthmus) to a trans-
verse line connecting the lower corners of the opercular openings. Exceptions to the applica-
tion of this definition are found in some species of Gasterosteidce, Pceciliidce, and Percopsidas
which do not come within our range.
f The heterocercal structure of the tail (i. e., the upward bending of the end of the vertebral
column) is in all ganoids indicated externally by the obliqueness of the line of insertion of the
caudal rays. This line forms a regular crescent, set at right angles with the horizontal axis
of the body, in other fishes. In one genus of American ganoids (Amia) the line forms an irreg-
ular crescent, which is set, however, at a distinctly oblique angle with the horizontal axis. (Fig.
4-7.)
J Care must be used here, as the scales are often imbedded, or obscured by mucus. The
edges of the scales may be lifted by a needle in these cases.
% Except in a few forms, not found in Illinois.
H See note under kk.
2 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
II. An adipose fin Salmonidse. Page 60.
kk. Gill -membranes more or less broadly joined* to isthmus, not meeting in an
acute angle. (Fig. 9.)
o. Ventral fins wanting; body eel-shaped Anguillidae. Page 58.
oo. Ventral fins present; body not eel-shaped.
p. Dorsal fin of more than 25 rays, or shorter, and the lips thickened and cov-
ered with plicate or papillose skin; pharyngeal teeth numerous and comb-
like Catostomidae. Page 61.
pp. Dorsal fin of not more than 10 rays; lips usually thin, never plicate or papil-
lose; pharyngeal teeth fewer than 8 on a side, in 1 to 3 rows
Cyprinidae. Page 94.
jj. Body and head naked (except in some tropical forms) ; head typically fur-
nished with 4 to 8 long barbels (1 pair nasal, 1 pair maxillary, and 2 pairs
chin barbels in fresh-water forms of United States) .. .Siluridaa. Page 172.
ii. Head scaly; body completely scaled.
q. Lateral line present; jaws shaped like a duck's bill Esocidae. Page 205.
qq. Lateral line wanting.
r. Upper jaw not protractile Umbridae. Page 202.
rr. Upper jaw protractile (i. e., the upper lip separated from the skin of the
forehead by an evident groove, which passes wholly across the muzzle).
. . Pceciliidae. Page 210.
hh. Vent jugular, in front of pectorals and close behind gill- openings; eyes
more or less concealed beneath skin; ventrals ordinarily wanting
'. . Am blyopsidae. Page 217.
gg. Dorsal fin with either (1) a single spine (occasionally 2), in which case the
ventrals are inserted distinctly nearer to the first ray of the pectorals than
to the first ray of the anal and an adipose fin is present; or (2) with two or
more free spines; or (3) preceded by a separate spinous dorsal flnlet of 4
or. more spines.
s. Dorsal with a single spine or preceded by 4 or more free spines.
t. No adipose fin; dorsal free, preceded by 4 or more free spines
Gasterosteidae. Page 221.
tt. An adipose fin; dorsal, anal, and ventral fins each with a weak and rather
indistinct spine - Percopsidae. Page 225.
ss. Dorsal fin preceded by a finlet of 3 to 8 slender spines. . Atherinidas. Page 226.
bb. Ventral fins thoracict or jugular.
u. Ventral rays usually I, 7 (I, 6 or 7) ; vent in front of pectorals
Aphredoderidae. Page 228.
uu. Ventral rays I, 3 to I, 5, typically I, 5; vent normal.
v. Chin without barbel.
w. Body scaled.
x. Anal spines 3 to 10.
y. Lateral line wanting Elassomidae. Page 231.
yy. Lateral line present.
z. Dorsal fins confluent, the spinous portion always somewhat lower than the
soft portion; in forms with deep notch between dorsal fins, the highest
dorsal spine but little more than half the height of the highest soft ray.
Centrarchidae. Page 232.
zz. Dorsal fins either (1) separate, and the soft and spinous portions about
equally high; or (2) barely confluent, with the notch between them very
deep and with the highest dorsal spine as high as, or higher than, the
highest soft ray (marine forms not included) Serranidae. Page 318.
* In these forms the distance from the tip of the snout to the angle of the gill-membranes
or to a transverse line connecting the lower corners of the gill-openings is greater than the dis-
tance from the same point to the back of the orbit.
f In all Illinois species of the following families (below bb) the ventrals are distinctly nearer
to the throat (angle of gill-membranes), or to a transverse line connecting the lower corners of
the opercular openings, than to the first anal spine, except in the deep-bodied genera of Cen-
trarchidce; in which, however, the ventrals are nearer to the throat than to the first soft ray of
the anal.
KEY TO THE FAMILIES OF ILLINOIS FISHES 3
xx. Anal spines 1 or 2, never more than 2.
z1. Lateral line not extending on rays of caudal fin Percidae. Page 269.
zV. Lateral line extending on rays of caudal fin Scisenidse. Page 322.
ww. Body naked, or variously armed with scales, prickles, or bony plates, never
uniformly scaled Cottidae. Page 325.
vv. Chin with a median barbel Gadidae. Page 336.
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
FIG. 4
Heterocercal tail of Sturgeon (Acipenser) .
FIG. 5
Heterocercal tail of Garpike (Lepisos
tens).
FIG.
Heterocercal tail of Dogfish (Amia).
FIG. 7
Typical homocercal tail of Pike-perch
(Stizostedion). (After Jordan and
Evermann.)
FIG.
Ventral view of head of Large-mouthed
Black Bass, showing free gill-mem-
brane.
FIG. 9
Ventral view of head of Common Sucker
(Catostomus commersonli) , showing con-
nection of gill-membranes.
CLASS MARSIPOBRANCHII — THE HAGFISHES AND LAMPREYS
CLASS MARSIPOBRANCHII
THE HAGFISHES AND LAMPREYS
Skull imperfectly developed, not separate from the vertebral column;
no true jaws, no limbs, no shoulder girdle, no pelvic elements, and no ribs;
gills in the form of fixed sacs, purse-shaped, without branchial arches; nostril
single. Naked, eel-shaped animals, with a suctorial mouth, inhabiting
both fresh and salt water.
OEDER HYPEROARTII
THE LAMPREYS
Nasal duct not penetrating the palate. This order is equivalent to the
single family Petromyzonidw, which follows.
FAMILY PETROMYZONID>£
THE LAMPREYS
Limbless, eel-shaped, naked-skinned vertebrates of parasitic or modi-
fied parasitic habit, with a circular suctorial mouth furnished with cusp-
like teeth suited for rasping; body subcylindrical forward, vertically flat-
tened behind; skeleton wholly cartilaginous; skull imperfect, continuous
with the vertebral column; no shoulder girdle, no pelvic elements, and no
ribs; vertical fins with feeble rays, ordinarily continuous around the tail;
gills 7 in number on each side, in the form of fixed sacs, and without true
branchial arches, being supported by a wicker-like arrangement of carti-
lages known as the "branchial basket"; gill-openings separate, arranged in
a row along each side of neck; nostril single, median, in front of eyes, the
nasal tube not penetrating the palate; mouth suctorial, without true jaws;
interior of buccal funnel (mouth disk) armed with horny teeth or tooth-like
tubercles, these being simple or multicuspid and resting on papilla; teeth
immediately above and below oesophagus (on the so-called ''tongue") more
or less specialized; heart without arterial bulb; alimentary canal straight,
simple, without caecal appendages, pancreas, or spleen; intestine with a
spiral valve; air-bladder wanting; generative outlet peritoneal, the eggs
small and falling into the abdominal cavity; young undergoing a meta-
morphosis, the larvae being blind and burrowing in the mud or sand.
These remarkable creatures are among the most peculiar in
our waters, — peculiar in appearance, in habits and behavior, in
6 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
structure, in taxonomic relations, in physiological activities, and
in relations to nature. They are not true fishes, their primitive
skeletal structures, the total absence of limbs and limb-bases,
the very highly specialized suctorial mouth by means of which
they attach themselves to their victims to devour their flesh and
blood, their peculiar and numerous purse-shaped gills, and their
single median nostril distinguishing them easily from the true
eels and from all other fish-like vertebrates except their marine
relatives, the hagfishes. From the hagfishes they are distin-
guished by having functional eyes in the adult, and by the fact
that their single nasal tube does not open into the mouth.
Lampreys are found in the coastal and inland waters of the
temperate regions of both hemispheres, most species passing a
part of their lives in salt water. A number of kinds, however,
live entirely in fresh water, and all spawn in fresh water so far as
known. Species of Petromyzon are found along the coasts and
in the rivers of Europe, West Africa, Japan, and North America,
the great sea-lamprey of Europe and America (P. marinus) being
represented in the interior waters of New York by a land-locked
variety. Some four other genera are American, two of these
(Ichthyomyzon and Lampetra) being found in our state or in
neighboring waters of the Mississippi Valley and eastern United
States.
The common names given to lampreys are numerous. They
are called variously, in this country and in England, " lam-
preys, " "lamperns, " Clampers," Clamper eels," or even (by
misnomer) simply "eels." The name " blood-sucker" is not
uncommonly applied to them by our fishermen.
All lampreys are carnivorous, and most species, in feed-
ing, attach themselves to the bodies of fishes by means of the
sucking mouth, rasping off the flesh and sucking the blood of
their helpless victims, which swim about unable to dislodge
them. The ring-muscle of the mouth-disk works all the teeth
at once against the selected surface, and both scales and skin
are soon bored through. The relentless voracity of these fear-
ful pests of our fresh waters is shown by the deep holes* which
they make in the living bodies of their victims, and by their
own intestines gorged with blood and flesh. Their hold is prob-
ably seldom loosened by any fish, unless by accident. The
power of suction exerted by the buccal funnel, without the aid
* For photographs showing the work of lampreys see Surface, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm.,
1898, pp. 209-215; and 4th Ann. Rep. Comm. Fish, Game, and For., N. Y., 1898, pp. 191-245.
PETROMYZONID.S: — THE LAMPREYS 7
of the formidable armature of cusps, is such as to require con-
siderable force* to loosen it. Lampreys most frequently attach
themselves to the side of a fish under the pectoral fin. Scaleless
fishes, such as catfish and spoonbills, and the relatively sluggish
soft-rayed and soft-scaled fishes, such as suckers and buffaloes,
are much more subject to their attack than the more alert and
better protected spiny-rayed fishes. The listf of species in-
fested in Cayuga Lake, New York, by the land-locked marine
lamprey (Petromyzon marinus unicolor) included practically all
the fresh-water species which were not too small. The brown
bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) suffered most severely, and the
common fine-scaled sucker (Catostomus commersonii) next.
Black bass were rarely attacked. The period of the lamprey's
most destructive activity was in early spring — February and~
March.
Whether adult lampreys take any food except the flesh and
blood of the fish upon which they prey is not certainly known.
A common statement of the earlier writers that they feed on
worms, insects, and decaying animal matter, probably rests
mainly on hearsay and needs confirmation. Stomachs of
Cayuga Lake lampreys examined by Dr. Gage in 1893 and 1898
contained nothing but blood and fragments of muscle. The
presence of pieces of various small animals in the stomachs of
lampreys, which has been only occasionally reported, is prob-
ably due to the complete perforation of the body wall and in-
testine of the infested fish. The charge sometimes made that
lampreys eat the eggs of fishes has not been substantiated.
The breeding habits and development of the brook lam-
preys of both America (Lampetra wilderi) and Europe (L. planeri)
have been studied in detail by various workers. The females
spawn in shallow water, and, as a rule, where there is some
current over pebbly or stony bottom near the headwaters of a
stream. During the spawning process the females cling with
their oval mouths to pebbles or stones, with the body streaming
in the current, and are clasped at the nape by the suctorial
disks of the males. The young lampreys burrow in the mud as
soon as hatched. They are sightless at first, the eyes being
* Recent experiments by Miss Dawson (Biol. Bull., IX.. 1905, pp. 1-21, 91-111) have
shown that the funnel of a dead brook lamprey (Lampetra wilderi) becomes firmly attached
to a perfectly smooth surface when merely pressed against it with the fingers. Her experiments
also indicate that a lamprey is able to glide about over the surface of its host without loosening
its hold.
f H. A. Surface, Fourth Ann. Rep. Comm. Fish, Game, and For., N. Y., 1898, pp. 191-245.
8 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
deeply buried beneath the skin. The mouth is toothless, and
is not circular, like that of the adult, but the upper lip is of a
squarish, hood-like form, and the lower one is much shorter
and included within it. The food of the larval lamprey con-
sists of microscopic organisms which are carried into the phar-
ynx by currents of water produced by ciliary action. It is an
interesting fact, first ascertained by Alcock*, that during the
larval period the epidermis of the European brook lamprey (L.
planeri) has the power of secreting a digestive ferment which
protects the burrowing larva from the injurious action of fungi
and bacteria. The length of the larval period is from 3 to 5
years. The period of transformation, during which the eyes
move to the surface, the suctorial disk replaces the hood, and
the teeth are formed, is 7 or 8 months — September to April
according to Gage. It, is not known how long a period of para-
sitic activity intervenes between this transformation and com-
plete sexual development in typical, parasitic lampreys. That
spawning takes place but once and that it is accompanied by se-
rious pathological changes in both parents, from wrhich they re-
cover with difficulty if, indeed, at all, is a belief long generally
held. This is known to be true of the small American brook
lamprey (L. wilderi), in which spawning and death are said to
follow so soon after the transformation that the parasitic stage
appears to be quite passed over in the life cycle, the adultfe not
taking food of any kind.
The economic importance of lampreys as food for man and
as bait, especially in the European countries, has been and is
to-day considerable. In the earlier centuries they were highly
esteemed as an article of food in England, France, and Ger-
many, the French regarding as an especial delicacy stewed
lampreys which had been first drowned in wine. In England
to-day both the fresh-water and the marine lampreys hold a
place among edible fishes, and in Russia extensive lamprey
fisheries were still carried on along the Volga in 1873. Nets
and wicker traps are used in the lamprey fisheries. As late as
1880 an extensive fishery was carried on along the lower Con-
necticut River, though this industry is now practically discon-
tinued. Lampreys pickled and put up in tins may be obtained
of our larger American dealers in fishery products, and are said
to be of very fine flavor.
* Joum. Anal, and Physiol. norm. path. (2) XIII., pp. 612-637.
Ichthyomyzon castaneus G-irard.
See Hubbs ana Troutman
I/lscellaneus publication NO 35.
ruseum of Zool. u of Fich.
A revision of the ^amprey genus Ichthyomyzon.
KEY TO GENERA OF PETROMYZONID^E FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Supraoral cusps 2 or 3 in number, placed close together; dorsal fin continuous,
with a broad notch Ichthyomyzon.
aa. Supraoral cusps spaced wide apart, one at each end of a crescent -shaped
plate, which may bear a rudimentary median cusp; dorsal fin with a sharp
notch Lampetra.
GENUS ICHTHYOMYZON GIRABD
RIVER LAMPREYS
Supraoral plate typically armed with 2 or 3 (sometimes 4) separate
teeth, set close together; anterior lingual tooth with a median groove; dorsal
fin continuous, with a broad and shallow notch. Small lampreys, confined
to the rivers of the Mississippi Valley and eastern United States.
ICHTHYOMYZON CONCOLOR (KIRTLAND)
SILVERY LAMPREY
(PL., p. 16)
Kirtlancl. '40, Bost. J. Nat. Hist., Ill, 342 (Petromyzon argenteus) ; id., 1. c., 473
(Ammocoetes); Girard, '58, Pac. R. R. Surv., 381, 382 (castaneus and hirudo).
G..VIIL 507 (hirudo); J. and G., 10 (argenteus); M. V., 10 and 11 (Petromyzon
castaneus and concolor) ; J and E., I, 11 (castaneus and concolor) ; N., 52
(argenteus and hirudo); J., 70 (Ammocostes argenteus and hirudo); F., 86
(argenteus); L., 7 (concolor and castaneus).
Length 10 inches; depth 9.8 to 13.8 in length; width of body 1.4 to 2 in
its depth; distance from last gill-opening to front of dorsal fin 3.3 to 3.8 in
length; last gill-opening to vent 1.9 to 2.2; muscular impressions (between
last gill-opening and vent) 49 to 55. Color silvery, bluish above, sometimes
with bluish spots; a small dusky spot above each gill-opening, usually con-
spicuous even in the larva. Head (to first gill opening) 6.5 to 8.3 in length;
diameter of expanded buccal disk about % length of head, a double row of
fimbrise about the circumference of the disk, inside of which is a thin flexible
lip; eye 6 to 8 in head to first gill-opening; anterior lingual tooth with a median
(anterior) groove; supraorals typically bicuspid, occasionally with one,
three, or four cusps ; infraorals typically 7 to 9, occasionally 10, and in one of
our specimens 13; extraorals, when supraorals are bicuspid, as a rule uni-
cuspid, though this character is subject to much variation, instances of as
many as 6 or 7 bicuspid extraorals having been noted in specimens with
bicuspid supraorals.*
* A study of our 31 specimens of Ichthyomyzon shows an amount of intergradation in dent.nl
Hubbs and Troutman Siecles of Ichthyomyzon.
ITchthvomyzon unicuspis N.Sp.
» * fossor Reighard and Cummings.
3 castaneus 0-irard.
4 gagei n .sp.
5 bdellium Jordan,
greeleyi n.sp.
deeply buried t ^ u^uuess, ana
is not circular, ^xvc mat 01 the adult, but the upper lip is of a
squarish, hood-like form, and the lower one is much shorter
and included within it. The food of the larval lamprey con-
sists of microscopic organisms which are carried into the phar-
ynx by currents of water produced by ciliary action. It is an
interesting fact, first ascertained by Alcock*, that during the
larval period the epidermis of the European brook lamprey (L.
planeri) has the power of secreting a digestive ferment which
protects the burrowing larva from the injurious action of fungi
and bacteria. The length of the larval period is from 3 to 5
years. The period of transformation, during which the eyes
move to the surface, the suctorial disk replaces the hood, and
the teeth are formed, is 7 or 8 months — September to April
according to Gage. It, is not known how long a period of para-
sitic activity intervenes between this transformation and com-
plete sexual development in typical, parasitic lampreys. That
spawning takes place but once and that it is accompanied by se-
rious pathological changes in both parents, from which they re-
cover with difficulty if, indeed, at all, is a belief long generally
held. This is known to be true of the small American brook
lamprey (L. wilderi), in which spawning and death are said to
follow so soon after the transformation that the parasitic stage
appears to be quite passed over in the life cycle, the adultB not
taking food of any kind.
The economic importance of lampreys as food for man and
as bait, especially in the European countries, has been and is
to-day considerable. In the earlier centuries they were highly
esteemed as an article of food in England, France, and Ger-
many, the French regarding as an especial delicacy stewed
lampreys which had been first drowned in wine. In England
to-day both the fresh-water and the marine lampreys hold a
place among edible fishes, and in Russia extensive lamprey
fisheries were still carried on along the Volga in 1873. Nets
and wicker traps are used in the lamprey fisheries. As late as
1880 an extensive fishery was carried on along the lower Con-
necticut River, though this industry is now practically discon-
tinued. Lampreys pickled and put up in tins may be obtained
of our larger American dealers in fishery products, and are said
to be of
*Journ.
KEY TO GENERA OF PETROMYZONID^ FOUND IN ILLINOIS
KEY TO GENERA OF PETROMYZONID>E FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Supraoral cusps 2 or 3 in number, placed close together; dorsal fin continuous,
with a broad notch Ichthyomyzon.
aa. Supraoral cusps spaced wide apart, one at each end of a crescent- shaped
plate, which may bear a rudimentary median cusp; dorsal fin with a sharp
notch Lampetra.
GENUS ICHTHYOMYZON GIRARD
RIVER LAMPREYS
Supraoral plate typically armed with 2 or 3 (sometimes 4) separate
teeth, set close together; anterior lingual tooth with a median groove; dorsal
fin continuous, with a broad and shallow notch. Small lampreys, confined
to the rivers of the Mississippi Valley and eastern United States.
ICHTHYOMYZON CONCOLOR (KIRTLAND)
SILVERY LAMPREY
(PL., p. 16)
Kirtland, '40, Bost. J. Nat. Hist., Ill, 342 (Petromyzon argenteus) ; id., 1. c., 473
(Ammocoetes); Girard, '58, Pac. R. R. Surv., 381, 382 (castaneus and hirudo).
G..VIII, 507 (hirudo); J. and G., 10 (argenteus); M. V., 10 and 11 (Petromyzon
castaneus and concolor) ; J and E., I, 11 (castaneus and concolor) ; N., 52
(argenteus and hirudo); J., 70 (Ammocoetes argenteus and hirudo); F., 86
(argenteus); L., 7 (concolor and castaneus).
Length 10 inches; depth 9.8 to 13.8 in length; width of body 1.4 to 2 in
its depth; distance from last gill-opening to front of dorsal fin 3.3 to 3.8 in
length; last gill-opening to vent 1.9 to 2.2; muscular impressions (between
last gill-opening and vent) 49 to 55. Color silvery, bluish above, sometimes
with bluish spots; a small dusky spot above each gill-opening, usually con-
spicuous even in the larva. Head (to first gill opening) 6.5 to 8.3 in length;
diameter of expanded buccal disk about % length of head, a double row of
fimbrise about the circumference of the disk, inside of which is a thin flexible
lip; eye 6 to 8 in head to first gill-opening; anterior lingual tooth with a median
(anterior) groove; supraorals typically bicuspid, occasionally with one,
three, or four cusps ; infraorals typically 7 to 9, occasionally 10, and in one of
our specimens 13; extraorals, when supraorals are bicuspid, as a rule uni-
cuspid, though this character is subject to much variation, instances of as
many as 6 or 7 bicuspid extraorals having been noted in specimens with
bicuspid supraorals.*
* A study of our 31 specimens of Ichthyomyzon shows an amount of intergradation in dental
characters that makes impossible the separation of the nominal species castaneus (=concolor},
as is evident from the following tabulation :
—10 F
10
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Supraorals.
bicuspid . .
Infraorals.
.... 7
7
Exiraorals. Specimens.
all unicuspid (concolor) 5
1-7 bicusnirl 5
.... 8
.. 8
.... 9
.... 9
....10
.... 7
.... 8
.... 8
.... 9
....10
....13
0
2-7
0
6
2
3
6
4
1
1
1
1
, § ( 1
if-h
8ah
0
0
3
3
6
8
unicuspid. . .
tricuspid. . .
quadricuspid
Dorsal fin continuous with caudal, with a perceptible depression in front
of vent; greatest height of fin about % distance from vent to end of tail,
height at depression about % greatest height anterior to it, and about y%
to % height of posterior portion; the larvse with the dorsal fin single as in
adults.
Our 15 collections of this species are chiefly from the Illinois
River at Havana, Meredosia, Ottawa, and Pekin. We have
also 1 collection from Green River, 1 from the Wabash at Mt.
Carmel, and several specimens from the Mississippi at Alton,
and have records of the occurrence of the species at Galena,
Cairo, and Quincy. It seems that lampreys are, on the whole,
rather rare in our waters. Illinois River fishermen seem to know
little of them. Fishes with lampreys attached, or with marks
of their previous presence, are not common in the seine catches
along the Illinois. At Alton they seem to be more numerous,
showing their usual preference for spoonbills, which species is
said rarely to be taken at Alton or Grafton without lamprey
marks. At Havana also they are commonest on the spoonbills
— sometimes two or three fast to a single fish — and next on
buffalo-fish and carp.
At Galena and at Cairo lampreys have been seen by one of
the State Laboratory assistants, Mr. J. E. Hallinen, attached
to large catfish. We may consequently say that, so far as known
to us, lampreys are not seriously injurious to the fisheries or
the fish population of this state, perhaps because of the scarcity
of suitable nesting places in our comparatively sluggish and
muddy streams.
This species is found in the Great Lakes and the St. Law-
rence River, in the valleys of the Ohio, the Missouri, and the
upper Mississippi, and northward to the Assiniboin (castaneus).
LAMPETRA — BROOK LAMPREYS 11
GEXUS LAMPETRA GRAY
BROOK LAMPREYS
Supraoral plate crescent-shaped, with a large bluntish cusp at each end,
separated by a wide space, there being rarely a very small median cusp;
lingual teeth small, with dentate edges, the median denticle enlarged; dorsal
fin with a sharp notch or entirely divided. Small lampreys of the brooks
of Europe and North America.
FIG. 10
Oral disk of Brook Lamprey (Lampetra wttderi
Gage)
LAMPETRA WILDERI GAGE
BROOK LAMPREY; SMALL BLACK LAMPREY
Rafinesque, '20, Ichth. Oh., 84 (Petromyzon nigrum; name preoccupied); Jordan
& Evermann, '96, B. U. S. N. M., 47, I, 13.
G., VIII, 504 (Petromyzon branchialis) ; J. & G., 9 (Ammocoetes niger); M. V., 10
(A. branchialis); N., 52 (P. niger); J., 70 (A. niger); F., 86 (A. niger); L,., 7.
Length 6 to 10 inches; depth 13 to 16 in length; width of body 1.3 to
1.4Tin its depth; distance from last gill-opening to front of dorsal 3.4 to 3.5 in
length; last gill-opening to vent 1.9 to 2; muscular impressions 70-73. Color
bluish black above, silvery below. Head (to first gill-opening) 7.9 to 8.7
in length; diameter of expanded buccal disk less than Y^ head; fimbrise con-
sisting of small and closely set tubercles, not arranged in definite rows, and
densest on lower lip ; no flexible lip inside fimbriae; eye 6 to 7 in head; supraoral
lamina with a large triangular cusp at each end, separated by an interval nearly
twice the width of base of a single cusp; infraorals 6 or 7, a single cusp at each
end of the plate larger than those (4 or 5) between; 3 lateral (extraoral) bi-
cuspids on each side of mouth ; remaining teeth simple, unicuspid, and rather
12 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
weakly developed.* Dorsal fin consisting of an anterior and posterior
portion, separated in adults by a deep notch (in breeding season) or divided
by a narrow space; in larvae the fin divided by a space equal to the greatest
height of the fin; first dorsal about half the height of second.
Males with a long urogenital papilla, whose length in breeding season
is equal to the diameter of the eye.
Here described from 5 specimens, one from Lake Mich-
igan (presented by Dr. Jordan), and four from Cayuga Lake,
New York (from Dr. Gage) . A half dozen larvae received from
an unknown source in the winter of 1903, probably from within
Illinois and in answer to circular letters of inquiry concerning
lampreys, are doubtless of this species. Its almost total absence
from our collections is probably a consequence of its small size
and non-parasitic habit.
This species is known from western New York and the
Great Lakes to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and west to Iowa
and Kansas.
* It is the belief of Gage ('93) and others that this lamprey is not parasitic in habit.
CLASS PISCES 13
CLASS PISCES
FISHES
Skull well developed, separate from the vertebral column; a lower jaw,
or both upper and lower jaws, developed; limbs typically present and devel-
oped as fins, in rare cases (Apodes, etc.) wanting through atrophy; shoulder
girdle usually present, rarely obsolete; pelvic bones present (as a rule), absent,
or represented by rudiment or vestige. — BRIDGE, Cam. Nat. Hist., p. 475);
gills attached to bony or cartilaginous gill-arches; nostrils paired.
The class Pisces as here defined, includes, in addition to the
true fishes (Teleostomi) , the sharks, skates, and Chimeras (Elas-
mobranchii), and the lung-fishes (Dipnoi). To the first-men-
tioned subclass belong all American fresh-water fishes and fish-
like vertebrates above the lampreys. The relation borne to
each other by the 10 orders of Teleostomi represented in the
waters of the central Mississippi Valley may be expressed in
the following analytical key.
KEY TO ORDERS or TELEOSTOMI
(The definitions following will in some cases not apply to species not occurring
in Illinois.)
a. Tail strongly heterocercal throughout life; some fins usually with fulcra;
arterial bulb muscular and with numerous valves (not less than 3) ; optic
nerves forming a solid chiasma; air-bladder with a well-developed duct.
b. Skeleton cartilaginous; ventrals with an entire series of basilar segments.
c. Maxillary and interopercle obsolete; skin, naked; air-bladder cellular.
Se I ac hostom i.
cc. Maxillary and interopercle present; skin with 5 series of bony shields; air-
bladder simple Chondrostei.
bb. Skeleton bony; ventrals with basilar segments rudimentary; air-bladder
cellular.
d. Vertebrae concavo-convex; maxillary transversely divided into several
pieces; scales rhombic enameled plates Rhomboganoidea.
dd. Vertebrae double-concave; maxillary not transversely divided; scales
cyloid Cycloganoidea.
aa. Tail homocercal, diphycercal; arterial bulb thin, with a pair of opposite
valves; optic nerves crossing, not forming a solid chiasma; duct to air-
bladder slender or obsolete.
e. Ventral fins abdominal, if present, (the pelvic girdle being present and ab-
dominal in forms which lack ventrals) ; mostly soft-rayed forms.
f. Mesocoracoid present except in eel-shaped forms; air-bladder with open duct
when present.
g. Anterior vertebrae not modified, similar to the others, or more elongate,
separate and not provided with Weberian ossicles.
14 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
h. Body not eel-shaped; vertebrae usually in moderate numbers; ventrals
ordinarily present; mesocoracoid present Isospondyli.
hh. Body eel-shaped; vertebrae very numerous, 100 to 250; no ventral fins;
mesocoracoid wanting Apodes.
gg. Anterior (3 or 4) vertebrae modified, coossified and provided with a chain of
small bones (Weberian ossicles), connecting the air-bladder with the
auditory apparatus in typical forms; mesocoracoid present.
i. Parietals distinct from the supraoccipital; symplectic present; maxillary per-
fect or (rarely) wanting Plectospondyli.
ii. Parietals usually fused with the supraoccipital; symplectic absent, maxil-
lary imperfect, forming the base of a conspicuous barbel. .. Nematognathi.
ff. Mesocoracoid absent; body not eel-shaped.
j. Air-bladder with open duct; no spines in fins; shoulder girdle connected with
the skull by a bifid post-temporal Haplomi.
jj. Air-bladder with a rudimentary duct or with duct obsolete; dorsal fin with
one or two rudimentary spines, with two or more free spines, or preceded
by a finlet of four or more spines. .. . Acanthopteri (with abdominal ven-
trals).
k. Air-bladder with rudimentary duct. (Suborder Salmopercce.)
kk. Duct to air-bladder wanting.
I. Dorsal fin preceded by two or more free spines. (Suborder Hemibranchii.)
II. Dorsal fin preceded by a finlet of four or more spines. (Suborder Per-
cesoces.)
ee. Ventral fins thoracic or jugular, spines typically, though not always, present
in the fins.
m. Pelvic girdle more or less solidly attached to the clavicular arch; spines
ordinarily present in the fins Acanthopteri (with thoracic ventrals).
Including the great group of scombriform and perciform fishes and their
allies.
mm. Pelvic bones loosely attached to the clavicular arch by ligament; fins with-
out spines; tail isocercal, the hippural not expanded Anacanthini.
ORDER SELACHOSTOill — THE PADDLE-FISHES 15
ORDER SELACHOSTOMI
THE PADDLE-FISHES
Skeleton chiefly cartilaginous; the notochord persistent and the ver-
tebrae imperfectly formed, acentrous; anterior vertebrae single; fins without
spines, the ventrals abdominal; a mesocoracoid arch present; a feeble sub-
operculum and a small rayed operculum; maxillary obsolete; air-bladder
cellular, with open duct. Fresh-water fishes of large size, inhabiting rivers
of North America and China. The order contains but one family, Pol-
yodontidce.
FAMILY POLYODONTID^E
THE PADDLE-FISHES
Fishes with smooth* skin, and with the snout prolonged and expanded
into a thin flat blade or paddle; notochord persistent; skeleton chiefly car-
tilaginous, the vertebral column entirely so; the division into vertebrae im-
perfect; ventral fins abdominal; dorsal and anal fins far back; tail hetero-
cercal, the caudal fin with fulcra; pectorals low; a mesocoracoid arch present;
gills 4}/£; spiracles present; spiracular pseudobranch vestigial or obsolete;
no opercular gill; a single broad branchiostegal ; a small operculum present;
suboperculum feeble and interoperculum obsolete; nostrils double, situated
at base of blade; optic nerves forming a solid chiasma; mouth broad, ter-
minal, shark-like, the cleft deep, and overhung by the paddle-shaped snout;
border of mouth formed by premaxillaries, the maxillaries being obsolete;
two pairs of minute barbels situated on the under side of the rostrum in
front of the mouth; jaws and palatines, in younger specimens, with nu-
merous fine deciduous teeth; intestine with a spiral valve; pyloric caca present,
in the form of a broad, branching, leaf-like organ; air-bladder cellular, not
bifid, connected by a duct with the oesophagus; arterial bulb with several
pairs of valves.
This family is represented by but two genera, each con-
taining a single species. These are Polyodon spathula, the
paddle-fish of the Mississippi Valley, and Psephurus gladius,
found in the valley of the Yang-tse-Kiang in China. The latter
species is said to reach a length of 20 feet.1 Fossil Polyodon-
tidce are represented by the head and caudal region of a form
* The upper lobe of the tail has a trace of the primitive rhombic scale-covering.
16 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
(Crossopholis magnicaudatus) discovered in the Eocene Green
Rivers shales of Wyoming by Cope.
The fishes of this family, in addition to their growing eco-
nomic importance in America, are of exceptional interest to biol-
ogists on account of their primitive shark-like* form and char-
acters, and their consequent importance in tracing the descent
of the bony fishes.
GENUS POLYDON LACEPEDE
PADDLE-FISHES
Gill-rakersf exceedingly fine, slender, and numerous; paddle broad
and widening forwards; caudal fulcraf of moderate size, 13 to 20 in num-
ber. Represented by a single species, confined to the rivers of the Missis-
sippi Valley in North America.
POLYODON SPATHULA (WALBAUM)
PADDLE-FISH; SPOONBILL CAT
Walbaum, 1792, Artedi Pise., 522 (Squalus).
G., VIII, 346 (folium); J. & G., 83; M. V., 33; J. & E., I, 101; N., 51 (folium); J.,
69 (folium); F. F., I. 2, 82 (folium), II. 7, 464, II. 8, 514, ft; F., 85; L., 7.
Body fusiform, little compressed; large fishes with a smooth skin and
an elongate paddle-shaped snout; length 5 to 6 feet; depth 4 to 4^ in length
without snout; caudal peduncle slender , tapered, nearly cylindrical in cross-
section, its least depth less than y% depth of body. Color pale to dusky
bluish olive; channel specimens (from Mississippi River) regularly lighter
in color than those from sloughs. Head large, its total length including
spathula and opercular flap 1.5 to 1.7 in length of head and body; eye to
back gill-opening about 3 in distance from eye to base of caudal; spathula
(from eye) 3.2 to 3.5 in length in adults, 2.3 to 2.8 in younger specimens
(1 to 2^2 feet) ; greatest breadth of spathula (near tip) 3.4 to 4.3 in its length,
least breadth (near base) 5.3 to 5.4; a pair of minute barbels on under side of
rostrum, at a distance in front of mouth about equal to width of rostrum
at its base; eye small, about 5^ in interorbital space, situated nearly over
tip of mandible and directed obliquely downward and sidewise; mouth very
large, shark-like, its cleft equal to % distance from eye to back of gill-open-
ing; jaws and palate with numerous fine teeth in young specimens; lower
lip of spiracle with a small barbel-like lappet; opercular flap greatly elongate
and tapering, reaching nearly to front of dorsal fin in half-grown specimens
and almost or quite to the ventral fins in adults; gill-membranes connected,
* The American paddle-fish (Polyodon spathula) was originally described by Walbaum
(1792) as a species of shark and Rafinesque, who described the species under at least three
different names, was misled once into an elaborate description of it under the name Proceros
•"a singular new genus of sharks."
t These characters separate Polyodon from Psephunis, the paddle-fish of China.
POLYODOX — PADDLE-FISHES 17
free from isthmus; gill-rakers long and slender and exceedingly numerous,
in a double series on each arch. Dorsal fin posterior, nearly over anal, its
insertion behind base of ventrals, on a raised fleshy base; dorsal rays 50 to
65; caudal heterocercal, but scarcely unequally furcate, the upper lobe with
13 to 20 well-developed fulcra; anal rays about 60. Body scaleless; tip of
caudal peduncle and sides of upper caudal lobe with small elongate rhombic
plates ; margins of gill-openings, under flap, with numerous corneous shagreen-
like denticles; a continuous lateral line of ramifying tubes from eye along
upper part of head to base of caudal fin; upper and under side of paddle,
top and sides of head, and opercular flap much sprinkled with sensory pits,
distributed in small circular patches.
This is, on the whole, the most remarkable of our fresh-
water fishes. Its large, paddle-shaped snout, of no very obvi-
ous use, and regarded by Kofoid as "an expanded sense organ"
merely; its enormous mouth with weak and slender-boned jaws,
very finely toothed in the young, but smooth and toothless in
the adult; the elaborate straining apparatus borne on its gill-
arches; and its dependence, although one of our largest species,
on the semi-microscopic animals and plants of the plankton as
the most important element of its food, give it a unique place in
the classification and the economy of the fish population of our
larger rivers.
It is found in the bayous, lowland streams, and rivers chan-
nels of the Mississippi Valley, northward to Minnesota and
Wisconsin, and southward as far as Louisiana and Texas. It is
not found in the basin of the Great Lakes, and is rare in any
except the larger water bodies of its range. It is represented
in our collections rather sparingly, coming only from the central
and southern regions of Illinois (Ohio R., at Cairo, and Illinois
R., at Meredosia and Havana). It is abundant in the bayous
of the Mississippi about Alton. It is rather rare now in the
Illinois River above Meredosia, though it was formerly abun-
dant throughout the year as far north as Havana, where it is
now taken only in spring. Its entrance to the upper Illinois
is generally thought to be obstructed by the dams.
The paddle-fish grows to a great size. The largest on rec-
ord, reported by Drs. Jordan and Evermann from Lake Man-
itou, Indiana, weighed 163 ft). Mr. Wm. C. Harris records an
example, from Lake TippecanOe, Indiana, which was 6 ft. 2 in.
in length, and 4 ft. in greatest circumference, and weighed 150
Ib. It is not ordinarily taken heavier than 30 to 50 ft).
Various names in addition to those here used have been
applied to this fish, the commonest of which are spoonbill,
18 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
shovel-fish or shovel-cat, duck-bill cat, and spade-fish. Per-
haps the earliest mention of the paddle-fish is by Pere Mar-
quette (1673-1677), who described it as a remarkable fish, re-
sembling a trout with a large mouth. " Near its nose * * is
a large bone shaped like a woman's busk, three fingers wide and
a cubit long, at the end of which is a disk as wide as one's hand. "
— Jesuit Relations, LIX., p. 111. Edition Thwaites.
Although the paddle-fish frequents waters with a muddy
bottom, the relatively minute size of many of the objects on
which it feeds, the absence of mud from its intestine, and its
seeming preference for an'mal food, indicate that it is not only
able to gather large quantities of very minute objects from
among the weeds and from the muddy bottom, without filling
itself with mud, but that it can separate the Entomostraca from
the algae among which they swim.
The facts concerning the food of this fish were first ascer-
tained and published by the senior author in 1878,* and were
studied again more extensively by him in 1888.f The paddle-
fish is generally supposed by fishermen to live on the slime and
mud of the river bottom, an idea confirmed at first sight by the
general appearance of the contents of the alimentary canal,
which are commonly a dark brownish semi-fluid mass resem-
bling mud, but which, when placed under a microscope, are seen
to be made up largely of countless myriads of Entomostraca of
nearly every form known to occur in our waters. Mixed with
these in varying proportion, often, indeed, predominating, are
soft-bodied aquatic insect larvae, chiefly those of day-flies,
dragon-flies, and gnats (Chironomus) , and a smaller percentage
of adult aquatic insects, amphipod crustaceans, leeches, and
water-worms (Naidoe), to which are added, in some cases, con-
siderable quantities of aquatic vegetation, largely algae, but in-
cluding likewise fragments of various aquatic plants. In the
food of eight specimens, obtained from Peoria, Pekin, and Henry,
on the Illinois, from the Ohio at Cairo, and from the Mississippi
at Quincy, in six years between 1877 and 1887, no fishes or
mollusks were found; but insects and crustaceans — the latter
mainly Entomostraca — made by far the larger part of the food,
the insects being taken by all the specimens and in nearly twice
the ratio of the crustaceans, neuropterous larvae of day-flies
(Hexagenid) alone amounting to 47 per cent. As these are com-
* Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist., Vol. I., p. 82.
f Ibid., Vol. II., pp. 464-467.
POLYODON — PADDLE-FISHES 19
monly creeping over the mud or swimming near the bottom, it
is likely that this fish is usually a bottom feeder. One of our
specimens contained nothing but insect food, the ephemerid
larvae above mentioned amounting to 85 per cent, of it. In
another, 30 per cent, of the food was algae belonging to the genus
Nostoc', in still another, Entomostraca made 80 per cent, of the
food, and in a second specimen, 95 per cent.
An explanation of the peculiar feeding habits of this species
is to be found in its no less remarkable alimentary structures.
The very remarkable straining apparatus borne by the gills,
the immense mouth-opening, and the equally large gill-slits, pro-
vide for the rapid passage of enormous quantities of water
through the gill-chamber, and for the thorough straining out of
all contents available for food. The absence of any raptatorial
teeth or crushing apparatus in its large and feeble jaws or in its
throat makes it impossible for the paddle-fish to capture other
fishes or to break the shells of mollusks, and it is dependent con-
sequently on the stores of insect and crustacean life most com-
monly reserved for young or half -grown fishes. It thus be-
comes a rival, for food, of all the other species in our waters,
living continuously upon objects which all of them must have
for at least a part of their lives.
By observing its feeding operations while in confinement,
Dr. C. A. Kofoid learned that "in swimming the mouth is held
wide open, without the rhythmical respiratory movements com-
mon in most fishes, though it is occasionally closed energetically.
The plankton is thus strained from the water by the long gill-
rakers, and Polyodon is a living plankton-net. The fish was
never observed to use the bill to stir up the bottom, or in any
mechanical way. It quickly perceives plankton or ground fish
added to the water of the tank, and, when feeding, circles re-
peatedly over the same path, at times dragging the lower fins
upon the bottom."
In swimming slowly by the use of its caudal fin, its head
and paddle are thrown alternately to the right and left, the tip
of the paddle thus covering a considerable space on each side of
the line along which it is swimming.
Little is known of the breeding habits of the paddle-fish.
The young have been much sought by zoologists, but up to the
present time none under 6 or 8 inches in length have been au-
thentically reported. Females full of nearly ripe roe have been
seen by different observers in this latitude in the latter part of
20 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
May, but the attempt to find their spawning beds has thus far
failed. Dr. Kofoid reported a 30-lb female taken moving
down stream at Meredosia Maj^ 5, 1899, which had evidently
completed spawning, the large ovary being flabby and spent.
On the other hand, a male weighing 251b, taken in Meredosia
Bay, had the testes large and full of milt. It is a common
belief of the fishermen that these fishes spawn in deep water,
though the reasons for this view are not conclusive.
Dr. Evermann has recorded the paddle-fish's habit of swim-
ming near the surface of the water during the spring run — a fact
which is known to some fishermen*, and is taken advantage of
by them in their fishing operations. At other seasons the paddle-
fish is taken occasionally with set-lines.
Although long used and esteemed by the negroes of the
South, it has not had, until recently, any commercial value.
Small specimens weighing from 5 to 25 Ib, are now regularly
sold, without head, fins, or tail, under the name of "boneless
cat." It is said that the flesh resembles that of the larger cat-
fishes, though perhaps inferior in quality. The fish is valued
chiefly, however, for the roe, which is made into a good quality
of caviar and sold for a high price. The caviar industry is
chiefly carried on along the lower Mississippi River, in Mis-
sissippi and Tennessee. The paddle-fish catch of Illinois was in
1894 reported at 135,756 fib, valued at $2,658; and in 1899 at
195,174 Ib, with a value of $6,210. The total production of the
Mississippi Valley varies annually from 1,000,000 to 2,500,000
Ib, about 10,000 Ib of this now being made each year into caviar.
* Mr. H. L. Ashlock, of Alton, says that he always fishes the upper portion of the water for
spoonbills, and gets them when the other fishermen can get none, since few of them seem to know
of this pecuxiar habit of the species.
ORDER CHO>TDROSTEI — THE STURGEONS 21
ORDER CHONDROSTEI
THE STURGEONS
Skeleton chiefly cartilaginous, the vertebral column entirely so; vertebrae
simple, acentrous, the notochord being persistent; fins without spines; ven-
tral fins abdominal; a mesocoracoid arch present; opercular series repre-
sented by an operculum only; maxillary present; air-bladder simple, with a
well-developed duct. Large fishes of the seas and fresh waters of northern
regions. A single living family.
FAMILY ACIPENSERID>£
THE STURGEONS
Elongate, subcylindrical fishes, with the head covered with bony plates
united by sutures, and with the body armed with 5 longitudinal rows of
bony bucklers; skin of sides between bucklers roughened more or less with
small irregular plates or spine-tipped ossicles; skeleton chiefly cartilaginous,
the notochord persistent and the vertebrae imperfectly developed; ventral
fins abdominal, behind middle of body; dorsal and anal fins posterior; tail
hetero cereal, its upper lobe covered with rhombic scales; pectorals placed
low; gills 4; spiracles developed in some species; an accessory opercular
gill; spiracular pseudobranch small or obsolete; no branchiostegals; an
operculum and an interoperculum present; no suboperculum or preoperculum;
nostrils double, in front of eye; lateral line present, concealed, traversing
the interior of the lateral bucklers; eyes small; optic nerves forming a chiasma;
mouth inferior, protractile, with thickened papillose lips; four barbels in a
transverse series on lower side of snout in front of mouth; no teeth except
in very young; stomach without blind sac; rectum with a spiral valve; pan-
creas divided into pyloric appendages; air-bladder simple, connected with
oesophagus by a duct; arterial bulb with several pairs of valves.
Sturgeons are widely distributed in the seas, estuaries, and
rivers of Europe, Asia, and America, south of the arctic circle,
most species being anadromous — that is, living part of the time
in salt water and ascending rivers to spawn, as do the salmon and
the shad. About 10 species of the genus Acipenser are found
along the coasts and in the seas and rivers of Europe and Asia,
being most abundant in the Black Sea, the Azov, and the Cas-
pian. Five species are found in North America, two on the
Atlantic coast, two on the Pacific coast, and one in the Great
Lake region — one of the Atlantic species (A. sturio) frequenting
22 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
the coasts of both Europe and America. The shovel-nosed
sturgeons are represented in the waters of the Mississippi Valley
by two species. Three species of the genus Pseudoscaphi-
rhynchus, resembling more or less the American shovel-nosed
forms, are confined to small tributaries of the Aral in Tartary.
Fossil Acipenseridce are little known, though numerous scutes
have been described from Tertiary formations of Europe and
America. Some species of sturgeon reach an immense size,
specimens of the great Russian sturgeon (A. huso) having been
taken weighing more than 3,000 lb. A . rubicundus, of the North
American Great Lakes, reaches a length of four to six feet. The
smallest of the species of Acipenser, the sterlet (A. ruthenus) of
Europe, reaches three feet in length.
Sturgeons are bottom feeders, using their hard beaks to
stir up the mud in their search for food. Stomachs of sturgeon
have been found to contain worms, mollusks, insect larvae,
small fishes, and aquatic plants. In feeding, the mouth is pro-
truded downwards, spout-like, and thrust into the mud. The
sensitive barbels and papillose lips doubtless assist in locat-
ing objects of food, although the intestines are generally more
or less filled with mud, swallowed with the organisms it con-
tains. Schools of sturgeon have been observed in clear water
along the coasts digging up the soft bottom of shallows with
their snouts, in search, no doubt, of mollusks and other organ-
isms. Sturgeons are ordinarily captured with gill-nets and set-
lines, though seines and pound-nets, set for other fish, are said
to take them in considerable numbers.
Their breeding season is in spring, as a rule from the first to
the last of May. The eggs of all species very quickly become
glutinous and adhere to sticks, weeds, and other objects. The
incubation period of the Atlantic sturgeon is about 7 days in
water at 62° to 65° Fahr. The young live on the yolk alone up
to a length of % inch, and from that size to 5 inches they feed
on rhizopods, algse, Infusoria, and minute larvae.
The flesh of all sturgeon, excepting the small shovel-nosed
forms of Asia, is used as food, and from the eggs of the larger
kinds caviar is prepared. If eaten fresh the flesh, except of
young specimens, is usually found to be rather coarse and beefy,
and in consequence sturgeon are as a rule smoked or boiled in
vinegar before being sold Smoked sturgeon is now considered
scarcely inferior to halibut, and the demand for it is increasing.
The consumption of smoked sturgeon in the United States was
STURGEONS 23
given in 1898 as about 4,000,000 fib annually. The smoked
flesh usually keeps only from one to two weeks. It is not kept
in cold storage because of its tendency to mold. Sturgeon is
canned on a small scale, and the roe, preserved in brine and
sold in tight packages under the name of caviar, is an expensive
food product highly relished by many. The method of pre-
paring caviar is simple, the first essential being to work the eggs
lose from the membranous tissue in which they are embedded.
When once separated they are mixed with Luneburg salt, with a
small addition of one of the ordinary preservatives. The eggs
are then sieved and drained for 12 to 20 hours, after which they
are ready for packing. Caviar is usually packed in small oaken
kegs, although it is also sealed in small tins for the retail trade.
The Russian output amounts to about 8,000,000 Ib annually,
most of it prepared on the Volga and the Caspian. The Amer-
ican product is about 300,000 Ib annually (1898), about % of it
being exported. Sturgeon bladders are used in the manufacture
of isinglass, and oil is made from the offal and softer parts.
Sturgeon skin has been somewhat used of late for an ornamental
leather. The skin is exceptionally durable and has been used
for laces for mill-belts.
Owing to their great commerical importance, the artificial
propagation of sturgeon has long been a subject of more or less
nterest in this country and in Europe. Up to the present time,
however, although the artificial fertilization of the eggs and the
successful hatching of the young has been accomplished experi-
mentally*, it has not been practiced on a large scale anywhere,
the difficulty of obtaining ripe roe and milt at the same time, the
adhesiveness of the eggs and their tendency to mold, and the
difficulty of finding food for the young (which live on micro-
scopic organisms), having proved serious obstacles. It has,
however, been the opinion of all who have investigated the sub-
ject that if artificial culture were once undertaken, these diffi-
culties would soon be greatly diminished. It ma3r be said that
the number of eggs produced by the Atlantic sturgeon is from
1,000,000 to 2,500,000 to a single adult female — a fact of much
importance to its artificial culture.
* The eggs were fertilized dry by Dean (Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., 1893, p. 335), and then
put into water and allowed to adhere in a single layer to a sheet of cloth stretched over a frame.
They were hatched out in the current of the river, the loss by fungus being only 5 per cent.
Artificial propagation was tried by the Germans in 1888 with fair success, and in America by
Ryder (1889), who lost most of his eggs. Some success has been more recently obtained by the
Russian government, operating on the Ural.
24 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
KEY TO ILLINOIS GENERA OF ACIPENSERID^E
a. Spiracles present; caudal peduncle short, roundish, and incompletely armored;
snout not shovel-shaped Acipenser.
a a. Spiracles wanting; caudal peduncle long, flattened, and completely armored;
snout broad and shovel- shaped.
b. Ribs 10 or 11; gill-rakers 2- to 5-pointed; belly and breast wholly covered
with subrhombic plates Scaphirhynchus.
bb. Ribs 20 or 21; gill-rakers 2- or 3-pointed; belly and breast naked
Parascaphirhynchus.
GENUS ACIPENSER LINNAEUS
THE STURGEONS
Snout not shovel-shaped; caudal peduncle short, roundish, and in-
completely armored; lower lip developed only at corners (2-lobed); spiracles
and pseudobranchs present; gill-rakers lance-shaped; air-bladder well devel-
oped. Large fishes, numerous in all northern rivers and seas.
ACIPENSER RUBICUNDUS LE SUEUR
LAKE STURGEON; ROCK STURGEON; RED STURGEON
(PL., p. 36)
Le Sueur, '18, Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., 388.
G., VIII, 338-339, 341 (rubicundus, maculosus, and liopeltis); J. & G., 87; M. V., 34;
J. & E., I, 106; N., 51 (maculosus and rubicundus); J., 69 (maculosus and
rubicundus); F., 85; L., 7.
Body elongate, rather slender, nearly cylindrical; depth 7 to 7.8 in
length; size large, reaching a length of 6 feet and a weight of 100 ft. Color
dark olive above, sides paler or reddish, often with irregular blackish spots;
color changing with age, the young drab and the adults green or red. Head
3.1 to 3.8 in length; snout narrow, subconic, strongly convex above, flat
below, its length 2 to 2.4 in head (usually less than 2.3) ; interorbital space
3.2 to 4 in head; eye small, 3.3 to 4.2 in interorbital distance; width of mouth
about % greatest width of snout ; lips 2-lobed, the lobes of the lower lip sep-
arated by a wide smooth space; barbels of nearly equal length, weakly pec-
tinate on their outer edges; distance between two inner barbels greater than
between each inner and outer; gill-membranes united to isthmus; gill-rakers
27+6, lance-shaped*, the surface of the arch between outer and inner rows
of rakers rather broad and covered with fine papillae. Dorsal fin with 35-36
rays, its insertion over tips of reflexed ventrals; anal rays 25-28; upper
caudal lobe considerably longer than lower, but not produced into a fila-
ment as in the shovel-nosed sturgeons; caudal fulcra numerous. Dorsal
scutes 12-16, lateral 32-43, ventral 8-10; skin of breast and belly and of
sides between scutes more or less densely covered with small rough spinule-
* A single bifid raker was observed on the upper part of the first arch in one specimen.
ACIPENSER — THE STURGEONS 25
or tubercle-like ossifications ;* sides of upper caudal lobe sheathed with small
rhombic plates.
This species, which is confined to inland waters, was for-
merly abundant throughout the Great Lake region and the
Mississippi Valley. Lake sturgeon have of late years been
steadily decreasing, and are now only rarely taken in the Missis-
sippi on our own borders, and are seldom caught in the Illinois.
Fishermen at Alton now see but five or six in a year that weigh
over 10 Ib, whereas fifteen years ago forty or fifty large ones,
weighing from 50 to 100 Ib, were taken each season.
The lake sturgeon is said to inhabit comparatively shoal
wraters in the lakes, ascending streams in the spring to spawn.
The most extensive study of their habits has been made by
Milner, who found their food, in the Great Lakes, to consist
almost entirely of fresh-water snails (Gasteropoda). Craw-
fishes and insect larvae are also eaten by them, and the eggs of
fishes have been occasionally found in their stomachs, though
not in quantity sufficient to justify the charge of destructive
spawn -eating sometimes made. Lake sturgeon taken in the
vicinity of grain elevators have been found with stomachs well
filled with corn or wheat. They spawn early in June, generally
preferring rocky ledges near the snores. While their spawn is
probably subject to the depredations of other fishes, the young
are well protected, after reaching two or three inches in length,
by their spine-tipped bucklers. Adult sturgeons are much sub-
ject to attack by lampreys.
Previous to 1870 the flesh of the lake sturgeon was scarcely
used. Fishermen generally made no use of them at all, and by
many they were considered a nuisance and ruthlessly destroyed.
In the following decade, however, several firms began the busi-
ness of smoking lake sturgeon and manufacturing caviar, isin-
glass, and oil from the eggs, air-bladders, and viscera. Smoked
lake sturgeon is now considered a superior article, and lake
caviar is ranked as the best produced in the United States —
selling (in 1898) for eighty cents a pound, while the Delaware
product brought only sixty cents, and the South Atlantic fifty
cents (GILL).
* Younger specimens are much rougher than adults; in a young sturgeon 10 inches long
taken at Ottawa, 111., each lateral scute has a peculiar flexuose keel or ridge in place of the charac-
teristic central spine, and the ventral plates are similarly keeled. We have small specimens in
addition which are perfectly normal in the character mentioned.
—11 F
26 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
The artificial propagation of lake sturgeon was seriously con-
sidered by the United States Government in 1898, when a hatch-
ery would have been established on Lake Erie or Ontario if a
location had been found where spawning females and ripe males
were plentiful enough to justify it. The Michigan Fish Com-
mission hatched and planted 450,000 young sturgeons in the
Detroit River in 1893, 130,000 in 1894.
The sturgeon fisheries of the Illinois lake shore, at Chicago,
South Chicago, and Waukegan, were formerly of considerable
importance, the catch at those three points in 1885 amounting
to 101,362 Ib, or nearly as much as was obtained in 1899 from
the whole of Lake Michigan. The quantity taken in 1899 was
negligible, finding no place in the statistics. The decrease in
Lake Michigan in the two decades ending 1899 is shown by the
following totals:
1880 3,839,600 Ib.
1885 1,406,678 "
1890 946,897 "
1893 311,780 "
1899 108,279 "
We find no early statistics of the sturgeon fisheries of the
Illinois and Mississippi rivers, though it is generally known that
they have decreased greatly in the past 30 years. The quantity
of lake sturgeon taken from the Illinois River in 1894 was 2,145
Ib, while the Mississippi on our borders the same year furnished
37,366 Ib. In 1899 the Illinois River product had fallen to 635
Ib, and in 1903 no lake sturgeon at all were reported from the
Illinois. The total product of the interior waters of the United
States, exclusive of the Great Lakes, in 1894 was 1,494,022 Ib,
falling in 1899 to 234,145, and in 1903 to 142,059 Ib.
GENUS SCAPHIRHYNCHUS HECKEL
SHOVEL-NOSED STURGEONS
Snout broad and shovel-shaped; caudal peduncle long and flattened
and completely armored; lower lip well developed, with 4 lappet-bearing
papillose lobes; spiracles wanting; pseudobranchs rudimentary; gill-rakers
2- to 5-pointed; ribs 10 or 11; air-bladder 5 in length of head and body.
Fresh-water fishes of the Mississippi Valley. One species known.
SCAPHIRHYNCHUS SHOVEL-NOSED STURGEONS 27
SCAPHIRHYNCHUS PLATORHYNCHUS (KAFINESQUE)
SHOVEL-NOSED STURGEON
(PL, P- 26)
Rafinesque, '20, Ichth. Oh., 80 (Acipenser).
G., VIII, 345 (cataphractus); J. & G., 88 (Scaphirhynchops) ; M. V., 34; J. & E.,
I, 107; N., 51 (Scaphirhynchops); J., 69 (Scaphirhynchops); F., 85 (Schaphirhyn-
chops); L., 8.
Body comparatively elongate; depth 6.7 to 11.7 in length; distance
from gill-opening to front of dorsal fin 2.1 to 2.2 in length without caudal;
length 2 to 3 ft.* Color pale olive, darker above, where the color is often
a yellowish brown; belly whitish. Head 3.5 to 3.8 in length of head and
body; rostrum comparatively short and wide, its greatest width 1.3 to 1.6
in its length; interorbital space 3.3 to 3.7 in head; eye 5.3 to 8.3 (usually
less than 7) in interorbital space; mouth wide, 1.6 to 1.9 in greatest width
of rostrum; labial papillae well developed; barbels flattened, the anterior edge
furnished with one. and the posterior edge with two rows of branched fringe-
like pectinations; inner barbels 1.1 to 1.4 in length of outer; gill-membranes
meeting at the isthmus in a rather shallow and usually quite obtuse angle,
the membranes foreshortened, as a rule falling short of the notch in the
pectoral shields; gill-rakers 12+5, 2- to 5-pointed on the lower half of arch,
the upper surface of which is a narrow edge, scarcely separating the outer
and inner rows of rakers. Dorsal rays 28 or 29, length of base of fin 12 to
14.3 in length of head and body; anal rays 17 or 18, ventral 21 or 22, pectoral
43 or 44; caudal filament very much elongated in younger specimens. Dorsal
scutes 17 or 18, lateral 42 to 47 (usually 42-44), ventral 11 to 13; spines of
dorsal and lateral scutes falling considerably short of their posterior edge;
area on body between dorsal and lateral and between lateral and ventral
series of scutes entirely covered with small, irregularly shaped scale-like
plates; belly and breast completely armored, the plates subrhombic in form,
becoming much smaller forward.
This fish is fairly common in the Mississippi, Ohio, and Mis-
souri rivers, and in the other larger streams of the Mississippi
Valley, being more abundant southward. Little is known of
its habits. It spawns between April and June, probably ascend-
ing smaller streams for that purpose. The stomachs of two
specimens studied by us were found to contain considerable
quantities of a greenish gnat larva (Ceratopogori), a small num-
ber of nymphs of May-flies (Hexagenia), a single dragon-fly
nymph (Libellula pulchella), which occurs on bottom mud in
comparatively shallow water, and a few caddis-fly larvae (Phry-
ganeidce) .
* Of 41 males and 21 females recently examined by Dr. Evermann (Rep. U. S. Fish Comm.,
1901, pp. 285-286) the average length and weight for females was 25.4 inches and 3.24 !b, the
largest female being but 29.5 inches long and weighing 4.75 Ib, while males averaged 21.7
inches and 1.89 Ib, the longest being 27 inches. These measurements are considerably under
those usually assigned in the literature, and it seems probable that the species rarely reaches
a length greater than 3 feet.
28 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
The flesh of the shovel-nosed sturgeon is now regularly
marketed, being cut into steaks or smoked. At Louisville,
where this fish is abundant and is taken in seines, the eggs are
mixed with those of the paddle-fish and used for caviar. The
shovel-nosed sturgeon fishery of the Mississippi and its tribu-
taries yields now about 700,000 Ib annually. The catch in the
Mississippi on our border varies from 50,000 to 100,000 Ib. The
Illinois River catch was 18,000 Ib in 1899, but has since rapidly
declined, and this fish is seldom taken now so far north as
Havana.
GENUS PARASCAPHIRHYNCHUS FORBES & EICHAEDSON
WHITE STURGEON
Snout broad and shovel-shaped; caudal peduncle long and flattened
and completely armored ; lips as in Scaphirhynchus; spiracles wanting; pseudo-
branchise obsolescent; gill-rakers 2- or 3-pointed; ribs 20 or 21; air-bladder
8 in length of head and body. Mississippi and Missouri rivers. One species.
PARASCAPHIRHYNCHUS ALBUS FORBES & RICHARDSON
WHITE STURGEON*
(PL., p. 26)
Forbes & Richardson, '05, Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist., VII, 37-44.
Body comparatively short; depth 7.5 to 9 in length of head and body;
distance from gill-cavity to front of dorsal fin 2.5 in length; length 3 to 4
ft.f Color very light, the upper parts bluish gray in life, the lower parts of
the sides and belly shading from very light gray to almost milky white.
Head longer and somewhat more depressed than in S. platorhynchus, 2.9 to
3.2 in length; width of rostrum 2.5 to 2.9 in its length, the snout narrower
and more pointed than in Scaphirhynchus; interorbital space 3.7 to 4.2 in
head; eye very small, 8.3 to 10 in distance between orbits; mouth larger
than in Scaphirhynchus, its width 1.4 to 1.6 in the greatest width of the
rostrum; papillae of the four clusters of the lower lip reduced to a few flat-
tened scallops at the hinder margin of the lappet; barbels doubly pectinated
on the anterior edge, the posterior pectinations obsolete or wanting, the inner
barbels 1.7 to 2.9 in length of outer; gill-membranes meeting in a full and
deep and rather sharp angle, the membranes continued backward on each
side so as to cover the anterior fourth of the pectoral shields; gill-rakers 10
* This fish is distinguished as the "white sturgeon" by the Mississippi River fishermen
who are acquainted with it, the common shovel-nose (Scaphirhynchus platorhynchus), which
is of a yellowish brown color, being known by them usually as the "switch-tail," in allusion to
its long caudal filament.
t Our largest specimen of this species measures 43*/2 inches from tip of snout to base of
caudal, its weight being 9% Ib. Mr. H. L. Ashlock, of Alton, says that he has seen specimens
4J/j feet in length, with an estimated weight of 15 to 25 Ib.
PAEASCAPHIBHYNCHUS — WHITE STURGEON 29
or 11, + 3, 2- or 3-pointed on lower half of arch, the two rows of each arch
separated by a broad smooth surface. Dorsal rays 35 to 43, the base of the
fin 11.8 to 12.8 in length of head and body; anal rays 20 to 23, ventral 23 to
26, pectoral 43 to 49; caudal filament scarcely developed. Dorsal scutes
16 to 19, lateral 41 to 47, ventral 10 to 13; spines of dorsal and lateral scutes
usually not far from even with their posterior margin; area between dorsal
and lateral and between lateral and ventral series of scutes more or less
densely covered with small denticulated ossifications, diminishing in size
and abundance from above downward; some imperfectly formed plates
along base of dorsal row of shields as far forward as the backward reach of
the pectorals, these plates becoming more numerous and larger farther
back, where they are continuous with those which roof the caudal peduncle;
belly wholly naked to front of ventrals; breast with a few bony points similar
to those on the lower part of the sides.
This species is known to us at present only from the Mis-
sissippi River at Graf ton and Alton, Illinois. It is rare in the
catches at those places, only one in three hundred of the shovel-
nosed sturgeons taken belonging to this species. It is said by
Mr. H. L. Ashlock, who first brought the fish to our notice, to
be somewhat commoner in the lower Missouri. The spawning
season is between June 1 and August 1. The sexual differences
are unknown, all our seven specimens being males. The fish
is said by Mr. Ashlock to prefer swifter water than the common
shovel-nose. The stomachs of the seven types were nearly
empty, and the greatly comminuted matter which they con-
tained was wholly unidentifiable.
30 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
ORDER RHOMBOGANOIDEA
THE GARPIKES
Skeleton chiefly bony; vertebrse separate, simple, with the centra well
ossified and opisthoccelous, i. e., connected by ball and socket joints, the
concavity of each vertebra being behind; fins without spines; ventral fins
abdominal; a cartilaginous mesocoracoid; opercular skeleton complete;
maxillary transversely divided into several pieces; air-bladder cellular, lung-
like, opening into the dorsal side of the oesophagus. Fresh-water fishes of
North America. A single living family.
FAMILY LEPISOSTEID^l
THE GARPIKES
Elongate, subcylindrical fishes with beak-like jaws, and with the ex-
ternal bones of the head hard and rugose; body covered with hard, rhombic
ganoid plates, imbricated in oblique series; skeleton bony; fins with fulcra;
dorsal posterior, nearly opposite anal; tail heterocercal, in the young pro-
duced as a filament beyond the caudal fin; gills 4, a slit behind the fourth;
no spiracles; an accessory opercular gill (hyoidean hemibranch); pseudo-
branch exposed, meeting the hemibranch at an angle on the inner side of
the opercle; branchiostegals 3; opercular skeleton complete; nostrils near
end of upper jaw; lateral line developed; optic nerves forming a chiasma;
premaxillaries forming most of border of upper jaw; maxillary transversely
divided into several pieces; both jaws with 2 (or 3) series of conical teeth,
the outer smaller; vomer, palatines, and pharyngeals with small rasp-like
denticles; tongue toothless, emarginate, free at tip; stomach not csecal;
pyloric appendages numerous; spiral valve of intestine rudimentary; air-
bladder cellular, lung-like, somewhat functional as a lung, opening into the
dorsal side of the oesophagus; arterial bulb with several pairs of valves.
Garpikes are abundant throughout the Mississippi, Rio
Grande, Great Lake, and Appalachian regions, as well as farther
southward along the Mexican and Central American coasts and
in the fresh waters of Cuba. They are unknown (except as
fossils) outside of the limits of the range given, being, as are
Amia (the dogfish) and Polyodon (the paddle-fish), one of the
characteristic features of the American fauna. But one living
genus is known. Fossil garpikes of the genus Lepisosteus and
of a related genus (Clastes) have been found in the Eocene of
Europe and America.
LEPISOSTEUS GAEPIKES 31
The gars are voracious fishes, feeding to a considerable ex-
tent on the young of other species. They have no appreciable
commercial value, and are treated as a nuisance and a pest by
all interested in the fisheries.
GENUS LEPISOSTEUS LACEPEDE
GARPIKES
Characters of the genus included in description preceding.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF LEPISOSTEUS FOUND IN ILLINOIS.
a. Large teeth in upper jaw in a single row on each side; size moderate, length
seldom exceeding four feet.
b. Beak long and slender, its least width about 20 in its length, its length 2.6
to 3.4 in distance from eye to caudal; length caudal peduncle 1% to 1%
(or even twice) greatest depth of body osseus.
bb. Beak shorter and broader, its least width about 5% in its length, its length
3.6 to 6 in distance from eye to caudal; length caudal peduncle normally
not greater than greatest depth of body platostomus.
aa. Large teeth in upper jaw in two rows on each side; size very large, length
6 to 10 feet; beak short and broad, variable, its least width 3 to 5 in its
length tristoechus.
LEPISOSTEUS OSSEUS
LONG-NOSED GAR; BILLF1SH
(PL., p. 35; MAP V)
Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., Ed. 10, 313 (Esox).
G., VIII, 330 (Lepidosteus); J. & G., 91 (Lepidosteus) ; M. V., 35; J. & E., I, 109;
N., 51 (Lepidosteus); J., 68 (Lepidosteus); F., 85 (Lepidosteus); F. F., II. 7,
464; L., 8.
Size large, length over 4 feet; depth 10 to 13 in length including beak,
9 to 10 in distance from eye to base of caudal; length of caudal peduncle as
a rule 1^ to ll/2 times, sometimes as much as twice, greatest depth of body.*
Color pale olive, silvery below; vertical fins and posterior part of body with
round black spots, more distinct in the young; very young with a blackish
lateral band, typically narrow and not extending on belly as in L. platostomus.
Head (including beak) 2.7 to 3.1 in length; beak long and narrow, its great-
est width about 6, its least width about 20 in its length; length of beak 2.65
to 3.40 in distance from eye to caudal; eye large, circular, 1.6 to 2.3 in inter-
orbital space. Dorsal rays 8 or 9 (usually 8); anal rays 8 (sometimes 9);
length of pectoral 8 to 9 in distance from eye to caudal. Scales 8 or 9, 60-63;
6 or 7; lateral line complete.
* We have found this the most reliable single character for separation of the very young
of this species and the next.
32 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
This voracious, active, and well-protected fish is a notable
winner in the long struggle for existence which its species has
maintained, but it is a wholly worthless and destructive nuisance
in its relations to mankind. It is the enemy of practically all
the other fishes in our waters, and so far as it eats anything but
fishes, it subtracts from the food supply of the more valuable
kinds. It has, in fact, all the vices and none of the virtues of a
predaceous fish. On the other hand, it is preyed upon by nothing
that swims, and is so well adapted to the varied features and
vicissitudes of its habitat that it is proof against any but the
most extraordinary occurrences.
From its long cylindrical shape and its activity when
alarmed, it is not as likely to be held by the fishermen's nets as
most other fishes of its weight, and it consequently survives on
our fishing grounds in very disproportionate numbers, and
diminishes their average productiveness in no small degree.
It is distributed throughout the Mississippi Valley and
Great Lake region and southward into Texas and Mexico. It
is abundant also along the Atlantic slope as far north as New
Jersey. It is scarce in the smaller streams and is generally more
abundant southward. It grows to a length of five or six feet,
and is so variable in form and color that local differences have
given rise to a considerable number of scientific synonyms. In
Illinois it is abundant and widely distributed, occurring in all
parts of the state, including Lake Michigan. Our 35 collections
were made from 14 localities, from Cairo to Chicago and the
Rock River valley. It was taken in 9 of our collections from
large rivers; in 2 of those from small rivers; in 4 from creeks;
and in 15 from lakes, ponds, and sloughs.
The long-nosed gar frequents quiet waters, being especially
abundant in those more or less stagnant. It occurs on both
muddy and sandy bottoms, but has an apparent liking for logs
and piles of brush. Although never moving together in schools,
gars tend to assemble in large numbers within limited areas. In
winter they frequently become so benumbed as to be almost in-
sensible to their surroundings. They are of a sleepy habit and
often lie motionless for a long time, returning persistently to the
same place when disturbed. They frequently come to the sur-
face, and thrusting their bills out of the water, open and close
their jaws with a snap. This is the act of " breaking " so familiar
to all fishermen, its purpose being to renew the air in the cellular
swim-bladder. In " breaking" the gar turns partly over on
LEPISOSTEUS GARPIKES 33
one side, emitting a large bubble of air, after which it swallows
and then sinks again below the surface. This habit is discon-
tinued in cold weather, however, and from October to April
gars do not come to the surface to breathe.
The gar is a voracious feeder and is especially destructive to
minnows and the young of other fishes. The stomachs of speci-
mens examined by Dr. Dean contained practically nothing but
small soft-rayed fishes, less than 3^ inches long. Eleven small
minnows were taken from the stomach of one male 24 inches
long, and 16 from the stomach and pharynx of another 27 inches
long. No perch or sunfish were found. Sixteen minute min-
nows have been taken by us from the stomach of a single speci-
men 2 inches long, while other young specimens examined, had
filled themselves with water-fleas (Scapholeberis mucronata).
The gar approaches its prey stealthily, and its attack is instan-
taneous and usually successful. Young gars have been observed
to approach and seize minnows sidewise afterwards struggling
for some time to get them into proper position for swallowing —
as is the habit of lizards and alligators. The abundance* and
destructiveness of gars in particular localities have recently led
to serious efforts at extermination, and pound-nets have been
found quite useful for this purpose. f
The long-nosed gar spawns in this latitude between the
middle of May and the middle of June, the time at Havana, Illi-
nois, being ordinarily from June 1 to 12 It is known to spawn
in shoal water, usually in grass and weeds, but Captain Schulte,
of Havana, has seen gars spawning about the stone piles of rail-
road bridges under construction at Havana. Young gars were
reared by Dr. Mark, who found that they could be maintained
entirely on the larvae of mosquitoes. They are extremely in-
teresting, and even beautiful, little animals, each marked with a
broad black lateral band; and they are especially noticeable for
the evanescent lance-shaped upper lobe to the caudal fin. They
may often be seen swimming singly in shallow water along the
margins of streams in June and July. Their earliest food is
apparently Entomostraca, but they begin at a surprisingly early
age their life work of keeping down the fish population of the
waters they inhabit. A specimen only an inch and a quarter
long, examined by us, had taken a minute fish, and another two
* It is stated by Dr. Dean that garpikes have been known to occur in such numbers in
South Carolina as to fill the shad nets and interrupt the shad fishery for many days.
f By their use, Chautauqua Lake, N. Y., was practically freed from gars in 1896-97.
34 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
inches long and only an eighth of an inch in depth had filled
itself with no fewer than sixteen very young minnows.
Gars are of practically no commercial value. Rafinesque
says that their flesh may be eaten and describes the method of
skinning— by splitting in a zigzag line between the bony plates.
Dr. Dean has seen gars, with the bill cut off and the skin re-
moved, exposed for sale in the markets at Washington, D. C.
They are, however, almost universally thrown away by fisher-
men, and by most their destruction is rightly sought by all means
that offer. Gar skins have been used to a small extent in the
arts, for covering picture frames, purses, and fancy boxes, the
rhombic plates being very hard* and taking a fine polish. A
very few skins are saved for this purpose each year.
LEPISOSTEUS PLATOSTOMUS EAFINESQUE
SHORT-NOSED GAR
(MAP VI)
Rafinesque, '20, Ichth. Oh., 72.
G., VIII, 329 (platystomus); J. & G., 91 (platystomus) ; M. V., 36 (platystomus) ;
J. & E., I, 110; N., 51 (platystomus); J., 69 (platystomus); F., 85 (platystomus);
F. F., II. 7, 464 (platystomus); L., 8.
Length 2 to 3 feet; depth 8 to 10 in length including beak, 6.7 to 8.2
(usually less than 7.5 )in distance from eye to base of caudal; length of caudal
peduncle normally equal to greatest depth of body. Color dark olive-green
above, lighter toward lateral line; sides lustrous olive-buff, shading to light
olive-yellow toward tail; belly white, the scales edged with fine dark dots;
an evident dark spot and usually two or three fainter ones on caudal peduncle;
fins olive-buff, dorsal, caudal, and anal each with several more or less dis-
tinct roundish black spots (more distinct in young) ; iris crossed by a dusky
band which also crosses the opercle and is continuous with a broad but faint
lateral band; coloration of very young (1 to 3 inches) generally much darker
than in the preceding species, the black side stripe broad and extended more
or less completely to belly. Head (including beak) 3 to 3.9 in length; beak
comparatively short and broad, its greatest width about 2% and its least
width about 5^ in its length; length of beak contained 3.6 to 5.3 times in
distance from eye to caudal; eye 2 to 2.4 in interorbital space. Dorsal rays
8; anal 8 (occasionally 9); length of pectorals 7 to 8 in distance from eye to
caudal. Scales 9 or 10, 60-64, 6 or 7; a specimen (Ac. No. 24416) 3 inches
long with lateral pores forming an open groove on posterior half of body.
The short-nosed gar is generally common throughout the
Mississippi Valley, being most abundant, as is the preceding
species, in the southern part of its range. It is distributed in
* It is said that breastplates formerly made from gar skins by Caribbean savages would
turn a knife, spear, or hatchet. (Rep. U. S. Fish Comm., 1902.)
1
LEPISOSTEUS GAKPIKES 35
Illinois about as L. osseus, occurring in 57 collections, from Rock
River, the Illinois, the Mississippi, and the Ohio. It is locally
known by Illinois River fishermen as the " duck-bill gar,"
though the name " short-billed gar" is commoner.
The spawning season at Havana in 1898 was May, while in
1899 it continued until August. Females with spent ovaries
were taken as early as May 10 by Dr. Kofoid in 1899. The habits
of this gar are not otherwise known to be different from those of
the preceding species.
LEPISOSTEUS TRISTCECHUS (BLOCK & SCHNEIDER)
ALLIGATOR-GAR
Bloch & Schneider, 1801, Syst. Ichth., 395 (Esox).
G., VIII, 329 (viridis); J. & G., 92 (Litholepis) ; M. V., 36; J. & E., I, 111; N., 51
(adamanteus); J., 69 (Litholepis spathula); F., 84 (Litholepis); L., 8.
Length 5 to 8 feet; depth in length 8, in distance from eye to caudal 7;
length of caudal peduncle rather less than depth of body. Color greenish,
paler below, adult usually without spots. Head (including beak) 3.7 in
length ; beak typically somewhat shorter and broader than in L. platostomus,
its length about 5.3 in distance from eye to caudal, its least width about 4J/2
in its length. Dorsal rays 8; anal 8. Lateral line 56; transverse series 22.
Description based on a mounted specimen 6 feet 6^ inches in length to base
of caudal, owned by Mr. Sherman Reubel, Grafton 111. Specimen 7 ft. 2
in. long in State Museum at Springfield. Specimen 5 ft. 6 in. long in Uni-
versity of Illinois Museum.
The home of the alligator-gar is in the streams of the Gulf of
Mexico, from Mexico to Cuba. It ascends the Mississippi above
St. Louis, and has occasionally been taken in the lower Illinois
River. It is said by Dr. Jordan to reach a length of 20 feet.
Little is definitely known of the habits of this species.
Many stories have been told of its gigantic size and ferocious
and uncanny habits, some of them doubtless more or 'ess fanci-
ful. A picturesque and valuable account of the habits of the
alligator-gar by Geo. P. Dunbar, a Southern naturalist, may be
consulted in the American Naturalist for May, 1882, pp. 383-385.
Its size and strength are such that the ordinary apparatus of
the river fisherman will not hold it unless it chances to be caught
at some unusual disadvantage, and it is consequently rather
rarely seen. Its powers of destruction must be enormous, and
it seems to take, in the fresh waters of the country, the place
filled by sharks in the high seas It was formerly made into oil,
36 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
by the people of Arkansas, for use as a lotion to prevent attack
by the buffalo-gnat. Dr. Meek saw numbers of this species in
the markets at Tampico, Mexico, where it was regarded as a
good food-fish.
ORDER CYCLOGANOIDEA 37
ORDER CYCLOGANOIDEA
Skeleton bony; vertebrae amphicoelous, as usual among fishes, the an-
terior ones not modified; fins without spines; ventrals abdominal; a meso-
coracoid; opercular skeleton complete; maxillary bordering mouth, not
transversely segmented; air-bladder cellular, lung-like, opening into oesoph-
agus. Fresh-water fishes of the United States and Canada. A single
living genus and family.
FAMILY AMIID^E
THE BOWFINS
Oblong, subcylindrical fishes, compressed posteriorly, and with the head
bluntish and its external bones corrugated and very hard, scarcely covered
by skin; body covered with cycloid scales; skeleton bony; fins without spines
or fulcra; dorsal fin long and low; tail slightly heterocercal; gills 4, a slit
behind the fourth; no spiracles; no pseudobranch and no opercular gill;
branchiostegals 10 to 12; opercular skeleton complete; throat with two
peculiar comb-like appendages of uncertain function; nostrils double, the
anterior with a short barbel; lateral line developed; optic nerves forming a
chiasma; jaws equal, the lower U-shaped, with a bony gular plate between
the rami; premaxillary not protractile; jaws and palatines with strong conical
teeth; vomer and pterygoids with bands of small teeth; stomach with blind
sac; no pyloric cgeca; intestine with a rudimentary spiral valve; air-bladder
cellular, bifid in front, lung-like, connected by a glottis with the pharynx,
and capable of assisting in respiration.
These fishes are remarkable for the simultaneous occurrence
of primitive ganoid characters — the cellular air-bladder, spiral
valve, gular plate, etc. — along with marked features of resem-
blance to the modern isospondylous forms (herring and their
allies). The species next described is the sole surviving rep-
resentative of a once large family, chiefly represented to-day
by numerous fossils. The Amiidce first appeared in the Upper
Jurassic of France and Bavaria (genus Megalurus), and fossil-
ized remains of Amia occur in the Eocene of northern Europe
and North America. The latter genus apparently became
extinct in Europe at the close of the Lower Miocene.
38 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
GENUS AMIA LINN^IUS
DOGFISH; BOWFINS
Characters of the genus included in description preceding.
AMIA CALVA LINN^US
DOGFISH; BOWFIN; GRINDLE
(PL. P. 36; MAP VII)
Linnseus, 1766, Syst. Nat., Ed. 12, 500.
G., VIII, 325; J. & G.. 94; M. V., 37; J. & E., I, 113; N., 51; J., 68; F., 84; P. F.,
II, 7, 463; L... 8.
Length 1^4 to 2 feet, females larger than males; body oblong, com-
pressed posteriorly, back scarcely elevated; depth 4.6 to 6.2 in length; caudal
peduncle deep and compressed, its depth 1.6 to 1.8 in its length. Color
dark olive, somewhat lustrous above, lighter on sides and below, the mingling
of lighter yellowish with darker olive areas giving the fish a more or less
reticulated appearance; belly cream-colored; dorsal fin dark olive-buff, with
two narrow longitudinal bands of darker olive crossing it, the first near
base and second near free margin, a light space intervening between the two
dark bands ; caudal light olive with irregular darker vertical bars ; at base of
upper caudal rays in males a dense black spot* of elliptical outline with a
yellowish to bright orange border; anal, ventral, and pectoral fins a brilliant
apple-green, base and tips often tinged with orange; females in spring color
are in general tones similar to males, but lack the caudal ocellus, the green
lower fins, and the yellowish tints on the fins and sides of belly, their lower
fins being dull olive-buff and the belly white; young specimens are lighter,
bright apple-green, with dorsal and caudal tipped with a narrow black edging,
and nose, eye, cheek, and opercle crossed by a narrow dusky stripe. Head
subconic, depressed above, 3.5 to 4.3 in length; width of head 1.6 to 1.8 in
its length; interorbital space 3.2 to 3.8 in length of head; eye small, 8.8 to
10.3 in head, 2.4 to .3 in interorbital; nose bluntly rounded, 3.2 to 4.3 in head;
a pair of short nasal barbels, whose length is less than eye, cupped at
tips ; mouth large, maxillary reaching far back of eye, 2 to 2.2 in head. Dorsal
fin with base twice the length of the head, the rays 47 to 51, height of dorsal
less than % length of head; anal rays 9-10; caudal fin rounded (masked
heterocercal) ; ventrals short of anal; pectorals very short, 1.7 to 1.9 in head.
Scales "polygono-cycloid," 9 or 10, 66-68, 11 or 12; lateral line complete.
This species is abundant and widely distributed through-
out the Great Lake region and the Mississippi Valley, princi-
pally in sluggish waters. In Illinois it is abundant in sloughs
and lakes adjoining the Mississippi and the Illinois, and is
found in the larger and more sluggish streams of the southern
part of the state. It is not so abundant northward. Eight of
*A faint candal ocellus, apt to be overlooked, is present in females.
AIIIA — DOGFISH; BOWFIXS 39
our 37 collections came from large rivers, 14 from lakes, ponds,
and sloughs, and but 4 from creeks.
The usual local name of this species is " dogfish" in the
Great Lake region and the upper Mississippi Valley. It is
known eastward and southward oftener as "bowfin," or
"grindle," the latter becoming "grinnel" in southern Illinois.
It has been found by our collectors offered for sale by hucksters
as " prairie-bass " in southern Illinois. The name "mudfish"
is sometimes used eastward, and that of mud-jack, locally in
Illinois. It is of general distribution in rivers, lakes, and
swamps, but is most abundant in weedy waters. It seems to
prefer rather shallow water, where, according to Dr. Reighard,
it feeds principally at night, retreating to somewhat deeper
water during the day. Dr. Ayres* found it in winter in Ocono-
mowoc Lake, Wisconsin, in closely huddled schools in gravelly
pockets among water weeds, so close together that, two at a
time could be impaled on a fish spear. In the early spring of
1894, when a rise in the Illinois River loosened and lifted the
icy covering of the stream, a belt of open water between the ice
and the shore was thickly packed, in places, with dogfish, so
sluggish with the cold that they could be caught with the bare
hands. In spring and summer these fishes are frequently seen
to come to the surface to breathe, the exhalation being indicated
by the escape of bubbles of air.
The teeth of the dogfish are sharp and strong and it is
exceedingly voracious and savage, feeding upon any animals
that come within its reach — chiefly fish, crawfish, and mollusks.
The food of 21 specimens, taken from all parts of the state
in various months from April to September, was entirely ani-
mal— about a third of it fishes, among which were recognized
minnows and buffalo-fish. About a fourth consisted of small
mollusks, and nearly 40 per cent, of it of crawfishes. Insects,
although commonly present, occurred in only insignificant ratio.
Dr. Dean found scraps of meat and a lump of raw potato in the
stomach of one of these fishes, but the latter was undigested.
Charles Hallock (quoted by Dr. Goode)t says that an Amia has
been known to bite a two-pound fish in two at a single snap.
The breeding period! of the dogfish is from April 1 to June
1 or July 1, varying with the season and the latitude. It
* Quoted by Whitman & Eycleshymer.
f Nat. Hist. Aq. An., p. 569.
j April 19 to June 1, estimate of average for four years (Reighard); April-May (Whitman
& Eycleshymer).
40 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
spawned at Havana in 1898 between May 1 and 15, and in 1899
until July 31. Dr. Kofoid took freshly spent females June 14,
1899. Its nests were found by Dr. Reighard* in quiet bays or
inlets, usually well grown with vegetation, places with stumps,
roots, and logs seeming to be selected as a rule. The male
builds the nest, usually at night, and probably unassisted by
the female. For this purpose the vegetation is rubbed or bitten
off and the loose rubbish brushed away with the tail and fins,
leaving a bed of soft rootlets or of sand or gravel for the eggs.
Spawning takes place more frequently at night than by day, the
male guarding the nest after the eggs are laid. The eggs hatch
in 8 to 10 days, according to temperature, and the young re-
main in the nest about 9 days, attaching themselves to rootlets
by the adhesive organ on the snout, or lying on their sides in the
bottom of the nest. After they leave the nest the male ac-
companies and defends the young, which move in a compact
school until they reach a length of about 4 inches. The young,
like those of the gar, have at first a lance-shaped temporary
caudal fin, beneath which the permanent caudal develops, at
first as an inferior lobe.
This fish is very little esteemed as food, the flesh being soft
and pasty. It is said to vary in quality, however, according to
the waters from which it is taken. The negroes of the South
eat it with great relish (Goode), and it is often eaten also in
Southern Indiana and southern Illinois by the whites. It is
thrown away as a rule at Alton (Ashlock), but is saved by
practically all of the Illinois River fishermen, by whom it is
shipped to the cities, both east and west. Some large ship-
ments from Havana have been made to New York City markets.
The Illinois River furnishes very nearly the total product
marketed in the United States. In 1903 a catch of 1,097,050
Ib, valued at $10,972, was taken from this river and its tribu-
taries, the Mississippi and minor tributaries furnishing the same
year only 8,200 Ib.
This species is as gamy as voracious, and is 'extremely
tenacious of life, being "one of the hardest fighters that ever
took the hook." Charles Hallock, as quoted by Goode, says
that it will take frogs, minnows, and sometimes even the spoon,
while Dr. Dean is authority for the statement that trolling for
bowfish is becoming a favorite sport of some eastern anglers.
The young, of about 6 inches length, are said by Hallock to
* The following account of breeding habits is mainly taken from Reighard ('00 and '01).
AMIA — DOGFISH; BOWFINS 41
make excellent bait for pickerel and pike, living for hours on the
hook. They can be kept "in a rain barrel all summer without
change of water."
The hardiness of this fish and its willing endurance of con-
ditions fatal to most species give it a predominance in our
waters, which, combined with its numbers, activity, voracity,
and wide range of food, make it, on the whole, a dangerous and
destructive enemy to our fisheries. The time will doubtless
come when thoroughgoing measures will be taken to keep down
to the lowest practicable limit the dogfish and the gars — as
useless and destructive in our productive waters as wolves and
foxes formerly were in our pastures and poultry-yards.
42 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
ORDER ISOSPONDYLI
HERRING-, SHAD-, AND SALMON-LIKE FISHES
Skeleton bony; anterior vertebrae simple, without Weberian ossicles;
dorsal and anal fins without spines; ventrals abdominal; an adipose fin
present in some families; pectoral arch suspended from the skull; meso-
coracoid arch well developed, as in the Plectospondyli and the ganoids, form-
ing a bridge between the hypercoracoid and the hypocoracoid : opercle well
developed; maxillary distinct, forming part of the margin of the upper jaw;
air-bladder, if present,, with an open duct; gills 4, a slit behind the fourth,
as normally in bony fishes.
A large and widely distributed group, including most of the
marine soft-rayed fishes, excepting deep-sea forms and a limited
number of fresh-water species. Families numerous; 4 repre-
sented in Illinois. Members of some families possess strong
ganoid affinities, a gular plate and two transverse series of
arterial valves occurring in Albula. Fossil remains abundant.
KEY TO FAMILIES OF ISOSPONDYLI FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. No adipose fin; belly narrow, carinated; silvery fishes.
b. Lateral line present Hiodontidae.
bb. Lateral line wanting.
c. Last rays of dorsal much elongated; mouth small, low Dorosomidae.
cc. Dorsal fin normal, its last rays not elongate (elongate in some marine forms);
mouth large, terminal, oblique Cl upeldae.
aa. An adipose fin; belly not carinated Salmonidae.
FAMILY HIODONTID>£
THE MOONEYES
Body rather deep and much compressed, covered with silvery cycloid
scales; head naked; belly not serrate; lateral line developed; skeleton bony;
vertebrae about 60, the anterior not modified, ventral fins abdominal ; dorsal
fin rather posterior; no adipose fin; caudal forked; mesocoracoid present;
gill-membranes free from isthmus; branchiostegals 8 to 10; pseudobranchia3
obsolete; gill-rakers few, short, and thick; adipose eyelid little developed;
mouth terminal, oblique; premaxillary not protractile; maxillary- small,
HIODON — MOONEYES 43
articulated to end of premaxillary and forming lateral margin of upper jaw;
sidss of lower jaw fitting within the upper so that the dentaries shut against
the palatines; premaxillaries, maxillaries, and dentaries, vomer, palatines,
sphenoid, pterygoids, and tongue with small cardiform teeth; stomach
horseshoe-shaped, without blind sac; one pyloric caecum; air-bladder large,
with open duct; no oviducts, the eggs falling into the abdominal cavity
before exclusion.
Fresh waters of North America; a single genus known. The
species are of little value as food.
GENUS HIODON LE SUEUR
MOONEYES
Characters of genus included above. Three species; two found in
Illinois.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF HIODON FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Belly in front of ventrals carinated; dorsal with 9 developed rays, inserted
behind ventrals; eye less than interorbital space alosoides.
aa. Belly in front of ventrals not carinated; dorsal with 11 or 12 developed rays,
inserted in front of ventrals; eye greater than interorbital space... .tergisus.
HIODON ALOSOIDES (EAFINESQUE)
NORTHERN MOONEYE
Raflnesque, 1819, .1. Phys., 421 (Amphiodon alveoides, misprint).
J. & G., 259 (Hyodon); M. V., 69; J. & E., I, 413; F., 74 (Hyodon); L., 20.
Length 12 inches; body greatly compressed,
greatest width often 3 in adults; depth in length 3.3 to
3.7; depth caudal peduncle 1.1 to 1.4 in its length.
Color bluish above; sides and belly silvery with more
or less golden luster forward and bluish to pinkish
farther back. Head 4.5 to 4.9; width head 1.9 to 2.1
in its length; interorbital space 3.6 to 4 in head; eye
3.6 to 4; nose 4.9 to 5.9, more noticeably upturned
than in the next species; mouth large, maxillary reach- FIG. 11
ing past middle of orbit, 1.9 to 2.1 in head. Dorsal
fin with 9 developed rays, inserted behind front of anal; anal rays 31 ; ventrals
very short, about 1% in head; pectorals longer than in the next species,
1.1 to 1.2 in head. Scales 6, 56-58, 7 or 8; lateral line complete.
This rather large and handsome silver-coated fish is now too
rare in Illinois to have any especial significance in our waters.
44 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Some years ago it was much more abundant than now in the Mis-
sissippi and the Ohio, as many as a thousand pounds at a time
having been caught, according to Mr. Ashlock, from the former
river near Alton and the latter at Cairo. This species ranges
from the Ohio through the Great Lake region to the Saskatch-
ewan, becoming especially abundant in Manitoba and other
parts of British America. Our nine collections came from the
Illinois River at Meredosia and Havana, excepting one, which
was from the Ohio at Cairo. It is found only in our largest
streams, and is commonest in rather swift open water. It is
readily caught when plentiful by minnow bait, and is a very
gamy fish, although of little value as food. It lives mainly on
both terrestrial and aquatic insects, mollusks, and small min-
nows. It is said by Illinois fishermen to be frequently seen pur-
suing its minnow prey at evening in the vicinity of their boats.
HIODON TERGISUS LE SUEUR
TOOTHED HERRING; MOONEYE
Le Sueur, 1818, J. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., I, 366.
G., VII, 375 (Hyodon); J. & G., 260 (Hyodon); M. V., 69; J. & E., I, 413; N. 44
(Hyodon); J., 54 (Hyodon); F., 74 (Hyodon); F. F., I. 2. 79, II. 7, 440; I/., 20.
Length 10 or 12 inches; body somewhat less com-
pressed than in the last species, greatest width not
over !2l/2 in depth; depth in length 3 to 3.3; depth caudal
peduncle 1.4 in its length. Color pale olive-buff above
with faint steel-blue luster; sides silvery, lustrous,
white at the ventral edge. Head 4 to 4.4 in length;
width head 2 to 2.] ; interorbital space 3.9 to 4; eye
2.8 to 3.6 in head; nose 4. to 5.5; mouth slightly smaller
FIG. 12 than in the last, maxillary falling short of middle of
orbit, 2.1 to 2.5 in head. Dorsal fin with 11 or 12
developed rays, inserted in front of anal. Scales 5 or 6, 55, 7; lateral line
complete.
The toothed herring — a name given this species by way of
contrast with the " thread-herring " or gizzard-shad (Dorosoma)
— has been taken by us only some half dozen times in Illinois,
and then only in the Rock and Illinois rivers. It ranges from
the Ohio River north and west to the Lake of the Woods, the
Assiniboin, and the Saskatchewan. It is very abundant in
Lake Erie and the Ohio, where large numbers are sometimes
caught with the seine. It feeds on insects and their larvae,
mollusks, and small minnows. It is a vigorous biter, and gamy
DOROSOMID.E — THE GIZZAED-SHAD 45
on the hook. Dr. Estes says that it will rise to the fly, coming
up for it, testing it, and getting away again almost before the
angler can strike. It seems not to be valued as food, and is too
rare in our waters to have any commercial importance.
FAMILY DOROSOMID4E
THE GIZZARD-SHAD
Body short and deep and much compressed, covered 'with thin cycloid
scales; head naked; belly sharp-edged, armed with bony serratures; no
lateral line; skelton bony; vertebra? 49; anterior vertebra? not modified;
ventral fins abdominal; dorsal about midway of body, its last ray prolonged
and filiform; no adipose fin; pectorals and ventrals with an accessory scale;
caudal forked; mesocoracoid present; gill-membranes free from isthmus;
branchiostegals about 6; gill-rakers slender and exceedingly numerous;
pseudobranchiye large; adipose eyelid present; mouth rather inferior, oblique;
premaxillary non-protractile; maxillary with supplemental bone, narrow and
short, forming but a small portion of the lateral margin of the upper jaw;
no teeth; stomach short, muscular, like the gizzard of a fowl.
Coasts and rivers of warm regions; two genera in American
waters. Thin-bodied, bony fishes, of little value as food.
GENUS DOROSOMA EAFINESQUE
GIZZARD-SHAD
Characters of genus included above. Lower Mississippi Valley and
streams of Gulf coast as far south as Yucatan. A single species found in
the waters of Illinois.
DOROSOMA CEPEDIANUM (LE SUEUE)
GIZZARD-SHAD; HICKORY-SHAD
(PL., p. 46; MAP VIII)
Le Sueur, 1818, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., I, 361 (Megalops).
G., VII, 409 (Chatoessus); J. & G., 271; M. V., 74; J. & E., I, 416; N., 44 (notatum);
J., 55; F., 73; F. F., I. 2, 79 (var. heterurum) ; II. 7, 437, II. 8, 528, ff; L. 20.
Length usually not over 12 inches*; body deep and considerably com-
pressed, depth 2.6 to 2.9 in length; greatest width 3^ in depth in adults;
caudal peduncle short and deep, its depth in its length 1.1 to 1.3 Color
silvery, bluish above, with reddish and brassy reflections; a large dark spot
behind opercle in the young; fins more or less dusky. Head deep -posteriorly
* Specimens 15 to 18 inches, weighing about 3 pounds, occasionally taken from the Mississippi
at Alton. (PI. L. Ashlock.)
46 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
and tapering forward, 3.7 to 4.3 in length; width of head 1.9 to 2.2 in its
length; interorbital greater than eye, 3.6 to 4.3 in head; eye 3.4 to 4.8 in
head; nose shorter than eye, 4.9 to 6.1 in head; mouth small, more or less
inferior, extending little back of front of eye; maxillary 3.4 to 4.2 in head;
lower jaw shorter than upper. Dorsal fin about midway between muzzle
and base of caudal, slightly behind ventrals, of 12 rays; last dorsal ray greatly
elongated, extending past middle of anal; anal rays 30 or 31; pectorals 1.2
to 1.5 in head; ventrals half way to front of anal in adults. Scales 56 to
57, transverse series 23; no lateral line; ventral scutes 19 (before ventrals),
12 or 13 (behind ventrals).
This immensely abundant species, although little esteemed
as a food fish, is one of the most useful in our waters because of
the almost exhaustless food supply which it offers to all the
game fishes of our larger streams and lowland lakes. Living
itself mainly upon food derived from the muddy bottoms of our
very muddy rivers and lakes, it serves as a means of converting
this mere waste of nature into the flesh of our most highly
valued fishes.
For this service it is especially adapted by the possession of
a very effective straining apparatus in its gills, by means of
which it separates the finest particles of silt from objects large
enough to serve it as food, and by the extraordinary develop-
ment of its digestive surface in a long and convoluted small
intestine, thickly beset with finger-like villi within, and with
tubular caeca without, each of which is closed at its outer end
and pours into the intestine through its inner opening the diges-
tive juices which it is the function of these organs to secrete.
The thick-walled muscular stomach, resembling the gizzard of
a bird — whence its name of gizzard-shad — is another adaptation
to a kind of food not available to most other fishes.
It occurs throughout the Mississippi Valley, in brackish
waters along the Atlantic and the Gulf as far as Mexico, and in
the streams and lakes of the Mississippi Valley. In Illinois
the gizzard-shad inhabits all our larger rivers, together with
the lakes connected with them, sometimes ascending smaller
tributaries during the season of the spawning migration, and it
has also made its way, by means of canals, into lakes Erie and
Michigan. In summer it is a rather active fish, sometimes
darting rapidly about in all directions and often leaping out of
the water. When surrounded by the seine, it is likely to escape
in schools by skipping lightly over the cork line. In winter it
withdraws largely to the deeper waters, where it hibernates in
a benumbed condition.
CLUPEIOE — THE HERRINGS 47
We have found gravid females, and males running with
milt, in the central part of the Illinois River in May, and have
seen specimens in February in so sluggish a condition, that
they were easily dipped up with a net.
The young are extremely different from the adult, slender
and minnow-like in shape, and with a row of fine teeth on the
upper jaw, although the mouth of the adult is entirely toothless
and smooth. The internal structure of the young also differs
remarkably from that of the full-grown fish, especially in the
much greater simplicity of the digestive apparatus, the intes-
tine, in specimens not more than an inch long, passing almost
directly back from the stomach to the vent. The food of the
young consists, like that of most of our young fishes, almost
wholly of small crustaceans and insect larvae — the animal
plankton of our waters. That of larger specimens, on the other
hand, is very uniform in character, comprising quantities of
mud, with which the intestine is commonly packed from end to
end, mixed with many minute plants, and much vegetable
debris. Occasionally in the vicinity of distilleries, this fish
feeds, like the buffalo-fish, on distillery slops, and sometimes
one will find univalve mollusks, aquatic insects, and the like,
sparsely represented in the food. Half-grown specimens often
contain larger quantities of the plankton organisms than are
found in the food of the adult.
The flesh is coarse and not delicate in flavor, but still is
not unpalatable, and is eaten by some. In the Great Lake
region this species is often caught and offered for sale under the
name of "lake shad." It is seldom used in Illinois, however,
but is systematically picked out of the catch and thrown away
by the fishermen, who regard it as a nuisance rather than a
benefit, commonly ignoring its value as food for the species we
most prize.
FAMILY CLUPEID^
THE HERRINGS
Body oblong or elongate, more or less compressed, covered with cy-
cloid or pectinated scales; head naked; belly rounded, or compressed and
serrated; lateral line wanting; skeleton osseous; vertebrae 40 to 56, anterior
ones not modified; ventral fins abdominal: dorsal median or somewhat
posterior; no adipose fin; caudal forked; mesocoracoid present; gill-mem-
branes free from isthmus; gill-rakers slender: branchiostegals usually few
(6 to 15) ; pseudobranchise present; adipose eyelid present or wanting; mouth
terminal, oblique; premaxillaries not protractile; maxillaries composed each
48 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
of about 3 pieces, forming lateral margin of upper jaw; teeth usually small
or wanting, variously arranged; air-bladder large, with open duct.
Species numerous (about 150 known), abundant and widely
distributed in all seas, usually swimming in immense schools.
Many species ascend fresh waters in spring to spawn and a few
are permanent residents in fresh water. Two genera are found
in streams tributary to the Atlantic and the Gulf and in the
Mississippi Valley.
KEY TO THE GENERA OF CLUPEID^E FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Premaxillaries meeting at a large angle, so that the tip of the upper jaw does
not appear to toe notched; cheeks longer than deep; teeth feeble. ..Pomolobus.
aa. Premaxillaries meeting in front at a very acute angle, so that the emarginate
front of the upper jaw receives the slender tip of the lower; fore part of
cheeks very deep, deeper than long; jaws toothless Alosa
GENUS POMOLOBUS EAFINESQUE
ALE WIVES
Body rather elongate, more or less compressed; belly sharp-edged,
strongly serrated before and behind ventrals; mouth terminal, oblique; jaws
about equal, the upper somewhat notched at tip; mandible shutting within
maxillaries; teeth feeble, variously placed; dorsal short, nearly median, its
posterior ray not prolonged in a filament; scales thin, cycloid. Species
numerous, mostly anadromous, inhabiting both northern and tropical seas;
one species found in fresh waters of the Mississippi Valley.
POMOLOBUS CHRYSOCHLORIS EAFINESQUE
GOLDEN SHAD; SKIPJACK; BLUE HERRING
Rafinesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 39.
J. & G., 266 (Clupea); M. V., 73 (Clupea); J. & E., I, 425; N., 44 (misspelled); J.,
55; F., 73 (Clupea); F. F., II. 7, 439; L,., 20.
Length 15 inches; body elongate, com-
pressed, greatest width somewhat less than
2^ in depjh in adults; depth 3.6 to 4.3;
depth caudal peduncle 1.4 to 1.6 in its
length. Color silvery to greenish with bluish
and golden reflections; back light olive-gray
with strong bluish luster; sides light olive-
green, shading to silvery white, with golden
w luster; belly opaque milk-white; no dark
FOG 13 spot behind opercle. Head pointed, 3.7 to
4 in length; width head 2.3 to 2.6 in its
length; interorbital space 5.8 *o 6.3 in head, less than eye; eye 4.5 to 5.9 in
head; adipose eyelid present; nose 4.3 to 5.2 in head, mouth large, terminal,
ALOSA SHAD 49
opening very high, lower jaw strongly projecting; maxillary past middle of
orbit, 2.2 to 2.4 in head; teeth feeble, a few on premaxillary and sometimes
some on lower jaw. Dorsal fin nearer muzzle than base of caudal, inserted
in front of ventrals, its rays 16; anal rays 18; pectorals 1.7 in head in adults,
little more than J^ to ventrals; ventrals less than half way to anal in
adults; pectorals with a double accessory scale above and with scaly sheath
below base; accessory ventral scale present. Scales 52-54, transverse series
14 or 15; ventral scutes 20+13.
The golden shad, or skipjack, is a beautiful, symmetrical
fish, shading from green to silvery, with rich golden reflections.
It ranges along the Gulf coast from Pensacola on the east to
Galveston on the south and west, and up the Mississippi and
Ohio rivers to Pittsburg and the larger streams of Kansas.
It is not a common fish in Illinois, and occurs but seven times
in our collections, all from Mississippi, Rock, and Illinois River
localities. It appears at Alton in small numbers in September,
two pounds being about the maximum weight. It is an active
fish, frequently leaping from the water in sport or in pursuit of
its prey — whence its name of skipjack. It is a predaceous
species, the young feeding on insects, and the adults on other
fishes.
GENUS ALOSA CUVIER
SHAD
Body quite deep and compressed; heau deep, the cheeks deeper than
long; jaws toothless; upper jaw with a shaip. deep notch at tip, the pre-
maxillaries meeting at a very acute angle; dorsa much nearer snout than
base of caudal; other characters as in Pomolobus, to which Alosa is closely
allied. North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, ascending rivers in spring;
species 4 or 5, 3 of them found in the Mississippi and its larger tributaries
north about to the latitude of St. Louis.
ALOSA OHIENSIS EVEEIIAXN
OHIO SHAD
Evermann, Rep. U. S. Fish Comm., 1901, p. 277.
Length 18 inches; body very long, slender, and much compressed;
dorsal and ventral outlines very gently and evenly arched; depth 3.6; caudal
peduncle very long, the distance from base of caudal to dorsal fin equaling
distance from that point to preopercle. Head 4.5 in length; eye 5.5; mouth
large; maxillary 2.1 in head, broad, reaching posterior border of eye; lower
jaw slightly projecting; gill-rakers 26+49=75. Dorsal rays 18; anal 18.
50 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Ohio River at Louisville, whence the types were obtained
by Dr. Evermann in 1897 and 1898.
FAMILY SALMONID/E
THE SALMON FAMILY
Body oblong or elongate, covered with cycloid scales; head naked;
lateral line present; skeleton bony; anterior vertebrae not modified; ventral
fins abdominal; dorsal fin about median; adipose fin present; caudal forked;
mesocoracoid present; gill-membranes free from isthmus; branchiostegals
10 to 20; pseudobranchige present; gill-rakers various; mouth terminal;
maxillary forming lateral margin of upper jaw; a supplemental maxillary
present: premaxillaries not protractile; teeth various, sometimes wanting;
stomach siphonal; pyloric caeca numerous; air-bladder large, with open
duct; ova large, falling into abdominal cavity before exclusion.
Fresh waters and seas of northern regions of Europe, Asia,
and America; many species anadromous; genera, 10; species
about 70; 5 genera found in fresh waters of the United States
and Canada.
Most of the species are of moderate or large size, and are
prized for their food qualities. Among them also are numbered
the choicest of all fresh-water game fishes. They are the best
adapted of all fishes to the purposes of artificial culture, which
in recent years has aided materially in keeping up their fisheries.
The fact that the eggs can be transported long distances in ice
without injury has made possible the introduction of American
and British forms into some of the temperate regions of the
southern hemisphere.
KEY TO THE GENERA OF SALMONID^E FOUND IN LAKE MICHIGAN AND
ADJACENT WATERS
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 moder-
ate, 60 to 95 in lateral line.
b. Mouth rather small; lower jaw usually included and overhung by the more
or less projecting snout; premaxillaries broad, with the cutting edge nearly
vertical or directed backward; gill-rakers on long limb of first arch usually
fewer than 30 and rather short Coregonus.
bb. Mouth larger, the lower jaw usually more or less projecting beyond upper;
premaxillaries rather narrow, with the cutting edge nearly horizontal and
directed forward; gill-rakers on long limb of first arch usually more than
35, long and slender Argyrosomus.
COREGOXDS — WHITEFISHES 51
Mouth deeply cleft, the lower jaw articulating with the quadrate bone behind
the eyes; strong teeth on jaws, vomer, palatines, and tongue; scales very
small, 175 to 230 in lateral line.
Vomer with a raised crest, extending backward from the head of the bone, free
from its shaft, and armed with strong teeth; hyoid bone with a broad band of
strong teeth; species grayish-spotted, without bright colors Cristi vomer.
Vomer without 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.
GENUS COREGONUS (AKTEDI) LINNAEUS
WHITEFISHES
Body more or less elongate, compressed; head conic, the snouth pro-
jecting; lower jaw usually included; premaxillaries broad, with the cutting
edge nearly vertical; jaws toothless or nearly so; gill-rakers usually rather
short; dorsal fin about median, of 11 to 14 rays; caudal deeply forked; scales
thin, cycloid; air-bladder very large; pyloric caeca about 100; vertebrae 56
to 60. Clear lakes of northern Europe, Asia, and America. Species about
15, of which 3 are found in the Great Lake region.
KEY TO SPECIES OF COREGONUS FOUXD IN LAKE MICHIGAN
a. Gill-rakers 17 to 20 on lower limb of first arch; maxillary about 4 in head,
about reaching pupil; body considerably compressed, the back arched in
front of dorsal fin clupeiformis.
aa. Gill-rakers 11 or 12 on lower limb of first arch; maxillary 4.8 to 5.5 in head,
not reaching eye; body long, slender, and roundish, not much elevated or
compressed quadrilateralis.
COREGONUS CLUPEIFORMIS (MITCHILL)
COMMON WHITEFISH
Mitchill, Amer. Month. Mag., II, 1818, 321 (Salmo).
J. & G., 299; M. V., 77; J. & E., I, 465; N., 44 (Argyrosomus) ; J., 54; F. F., I. 6, 95;
P., 73; L., 20.
Length 2 feet or more; body oblong, compressed, back always more
or less elevated, becoming notably so in the adult; depth in length 3 to 4.
Color olivaceous above; sides white, not silvery; lower fins sometimes dusky.
Head 5, comparatively small and short; interorbital space 3.4 in head; eye
4 to 5; nose 3.8 in head; tip of snout on level of lower edge of pupil; mouth
small, maxillary reaching past front of orbit, about 4 in head; lower jaw
included; gill-rakers .5 diameter of eye, usually about 10+17 to 19. Dorsal
rays 11; anal 11. Scales 8-74-9; lateral line continuous.
This is a northern species, occurring in vast abundance in
all the Great Lakes and in some of their tributary waters, and
ranging north to the Arctic Ocean. It was formerly abundant
in southwestern Lake Michigan within the limits of the State of
52 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Illinois, but is now taken from that part of the lake, if at all,
in very small numbers only. It is still much the most important
food species occurring within our territory, but reckless fishing
has reduced it to insignificance as an Illinois fish. The long-
shore fishery in this state, which as late as 1885 produced over
eighty thousand pounds per annum, yielded only some two
hundred pounds in 1899. Indeed, the total catch of the several
species of whitefish (Coregonus) in the Great Lakes, now gives
us only five million to eight million pounds a year as compared
with eighteen million pounds in 1885 and twenty-one million
pounds in 1879.
The record weight of a single whitefish is twenty-three
pounds — the weight of a specimen taken at White Fish Point,
Lake Superior. Its mean weight in northern Lake Michigan
is four or five pounds, and fishes weighing as much as fifteen
pounds are now very rare.
This is probably, on the whole, the favorite food-fish of our
inland waters In the words of Sir John Richardson, " Though
it is a fat fish, instead of producing satiety it becomes more
agreeable to the palate, and I know from experience that,
though deprived of bread and vegetables, one may live wholly
upon this fish for months, or even years, without tiring." It
is mainly eaten fresh, but it is also smoked or salted in con-
siderable quantities.
This species spends most of its time, as a rule, in the deeper
and cooler parts of the lakes which it inhabits, coming towards
the shore and sometimes entering streams in October and
November as the spawning season approaches. In many lakes
there is a migration movement from deep to shallow water in
early summer/ also. The whitefish spawns during October,
November, and December, in depths varying from eight to
fifteen fathoms, beginning, it is said, when the water reaches
about 40° F. It is most active on its spawning grounds in the
evening and at night, each female depositing several hundred
eggs at a time, and the total number averaging about ten
thousand for each pound of her weight.
The young usually appear in March and April, swimming
separately near the surface, and soon seeking deep water to
feed and to escape their enemies. Their first food consists
mainly of the smaller Entomostraca of the plankton, the capture
of which is facilitated by the presence, on the lower jaw of the
young fish, of four sharp strong teeth, the two anterior ones
ARGYROSOMUS — CISCOES 53
curved backwards and slightly inwards, and the posterior pair
much smaller and directed almost exactly inwards. These
teeth disappear as the fish grows up, the food changing likewise
until, in the adult, it consists mainly of small mollusks and
crustaceans, with larvae of insects and other animal forms.
The gill-rakers of the adult are of a size and number to enable
it to separate from the water organisms as small as Entomostraca,
and where these are abundant they make a large percentage
of the food. The general character of the contents of the
stomach indicates, however, that the fish feeds habitually at
the bottom, as might indeed be inferred from the character of its
mouth. In aquaria it has been forced to feed on small fish in
winter, and has learned to pursue and seize its prey much as a
trout would do.
It is caught mainly in gill- and pound-nets from April to
the end of December. It is not properly an angler's fish,
although where abundant it may be taken on the hook with a
bait of worms or insect larvae. Fortunately for the future of
the species, this valuable and popular food-fish is one of those
best adapted to artificial propagation. Females are adult in
three or four years, and 75 to 95 per cent, of their eggs yield
the young in the hatchery.
A single other species of the genus Coregonus (C. quadri-
lateralis, the round or Menominee whitefish) is taken in Lake
Michigan, though much more rarely than the common white-
fish. A sufficient characterization of this species will be found
in the key to the species of Coregonus preceding.
GENUS ARGYROSOMUS AGASSIZ
Close to Coregonus, from- which it differs chiefly in the larger mouth
and more produced jaws, the premaxillaries being placed nearly horizontally,
and the lower jaw projecting decidedly beyond them; gill-rakers very long
and slender; dorsal fin of 9 to 12 rays; caudal forked; scales, etc., as in Core-
gonus] vertebrae 55. Fresh waters of northern Europe, Asia, and North
America. Species numerous; about 6 known from the Great Lake region
of the United States.
54 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
KEY TO SPECIES OF ARGYROSOMUS FOUND IN LAKE MICHIGAN
a. Body elongate, herring-shaped, depth usually considerably more than 3%
(Sl/2 to 4%); scales 73 to 90 in longitudinal series, uniform in shape and size,
the free edges convex.
b. Lower flns pale or merely tipped with dusky; scales punctulate with dark
specks.
c. Eye large, not much, if any, shorter than snout, its length 3% to 4% in head.
d. Maxillary 3% to 3% in head; lower jaw projecting beyond upper; gill-rakers
long and numerous, usually about 47 on first gill-arch (15 to 19 + 30
to 38) artedi.
dd. Maxillary 2% to 3 in head; lower jaw scarcely projecting or not at all; gill-
rakers usually not more than 39 or 40 on first gill-arch (14 + 25 or 26).. .hoyi.
cc. Eye small, shorter than snout, about 5 in head; maxillary very long, 2y2 in
head; mandible reaching usually to posterior edge of orbit, half as long
as head prognathus.
bb. Lower fins all blue-black; body stout; mouth large; gill-rakers at least 50 on
the first arch (17 + 33) nigripinnis.
aa. Body short, deep, and compressed, the curve of the back similar to that of
the belly; depth 3 to 3% in length; scales 67 to 74, larger forward and
closely imbricated, the free margin often concave or notched tullibee.
ARGYROSOMUS ARTEDI (Li; SUEUH)
LAKE HERRING; Cisco
Le Sueur, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., I, 1818, 231 (Coregonus).
G., VI, 198 and 199 (Coregonus harengus and clupeiformis) ; J. & G., 301 (Coreg-
onus); M. V., 78 (Coregonus); J. & E., I, 468; N., 44 (clupeiformis); J.. 54
(Coregonus); F., 73 (Coregonus); F. F., II. 7, 436 (Coregonus); L., 20.
Length 12 inches; body elongate, compressed, not elevated; depth 4^4
in length. Color bluish black or greenish above; sides silvery, scales with
dark specks; fins mostly pale, the lower dusky-tinged. Head 4^ m length,
compressed, somewhat pointed and rather long, the distance from occiput
to tip of snout usually a little less than half the distance from occiput to
dorsal fin; interorbital space 33^ in head; eye 4 to 4^; nose 4; mouth rather
large, the maxillary reaching not quite to the middle of the pupil, 3*4 to 3^
in head; the mandible 2^£ in head, slightly projecting; gill-rakers very long
and slender, 15 to 17+28 to 34, the longest 1% in eye. Dorsal rays 10;
anal 12. Scales 8-75 to 90-7, 10 rows under base of dorsal; lateral line
continuous.
Great Lakes and neighboring waters, including Lake Cham-
plain; north to James Bay, but not in Alaska or Arctic America;
abundant in Lake Michigan.
This is by far the most abundant food-fish of the Great
Lakes, the catch of 1899 aggregating nearly sixty million pounds,
about a third of it from Lake Michigan. The commonest
name of the species, it scarcely need be said, is a misnomer, as
this is properly a whitefish and not a herring. It should be
CR1STIVOMER — GEEAT LAKE TROUT 55
generally known by the much more distinctive name of cisco,
already frequently used for it but now commonly limited to a
variety of the species found in the smaller lakes of Wisconsin
and of Indiana, but not in those of Illinois.
In food and habits it is similar to the common whitefish,
although it is notorious for its enormous destruction of the
spawn of the latter, upon whose multiplication, in view of its
own greater abundance and the rapidly decreasing supply of
whitefish, it must place a serious check. Like the whitefish it
spends the summer and the winter in the deeper water of its
habitat, moving shorewards in spring evidently in search of
food, and again in fall for the deposit of its spawn, which takes
place chiefly in November. Its eggs are laid in shallow water/
preferably upon a sandy bottom, although it sometimes spawns
on the mud along the borders of the shallower waters of the
lakes and in the mouths of their tributary streams.
It is caught with gill-nets in shallow water from April to
the last of May, but the larger part of the catch is obtained by
pound-nets. Up to 1899 it seems to have withstood successfully
the enormous drain of our fisheries, the yield of that year being
more than double that of 1885, while the catch of whitefish, on
the other hand, had diminished to less than a third.
In addition to the common lake herring, four other species
of the genus Argyrosomus (A. hoyi, the mooneye cisco; A.
prognathus, the longjaw; A. nigripinnis, the bluefin; and A.
tullibee, the tullibee) are more or less commonly taken in Lake
Michigan. None of these species is as abundant as the lake
herring (A. artedi), however, and none, unless the bluefin, is
taken at all frequently in southern Lake Michigan, within the
limits of this state. For purposes of the present report all of
these species are sufficiently characterized in the key to the
species of Argyrosomus preceding.
GENUS CRISTIVOMER GILL & JORDAN
GREAT LAKE TROUT
Body moderately elongate; mouth large; hyoid with a band of strong
teeth; vomer boat-shaped, with a raised crest behind the head and free from
its shaft, this crest being armed with teeth; caudal little forked; scales very
small.
56 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
CRISTIVOMER NAMAYCUSH (WALBAUM)
GREAT LAKE TROUT
Walbaum, 1792, Artedi Piscium, 68 (Salmo).
G., VI, 123 (Salmo); J. & G., 317 (Salvelinus) ; M. V., 80 (Salvelinus) ; J. & E., I,
504; N., 44 (Salmo); J., 54; F., 73 (Salvelinus); L., 21.
Length 3 feet; body elongate, depth 4 in length. General coloration
dark grayish green to brownish, sometimes paler, sometimes almost black;
everywhere with rounded paler spots, which are often yellowish or reddish
tinged; head usually vermiculate above; dorsal and caudal reticulate with
darker, the anal faintly so. Head 4^ long, and its upper surface flattened;
eye 43/£ in head; interorbital space 8^5; nose 8^5; mouth very large, the
maxillary extending much beyond eye, nearly half length of head; teeth very
strong. Dorsal rays 11; anal 11; caudal well forked. Scales very small, 185
to 210 in longitudinal series; lateral line continuous, pores about 100.
This magnificent species, one of the three most important
fishes of our Great Lakes is, like the whitefish, a species of
northern distribution. It is found throughout the Great Lake
region, and in the lakes of New York, New Hampshire, and
Maine, thence to the headwaters of the Columbia and Fraser
rivers and the streams of Vancouver Island, and northward to
the arctic circle. It is common in the northern part of Lake
Michigan, but rarer to the southward. In our Illinois markets
it is known almost wholly by the name of lake trout, but farther
north the names of Mackinaw trout, salmon-trout, and namay-
cush are sometimes used. It is extremely variable in size, form,
and color, particularly under the influence of local conditions,
and hence has received many local names.
Although the usual weight of specimens taken in large-
meshed gill-nets is about eight pounds, and of those captured
with lines and seines not more than two pounds, the species is
said by Goode to attain a weight of a hundred and twenty
pounds, which is eight times the maximum size of the closely
allied brook trout. "This is due, perhaps," he says, uto the
greater ease with which, for hundreds of generations, the lake
trout have obtained their food. They are almost always found
in the same lakes with one or more kinds of whitefish, whose
slow helpless movements render them an easy prey, and upon
whose tender luscious flesh the lake trout feeds voraciously."
This trout is a fish of highly predaceous habit, living especially
upon lake herring of all sizes, but eating, in an emergency,
almost any animal food which comes in its way.
CRISTIVOMER — GREAT LAKE TROUT 57
A lake trout twenty-three inches long has been known to
swallow a burbot of a length of seventeen inches, and whitefish
of two or three pounds weight are not infrequently taken from
the stomachs of large trout. A twenty-pound trout caught
off Beaver Island, in northern Lake Michigan, had thirteen
herring in its stomach. ''They are as omnivorous," says
Goode, "as codfish, and among the articles which have been
found in their stomachs may be mentioned an open jack-knife
seven inches long, tin cans, rags, raw potatoes, chicken and ham
bones, salt pork, corn-cobs, spoons, silver dollars, a watch and
chain, and, in one instance, a piece of tarred rope two feet
long." Most of this debris was doubtless taken while the fish
were following steamers.
The greater part of the year is spent by this fish in deep
water, but in the spawning season it approaches the shore,
depositing its eggs late in October, usually on rocky bottoms,
at depths varying from seven feet to fifteen fathoms. Mr.
Milner found nearly fifteen thousand eggs in a lake trout of
twenty-four pounds weight. The young appear in late winter
or early spring.
Lake trout are taken chiefly in pound- and gill-nets during
their spawning season — that is, in September, October, and
November — but they are also caught in deep water from the
time the ice breaks up until late fall. They may be readily
taken with a hook baited with a piece of fish, but they are not
sufficiently "game" to reward the patient angler with a " first-
class fight."
The value of the lake-trout fishery is second only to that of
the whitefish in the Great Lake region. The product of Lake
Michigan alone in 1899, was five and a half million pounds.
The species has been propagated artificially to a considerable
extent, particularly in Michigan, where the Northville hatchery
recently handled over eleven million eggs in a single year, about
70 per cent, of them successfully.
—13 F
58 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
ORDER APODES
THE EELS
Body eel-shaped; skeleton bony; vertebrae numerous, the anterior ones
distinct, without Weberian ossicles: ventral fins absent; all fins without spines;
pectoral arch, if present, not connected with, and remote from, the skull;
mesocoracoid absent; opercular bones small and concealed; premaxillaries
absent maxillaries persistent in some forms (Anguillidce) ; air-bladder, if
present, communicating with oesophagus by an open duct.
The eels are elongate serpentine fishes, mostly with naked
skin, or with extremely small imbedded scales. Their origin is
unknown. They show some kinship with the Isospondyli (shad-
and herring-like forms), from which they may have sprung by
degradation, though this is by no means certain. The forms
without paired fins are mostly marine. There are several
families, of which one is represented in American fresh waters.
FAMILY ANGUILLIDCE
THE TRUE EELS
Body serpentine, or eel-shaped, covered with very fine scales which are
deeply imbedded in the skin; head naked; lateral line present; skeleton
osseous; vertebrae numerous, the anterior ones not modified; ventral fins
absent; no spines in fins; dorsal and anal continuous with caudal around tail,
which is isocercal (i. e., with the caudal vertebrae decreasing in size in a
straight line backwards, as in the Anacanthini) ; mesocoracoid absent; gill-
openings much restricted, about as wide as the base of the pectorals; oper-
culum small, concealed beneath skin; mouth terminal; jaws about equal;
premaxillaries absent; maxillaries ateral, separated on median line by the
coalesced ethmoid and vomer; maxillary, mandible, and vomer with cardi-
form teeth; air-bladder with open duct; young passing through a larval
stage, the ribbon-shaped larva being known as Leptocephalus (a name first
used to designate these forms as a distinct genus of fishes).
Fresh and brackish waters of most parts of the world, but
not found on Pacific coast of North America or in islands of
the Pacific. A single genus known.
ANGUILLA — EELS 59
GENUS ANGUILLA SHAW
EELS
Characters included in description of the family. Species not numer-
ous and those known not very well distinguished from each other, A. anguilla
of Europe, A. chrysypa of the eastern United States, and A. japonica of east
Asia being very closely allied.
ANGUILLA CHRYSYPA EAFINESQUE
AMERICAN EEL; FRESH- WATER EEL
Rafinesque, 1817, Amer. Month. Mag. & Grit. Rev., 120.
G., VIII, 31 (bostoniensis); J. & G., 361 (rostrate); M. V., 90 (anguilla); J. & E.,
I, 348; N., 51 (vulgaris var. rostrate); J., 68 (rostrate); F., 71 (rostrtata); L... 20.
Length 3 to 4 feet, weight 5 to 8 Ib; body serpentine, subcylindrical
anteriorly, compressed behind; depth in length 12 to 17. Color variable,
usually nearly plain greenish brown, often more or less tinged with yellow-
ish; belly paler, greenish gray. Head 7 or 8 in length, 2 to 2.5 in trunk
(distance from gill-openings to front of anal); interorbital space 5 to 7 in
head; eye 2 to 2.8; a single pair of short nasal barbels; mouth wide, maxillary
past orbit, lips thin, and lower jaw projecting; gill-membranes very broadly
joined across isthmus, the gill-openings confined to the sides of the neck
below top of pectoral basis; jaws with bands of cardiform teeth; vomer
toothed. Dorsal fin inserted about head's length in front of anal, its dis-
tance from snout about 3 in length; dorso-caudal with about 60 rays to tip
of tail; pectorals very short, 3 in head; no ventrals. Scales minute*, oblong,
slender, and deeply imbedded, the oblique rows taking a zigzag direction;
lateral line developed, nearly straight.
Atlantic and Gulf coasts and West Indies, ascending rivers ;
not in the Pacific; found throughout the Mississippi Valley; in
all the larger streams of Illinois. Taken regularly in small
numbers from the Illinois River at Havana from deep water.
The eel reaches a length of 3 to 4 feet and a weight of 4 to
6 Ib. A majority of those taken are between 2% and 3 feet long.
A specimen 34 inches long recently caught at Havana weighed
3^ pounds.
Eels prefer deep water with mud bottom. They are often
found in the mouths of shallow sloughs at night, and in such
places may be taken along with bullheads on trot-lines. They
are powerful and rapid swimmers, and can travel rapidly over
the ground, like snakes. They have been known to come up
* In a specimen 2^ fest long 150 scales were counted on one square inch of surface of side of
body, half way between tip of tail and vent.
GO FISHES OF ILLINOIS
out of the water into damp meadows, where they are some-
times found hiding under stones near springs.
They are among the most voracious of all carnivorous
fishes, but are chiefly scavengers in their feeding habits, eating
all manner of refuse, preferring, however, dead fish .or other
animal matter. They sometimes devour fishes caught in gill-
nets, and on the Atlantic coast frequently mutilate shad, caught
in the net, to get at their roe. It is said by Jordan and Ever-
mann that it frequently happens that the greater part of a gill-
net catch may consist, when it is removed, simply of the heads
and backbones of fishes, the remainder having been devoured
by myriads of eels. They are nocturnal feeders, " poking their
noses into every imaginable hole in their search for food. " An
eel in our aquarium at Ottawa, sought its food only at night,
and hid by day under a stone on the bottom of the tank.
The flesh of the eel is highly esteemed by many, and it
always brings a good price. In the Great Lake region and in
the East eels are often salted and smoked. They are also put
up in tins with jellies or a spiced sauce of vinegar. Their skins
are used in England for binding books and making whips. Eels
are caught in traps and eel-pots and on set-lines, and some-
times also with seines.
The mode of reproduction and the development of their
young were unsolved riddles from the time of Aristotle to near
the end of the nineteenth century, but all essential facts in the
life history of the species are now well understood. The principal
difficulty arose from the fact that the eel, although a fresh-water
fish during the greater part of its life, migrates to the sea to
propagate, spawning in salt water, usually on muddy banks off
the mouths of rivers. The young develop within two or three
months, but they are so unlike the adults that they were not
recognized as belonging even to the same genus. Spawning
occurs in fall, and at the beginning of the second spring the
young find their way to the mouths of rivers, which they ascend
in considerable numbers, remaining in fresh water until full
grown, when they return to the sea. During this migration,
eels, like salmon and shad, do not take any food. Their sexual
organs do not mature until they have been some weeks in salt
water. After spawning both sexes die, neither males nor females
ever returning to fresh water the second time. The eel is re-
markably prolific, a single female 32 inches long having been
estimated to produce 10,700,000 eggs.
ORDER EVEXTOGNATHI — THE CARP-LIKE FISHES 61
ORDER EVENTOGNATHI
THE CARP-LIKE FISHES
Skeleton osseous; anterior vertebrae modified, with Weberian appa-
ratus; fins without spines in typical forms; ventral fins abdominal; pectoral
arch suspended from the skull; a mesocoracoid present; opercular bones all
present; branchiostegals few, usually 3 or 4; air-bladder with open duct;
jaws without teeth. Species exceedingly numerous, in all of the streams
and lakes of the northern hemisphere.
KEY TO FAMILIES OF EVENTOGNATHI FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Dorsal fins of more than 25 rays, or shorter and the lips thickened and covered
with plicate or papillose skin; pharyng-eal teeth numerous and comb-like
Catostomidae.
aa. Dorsal fin of not more than 10 rays; lips usually thin, never plicate or papil-
lose; pharyngeal teeth fewer than 8 on a side, in 1 to 3 rows Cyprinidae.
FAMILY CATOSTOMIDAE
THE SUCKERS
Body oblong or elongate, usually more or less compressed, covered with
large or small cycloid scales; head naked; lateral line usually present: belly
not serrated; skeleton osseous; anterior 4 vertebrae modified and provided
with ^yeberian apparatus or ossicula auditus; fins without spines; ventrals
abdominal; no adipose fin; tail more or less forked; a mesocoracoid arch
present; gill-membranes more or less united to the isthmus, restricting the
gill-openings to the sides; pseudobranchiae present; branchiostegals 3; margin
of upper jaw formed in the middle by the small premaxillaries, and on the
sides by the maxillaries; jaws toothless; lower pharyngeal bones falciform,
armed with a sing e row of numerous comb-like teeth; mouth usually pro-
tractile and with fleshy lips (sucker-like); alimentary canal long; stomach
simple: no pyloric caeca; air-bladder large, divided into 2 or 3 parts by trans-
verse constrictions, not surrounded by a bony capsule, communicating with
oesophagus by a slender open duct.
One of the most striking characteristics of the fish fauna of
Illinois, and indeed of the whole Mississippi Valley, is the prom-
inence of the sucker family, which includes, within the limits
of this state, eight genera and fifteen recognized species, several
of them among the most abundant and most generally distributed
of our larger fishes.
62 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
The family is found in the fresh waters of North America at
large, in which about 15 genera and 60 species occur; and there
are 2 species also in eastern Asia. They range in length from 6
inches to 3 feet. The suckers have usually been regarded by
European writers as a subfamily of Cyprinidce, from which they
differ chiefly in the structure of the mouth and the lower pharyn-
geal bones. They are generally of sluggish habit and, as a rule,
prefer water of good depth and little current, but some of them
may be found in almost every stream and pond within their
range. Their spring migration is familiar to all fishermen, and
to many who do not fish, all of our species running up the
smaller streams in May or June to deposit their eggs. The males
of most species develop black or red pigment on the body and
fins in spring, and in many kinds peculiar wart-like tubercles,
called pearl organs, appear at this season on the head, fins, and
caudal peduncle.
The suckers are, on the whole, an unusually homogeneous
group as represented in Illinois, not only agreeing in the character
of their feeding structures which gives them their common
name, but unusually similar also in their movements, habits,
modes of life, and places of most frequent resort. They feed,
without exception, on the bottom of the waters they inhabit,
and commonly on substantially the same kinds of food, differing
somewhat in respect to the places in which they seek it. The
buffalo-fishes, for example, are from 2^ to 3 times as abundant
in our collections from the bottom-land lakes as they would be
if they had been equally distributed throughout all waters. In
other words, the frequency coefficient of one of the two buffaloes
is 2.26 for lowland lakes and that of the other is 2.93. On the
other hand, the common sucker, the chub-sucker, and the striped
sucker show a decided preference for the smaller streams, their
coefficients of frequency in creeks being 4.27, 3.41, and 3.17 for
the three species respectively. The most marked departure
from the average habit of the family is made by the hogsucker,
or stone-roller (Catostomus nigricans), which especially frequents
swift water on rocky stretches of the larger streams, filling there
the place which the darters occupy in creeks and brooks.
Notwithstanding these divergencies in local distribution, the
family as a whole forms a rather definite ecological group, as is
shown especially by the frequency with which representatives of
the several species are found in company in the same situations
and appear together, consequently, in our collections. The
CATOSTOMID.E — THE SUCKERS 63
average frequency of this joint occurrence of the species of
suckers and buffaloes in collections is decidedly greater, accord-
ing to our experience, .than the corresponding average for the
darters or the sunfish, being represented, for suckers, by the
general coefficient of 2.45, for darters by 2.02, and for sunfish —
that is, the Centrarchidce exclusive of the black bass — by 1.87.
When full grown, the majority of the species are safe from
any enemies of their kind which the water contains, but their
survival to adult age is dependent on their fortune in escaping
from a host of predaceous and voracious fishes against which
they have no defense, and to whose depredations their haunts
and habits freely expose them. In the food of 1,221 Illinois
fishes, representing 87 species, studied by the senior author
during the dozen years preceding 1888, suckers and buffalo-fish
were found most frequently in the food of the pike, but occurred
also in that of dogfish, bullheads, sheepsheads, and sunfish.
The sucker family would evidently suffer much more severely,
however, if it were not for the presence in the waters they in-
habit of the gizzard-shad, more abundant, and probably more
accessible to pike and other predaceous fishes, than are either
suckers or young buffaloes. It is an interesting illustration of
the way in which companion species having little or nothing to
do with each other directly may nevertheless greatly influence
each others' welfare, that while 20 pike out of 37 had eaten
gizzard-shad, which made, in fact, nearly half the food of the
entire number, only 3 per cent, of their food came from the sucker
family, and this had been eaten only by three of the pike.
Examining the other side of the food relation, we find that
the food of this family itself, as illustrated by a careful study of
the stomach contents of 109 specimens, belonging to five genera
and eleven species, consisted mainly of the smaller mollusks
living in the mud and larvae of aquatic insects, the two being
about equal in ratio and together making more than three fourths
of the entire food. Vegetation contributed less than 10 per cent,
to the mass examined, and no element of this class was especially
prominent.
The structures of alimentation vary noticeably in definite
directions as one passes along the series from the most cylindrical
suckers to the thin and deep-bodied buffalo and carp. In the
former the pharyngeal bones are heavy, and the lower teeth are
thick and strong, usually with a well-developed grinding surface,
while the gill-rakers are short, thick, and few, and the intestine is
64 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
comparatively short and large. As the body deepens, the pharyn-
geal bones become longer, the pharyngeal teeth smaller and more
numerous, with diminished grinding surface; the gill-rakers are
longer and more numerous, making a more effective straining
apparatus, and the intestines become longer and smaller. Cor-
responding to these differences of structure, mollusks form a
larger percentage of the food of the cylindrical suckers, and
Entomostraca and vegetable food a very much greater part of
that of the deep-bodied species. All the species commonly
swallow much mud, since they collect most of their food from
the bottom by suction, to which their protractile mouths and
fleshy lips are peculiarly adapted.
As food fishes they do not hold a high place, the flesh being
rather coarse, dry, and either flavorless or strong, and always pro-
vokingly full of small bones. The buffalo and sucker fishery is
nevertheless an important one in the Mississippi Valley and the
Great Lake region. (See under Ictiobus.) Of the 15 species
found in the waters of the Illinois alone, about one third have
a greater or less commercial value.
KEY TO THE GENERA OF CATOSTOMID^E FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Dorsal fin elongate, with 25 to 40 developed rays.
b. Posterior fontanelle almost obliterated by the union of the parietals; head
small and slender, its length 6 to 7 times in body; lips with several series
of tubercle-like papillse Cycleptus.
bb. Posterior fontanelle well developed, extending forward between frontals a
distance equal to more than % of their length; head 3% to 5 times in body;
lips plicate, striate, or smooth
c. No anterior fontanelle, the frontals being closely joined with the ethmoid;
cheek somewhat shallow and foreshortened, distance from eye to lower
posterior angle of preopercle about % of that to upper corner of gill-cleft;
subopercle broadest at its middle, subsemicircular Ictiobus.
cc. Anterior fontanelle well developed, separating anterior edges of frontals and
notching ethmoid; cheek relatively deep and long, eye about equidistant
between upper corner of gill-cleft and infra-posterior angle of preopercle;
subopercle broadest below its middle, subtriangular Carpiodes.
aa. Dorsal fin short, with 10 to 18 developed rays.
d. Lateral line more or less incomplete or wholly wanting; scales large and uni-
formly distributed, 30 to 50 in lateral line.
e. Lateral line entirely wanting at all ages Erimyzon.
ee. Lateral line more or less developed in adults Minytrema.
dd. Lateral line complete and continuous.
f. Scales small and crowded anteriorly, the number in the lateral line 55 to 110
(except in C. nigricans, for which see below ff) Catostomus.
ff. Scales large and nearly equal all over the body, 40 to 55 in the lateral line.
g. Air-bladder in two parts; scales 48 to 55 in lateral line
Catostomus (Hypentelium) nigricans.
gg. Air-foladder in three parts; scales larger, 40 to 50 in lateral line.
h. Upper lip protractile, lower entire or incised only part way to anterior margin.
i. Pharyngeal teeth compressed; mouth wholly inferior Moxostoma.
ii. Lower pharyngeal teeth much enlarged, subcylindrical and truncate; mouth
somewhat oblique, lips very thick Placopharynx.
hh. Upper lip not protractile; lower lip in two separate lobes Lagochila.
c-
_o
fi
S|
11
*
CYCLEPTUS 65
GENUS CYCLEPTUS RAFINESQUE
Body elongate, little compressed, caudal peduncle very long; head very
small, short and slender; mouth small, inferior; lips tuberculate. The
skeleton is remarkable for deficiencies of ossification and other features
which may indicate affinity with a primitive catostomoid stock. Forward
portion of chondrocranium strongly developed, the trabeculse fusing anteriorly
into a broad and thick ethmoid plate, which is continuous in front with the
bulbular cartilages of the end of the vomer, and above with the broad girdle-
like tegmen cranii; bones of skull somewhat heavy, their exposed surfaces
more or less rough; prefrontals, meso- and ento-pterygoids very spongy,
and other bones subject in varying degrees to incompleteness of ossification;
sutures very distinct, never close and strongly joined, with cartilage between
the edges of the articulating elements in many instances; configuration of
roofing bones of brain case and orbits much as in Ictiobus; nasal foramen
closed externally by a sieve-like plate; a small supraorbital bone intervening
between lateral wings of prefrontal and frontal; posterior fontanelle repre-
sented by a small opening at intercalation of supraoccipital and frontals;
anterior fontanelle present, notching ethmoid and extending a short distance
backward between frontals; sub- and inter -operculum and branchiostegals
rather small; pharyngeal bones narrow and spongy, the teeth from 25 to 35
in number, the lower ones somewhat compressed but strong, the remaining
teeth weak, diminishing rapidly in size upward; vertebrae 49 in number, rather
heavy and poorly sculptured; ribs 13, short and weak; floating pairs 14, very
slender and thread-like, their parapophyses (vertebrae 17 to 30) short and
stout and similar in form and size, with distal extremities expanded and their
free margins crenate; air-bladder in two parts, the posterior very long and
slender and much tapered behind, furnished interiorly with a spiral band of
supporting cartilage; dorsal rays about 30, the first rays elongated, about half
the length of the fin; scales elongate, with a broad membranous posterior
border; lateral line complete, a peculiar and conspicuous membranous area
about the posterior terminus of each tube. Mississippi Valley; one species
known.
CYCLEPTUS ELONGATUS (LE SUEUR)
MISSOURI SUCKER; BLACK-HORSE
Le Sueur, 1817, J. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., I, 103 (Catostomus).
G., VII, 23 (Sclerognathus); J. & G.( 121; M. V., 46; J. & E., I, 168; N., 50; J., 64;
P., 81; L., 12.
Body elongate, little compressed and the back little elevated, depth
4 to 5 in length. Size large; length 2^ feet. Color dark, bluish black about
head; fins dusky to black; spring males almost black, the head covered with
small tubercles. Head very small and slender, conic, its length 5.8 to 6.4,
width 8.2 to 8.8, depth 8.1 to 8.5 in length of body; snout fleshy, tapering
to the bluntly pointed muzzle, which extends considerably beyond the
decidedly inferior mouth; distance from eye to muzzle 2 to 2.2 in head;
mouth small, its width from 5.8 to 6 in head; lips rather thick, protractile
66 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
almost directly downward, each furnished with 5 or 6 rows of strongly de-
veloped tubercle-like papilla?; lower lip incised behind; eye very small, located
a little back of center of head, 6 to 8.3 in its length; interorbital space convex,
about 2 in head. Dorsal rays 31 to 32, the first two developed rays elevated
to about % the length of base of fin, the succeeding rays rapidly shortened
to about the eighth, the remaining rays all low and of about equal height;
position of dorsal well forward, the distance from insertion of fin to muzzle
2.2 to 2.4 in length of body; caudal deeply forked, the lobes about equal.
Scales 9 or 10, 55-58, 8-10, much longer than broad, much crowded on nape,
breast, and belly, and at base of dorsal fin; lateral line complete.
This peculiar species, the only one of its genus, is confined
to the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers. It is reported abundant
at Pittsburgh, but is not common in the Mississippi above the
latitude of Quincy. It is frequently taken in spring at Cairo
and at Grafton, on the Mississippi, and in the lower part of
Rock River, but it disappears from the product of the fisheries,
except for an occasional specimen, about the last of June, as
soon as the spring run is over. It is also caught in spring in
considerable quantities in the Illinois River, but much less
abundantly now than in former years. To Illinois and Missis-
sippi River fishermen in this state it is commonly known as the
Missouri sucker, or occasionally as the black sucker. The
name "black-horse" we have not found in current use.
It reaches a length of 2 or 2^ feet, and Ashlock reports
specimens taken at Alton of a weight of 16 pounds. As a food
fish it is the best of the suckers. It is caught on set-lines as well
as in fyke-nets and with seines. Its habits are but little known,
but it apparently lives in the deeper water of the river channels,
except during the spawning migration. Eggs are deposited
in May and June.
GENUS ICTIOBUS EAPINESQUB
Body robust, compressed, both dorsal and ventral outlines curved; head
rather large; mouth terminal or slightly inferior; lips thin, plain or more or
less strongly plicate, the upper protractile, the lower lobed at corners of
mouth, plicate. The generally heavier bones, with more or less roughened
surfaces, and the different configuration of certain cranial elements (see key
to genera of Catostomidce) in Ictiobus furnish the most reliable means of dis-
tinction between this genus and Carpiodes. Frontals joined closely with
ethmoid, obliterating anterior fontanelle, posterior fontanelle large, some-
what narrowed forward, its posterior margin formed by the supraoccipital;
a supraorbital bone present; suboperculum symmetrically rounded, sub-
semicircular, broadest at its middle; cheek shorter and not so deep as in
Carpiodes, the lower posterior border of the preopercle a gentle curve, the.
ICTIOBUS 67
eye evidently closer to the angle of the preopercle than to the upper corner
of the gill-cleft; pharyngeal bones broad, but thin and weak, the teeth short
and compressed; vertebra? 36; air-bladder in two parts; dorsal fin long, with
from 25 to 30 rays, the anterior rays produced, about Yi the length of base
of fin, scales roundish; lateral line complete; color rather dark, never silvery;
sexual differences slight.
Mississippi and Ohio rivers and their larger tributaries; three
species known, all of them common to our larger streams. These
fishes are the largest in size of the Catostomidce, not infrequently
reaching a length of 3 feet and a weight of 50 pounds. The name
" buffalo-fish " refers to the bull-like hump at the nape in old indi-
viduals. The relationships of these fishes with the carp are re-
mote. The view, not uncommon among fishermen, that carp and
buffalo interbreed is not supported by any facts in our knowledge,
and is probably based solely on the superficial* resemblance of the
buffalo and the carp in the form of the body and of the dorsal fin.
The species are gregarious and nocturnal, coming out at
night on bars not frequented by them by day, and where they
may be readily reached by the seine. Fishermen report that
they move into lakes in cold weather, spending the winter as
much as possible in weedy water. They are said to dig holes in
the bottom, like the European carp. This genus includes closely
related species of identical general distribution in Illinois, but dif-
fering noticeably in respect to the structures of food selection, and
likewise to some extent in situations preferred, one of the more
abundant species especially (bubalus) habitually occurring in
deeper water than the other. In the red-mouth buffalo (cypri-
nella) the pharyngeal jaws are lighter than in bubalus, their teeth
have a smaller grinding surface, and the gill-rakers are longer
and more numerous.
The feeding habits of the buffaloes, like those of all the fishes
inhabiting 'the muddy waters of central Illinois, are difficult of
observation, but several fishermen and other river men have re-
ported to us that these fishes have the habit of whirling around in
shallow water, or plowing steadily along with their heads buried
in the mud, their bodies in an oblique position, and their tails
occasionally showing above the surface. These operations have
nothing to do with the act of spawning, and probably indicate a
search for small mollusks and insect larvae living in the mud.
Buffaloes breed in the spring, depositing their eggs in great num-
* The presence of the conspicuous maxillary barbels in the carp, entirely wanting in the
buffalo and the heavy serrated dorsal spine of the carp — all fins of the buffalo being spineless
— are sufficient marks of distinction.
68 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
bers near the edges of sloughs. Fishermen on the Illinois say
that their set-nets become coated with eggs when spawning is in
progress. All species spawn early, ordinarily in April. Mosher
(Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., 1885, p. 190) has described their spawn-
ing behavior. They proceed shoreward in shallow water to de-
posit their eggs, each female forming the center of a bunch of 3
to 8 males. The oviposition is attended with a tremendous
splashing, which on a still evening may be heard a mile. The
people call it tumbling; in fact it is a sight which once seen
will never be forgotten.
Buffaloes form a large part of the fish catch in the Missis-
sippi Valley, 11,491,000 Ib having been taken from the Missis-
sippi and its tributaries in 1903. The annual product of the
Illinois River and its tributary streams, although decreasing
considerably during the past twenty years, is now about 3,000,-
000 Ib. The flesh of the buffalo, while perhaps superior to that
of the carp, is not much more esteemed, and brings a low price.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF ICTIOBUS FOUXD ix ILLIXOIS
a. Mouth large, oblique, upper lip about on level with lower margin of orbit,
angle of mandible with horizontal more than 40°; maxillary as long as snout;
lips thin and nearly smooth cyprinella.
aa. Mouth smaller, little oblique, level of upper lip about midway between chin
and lower margin of orbit, angle of mandible with horizontal slight, less
than 20°; maxillary not 'more than % length of snout; lips more or less
coarsely striate.
b. Back scarcely elevated, depth 3 to S1^ in length urus.
bb. Back elevated and compressed, depth 2% to 2% in length bubalus.
ICTIOBUS CYPRINELLA (Ctmra & VALENCIENNES)
RED-MOUTH BUFFALO; BIG-MOUTH BUFFALO
(MAP IX)
Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1844, XVII, 477 (Sclerognathus).
G., VII, 24 (Sclerognathus); J. & G., 114 (bubalus); M. V., 44; J. & E., I, 163; X.,
49 (bubalus); J., 65 (bubalus); F., 82; F. F., I. 2, 81 (bubalus), II. 7, 451 (cypri-
nellus); L., 11.
Body elliptical, robust, dorsal outline but little more curved than ven-
tral; body compressed somewhat more above than below median axis, but
nowhere keeled, being rather broadly rounded at belly and nape; greatest
depth from 2.8 to 3.3 in length, usually 3. Size large, reaching a length of
2^2 feet and a weight of 40 Ib. General coloration a dull brownish olive,
never silvery, fins dusky. In breeding dress top of head slate with a tinge
of greenish, cheeks and opercles olive-green; upper part of body, except in
front of dorsal, of a coppery tint ; region of median axis a pale green ; ventral
ICTIOBUS
69
FIG. 14
region white dulled with bluish; predorsal region and upper part of caudal
peduncle slate; dorsal and caudal fins drab-gray; anal dusky olive; ventrals
lighter; pectorals dull white under olive. Head large and heavy, its length
from 3.3 to 3.7, depth 3.9 to 4.2, width 4.8 to 5.2 in length of body; snout
blunt and broadly rounded; inter-
orbital space convex, 2 to 2.4 in
head; snout separated from frontal
region of head by a slight trans-
verse depression in front of orbits,
giving it a turned-up appearance;
mouth large and wide, terminal,
protractile forward, very oblique,
upper edge of mandible about
reaching level of median axis, upper
lip almost on a level with lower mar-
gin of orbit; mandibles strong and
broad, forming a wide protruding
angle at their union with the
quadrate; lips thinner and smoother
than in other species of Ictiobus,
upper very thin and nearly smooth,
lower thicker and somewhat lobed
at corners, rather faintly and finely striate; eye 5.6 to 7 in head, situated
well forward; opercle strongly striated and very broad. Dorsal rays 24 to
28, longest ray a little more than half the base of fin; caudal not deeply
forked; anal short, inserted under last rays of dorsal; ventrals falling about
as short of vent as pectorals do of ventrals. Scales large, uniform in size
and evenly distributed, rather loosely imbricated, their number 7 or 8, 37
to 40, 6 or 7; lateral line complete, rather flexuose posteriorly and somewhat
abruptly elevated in front of dorsal fin.
Sexual differences slight, the males averaging a little smaller in size and
darker in color than the females; spring males without tubercles.
Distributed throughout the Mississippi Valley, in rivers,
lakes, ponds, and larger creeks; also in the Red River of the
North to Winnipeg. It does not occur east of the Alleghanies,
nor in the Great Lakes.
This is a very abundant fish in our larger streams and in the
lakes of the river bottoms, being one of the three species most
commonly shipped from the Illinois and the Mississippi under the
name of "buffalo-fish." It is taken abundantly in the latter
river at Cairo, Grafton, and Quincy, and is one of the important
commercial species of the Illinois, from which it is caught in large
numbers as far north as Henry. It is much less abundant now,
however, than some years ago. It is the common " buffalo-fish"
of the fishermen, and generally receives no more distinctive
name. It grows to a large size, sometimes reaching a weight of
70 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
50 pounds. Although its flesh is of poor quality, it is used
everywhere as food.
Its structures of food prehension and appropriation — the
mouth, the gill-rakers, and the pharyngeal jaws and teeth — are
so constructed as to enable it to collect its food readily from a
muddy bottom, to strain away the greater part of the mud, re-
taining objects large enough to serve as food, and to crush and
masticate hard or shell-covered objects, unfit for digestion entire.
Its pharyngeal jaws are not so strong as those of bubalus, the
thickness being about a fourth the depth. The teeth are some
seventy-five in number on each jaw, minute above, gradually but
not greatly thickened below, the ten lowest occupying nearly a
fifth of the length of the arch. The gills are compactly disposed
in a rather small branchial chamber, the upper ends of the arches
being decurved and the lower elevated so that each gill forms
about three fourths of a circle. There are seventy-five gill-
rakers in the anterior row, the longer of which are fully equal in
length to the corresponding gill-filaments, and eight or ten of the
lower rakers are fused in the form of thick oblique ridges.
About a third of the food of seventeen specimens examined,
consisted of algae, seeds of aquatic plants, and distillery slops,
the last obtained off the Peoria city front where the wastes from
distilleries were emptied into the stream. Of the remaining two
thirds, nearly half consisted of Entomostraca, and more than half
of aquatic insects, very largely Chironomus larvae and larvae
of day-flies.
The species breeds in early spring, ordinarily between the
10th and 20th of April (Capt. Schulte). In 1898 the red-mouth
spawned between the 15th and the 30th of that month.
ICTIOBUS URUS (AGASSIZ)
MONGREL BUFFALO; ROUND BUFFALO
(PL, p. 71; MAP X)
Agassiz, 1854, Amer. J. Sci. Arts (Silliman's Journal), XVII, 355 (Carpiodes).
J. & G. (Bubalichthys), 116; M. V., 44; J. & E., I, 164; N., 50 (Bubalichthys niger);
J.; 65 (Bubalichthys); F., 82; F. F., I. 2, 81 (Bubalichthys niger), II. 7, 452; L.,
Body robust, elliptical, the dorsal and ventral outlines nearly equally
curved, the general form being much as in cyprinella except that the body
is somewhat more elongate and the back more broadly rounded in front of
dorsal; depth 3 to 3.4 in length. Size large, about as in last species. Color
usually darker than in cyprinella, a dark slaty gray, shading to almost black
ICTIOBUS
71
FIG. 15
when taken from clear water; all fins dark. Head thick and heavy, its
length 3.7 to 4, depth 4 to 4.8, width 4.9 to 5.6 in length of body; snout very
blunt and broadly rounded, its profile continuous with that of frontal region ;
interorbital space 2 to 2.3 in head; mouth moderate, considerably smaller
than in last species, and but slightly larger than in next species, subterminal,
protractile forward and downward,
as a rule but little oblique, the edge
of the mandible falling considerably
below median axis, level of upper lip
about midway between chin and
lower margin of orbit; angle formed
by articulation of mandible
with quadrate evident, but less
prominent than in cyprinella; lips
rather thin, but less so than in last
species, the upper faintly, the lower
rather coarsely, striated; eye 5.1 to
6.6 in head, situated well upward
and forward; opercles not so broad
as in the last. Dorsal rays 29 or 30,
the longest considerably less than
3/2 base of fin; other fins about as
in the preceding species, the caudal
not quite so deeply forked. Scales 7 or 8, 36-40, 6 to 8; lateral line complete,
less flexuose posteriorly and not so abruptly elevated in front of dorsal as
in cyprinella.
Spring males without tubercles.
The mongrel buffalo appears to vary somewhat more than
either /. cyprinella or bubalus, but we have met with no cases
which appear to show intergradation with either. This species
seems to be always distinguishable from the former by its much
smaller and less oblique mouth, the upper lip falling far below
the level of the lower margin of the orbit, and by the coarsely
striate lower lips ; from the latter by the more elongate and less
compressed body, and by the broad rounding of the frontal
region and of the back in front of the dorsal fin.
Distributed throughout the Mississippi Valley practically
as the red-mouth is, but less abundantly.
This is a large species, sometimes exceeding 50 pounds in
weight, though commonly less than 20. It resembles the red-
mouth in habits and value.
The same may be said with respect to its food, our 17 speci-
mens, well distributed as to time and place of capture, having
taken ratios of animal and vegetable food almost identical with
those of cyprinella — 67 per cent, and 33 per cent, respectively.
There was a larger ratio of mollusks and of insects — the latter
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
42 per cent. — but the principal species of each were the same as
in cyprinella. The Crustacea (13 per cent.) were almost all
Entomostraca, a young crawfish taken by one of the buffaloes
being the only exception. This species had likewise eaten
distillery slops and various forms of aquatic plants, including
duckweeds and unicellular algae.
This buffalo spawned at Havana in 1898 between the 15th
and the 30th of April, but ripe females were caught the follow-
ing year as late as May 29.
ICTIOBUS BUBALUS (EAFIXESQUE)
SMALL-MOUTH BUFFALO; RAZOR-BACKED BUFFALO;
QUILLBACK BUFFALO
(MAP XI)
Raflnesque, 1818, J. Phys., 421 (Amblodon).
G., VII, 22 (Sclerognathus urus); J. & G., 116 (Bubalichthys altus); M. V., 44; J.
& E., I, 164; N., 49, (cyanellus); J., 66 (BubalichtKys cyanellus); F., 82; F. F.,
II. 7, 448; L,., 11.
Body compressed, back much
elevated; ventral line not much
decurved; back in front of dorsal
fin compressed into a keel; depth
from 2.5 to 2.9 in length of body.
Size somewhat smaller than in the
two preceding species. General
coloration much as in cyprinella,
but becoming paler in adults, some-
times exceedingly so, old specimens
usually a muddy whitish, with but
faint traces of blue and coppery
about head and anterior half of
body; young specimens usually
quite dark, the head dark bluish gray
below; all fins more or less dusky.
Head smaller, more compressed,
and more pointed than in the foregoing species, the occipital region high and
sharply arched transversely, length of head 3.6 to 4.1, depth 4.4 to 5, width
5.1 to 5.8 in body; interorbital space 2.1 to 2.6 in head; snout pointed; mouth
small, inferior, protractile downward and forward, !n size and form some-
times scarcely distinguishable from that of the last species; lips rather coarsely
and brokenly plicate; mandibles nearly horizontal, scarcely forming an
evident angle at the articulation with the quadrate; eye 4.4 to 6.2 in head,
rather larger than in either of the preceding species; opercle about as in last.
Dorsal rays 27 to 30, the longest a little less than half base of fin; caudal
somewhat more deeply forked than in cyprinella or urus. Scales 7 or 8,
37-39, 5 to 7; lateral line complete, gently flexuose.
Head and snout of males finely tuberculate in spring.
Fir,. IP
ICTIOBUS 73
Distributed throughout the Mississippi Valley much as the
other buffalo are, but tending more generally to deep water,
according to the reports of fishermen.
It is common in the Mississippi and the Illinois rivers, and
in the principal streams of the state at large. It is not so
frequently taken in shallow water as the other species, and it is
said to have a stronger preference for flowing streams. Never-
theless, it must be said that more than two thirds of the speci-
mens in our collections came from lakes and sloughs, the greater
part of the remainder being from rivers of the larger size.
This buffalo does not average as large as the preceding
species, its maximum weight in the Mississippi being, according
to Mr. Ashlock, of Alton, less than 40 lb.
About a fifth of the food of the specimens examined, con-
sisted of vegetation, mainly duckweed, but with an occasional
admixture of terrestrial rubbish. The animal food was divided,
with approximate equality, between mollusks, insects, and
Entomostraca, the latter taken chiefly in spring when they are
present in the greatest abundance. The food of the young of
this buffalo consists largely of the minuter forms of the plankton,
including especially Protozoa, rotifers, and unicellular algae.
The gill-rakers of this species are less numerous than those of
cyprinella and scarcely so long, and seem to form a less efficient
straining apparatus. The pharyngeal jaws are heavier, triangu-
lar in section, and about as thick as high. Seventeen specimens
of this species, collected from the Illinois and the Mississippi in
various months from April to October, contained aquatic vege-
tation amounting to about a third of the total food, the principal
element being a small duckweed (Wolffia) especially abundant
where a part of the fishes were taken, and amounting in some
cases to 95 per cent, of the contents of the stomach. A larger
duckweed, fragments of horn wort (Ceratophyllum) , diatoms, and
other unicellular algae had also been eaten. Animal food (80
per cent.) was fairly equally divided between mollusks, insects,
and Crustacea, the first (30 per cent.) being mainly a thin-shelled
bivalve (Sphcerium) common in the mud. Several specimens
had eaten nothing but this mollusk. Chironomus larvae and
Entomostraca were the principal other elements, each making
practically a fifth of the entire food.
74 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
GENUS CARPIODES EAFIXESQUE
CARP-SUCKERS
Body more or less thin and compressed, becoming deeper and more
arched above with age; ventral line almost straight or but slightly curved
downward; head small, short, somewhat compressed; lips thin and slightly
striate; bones of skull with generally smoother surfaces and not so heavy as
in Ictiobus; a well-developed anterior fontanelle at intercalation of f rentals
and ethmoid; a supraorbital bone present; posterior fontanelle narrowest
behind, its posterior margin formed by theconvergingparietals; suboperculum
very broad, subtriangular, its greatest breadth below middle; cheek deep
and long, the lower posterior border of the preopercle somewhat angled, the
center of orbit equidistant between its infraposterior angle and the upper
corner of the gill-cleft; pharyngeal bones broad but very thin, the teeth
very much compressed, weaker than in Ictiobus; vertebrae 35 or 36; air-
bladder in two parts; dorsal fin long, rays 23 to 30, the anterior rays some-
times produced into a long filament that may reach almost to the caudal;
scales large; lateral line complete; color light, usually more or less silvery;
snout tuberculate in spring males of some species (difformis and velifer}.
Four species of these fishes are known in Illinois, mostly of
small size, seldom over 12 inches long, and of little or no com-
mercial value. The name of carp was applied to them by the
early settlers of Virginia, although they bear only a general
resemblance to the European species of that name. Since the
latter was introduced into our waters the native species have
been called " American carp." Since they belong to a different
family from the foreign species, to which the name was originally
given, the common name of carp-sucker, already considerably
used, is much to be preferred.
In Illinois they are distributed throughout the greater rivers
of the state and their larger tributaries, and occur also in Lake
Michigan and the smaller lakes of northern Illinois. They are
extremely common in the lakes and ponds of the river bottoms.
The carp-suckers are rather filthy feeders, swallowing a
greater quantity of mud than the nearly related buffalo-fish.
The structures of food prehension carry to its extreme a develop-
ment of the gill-rakers and a correlative degradation of the
pharyngeal jaws and teeth. The pharyngeal bones are very
thin and brittle, each with about 200 teeth, minute above and
gradually enlarging downwards, but not thickening or lengthen-
ing greatly on the lower part of the arch. The intestine is very
slender, and about four times as long as the head and body
taken together. The gills are remarkably compacted, the upper
CARPIODES — CAKP-SUCKERS 75
and lower ends nearly meeting when the mouth is closed, and
the longest of the anterior series are a little longer than the
corresponding filaments.
Nineteen specimens, representing 13 localities from extreme
northern to extreme southern Illinois, and various dates from
April to October, indicate that our native carp differ from their
near allies, the buffalo-fishes, in the smaller amount of vegetation
eaten, in the greater quantity of mud mingled with the food, and
in a deficiency of the larger insect larvae. The vegetable food of
these specimens was only 8 per cent., mostly the small duckweed,
Wolffia. Mollusks made about a fourth of the food, all the thin-
shelled bivalve Sphcerium. Insects averaged about a third, the
greater part larvae of Chironomus. Entomostraca made nearly a
fourth, and included a considerable list and variety of our
more abundant species.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF CARPIODES FOUXD ix ILLIXOIS
a. Snout short, 3% to 4% in head; nostrils well forward, the distance from an-
terior nostril to end of snout considerably less than diameter of eye; tip of
lower jaw little in advance of nostrils.
b. Body robust, subfusiform, depth 2% to 3 in length; snout obtusely pointed;
eye moderate, 4% to 5 in head; anterior rays of dorsal scarcely elevated,
osseous at base; large species, reaching over 5 tb in weight carpio.
bb. Body thin and compressed, the back much elevated in adults, depth 2% to
2% in length; snout very blunt, squarish at tip; eye large, 3% to 4% in head;
anterior rays of dorsal much lengthened, sometimes equaling length of
base of fin; small species, not over 12 inches in length difformis.
aa. Snout longer, 3 to 3% in head; nostrils situated well back, the distance from
anterior nostril to end of snout usually greater than diameter of eye; tip
of lower jaw far in advance of nostrils.
c. Body robust, subfusiform, depth 2% to 3% in length; anterior rays of dorsal
scarcely elevated, about % length of base of fin; halves of lower tip meeting
at a wide angle; large species, reaching a weight of 5Ib thompsoni.
cc. Body compressed, the back more or less arched, depth 2% to 3 in length;
anterior rays of dorsal much elevated, nearly or more than equaling length
of base of fin; halves of lower lip meeting at a sharp angle; species of small
size, not exceeding 12 inches vel ifer.
76 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
FIG. 17
CARPIODES CARPIO (RAFINESQUE)
COMMON RIVER CARP
(MAP XII)
Raflnesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 56 (Catostomus).
J. & G., 118; M. V., 45 (Ictiobus); J. & E., I, 166; N., 49 (Ichthyobus carpio and (?)
bison); J., 65 (carpio and (?) bison); F., 81 (Ictiobus cyprinus, part); L., 11,
Body elongate, subelliptical, somewhat compressed, but more fusiform
than in the next species, the back not greatly arched and the ventral line
nearly straight; depth 2.9 to 3.3 in length. Size large, frequently taken
weighing 3 or 4 Ib and said sometimes to reach a weight of 7 or 8 Ib. Color
smoky to olivaceous over silvery, lighter below. Head short, deep and
heavy, its length 4 to 4.4, depth 4.9 to 5.4, width 6 to 6.8 in length of body;
snout short, somewhat pointed, 3.3 to 4.1 in head; the nostrils well forward,
but not quite so much so as in the next species, the distance from the an-
terior nostril to end of snout % to ^ of diameter of eye; mouth wide
and short, wholly inferior, the tip of lower lip very slightly in advance of
nostrils; lips thin, the halves of lower meeting at a very wide angle or open
curve; interorbital space 2.2 to 2.6 in head; eye moderate, 4.4 to 5.1 in head.
Dorsal rays 23 to 27, the first rays notably osseous at base, little elongated,
about Y2 length of base of fin. Scales large, 6, 35-37, 6, usually 35 or 36 in
longitudinal series; lateral line complete, almost straight; scales (as in diffor-
mis) somewhat thinner and less closely imbricated than in thompsoni and
velifer.
Occurs throughout the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, ranging
southwest to central Texas. It seldoms ascends the smaller
streams, and our collections have come mainly from the Illinois
at Meredosia and Havana, and from the Mississippi at Graf ton.
We have not found it anywhere abundant. It is said by Mis-
sissippi River fishermen sometimes to reach a weight of 10 Ib.
CAEPIODES — CARP-SUCKERS 77
It is sold for food, but is flavorless and soft. It breeds in spring,
but the time of spawning is not indicated by our notes.
This fish is closely related to C. difformis, from which it may
be distinguished by the more pointed snout, smaller eye, and
more robust, subfusiform body. It and the next species agree
in the shortness of the snout, 3^ to 4J/£ in head, and in the an-
terior position of the nostrils, and both are by these marks
readily distinguishable,- except in the case of very young speci-
mens, from thompsoni and velifer, in which species the snout is
notably longer, 3 to 3J/2 in head, and the nostrils are situated
far back from the end of the snout, the distance from the anterior
nostril to the end of the muzzle being greater than the diameter
of the eye.
FIG. 18
CARPIODES DIFFORMIS COPE
BLUNT-NOSED EIVER CARP
(MAP XIII)
Cope, 1870, P. Amer. Phil. Soc., 480.
J. & G., 120; M. V., 45 (Ictiobus); J. & E., I, 166; N., 49 (Ichthyobus) ; J., 65 (dif-
formis and (?) cutisanserinus); F., 81 (Ictiobus cyprinus, part); L., 12.
Body short, compressed, the back much arched, ventral surface broad
and nearly straight; depth 2.4 to 2.7 in length. Size small, seldom over 12
inches in length. Color silvery, obscured above by smoky olive, much as in
the preceding species. Head small, short and deep, its length 3.9 to 4.3,
depth 4.5 to 4.9, width 5.7 to 6.4 in length of body, snout short, very blunt,
the muzzle squarish, distance from eye to tip 3.9 to 4.5 in head, usually
greater than 4; nostrils near tip of snout, distance from anterior nostril to
end of snout being ^ to % diameter of orbit; mouth wholly inferior, not
78 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
quite so wide as in the last species, the lips somewhat thicker, weakly plicate,
the halves of lower meeting at a rather sharp angle; tip of lower lip scarcely
in advance of nostrils; interorbital space 2.2 to 2.5 in head; eye larger than
in other species of Carpiodes, 3.9 to 4.6 in head, usually but little more than 4.
Dorsal rays 24 to 25, the first rays rather osseous at base, but not so robust as
in carpio, and as a rule much elongated, sometimes exceeding in length the
base of the fin. Scales large, 6-7, 35-37, 6, usually 35 or 36, rather loosely
imbricated; lateral line complete, nearly straight.
Males with snout tuberculate in spring.
Ohio Valley and westward; generally common. Common
in our collections, seeming to prefer the shallow waters of the
smaller streams, where the young are often found in large num-
bers; adults taken sparingly in the Illinois and Rock rivers.
Represented in 102 of our collections, more than half of
which are from creeks. We have found it less frequent in the
larger than in the smaller rivers, and still less so in lakes and
ponds. The size is small and the species is of little value as
food. It is abundantly distributed throughout central Illinois,
but has occurred less commonly in our southern Illinois collec-
tions, and is absent from the most of those made in the extreme
northern part of the state. It apparently avoids in great
measure the lower Illinoisan glaciation, having been taken but
five times by us within that area.
CARPIODES VELIFER (RAFINESQTTE)
QUILLBACK; SILVER CARP
(PL., p. 74; MAP XIV)
Rafinesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 56 (Catostomus).
J. & G., 118 (tumidus), 119 (cyprinus); M. V., 45 (Ictiobus); J. & E., I, 167; N.. 49
(Ichthyobus); J., 65; F., 81 (Ictiobus cyprinus, part); L,., 12.
Body ovate, compressed, back much arched in adults; ventral line
Imost straight; depth 2.7 to 3 in length. Size small, seldom exceeding 12
inches. Color light olive abovej sides silvery, fins pale. Head moderate,
its length 3.6 to 4, depth 4.3 to 5.2, width 6 to 6.7 in length of body; snout
long, bluntly pointed, as in last species, 2.9 to 3.5 in head, usually less than
3.2; nostrils well back, distance from anterior opening to end of snout greater
than diameter of eye; mouth rather narrow, slightly oblique, tip of lower
lip far in advance of nostrils; lips weakly plicate, rather thick, the lower
halves meeting in a sharp angle; interorbital space 2.3 to 2.5 in head; eye
small, 4.8 to 5.5 in head. Dorsal rays 27 to 30, usually 27, the anterior
rays slender and elongate, sometimes longer than base of fin. Scales 7,
39-40,6; lateral line complete, usually somewhat flexuose.
CARPIODES — CARP-SUCKERS
FIG. 19
This species, unlike the others of its genus, is most abundant
in northern Illinois and least so in the southern part of the state.
It is almost wholly wanting from our southern Illinois collec-
tions made within the area of the lower Illinoisan glaciation.
Like the preceding species, however, it is found chiefly in the
smaller rivers and creeks, nearly twice as frequently in the latter
as in the rivers of larger size. It ascends small streams freely
at the time of the spring floods. In 1898 it spawned at Havana
about April 15. The snout of the male is tuberculate in the
spawning season.
CARPIODES THOMPSONI AGASSIZ
LAKE CARP
(MAP XV)
Agassiz, 1855, Amer. J. Sci. Arts, XIX, 76.
J. & G., 119; M. V., 45 (Ictiobus); J. & E., I, 167.; N., 49 (Ichthyobus) ; J., 65 (thomp-
soni and (?) selene) ; F., 81 (Ictiobus cyprinus, part).
Body elongate, subfusiform, the back little arched and the ventral line
nearly straight, in general form and proportions very close to C. carpio,
depth 2.8 to 3.2 in length. Larger than difformis and velifer, known to
reach a weight of 3 to 5 Ib, and said by lake fishermen to grow much larger.
Color not different from that of carpio. Head moderate, its length 3.7 to
4, depth 4.5 to 5.1, width 5.7 to 6.4 in length of body; snout long, bluntly
pointed, 3 to 3.4 in head; nostrils situated well back from end of snout,
distance from anterior opening to tip of muzzle greater than diameter of
eye; mouth narrower and longer than in the two preceding species, sub-
80 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
terminal and somewhat oblique, the tip of the lower lip far in advance of
the nostrils; lips evidently plicate, not very thin, the halves of the lower
one meeting at a rather wide angle; interorbital space 2.4 to 2.7 in head;
eye small, 5 to 6.4, usually more than 5.5. Dorsal rays 25 to 30, usually
nearer 30, anterior rays slender, little elevated, scarcely more than half the
length of base of fin. Scales somewhat smaller and more closely imbricated
than in the two preceding species, 7, 38 to 40, 6, usually 39 in longitudinal
series; lateral line complete, nearly straight.
FIG. 20
This species can be separated with readiness from both the
preceding by its longer nose, more oblique mouth, and more
posterior nostrils; it is easily distinguished from the next when
adult by its larger size and by the differences in general propor-
tions, and by the shortness of the first dorsal rays. The young
of these two species can not be separated with any certainty.
This carp-sucker belongs to the fauna of the Great Lake
region and is but rarely taken in the inland waters of Illinois,
our adult specimens numbering a very few from the Illinois
river at Ottawa, Henry, Havana, and Meredosia. It is too
rare in our waters to be commercially important. Its special
habits are unknown.
GENUS ERIMYZON JORDAN
CHUB-SUCKERS
Body oblong, more or less compressed; mouth subinferior; upper lip
protractile; lower lip plicate, infolded, forming an acute angle in front; no
anterior fontanelle; posterior fontanelle well developed; no supraorbital
bone, suborbital bones well developed, not much narrower than the fleshy
ERIMYZON — CHUB-SUCKERS 81
portion of the cheeks below; pharyngeal bones weak, the teeth small and
slender, rapidly diminishing in length upward; vertebrae 34; ribs 13; dorsal
rays 11 or 12; scales large; lateral line wanting at all ages; air-bladder with
two chambers. Fresh waters of the United States; one species, widely
distributed.
ERIMYZON SUCETTA OBLONGUS (MITCHILL)
CHUB-SUCKER; SWEET SUCKER.
(MAP xvi)
Mitchill, 1815, T. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., 1 (Cyprinus oblongus).
G., VII, 21 (Moxostoma oblongum); J. & G., 133; M. V., 46; J. & E., I, 186; N., 48
(Erimyzon oblongus); J., 64; P., 80; F. F., II, 7, 447; L,., 12.
Body oblong, compressed, the depth increasing with age; predorsal
region often more or less elevated and profile angled at nape in old specimens;
depth 3.1 to 3.9 in length. Size small, length about 10 inches. Coloration
varying considerably with age; in adults a nearly uniform brownish olive,
intermixed with pinkish anteriorly, and everywhere with more or less of a
coppery luster; paler below; fins dusky, ventrals and anal most so. In young
specimens the sides are marked by four distinct bands of color: a dark band
extending from occiput backward on each side of dorsal fin to middle of
caudal peduncle, covering 4 upper rows of scales; below this a band of light
color, extending from just above upper corner of gill-cleft to upper part of
base of caudal; next, and most prominent, a narrow band of purplish black,
extending from center of base of caudal forward along sides and through eye
to end of snout; and beneath this dark lateral band the sides pale to the
whitish or silvery belly. Adults are found which retain to a greater or less
extent the markings of the young, specimens from 6 to 8 inches in length
sometimes showing more or less plainly the dark lateral stripe, as well as
the apportionment of color in bands above and below; the black lateral
band may break up into indistinct bars with age, various stages between
the barred condition and a uniform dusky coloration being found. Head
short, compressed, considerably tapered, its length 3.5 to 4.1, width 5.1 to
6.5, depth 4.6 to 5.6 in length of body: interorbital space weakly convex,
2.2 to 2.6 in head; snout (usually) 2.5 to 3.2 in head; mouth subterminal,
rather small, mandibles more or less obliquely set, tip of upper lip in old
specimens sometimes not far below level of lower rim of orbit; lower lip
strongly plicate, its halves meeting in a rather acute angle; eye large, 3.8 to
5.8 in head. Dorsal fin a little higher than long, its developed rays 9 to 12.
Scales large, 36 to 45 in longitudinal series, transverse rows 13 to 15; scales
more or less crowded anteriorly and somewhat irregularly arranged on
posterior half of body; lateral line as a rule entirely wanting at all ages;
specimens occasionally found with one or two imperfectly developed pores.
Head of spring males with three large tubercles on each side of snout,
two in longitudinal series in front of eye, one lower down, near corner of
mouth.
82 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
This species, with its two varieties, extends throughout the
Great Lake region; northeast to the St. Lawrence and the Con-
necticut rivers, and to the St. Johns River, in New Brunswick;
southeast to Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida; southward
to the Gulf, southwest to the Rio Grande, and northward to the
Dakotas. The northern representatives of the species belong
to the variety oblongus and the southern to sucetta.
In this state it is widely distributed in large and small
streams, and in the small lakes of McHenry county, in north-
eastern Illinois; but it is much the most abundant in the eastern
part of the state in the drainage of the Wabash and the Ohio
rivers, and in the headwaters of the Sangamon and of the
Kaskaskia adjacent to these. A line drawn through the middle
of the state from north to south but swerving slightly to the
west below central Illinois, has 101 of our localities for this
species to the east of it and but 8 to the west. It is essentially
a creek species, occurring proportionally five times as frequently
in our collections from creeks as from rivers, large or small,
and eight times as frequently as from lakes and ponds.
The chub-sucker is a bottom feeder, and has the habit of sup-
porting itself on the bottom, like the darter, by means of its
paired fins. In ordinary seasons it spawns in central Illinois in
April and May. Ripe males were taken at Havana April 10,
1899, and females with ripe ovaries from March 20 to April 15.
This fish bites readily at a small hook, but its flesh is bony and
without flavor, and owing to its small size the species has no
commercial value.
GENUS MINYTREMA JOEDAX
SPOTTED SUCKERS
Body elongate, compressed; mouth inferior; upper lip freely protractile;
lower lip plicate, forming an angle posteriorly; posterior fontanelle large;
supraorbital bone present; suborbital bones well developed; pharyngeal
bones as in Erimyzon, but the teeth somewhat coarser; vertebrae 39; thoracic
ribs 17; dorsal rays about 12; scales rather large, nearly equal all over the
body; lateral line interrupted in adults, more or less imperfect in half-grown
specimens and entirely obsolete in the young; air-bladder with two chambers.
Fresh waters of the United States; one species known.
MINYTr.EMA — SPOTTED SUCKERS 83
MINYTREMA MELANOPS (EAFINESQUE)
SPOTTED SUCKER; STRIPED SUCKER
(MAP XVII)
Rafinesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 57 (Catostomus).
G., VII, 19 (Catostomus fasciatus); J. & G., 136; M. V., 47; J. & E., I, 187; N., 48
(Erimyzon); J., 64; F., 80; F. F., II. 7, 444; L., 12.
Body oblong, little compressed, adults becoming deeper, depth 3.9 to
4.5 in length. Size rather large, reaching a length of 18 inches. Head
olivaceous above, lighter olive to silvery on cheeks and opercles, with some
coppery; sides coppery above, greenish gray to silvery below; each scale
along sides with a quadrate spot of very dark greenish at base, the spots
forming rows lengthwise of body; belly greenish to silvery, with suggestions
of coppery luster; fins scarcely dusky, the membranes light greenish. Head
3.9 to 4.6 in length of body, its width 5.9 to 6.8, depth 5.3 to 6, rather flattened
above but not depressed; snout 2.3 to 2.7 in head, bluntly pointed; upper
lip with faint plica?, lower evidently plicate, its halves meeting at a rather
sharp angle; interorbital space 2.2 to 2.5 in head; eye small, 4.4 to 6.9 in
head, placed high, about midway of length of head. Dorsal rays 11 to 12,
not including rudiments, the fin higher than long, its position about midway,
usually a very little forward. Scales large, 6 or 7, 42-46, 5 to 7, regularly
imbricated, not crowded forward; lateral line incomplete in adults, in young
specimens imperfect or wanting.
Head of old males covered with small tubercles in spring.
This species is found in the Great Lake region, the upper
Mississippi Valley as far north as the Yellowstone, southward
and southwestward to the Gulf and to Texas, and on the
Atlantic slope from New Jersey to North Carolina. In Illinois
it has been taken in all our stream systems, including the Lake
Michigan drainage, but most abundantly in the Wabash and
the Kaskaskia basins. In proportion to the number of collec-
tions made, it has been found in central Illinois twice as
frequently as in northern, and in southern Illinois twice as fre-
quently as in central. It is mainly a species of creeks and the
smaller rivers — twice as abundant in the former as in the latter
—and is comparatively rare in lakes and ponds. It grows to a
length of 18 inches, but is not abundant enough in Illinois to
have any noticeable value. From the little that is known of its
food we may surmise that it lives largely on mollusks and
insect larvae.
84: FISHES OF ILLINOIS
GENUS CATOSTOMUS LE SUEUR
FINE-SCALED SUCKERS
Head more or less elongate; mouth inferior, the upper lip thick, pro-
tractile, papillose; lower lip greatly developed, incised behind so as to form
two lobes; posterior fontafrelle large; supraorbital bone wanting, as in Erimy-
zon and Moxostoma; suborbital bones narrow; pharyngeal teeth shortish;
vertebra? (commersonii) 44; ribs 17; dorsal rays 9 to 14; scales usually small,
50 to 115 in the lateral series; lateral line well developed; air-bladder with
two chambers. Species numerous; fresh waters of the United States and
Canada, east and west of the Rockies; one species (C. rostratus Tilesius)
found in Siberia; two species found in Illinois. Breeding males of most
species with a rosy lateral band, with median fins higher than in female,
and with anal swollen and tuberculate.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF CATOSTOMUS FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Head transversely convex above, the orbital rim not elevated; scales in lateral
line 60 or more, crowded and smaller anteriorly.
b. Scales in lateral line 95-115 catostomus.
bb. Scales in lateral line 68-80 commersonii.
aa. Head broad, depressed, transversely concave between the orbits; scales nearly
equal all over the body, not crowded anteriorly, 48 to 55 in the lateral line
nigricans.
CATOSTOMUS CATOSTOMUS (FORSTER)
LONG-NOSED SUCKER; NORTHERN SUCKER; RED SUCKER
Forster, 1773, Phil. Trans., 155 (Cyprinus).
Body elongate, subterete, the depth 4^C to 4% in length. Head quite
long and slender, 4^ to 4% in length, depressed and flattened above, broad
at base, but tapering into a long snout, which considerably overhangs the large
mouth. Lips thick, coarsely tuberculate, the upper lip narrow, with 2 or 3,
rarely 4, rows of tubercles; lower lip deeply incised, the lobes shorter than
in C. griseus, and the mouth narrower. Lower jawr with a short cartilagi-
nous sheath. Eye rather small, behind the middle of the head. Scales very
small, much crowded forward, 95 to 114 in the lateral line, and about 29
(26 to 31) in a cross-row from dorsal to ventrals. Dorsal rays 10 to 11.
Males in spring with the head and anal fin profusely tuberculate, the tubercles
on the head small; the sides at that season with a broad rosy band. Size
large. Length 2^£ feet. Great Lakes, upper Missouri river, upper Colum-
bia, and northwestward to Alaska: very abundant northward, but not coming
south of lat. 40°. — JORDAN and EVERMANN (Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 47,
I., p. 176).
Found in lower Lake Michigan at Miller, Indiana, and
doubtless occurring in the lake within the limits of Illinois.
CATOSTOMUS — FINE-SCALED SUCKERS 85
CATOSTOMUS COMMERSONII (LACEPEDE)
COMMON SUCKER; FINE-SCALED SUCKER
(MAP XVIII)
LacSp&de, 1803, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V. 502 (Cyprinus).
G., VII, 15 (teres); J. & G., 129; M. V., 46 (teres); J. & E., I, 178; N., 48 (teres) ;
J., 64; F., 81 (teres); F. F., II. 7, 444 (teres); L., 12.
Body elongate, subterete, rather heavy forward, depth 4.3 to 5.3 in
length, usually 4.5 to 5. Length 18 inches. Color olivaceous on back and
sides, with more or less golden luster; belly whitish; vertical fins with some
dusky on rays, membranes paler, those of ventrals and pectorals orange,
becoming deeper in spring males, which also have a faint rosy lateral band.
Young brownish with blackish blotches and mottlings which are more or
less confluent, sometimes forming an indistinct lateral band. Head rather
stout, subconical, flattish above, its length 4 to 4.8, width 5.5 to 7, depth
5.5 to 6.6 in body; interorbital space nearly flat, 2.1 to 2.6 in head; snout
blunt, decurved, squarish at tip; mouth inferior, rather large, the lips strongly
papillose, the upper rather thick, with 3 or 4 rows of papillae; eye moderate,
4.5 to 6.2 in head, more than 5 in adults. Dorsal fin with 11 to 13, usually
12, rays, its height scarcely, if at all, exceeding the length of the fin's base.
Scales 10-11, 63-80, 9-11, crowded anteriorly and below; lateral line complete
in adults, pores wanting on some scales in young.
The fin-scaled sucker occurs in streams and ponds from the
Great Lakes to New Brunswick and Labrador, in the Hudson
River, on the Atlantic slope from New Jersey to South Carolina,
and northward to Great Bear Lake and Hudson's Bay. It is
abundant throughout the central part of the eastern United
States from Massachusetts to Kansas, and is common in the
northern third of Illinois, especially in the smaller rivers and
larger creeks. It occurs but rarely in the Illinois River as far
south as Peoria, and has not been taken by us south of Alton
except in the streams of extreme southern Illinois below the
Illinoisan glaciation. It is with us essentially a species of creeks
and small rivers, nearly four times as common, according to our
data, in the former as in the latter. It has been taken but four
times in our 293 collections from rivers of the larger size, and but
twice from 591 collections made from lakes, ponds, and sloughs.
It is common, however, in Lake Michigan. Our collection data
show that it is much more likely to be abundant on bottoms with
more or less rock and sand than on a completely muddy bottom,
and that it has also a decided preference for clear, swift waters.
The species reaches a length of 22 inches and a weight of 5 Ib.
The food of this sucker has not been carefully studied, but
the strong, thick pharyngeal jaws, nearly twice as wide as high,
86 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
and the relatively small number of pharyngeal teeth, the lower
of which are very much thickened, with expanded crowns, con-
stitute a crushing and grinding apparatus which strongly suggests
a prevailing molluscan diet. The gill-rakers are less effective
than those of the red-horse, indicating a smaller ratio of crus-
tacean food.
The species spawns in April or May, preferring for the pur-
pose riffles or swift-flowing water to quiet pools.
Though bony, these fishes have a sweet, firm, and flaky
flesh, and furnish a food of considerable importance in many
parts of the country. They are frequently salted for winter
use, and are sometimes sold in our local markets under the name
of "family whitefish." They are taken with seines, traps, and
gill-nets, bite readily at the hook baited with worms or bits of
crawfish, and are sometimes caught by boys in spring with
snares fastened to poles.
CATOSTOMUS NIGRICANS LE SUEUB
HOGSUCKER; HOGMOLLY; STONE-ROLLER
(MAP XIX)
Le Sueur, 1817, J. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 102.
G.( VII, 17; J. & G., 130; M. V., 46; J. & E., I, 181; N., 48 (Hypentelium) ; J.. 64;
F.f 81; F. F., II. 7, 445 (Hypentelium); L., 12.
Body moderately elongate, subcylindrical, heavy forward, much tapered
posteriorly, depth 4.6 to 5.1 in length. Size rather large, reaching a length
of 2 feet. Color olivaceous, with brassy luster on sides; belly satin}' white;
back and sides in younger specimens with 4 rather broad and distinct
oblique bars of dark color, one half way between occiput and dorsal, one
just behind fin, and one half way between back of dorsal and base of caudal,
these bars becoming faint or obsolete in adults; lower fins reddish, with some
dusky shading, appearing as faint mottlings on pectorals and ventrals.
Head very large, the frontal region broad and foreshortened, length of head
3.6 to 4.5, width 4.7 to 5.8, depth 5.9 to 6.6 in body; interorbital space trans-
versely concave, 1.9 to 2.5 in head; snout long and strongly decurved, 1.8
to 2.2 in head; mouth wholly inferior, the lips very thick and strongly
papillose, the upper almost as thick as the lower, with 8 to 10 series of papilla?;
lower lip less incised behind than in Catostomus proper; eye moderate, 4.8
to 6 in head, over 5 in adults. Dorsal fin with 10 or 11 rays, rather low, the
longest ray scarcely equaling the length of the base of the fin; pectorals
very long, reaching % to % of distance to ventrals. Scales rather large,
7, 46-51, 6, somewhat smaller on breast and belly, but not crowded forward
on sides or in predorsal region; lateral line complete, almost straight.
This peculiar sucker is distributed throughout the Great
Lake region and along the Atlantic slope as far as the Carolinas,
CATOSTOMUS — FINE-SCALED SUCKERS 87
westward to Minnesota and Kansas, north to the Lake of the
Woods, and south to Arkansas. It is especially abundant in
swift and rapid streams, and is rarely found in muddy water.
Its avoidance of muddy situations is illustrated especially by its
distribution in Illinois, not a single collection of this species
having been made by us from the persistently turbid water of
the lower Illinoisan glaciation. It is rare in the southern third
of the state, and was taken by us but once from any locality
of extreme southern Illinois. It has occurred in our collections
most abundantly in the headwaters and smaller tributaries of
the Illinois, the Kaskaskia, the Embarras, and the Big Ver-
milion, in the northern and eastern parts of the state.
The most striking peculiarities of this fish are related to its
haunts and feeding habits. The large bony head and the un-
usually developed pectoral fins, together with the full lips and
the papillose mouth, are all related to the fact that it seeks its
food in the more rapid parts of streams, pushing about the stones
upon the bottoms and sucking up the ooze and slime thus ex-
posed, together with the insect larvae upon which it mainly
depends for food. The slender body, the large pectoral fins,
and the comparatively high coloration of this species give it
the aspect of a darter among the suckers, and its active habit
and the peculiar character of its food resources is another point
of affinity with that interesting group. It has also, like the
darters, the habit of resting quietly on the bottom, supported
by its paired fins, where its coarsely mottled colors serve well
to conceal it among the surrounding stones.
Proportionately to the number of collections made by us,
this species was about three times as abundant in central Illinois
as in southern, and three and a half times so in northern Illinois
as in central. It was much commonest in the smaller rivers and
about half as abundant in creeks, although not wholly wanting
in either the larger rivers or in the glaciated lakes of northeastern
Illinois. It was not taken by us at all off really muddy bottoms.
Widely different as are the food and feeding habits of this
species and those of the common sucker, its nearest ally in our
waters, their alimentary structures are not remarkably unlike.
The pharyngeals of the present species are somewhat lighter, the
pharyngeal teeth more slender and more prominently hooked,
and the gill-rakers somewhat stouter, thus affording a better
apparatus for the retention of the relatively large insect larvae
upon which this species chiefly feeds. It is, in short, a molluscan
88 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
feeder which has become especially adapted to the search for
insect larvae occurring in rapid water under stones. It feeds, so
far as our observations go, almost wholly upon aquatic larvae,
mainly those of day-flies, more than half of the food of the speci-
mens examined consisting of a single form (Coenis) abundant
under stones.
A few aquatic larvae of a gnat (Chironomus) , and some
other insect remains, with an insignificant ratio of small bivalve
mollusks, were the other elements of its food.
It ascends the swifter brooks in spring, no doubt for spawn-
ing, although its habits of reproduction are not known. It is
sometimes used for food, but has virtually no economic value.
GENUS MOXOSTOMA EAFINESQUE
RED-HORSE
Body more or less elongate, usually more or less compressed; mouth
inferior; lips with transverse plicae, the folds rarely so broken up as to form
papillae; posterior fontanelle always well open; supraorbital bone wanting;
suborbitals very narrow; pharyngeal bones weak, the teeth rather coarser
than in Erimyzon and Catostomus; vertebrae (aureolum, breviceps) 39 to 41;
ribs 15 to 17; dorsal rays 11 to 17, usually about 13; scales large, usually
about 44 in the median lateral series; lateral line well developed; air-bladder
with 3 chambers. Males in spring with lower fins reddened (whence the
common name), and with anal rays swollen and tuber culate.
United States, east of the Rocky Mountains; species
numerous; 3 species found in Illinois.
The gill-rakers of the red-horse are largely modified into
transverse leaf -like plates with notched edges projecting in
triangular outline only a little beyond the margin of the thick,
strong arch. Those of the anterior gill are more elongate, but
stout and triangular, and about three fourths as long as the
gill-filaments, the whole branchial apparatus being thus coarse
and strong, better adapted to hold hard and somewhat bulky
objects than to strain from the water small and delicate ones.
The pharyngeal jaws are moderately heavy, with strong teeth,
and the intestine is small and about one and a fourth times the
length of the head and body. Quite in correspondence with
these features of the feeding apparatus, the main food of the
red-horse consists of water-snails of various species, and small
bivalve mollusks belonging to the genus Sphcerium. About a
third of the food of specimens examined by us consisted of insects,
practically all aquatic larvae. The vegetable matter present in
MOXOSTOMA — RED-HORSE 89
the food of specimens taken from the Illinois River at Peoria
was mainly distillery slops entering the streams from the adja-
cent distilleries. The latter element was insignificant, however,
in total amount, insects and mollusks making fully 95 per cent,
of the stomach contents studied, mollusks being nearly twice
as abundant as insects. In consequence of the manner in which
the food is collected from the bottom, considerable quantities
of mud are, of course, swallowed with it.
These fishes are caught mainly with seines and pound-nets,
but they also bite readily at the hook.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF MOXOSTOMA FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Folds of lower lip more or less broken up into papillae.
b. Head short, 4% to 5% in body; lower lip truncate behind, mouth small; de-
veloped dorsal rays 12 or 13 <v breviceps.
bb. Head longer, 3% to 4% in body; halves of lower lip meeting in a sharp angle,
mouth large; developed dorsal rays 14 to 16 anisurum.
aa. Lips strongly plicate.
c. Head 4 to 4% in body; halves of lower lip meeting in a rather wide angle,
mouth large; developed dorsal rays 12 to 14 aureolum.
MOXOSTOMA ANISURUM (EAFINESQUE)
WHITE-NOSED SUCKER
(MAP XX)
Rafinesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 54 (Catostomus).
G., VII, 20 (Catostomus carpio); J. & G., 139 (carpio); M. V., 47; J. & E., I, 190;
N., 49 (Teretulus carpio); J., 63 (Myxostoma carpio); F., 80 (carpio).
Body stout, heavy forward, deep and compressed, the back elevated,
rather humped in front of dorsal in old specimens; depth 3.3 to 4.1 in length.
Size large, reaching a weight of 5 to 10 Ib. Color pale, silvery, darker above,
nose and chin whitish; dorsal and caudal with some dusky, lower fins white
or light reddish. Head broad and short, squarish
in cross-section in region of orbit, its length 3.5 to
4.3, width 5.2 to 6.5, depth 4.6 to 5.5 in head; inter-
orbital space flat, 2.2 to 2.6 in head; snout rather
long, 2.1 to 2.6 in head; its tip squarish, little de-
curved, the profile nearly straight to its tip when
the mouth is closed; mouth rather large, the upper
lip thin, plicate-papillose, the lower thicker, its folds
broken into evident papillae, the halves meeting at a
sharp angle; eye rather large, slightly back of middle
of head, 4 to 6.4 in its length. Dorsal fin long, its
rays about 15 (14 to 17), the longest about %
length of base of fin, the free margin straight; lower fins long, pectorals reach-
ing % of distance from pectoral to ventral basis; upper lobe of caudal a little
longer than lower. Scales 6, 42-45, 6; lateral line complete, somewhat
flexuose, but nearly straight.
i— 15 F
90 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Found in the Great Lake region and the Ohio Valley, in-
cluding Pennsylvania and New York; also ranging down the
St. Lawrence and into the streams of the Atlantic coast as far
south as North Carolina. Northward its range extends to
Lake Winnipeg and the Assiniboin River.
This is the so-called white-nosed sucker of the Great Lakes.
It is distributed throughout Illinois, but in rather moderate
numbers, and mainly in the larger streams — the Illinois, the
Rock, the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Wabash. The species
reaches a large size, varying in length from one to two feet, and
it is a somewhat acceptable, though not abundant, food fish.
At some points on Lake Michigan it contributes a considerable
percentage to the catch of suckers, although the fine-scaled
sucker and the short-nosed red-horse commonly outnumber it.
MOXOSTOMA AUREOLUM (LE SUEUR)
COMMON RED-HORSE
(MAP XXI)
Le Sueur, 1817, J. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., I, 99 (Catostomus).
Q., VII, 18 (Catostomus duquesni); J. & G., 140 (macrolepidotum, part); M. V., 47
(macrolepidotum duquesnei and (?) aureolum); J. & E., I, 192; N., 49 (Teret-
ulus duquesnii and macrolepidotum); J., 63 (Myxostoma macrolepidotum var.
duquesnii); F., 80 (macrolepidotum); F. F., II. 7, 442 (macrolepidotum).
Body elongate, heavier forward, considerably compressed, the back
little elevated; depth 4 to 4.4 in length. Size rather large, attaining a
weight of 5 or 6 ft. Color of back and sides an almost uniform olivaceous,
very little darker above, taking on a faint silvery tinge lower down; faint
tints of salmon or yellowish along sides in front
of dorsal; belly smoky white; dorsal quite dusky,
without pale edge; caudal grayish olive; lower fins
with some orange near base, the broad outer
margins faintly dusky. Head moderate, 3.9 to
4.5 in length, its width 5.7 to 6.8, depth 5.2 to
5.9, not strongly tapered, rather flattened above,
the cheeks nearly vertical; interorbital space nearly
flat, 2.2 to 2.6 in head; snout 2.3 to 2.8 in head,
its tip squarish, little decurved; mouth large, both
FlG 22 upper and lower lips thick, strongly and coarsely
Lips of Moxostoma P^ate> halveS ?f lo™ U? ****** ** a ^iheT
aureolum wide angle; eye large, 4 to 5 in head. Dorsal rays
12-14, the fin a little higher than long, last ray
more than half the length of longest anterior ray; free margin of dorsal
straight; lower fins rather longer than in the next species, longest in the
males, pectorals reaching % to % of distance from pectoral to ventral bsisis;
upper lobe of caudal a little longer than lower. Scales 6,41-48,5-7; lateral
line complete, faintly flexuose.
MOXOSTOMA RED-HORSE 91
This species, much the most abundant of the Illinois red-
horse, occurs outside our limits from the St. Lawrence and the
Hudson rivers through the Great Lakes to the Missouri River,
north to Winnipeg and the Assiniboin, and southward to
Arkansas and Georgia. In this state it is much the commonest
in the northern and eastern two-thirds of our area, showing a
tendency, like the preceding species, to avoid the turbid waters
of southern Illinois, although present in the clearer waters
south of the lower Illinoisan glaciation. It occurs in 148 of our
collections, most abundantly, in proportion to the number
made, in the Rock River and the northwest basins, and in the
Kaskaskia and Wabash systems. It has been taken by us,
however, in all the other stream systems except that of the Big
Muddy. It is much the commonest in creeks and the smaller
rivers, the numbers found in the larger rivers being only half the
normal ratio for the species, and those in lakes and sloughs a
fourth that ratio. Its preference for swiftly flowing streams and
its avoidance of a mud bottom are also conspicuously shown
by our data of ecological distribution.
This red-horse is not tenacious of life, but dies quickly in
the aquarium if the water is in the least impure. It also readily
succumbs to impure conditions of its native waters such as are
likely to occur in midsummer, sometimes perishing in vast num-
bers and stranding along the banks when violent summer rains,
following long periods of drought, overload the streams with
mud and decomposing vegetation.
It spawns in April and May, ascending the smaller streams
for the purpose. Females taken from the Illinois River at
Meredosia May 5, 1899, were already spent.
MOXOSTOMA BREVICEPS (COPE)
SHORT-HEADED RED-HORSE
(PL., P. 92; MAP XXII)
Cope, 1870, P. Am. Phil. Soc., 478 (Ptychostomus).
J. & G., 141 (anisurum and (?) aureolum); M. V., 48 (crassilabre) ; J. & E., I, 196;
N., 49 (Teretulus aureolum); J., 63 (Myxostoma aureolum); F., 80 (aureolum);
F. F., II. 7, 444 (aureolum); L., 12 (macrolepidotum).
Body subfusiform, moderately compressed, rather deep under front of
dorsal, in form much like a Coregonus; depth 3.8 to 4.4 in length. Size
moderate, our largest specimens about 15 inches in length. Color pale
yellowish olive, with a faint coppery tint on sides in predorsal region; rest of
sides and caudal peduncle very light pea-green, grading to whitish or dull
silvery lower down and on belly; dorsal very pale olive, scarcely dusky;
92 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
caudal light reddish outward, olive near base; lower fins salmon with paler,
greenish margins. Head extremely short, subconical, tapering both above
and below to the tip of the pointed snout; length of head 4.6 to 5.4 in body,
usually more than 5 in adults, width 6.6 to 7.6, depth 5.7 to 6.7; interorbital
space 1.9 to 2.4 in head, noticeably convex ; chin convex; cheeks shallow, not
vertically continuous to a flat chin as in aureolum
and anisurum, a cross-section of the head in the
orbital region not being squarish as in those species;
snout 2.3 to 2.9 in head, not at all decurved; mouth
small, upper lip rather coarsely plicate, the folds
shallow and not continued back to the inside of the
lip; lower lip truncate behind, the two halves scarcely
separated at the shallow incision, the coarse but
shallow plicae evident in front, but breaking up into
FlG 23 irregular papilla posteriorly; eye small in comparison
r . ' with length of body, but contained 4 to 5 times in
PS brev^ps the very short head. Dorsal rays 12 or 13, the fin
notably higher in front than behind, the last ray
being less than half the length of the longest anterior ray, which is usually
considerably longer than the base of the fin; free margin of dorsal concave;
pectorals longer than the short head, but relatively shorter than in the two
preceding species, scarcely reaching % of the distance from pectoral to ventral
basis; upper lobe of caudal falcate, usually, though not always, longer than
lower. Scales 6, 43-45, 5 or 6; lateral line complete, nearly straight.
This species occurs in the Ohio Valley and the Great Lake
region, being especially abundant in Lake Erie. In the Mis-
sissippi Valley it ranges up the Missouri to Cheyenne Falls.
It is especially a northern Illinois fish, only one of our collec-
tions made in the southern part of the state containing it, and
this falling outside the area of the lower Illinoisan glaciation.
It is about equally common in central and northern Illinois ,
and has been more uniformly distributed, according to our
observations, than the other species of its genus, occurring in
about equal frequency, relatively to the number of collections
made, in the larger rivers and in creeks and lakes, but about
twice as abundantly in the smaller rivers. It shows also con-
siderably less marked preference than the preceding species for
clear and swiftly flowing waters.
GENUS PLACOPHARYNX COPE
PAVEMENT-TOOTHED RED-HORSE
Suckers like Moxostoma in all respects, except that the pharyngeal
bones are much more developed and the teetb reduced in number, those on
the lower half of the bone very large, 6 to 10 in number, nearly cylindrical
in form, but little compressed and with a broad and more or less flattened
PLACOPHARYNX — PAVEMENT-TOOTHED RED-HORSE 93
grinding surface; mouth larger and more oblique, and lips thicker than in
most species of Moxostoma. Fresh waters of southeastern United States;
one species known.
PLACOPHARYNX DUQUESNEI (LE SUEUR)
Le Sueur, 1817, J. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., I, 105 (Catostomus).
J. & G., 143 (carinatus); M. V., 48 (carinatus); J. & E., I, 198; N., 49 (carinatus);
J., 63 (carinatus); F., 80 (carinatus); F. F., II. 7, 441 (carinatus); L... 13.
Body elongate, heavier forward, the form much as in Moxostoma aureo-
lum, but the back less elevated and the body somewhat less compressed;
depth 3.8 to 4.5 in length. Length 15 to 30 inches. "Color dark olive-
green, the sides brassy, not silvery; lower fins and caudal orange-red" (Jordan
& Evermann) . Head broad, flattish above, but less so than in M . aureolum,
cheeks vertical, chin flat; length of head 4.2 to 4.5, width 6.2 to 6.7, depth
5.3 to 6 in body; interorbital space slightly convex, 2.1 to 2.3 in head; snout
blunt, squarish at tip, scarcely decurved, 2.3 to 2.4 in head; mouth very large,
the lower jaw oblique when the mouth is closed; lips very thick and coarsely
plicate, the folds broken in places into very fine papillae in old specimens;
lower lip very large, protruding when mouth is closed, its halves meeting
behind in an almost straight line; eye large, 4.3 to 5 in head. Dorsal fin
with 12 or 13 rays, higher than long, its free margin weakly concave, last
ray half length of longest anterior ray; pectorals short, reaching but about
% of distance from pectoral to ventral basis; ventrals short, their tips 5 or
6 scales from vent. Scales 6, 43-47, 6 or 7; lateral line complete, almost
straight.
This fish has not ordinarily been separated readily from
specimens of Moxostoma without removal and examination of
the characteristic pharyngeal bones, but, as it seems to us, its
very large mouth and subtruncate lower lip, and its shorter
lower fins should enable one to distinguish it with ease from both
Moxostoma anisurum and M. aureolum — the only species found
in its range, so far as is known, that resemble it at all closely.
Its branchial apparatus is not notably different from that of
Moxostoma, the gill-rakers being short and few, and effective
only on the upper part of the arch, the lower arm being, like
that of Moxostoma, covered by a rigid pad. The species is very
remarkably distinguished, however, by its heavy pharyngeal
jaws and its thick and strong pharyngeal teeth with conspicuous
grinding surface. These number about 30 on each pharyngeal,
the upper ones minute and useless rudiments, and the lower 10
very large, occupying about two thirds the length of the arch —
the lower 6, in fact, about half of it. It is probable that this
apparatus is related to a preference for mollusks as food, but
94 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
the number of specimens available for our examination has been
too small to test this supposition. In two examples taken from
the Illinois River at Havana in October, the food was about a
third mollusks and two thirds insects, the latter largely Iarva3
of May-flies and of large water-beetles (Hydrophillidce) .
Michigan to Tennessee, Georgia, and Arkansas; especially
abundant in the Ozark region and in the French Broad River
basin. Rare in Illinois; one specimen from the Wabash; two
specimens from the Illinois; and two or three others from
localities unknown.
GENUS LAGOCHILA JORDAN & BEAYTON
RABBIT-MOUTH SUCKER
Suckers in all respects like Moxostoma except for the singular structure
of the mouth; upper lip not protractile, greatly prolonged and closely plicate;
lower lip much reduced, divided into two distinct lobes, which are weakly
papillose, the split between the lobes extending backward to the edge of the
dentary bones; lower lip entirely separated from upper at angles by a deep
fissure, which is mostly covered by the skin of the cheeks. Ozark region,
Wabash, Clinch, Scioto, Cumberland, Chickamauga, and White (Arkansas)
rivers. One species known, L. lacera Jordan & Brayton, not at present known
from Illinois, although not unlocked for in collections from the Wabash basin.
(For description see Jordan & Evermann, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 47,
L, p. 199.)
FAMILY CYPRINID^E
THE MINNOWS AND THE CARP
Form varied, elongate and subfusiform, more or less compressed, or
sometimes thin and deep; head naked; body scaly, except in a few forms
not occurring in the United States; scales cycloid; skeleton osseous; anterior
vertebrae modified and provided with Weberian apparatus; fins typically
without spines; ventrals abdominal; no adipose fin; a mesocoracoid arch
present; gill-membranes broadly joined to isthmus; pseudobranchise usually
present; branchiostegals 3; margin of upper jaw formed by premaxillaries
alone; jaws toothless; lower pharyngeal bones well developed, falciform, and
nearly parallel with the gill-arches, each armed with 1 to 3 series of teeth,
4 to 7 hi the main row, and a less number in the others, if more rows are
present; stomach without appendages, being a simple enlargement of the
intestine; intestinal canal short or long, usually less than twice length of
body in species partly or wholly carnivorous (see key), but often very much
longer in herbivorous and limophagous forms; air-bladder typically present
and with open duct, commonly divided into 2 more or less distinct chambers
CYPRINHLE — THE MINNOWS AND THE CARP 95
The minnow family, much the largest and most complex of
the fish families of the state, has become variously differentiated
in respect to habits, ecological relations, and some of its more im-
portant structures, in a way to adjust the group with consider-
able exactness to the various features of its environment. In
respect to territorial distribution, we may distinguish among the
minnows a group distributed mainly through the Mississippi
drainage, another mainly through the Ohio drainage, and a third
which is generally distributed throughout the state. We may
also distinguish a group of species which does not enter or remain
in the persistently turbid waters of the southern Illinois region
covered by the fine-grained drift of the lower Illinoisan glacia-
tion; another group which is common in the lowland lakes, and
a much larger group which is rarely found in lakes of any kind;
a group of minnows which prefer large rivers, and another which
is most abundant in the smaller streams; one more than nor-
mally common over a mud bottom, and another evidently
most at home over a bottom of rock and sand : one which prefers
a swift current, and another which seeks quiet waters.
The various species of the family show also considerable
differences of preference in respect to the kinds of food which
they choose from the general supply offered to them. They are
mainly carnivorous, on the whole, in this country, although we
have found fishes and mollusks only rarely in the food of our
native species. Insects and crustaceans, including Entomos-
traca, are their principal dependence, except for a few which
eat largely of vegetation and a few others which feed almost
wholly on the highly organic mud of the bottoms of our ponds
and streams. The special structures of alimentation corre-
spond in their variations, in the several divisions of the family,
to these differences of their food.
Fishes so small as most of our minnows, are, as a rule, in no
need of a specially developed set of gill-rakers, since the gill-
arches themselves are so small and the spaces between them so
narrow that any object large enough to be useful for food is little
likely to be carried out through the gills with the respiratory
current. In two of our species, however (Abramis crysoleucas
and Notropis heterodori), the gill-rakers are considerably de-
veloped, and in these species Entomostraca appear more largely
in the food than in any other minnows. Even Protozoa and
unicellular algse have been found common in the stomachs of
N. heterodon.
96 FISHES OP ILLINOIS
The intestine varies greatly in length, being longest in the
mud-eating minnows and shortest in those dependent wholly
or mainly on animal food. In Campostoma, a typical mud-
eater, it is five to nine and a half times the length of the head
and body, and is wound spirally about the air-bladder, while in
the more strictly insectivorous genera it is only two thirds to
five sixths as long as the head and body taken together. The
mud-eating forms also differ from the others in the fact that the
pharyngeal teeth have a large grinding surface at the free end,
and are without the terminal hook-like processes with which
those species are provided which feed mainly on insects.
Although the cyprinoids are mostly of small size, the
European carp and a few native species, some of which are abun-
dant on the Pacific slope in America, attain a considerable weight.
There are some two hundred genera in the world and about
a thousand species. In Illinois there are fourteen genera and
thirty-six species known, seventeen of the latter belonging to
the single genus Notropis. All our native species are small and
commercially insignificant except as they are used for bait and
serve as a valuable food resource for other fishes. The top of
the head in spring males, and often also the fins and sides —
particularly the sides of the caudal peduncle — are covered with
small tubercles called pearl organs, and the fins and lower parts
of the body are, in the breeding season, often highly colored
with bright pigments, either red, satiny-white, yellow to orange,
or black. The young of the deeper-bodied species are much
more slender than the adults and have much larger eyes. They
may also show color markings not found in adults of the same
species, such as a caudal spot or a black lateral stripe.
Taken as a group the minnows are, on the whole, fishes
especially of the creeks and smaller rivers, and they show, in
these situations, a decided preference for a more or less rapid
current and for a clean bottom rather than one of mud. There
are notable exceptions, as already said, but the general fact is
well shown by our data of frequency of occurrence in the various
ecological situations, drawn from the 24 Illinois species of which
we have collections numerous enough to make them available
for this study. Of these 24 species, 6 are more than usually
.abundant in the larger rivers, 20 are extraordinarily so in rivers
of the second class and 19 in creeks, 5 are more numerous than
the average in lowland lakes, and only 1 is unusually so in
upland lakes of glacial orgin.
CYPRINID2E — THE MINNOWS AND THE CARP 97
Only two of these 24 species were most abundant in the
larger rivers, and 6 in the smaller rivers. Fourteen species were
found most frequently in creeks, 1 was most abundant in lakes,
another in the bottom-lands, and another in clear upland lakes.
If we may take our miscellaneous collections to have been fairly
distributed as to varieties of situation and to proportionate
extent of each variety, we may further infer from our data that
minnows will generally be found over a relatively hard and clean
bottom about two and a half times as abundantly as over a
bottom of mud.
In the general scheme of aquatic life, the native members of
this family, taken together as a group, play a multiple role.
They operate, to some extent, as a check on the increase of the
aquatic insects, from which they draw a large part of their food
supply; they make indirectly available, as food for their
own most destructive enemies, these aquatic insects, many
terrestrial insects also, which fall into the water and are
greedily devoured by them, and the mere mud and slime and
confervoid algae gathered up from the bottom of the waters they
inhabit; and they rival the young of all larger fishes, their own
worst enemies included, by living continuously, to a great
degree, on the Entomostraca and insect life which these fishes
must have, at one period of their lives, in order to get their
growth. They also offer a considerable means of subsistence to
certain aquatic birds, such as kingfishers, and members of the
heron family; and, through their contributions to the support
of the best food fishes, they form an important link in the chain
of agencies by which our waters are made productive in the
interest of man.
Among the enemies of Cyprinidce disclosed by our study of
1,221 Illinois fishes, already referred to, are practically all
our most predaceous fishes, including the dogfish, both our
common species of gar, the wall-eyed pike, both our species of
pickerel, both species of black bass, the yellow perch, the mud-
cat, the bullheads, the crappies, the green sunfish, and, finally,
one of their own family, the horned dace. That this list might
be considerably enlarged by more extensive studies of the food
of fishes is beyond a doubt, and it is safe to say that no fish-
eating fish would, if hungry for fish, refuse a minnow of any kind
unless it seemed too small to be worth the trouble of capturing.
From the standpoint of the predaceous species, minnows are
young fishes which never grow up, and thus keep up the supply
98 FISHES OP ILLINOIS
of edible fishes of a size to make them available to the smaller
carnivorous kinds when the young of the larger species have
grown too large to be captured or eaten. They thus not only
furnish the necessary food to the smaller aquatic Carnivora,
but they ease the way of growth to the largest kinds, all of which
pass through a period when they need fish food, but are not yet
large enough to capture the prey upon which they chiefly depend
when they are themselves adult. Moreover, by their great
numbers, by their various adaptations and correspondingly
general ecological distribution, and by their permanently small
size, the minnows must distract in great measure the attention
of carnivorous fishes from the young of the larger species, upon
which, without them, the adults of these larger species would
fall with the full force of their voracious appetites. By offering
themselves, no doubt as unconscious, but sufficient substitutes,
they thus help to preserve — for their own future destruction,
however, be it noticed — the young of many species which would
otherwise be forced to feed on each other's progeny. It is
not too much to say, consequently, that the number of game
fishes which any waters can maintain is largely conditioned
upon its permanent stock of minnows.
Owing to their abundance in all situations, the number and
variety of their species and genera, and the ease with which they
may be collected and preserved, minnows are an admirable
group for a study of local distribution and ecological relation-
ship, and the data of our collections applicable to such a study
have been assembled, for convenient inspection and comparison,
in the following tables and lists.
CYPRINIDJK — THE MINNOWS AND THE CARP
99
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FISHES OF ILLINOIS
TABLE II
MINNOWS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
RELATIONS TO CURRENT
SPECIES AND FREQUENCY COEFFICIENTS
Swift-water minnow
8
Still-water minnows
Species
Coefficients
Species
Coefficients
Cliola vigilax
2.46
Abramis crysoleucas
2.79
Campostoma anomalum
Hybopsis kentuckiensis — ....
Phenacobius mirabilis
Notropis whipplii
N. atherinoides . . .
.70
.38
.32
.30
19
Notropis umbratilis
Hybognathus nuchalis
Pimephales promelas
Notropis cornutus
Semotilus atromaculatus
1.76
1.38
1.37
1.27
1 20
N. blennilis
.18
Pimephales notatus
1.09
TABLE III
RELATIONS TO BOTTOM
SPECIES AND FREQUENCY COEFFICIENTS
Preferring clean bottom
Preferring mud bottom
Species
Coefficients
Species
Coefficients
Campostoma anomalum
3.26
Abrami3 crysoleucas
3.79
Ericymba buccata
3.20
Pimephales promelas
2.08
Hybopsis kentuckiensis
2.24
Notropis lutrensis
1.69
Notropis cornutus
Cliola vigilax
2.20
2.04
Hybognathus nuchalis
Hybopsis amblops
1.68
1.50
Notropis blennius
2.00
Pimephales notatus
1.09
N. whipplii
1.60
Phenacobius mirabilis
1.36
Notropis atherinoides
1.22
Semotilus atromaculatus
1.11
Notropis umbratilis
1.01
TABLE IV
PRINCIPAL CYPRINID^E OF LARGE RIVERS
Species
No. of
collections
Frequency
coefficients
Cliola vigilax
Notropis heterodon
N. hudsonius
N. lutrensis
N. jejunus
N. atherinoides
194
93
147
163
51
206
1.04
.98
1.80
1.43
1.63
1.21
Hybopsis store.ria.nus
28
1.28
CYPRINIDJE — THE MINNOWS AND THE CARP
101
TABLE V
PRINCIPAL CYPRINID^E OF INTERIOR LAKES
Species
No. of
collections
Frequency coefficients
Lowland
lakes
Upland
lakes
Opsopceodus emilise
Abramis crysoleucas
Notropis cayuga
N. heterodon
N. hudsonius
80
303
30
93
147
1.97
1.36
3.29
1.44
1.76
.59
.17
2.68
.60
TABLE VI
GEOGRAPHICAL GROUPS, ILLINOIS MINNOWS
PREFERRING THE OHIO
DRAINAGE
Notropis illecebrosus
Ericymba buccata
Hybopsis amblops
PREFERRING THE MISSISSIPPI
DRAINAGE
Chrosomus erythrogaster
Hybognathus nubila
Pimephales promelas
Notropis gilberti
N. hudsonius
N. lutrensis
EVIDENTLY AVOIDING LOWER ILLINOISAN FREELY ENTERING LOWER ILLINOISAN
GLACIATION GLACIATION
Campostoma anomalum Hybognathus nuchalis
Notropis blennius Pimephales notatus
N. cornutus Abramis crysoleucas
Ericymba buccata Cliola vigilax
Hybopsis kentuckiensis Notropis whipplii
N. atherinoides
N. rubrifrons
Hybopsis amblops
The first table, relating to the twenty-four most abundant
species, shows the relative frequencies of occurrence of each
species in our collections from each class of situations indicated
by the headings of the columns. The figures of these columns,
called coefficients of frequency, when larger than 1 indicate a
greater than average frequency in the situation named, and,
when smaller than 1, a lesser frequency. That is to say, if all
the species of minnows had been equally and uniformly dis-
tributed through all classes of situations, the coefficients of this
table would all have been 1. Referring, for example, to Cam-
postoma anomalum, in the first line of the table, it will be seen
that 195 of our collections contained this species. The number
of collections from larger rivers containing this minnow, as
shown by the figures in the second column of the table, were
102 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
.21 of the number which would have contained it if it had been
uniformly distributed. From the entry in the third column it
will be seen that in small rivers the abundance of Campostoma
anomalum was a little more than 2^ times as great as if the
species had been uniformly distributed; and from the fourth
column, that in creeks it was a little more than 3^ times as
abundant. The number of its occurrences in lowland lakes
was but .05 of the normal average, and in upland lakes the
species has not been taken by us at all.
The seventh and tenth columns of these figures give the
numbers of collections for each species concerning which data
were recorded available for computing their relative frequencies
in rapid and quiet waters, and on clean and soft bottoms.
From the figures in the last six columns of the table we learn,
concerning Campostoma, that 65 collections give us a coefficient
of 1, 7 for a rapid current as compared with .59 for quiet water,
equal frequency in the two situations being, as before, repre-
sented by 1. The strong preference of the species for a clean
bottom over one of mud is shown by the last two numbers,
applying to 105 collections, the two coefficients being respec-
tively 3.26 for a clean bottom and .31 for one of mud.
In Tables II. to V., relating to minnows and the environ-
ment, the species most characteristic of each situation are
brought together in lists arranged in the order of the size of
their coefficients of frequency. The remaining lists refer to
peculiarities of territorial distribution within the state.
The following keys and descriptions of Cyprinidce have been
designed for use with a minimum of attention to obscure charac-
ters and to those difficult of access. However, it will be neces-
sary in all cases for beginners in ichthyology to ascertain by
dissection whether their specimen belongs to the long- or the
short-intestined class of minnows (see key to genera of Cy-
prinidce). It is possible, however, to dispose entirely with the
use of dental characters in the indentification of minnows,
and our keys have been constructed with that fact in view;
although, for the purpose of completeness and for the aid of
those who may wish to carry their studies further than the sim-
plest artificial key will take them, we have in every case included
a reference to the number and form of the pharyngeal teeth.*
* In Illinois Cyprinidce the main row of teeth on each pharyngeal bone contains 4 or 5 teeth;
inside of this main row is a so-called "lesser row " which may contain 1 or 2 teeth or be un-
represented altogether, in the latter case being designated "0" in the formula. For example,
CYPRINID^E — THE MINNOWS AND THE CAEP 103
KEY TO THE GENERA OF NATIVE CYPRINID^E FOUND IN ILLINOIS
(Not including the European carp, Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, which, with the
goldfish, Carassius auratus Linnaeus, is sufficiently distinguished from all native
American Cyprinidce by the presence of a serrated spine in dorsal and anal fins.)
a. Intestine more than twice length of body; peritoneum usually black, brown,
or very dark gray; species generally mud- eaters.
b. Intestine spirally wound around air-bladder; teeth 4-4 or 1, 4-4, 0
Campostoma.
bb. Intestine not wound around air-bladder.
c. Scales very small, 65 to 90 in longitudinal series; teeth 5-5, or 4-5
Chrosomus.
cc. Scales larger, about 35 to 50 in lateral line; teeth 4-4.
d. Scales before dorsal 12 to 16 in number, not crowded; first (rudimentary)
ray of dorsal fin slender, bony, and closely attached to second
Hybognathus.
dd. Scales before dorsal small and considerably crowded, 22 to 25 in number;
first (rudimentary) dorsal ray more or less club-shaped, inclosed in thick
skin, and separated from second ray by a distinct membrane. . . Pimephales.
aa. Intestine less than twice the length of body; peritoneum usually pale;
species generally carnivorous, or partly so.
e. Maxillary without barbel*.
f. Mouth extremely small and upturned, the angle with vertical formed by its
cleft less than 40*.
g. Peritoneum pale; teeth 4-5 or 5-5 Opsopoeodus.
gg. Peritoneum black; teeth 4-4. Notropis (anogenus only; for main division
of genus see k, below).
. ff. Mouth horizontal or more or less oblique, the angle with vertical formed by
its cleft usually much more than 40°.
h. Abdomen behind ventral fins with a sharp keel-like edge over which the
scales do not pass; body much compressed; anal fin long, its rays 12 to
14; teeth 5-5 Abramis.
hh. Abdomen behind ventrals never sharply keeled, but rounded and fully
scaled; form various, elongate or fusiform, or more or less compressed.
i. First (rudimentary) ray of dorsal club-like, covered with thick skin, and
separated from second ray by a distinct membrane; teeth 4-4 Cliola.
ii. First (rudimentary) ray of dorsal slender and bony and closely attached to
second.
j. Lips normal, nowhere conspicuously thickened; the mouth subterminal,
more or less oblique.
k. Lower portion of head rounded, not swollen, and without externally visible
mucus channels; teeth in the main row normally 4-4, the lesser row often
wanting Notropis.
"teeth 2. 4-4,2" means 4 teeth in each main (outer) row, and 2 in each lesser (inner) row;
"teeth 4-4" means that there is but a single row on each pharyngeal bone; while "1, 4-4, 0"
would indicate that the lesser row is represented on one side but not on the other. The teeth
may be removed for study in the smaller species by the use of a needle or small hook, or fine
forceps, which should be inserted through the gill-opening at the back of the opercular cavity and
directly under the shoulder girdle. A convenient mode of removal consists in grasping the
shoulder of the pharyngeal arch with the forceps and pulling forwards after first taking care to
cut loose the attachments of the upper and lower limbs. The whole operation may be performed
without removing the opercle, which may be merely lifted up to allow room for insertion of the
forceps.
* Care should be exercised here as a barbel may be present but concealed.
104 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
kk. Lower portion of head with an appearance of being swollen, the suborbitals,
interopercles, and dentaries with greatly distended mucus cavities, ap-
pearing externally as transverse vitreous streaks; teeth 4-4 or 1, 4-4, 1...
Ericymba.
jj. Lower lip with two lateral fleshy lobes, separated at the middle by the more
or less horny and knob-like chin; scales rather small, 40 to 60 in lateral
line; teeth 4-4 Phenacobius.
ee. Maxillary with a barbel* at or near its extremity (sometimes quite small and
difficult to make out, especially in preserved specimens).
I. Barbel on upper side of maxillary and distinctly in front of its posterior tip;
mouth exceptionally large, maxillary 2.4 to 2.8 in head; scales 50 to 60;
teeth 4 or 5 in main row, 1, 2, or 0 in lesser row Semotilus.
II. Barbel terminal on the maxillary, situated in the axil formed at meeting of
upper and lower lip -grooves; maxillary more than 2.8 in head.
m. Premaxillaries not protractile; scales small, 60 to 70; dorsal fin posterior;
teeth 2. 4-4. 2 Rhinichthys.
mm. Premaxillaries protractile.
n. Scales 35 to 45 in lateral line; teeth 4-4, or 1, 4-4, 1 or 0 Hybopsis.
nn. Scales small, 50 to 60 in lateral line; head much depressed and flattened
above; teeth usually 2, 4-4, 2 Platygobio.
GENUS CYPRINUS (ARTEDI) LINNAEUS
THE CARP
Mouth with four long barbels; teeth molar, broad and truncate, 1, 1,
3-3, 1,1; dorsal fin very long, with a stout spine which is serrated behind;
anal fin with a serrated spine. Native to fresh waters of Asia; introduced
into ponds and streams of both Europe and America, where they are now
abundant.
CYPRINUS CARPIO LINNAEUS
EUROPEAN CARP
(3 PLATES)
Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., Ed. X, 320.
G., VII, 25; J. & G., 254; M. V., 50; J. & E., I, 201; L., 13.
Length 2 feet or over; body robust, compressed; back considerably
elevated; general form resembling that of the buffalo-fishes (Ictiobus); depth
in length 2.75 to 3.4 (as a rule less than 3); depth caudal peduncle 1.2 to 1.4
in its length. Color olivaceous, upper parts dusky to bluish; lower part of
sides and belly more or less yellowish. Head conical, tapering rapidly from
above to the tip of the pointed snout, 3 to 4 in length; width of head 1.4 to
1.6 in its length; interorbital space nearly flat, 2.3 to 2.7 in head; eye 5.5 to
6.8 in head; nose bluntly pointed, 2.6 to 3.3 in head; mouth rather small,
anterior, oblique, the maxillary not reaching past anterior nostril, 3.3 to 3.9
(usually about 3.5) in head; two pairs of maxillary barbels, the upper shorter,
the lower longer than eye; teeth broad and truncate with molar surfaces,
in three rows, 1, 1 or 2, 3-3, 1 or 2. 1; intestine longer than body; peritoneum
gray, often more or less specked. Dorsal and anal fins each with a large
* Read 1 and 11 for exact indication of location of barbel.
-:
c <u
'
II
t1 S
'
< ^
< 5
w <"
O G
* I
CYPRINUS — THE CARP 105
strong posteriorly serrated spine; dorsal rays 17 to 21, the base of the fin
longer than the head, the spine and first three rays higher than the posterior
part of the fin, as in the buffaloes, insertion of dorsal slightly in front of ven-
trals; anal rays 5 or 6; pectorals reaching nearly to front of ventrals, 1.3 to
1.5 in head; ventrals scarcely % to vent. Scales 5 or 6, 35 to 37, 5 or 6; lateral
line continuous, usually somewhat flexuose.
The above description is based on specimens of scale-carp
only; the mirror and leather varieties, differing from the scaled
forms chiefly in the squamation, are comparatively rare in the
waters of this state.
The carp, which is native in China, was introduced into
Europe as early as 1227 (Hessel), and was first brought to
England at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The first
successful introduction of carp into the United States was made
in 1877, when R. Hessel, for the U. S. Fish Commission, brought
345 carp to this country. Of these, 227 were of the mirror and
leather varieties, and 118 were scale-carp. All were put into
ponds at Washington, D. C., and multiplied rapidly, more than
12,000 young being distributed in 1879 to more than 300 persons
in 25 states and territories. From that time distribution rapidly
increased until a few years before its final discontinuance in 1897.
The introduction of carp into the waters of Illinois began
with the first distribution (1879), and in 1880 scaled carp to the
number of 800 were received from the U. S. Fish Commission.
In 1881 and 1882 a total of 2,500 more carp were received and
distributed by the Illinois Fish Commission, the distribution
being mostly made in lots of only ten to a single person. In
1885 the first carp were planted in public waters, a total of
30,900 being set free in the Illinois, Fox, Sangamon, Des Plaines,
Kaskaskia, Little Wabash, Big Muddy, and a few other streams.
In 1886 the first large carp was caught in the Illinois River, a
specimen 30 inches long being taken at Meredosia — probably
escaped from some pond which had received a consignment
from one of the early distributions. In 1887 about 16,000, more
carp were planted in the public waters of the state. Between
1888 and 1890 reports of the capture of carp of considerable
size increased in number, particularly from points along the
Illinois River, and by 1892 this fish had multiplied to such an
extent in the waters about Havana that more than 3,000 Ib
were taken from Clear Lake in a single haul. A year earlier
Bowles had begun to ship carp from Meredosia. By 1898 the
multiplication and utilization of carp had increased to such an
—16 P
106 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
extent in this state that Captain John A. Schulte, of Havana,
wrote: "From the information I can get as an official of the
Illinois Fishermen's Association from all points along the Illinois
River, the carp have brought more money than the catch of all
the other fish combined. Long live the carp!" Carp are now
found very generally distributed over the state, being most
common, however, in the Illinois River and in our other larger
and more sluggish streams and lakes and bayous connecting
with them. They are not yet very abundant in southern
Illinois. The carp catch of the Illinois River alone now reaches
six to eight million pounds a year, valued at more than $200,000.
Three races of carp are distinguishable: (1) the regularly-
scaled form, which is nearest to the native type of the domesti-
cated races; (2) the mirror-carp, which has the body partly bare,
with but two or three irregular rows of large scales along the
back; and (3) the leather-carp, which is scaleless, with a thick,
soft, velvety skin. Many local German races of carp, of no
interest here, have been described. Although the first impor-
tation of carp by the U. S. Fish Commission contained a greater
proportion of the mirror and leather races than of the scaled
carp, the former did not thrive except under domestication, and
to-day there are few mirror or leather carp living in a wild state
in American waters.*
Carp prefer moderately warm water, not too deep, and with
plenty of aquatic vegetation. They will live in almost any
situation, thriving in waters of all degrees of turbidity and con-
tamination. They are very hardy under extremes of tempera-
ture, and are easily resuscitated after freezing. Carp shipped
from Havana, 111., to New York City by freight arrive alive
provided the gills are kept moist by melting ice. Although of
lazy habit, resting much of the time on the bottom, they are
wary, and are particularly quick to find a way out of a net, or
to jump over it. They are omnivorous feeders, taking princi-
pally vegetable matter, but insect larvae, crustaceans and mol-
lusks, and other small aquatic animals as well. They often pull
up the roots of tender aquatic plants while feeding. Cole
(1905) found them feeding at all times of day. They apparently
seek deeper water in winter, where they remain semi-torpid,
taking little or no food.
* Cole (1905) found that over 91 per cent, of 3,000 carp counted at Lake Erie were scaled
carp. In half a carload of carp looked over as they were unloaded from skiffs at Havana in
August 1905, I was unable to detect a single specimen of the mirror or leather varieties. —
R. E. R.
S 5
s I
5 1
£ "S
< "5
g «
O "g
D -2
w 3
CYPRINUS — THE CARP 107
Carp spawn in the northern United States in May and
June. The eggs are small and exceedingly numerous, 400,000 to
500,000 being a common number in a 4- or 5-lb female. They
spawn most frequently during the early hours of the morning
One large female is ordinarily accompanied by four or five males.
Five or six hundred eggs are emitted at a time, the oviposition
being accompanied by much splashing on the part of both
sexes. The eggs are scattered about, according to Cole, ad-
hering to roots and stems and other objects. In moderately
warm weather the young hatch, in this latitude, in about twelve
days. The young carp reach a length of 4 to 6 inches by the
end of the first summer, and attain a weight of about 1 Ib in
twelve months. By the end of the second summer a weight
of about 3 Ib may be reached, this depending upon their nourish-
ment. They first spawn in the spring of their third year.
Carp in our waters do not ordinarily reach more than 5 to 10
Ib weight, although occasional specimens have been taken
weighing as much as 30 Ib. In Europe double the latter weight
is said to have been reached in one or two instances.
The carp lends itself more readily perhaps than any other
fish to the requirements of artificial culture. The rearing of
carp is a very ancient practice, a treatise on the subject by a
Chinese dating from the third century. In this country it has
practically been discontinued since the species has multiplied
on such a vast scale in our natural waters. However, the
adaptability of the carp to confinement is still taken advantage
of in certain localities, especially in the Great Lake region, in
the use of retention ponds, in which large numbers of the sum-
mer catch are held over to get the advantage of the winter
market.
Carp bite readily on such baits as worms, liver, paste, and
bread crumbs, and in fact will take nearly any except live bait,
and they are not lacking in game qualities when hooked. They
have long been valued by English anglers, but are not much
thought of by the American sportsman of the newer school.
The carp does not hold a very high place as an edible fish.
As a cheap flesh food it compares favorably in price with any
of the products of either fresh or salt water. Various efforts
have been made to devise means of preparing carp in a way both
simple and acceptable to palates accustomed to better fish.
The Germans in order to get rid of the muddy flavor, have in
some instances adopted the plan of placing the carp in fresh
108 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
running water for a short time before cooking. Such a measure
is not generally practicable in this country, where the resources
of cultural establishments are lacking, and the sole recourse is
to parboiling and spicing and other subterfuges of the cuisine.
Experiments recently made in this country in smoking and salt-
ing carp have not been very successful. Carp caviar is known
to have been used in former centuries by the Jews of Italy,
but its red color is objectionable to the American purchaser.
Owing to the low price which carp bring in springtime — often
not more than a third of a cent per pound — many of these fish
in the Great Lake region are used for fertilizing, although the
more progressive firms are more and more holding the spring
and summer catches for the better winter price — two to two
and a half cents per pound.
Among fishermen and anglers in America the carp has both
its partisans and its enemies. However, it is coming more and
more to be believed that its good qualities more than overbalance
the other side of the account, the most serious of the charges
against it appearing to rest on uncertain or gratuitously assumed
premises. These charges have been, in brief, that carp roil the
water and spoil the breeding and feeding grounds of other fish;
that they eat the spawn of other fish and prevent the nesting of
such species as bass and sunfishes; that they spoil the feeding
grounds of water-birds by eating and rooting up the wild rice
and other aquatic plants; and, that they are of no value either
as a food or a game fish. With regard to the first charge it
appears doubtful if the damage is serious in waters already as
muddy as those of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. Carp do
not naturally seek out clear and cold waters to defile them, and
they would probably in no case be serious competitors of such
fish as trout and small-mouthed bass.
The second charge, if true, is a much more serious one; but
few direct observations bearing on this point have been made.
The common form of the argument, that "carp eat spawn, as
shown by the simultaneous rapid increase of carp and decrease
of fine, fish, " is not supported by the statistics of the fisheries
of the Illinois River. These show, on the contrary, that during
the five years between 1894 and 1899, when the carp catch
increased from % to 8^/3 million pounds, the black bass, instead
of decreasing, increased from 70,000 to 102,000 Ib. The de-
crease in black bass between 1899 and 1903 to 45,000 Ib was
accompanied by a corresponding decrease in carp to 6,000,000
CYPEINUS — THE CARP 109
lb. It is shown also that catfish gradually increased from 700,-
000 to 990,000 lb between 1894 and 1903; that crappie in-
creased from 13'8,000 to 210,000 lb; that sunfish increased from
175,000 to 507,000 lb between 1894 and 1899, falling off some-
what in 1903; and that suckers, although falling off from 155,000
to 67,000 lb between 1894 and 1899, rose again to 199,999 lb in
1903. The sole important commercial species that have fallen
off steadily since 1894 are buffalo and drum, the first declining
from 3}/3 million pounds to about half that amount in 1903;
and drum from 348,000 to less than 100,000 lb in the year last
mentioned. If these records show anything at all it would
seem to be that the competition of the carp as spawn-eater and
water-soiler has not seriously affected many of our Illinois
River species. It is by no means improbable that causes entirely
apart from depredations and competition of carp may have
had a large influence in producing the recent decrease of buffalo
and drum. Among such causes may be mentioned increased
contamination of waters from municipal and industrial sources;
the obliteration, by drainage and diking, of backwaters used
as spawning grounds; and the increased rapidity of run-off
from the prairie and upland, as a result of tiling and the cutting
of the forests, affecting the extent and duration of the spawning
havens afforded by both swampy areas and small streams. To
these causes is to be assigned the decrease and approximate dis-
appearance of such minor species as pickerel and lake sturgeon,
which were never very abundant in the rivers in question, and
which began to fall off in numbers long before the carp entered
the field.
It is not denied that carp will eat fish spawn; but it has not
yet been shown that they seek out spawn for the purpose of
consuming it. Black bass, crappie, and sunfish are doubtless
able to defend their nests against carp in any case. Certainly
the devouring of spawn has not affected the multiplication, as
shown by the output, of any of these three species, or of suckers
or catfish. That even a favorable effect of the multiplication
of the carp is not impossible is evident when it is remembered
that the myriads of young carp offer an almost inexhaustible
supply of food to the growing bass, crappies, and sunfish. The
drum and buffalo, which have decreased, are in their food habits
more directly in competition with the carp — being chiefly bot-
tom feeders, utilizing mollusks, crustaceans, and insect larvae.
HO FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Of the third charge little can be said. While it is admitted
by all competent to judge that carp do uproot vegetation in
large quantities, no means are at hand for comparing the effect of
this destruction on the decrease of water-birds with the effects of
the operations of the hunters themselves. Since 1900 the prob-
lem has been complicated in the case of the Illinois River by the
effect of the increased flow from Lake Michigan, which has
diminished vegetation in many areas.
GENUS CAMPOSTOMA AGASSIZ
STONE-ROLLERS
Body elongate, little compressed; jaws with thick lips; premaxillaries
protractile; no barbel; teeth 4-4 or 1, 4-4, 0, with oblique grinding surface
and a slight hook on one or two teeth; intestine 6 to 9 times length of body,
wound hi mariy coils about the air-bladder, which is suspended in the ab-
dominal cavity, this condition being unique in Campostoma among all known
fishes; peritoneum black; dorsal rays 8; anal rays 7 or 8; scales 46 to 75;
lateral line present. Size moderate, not over 6 or 8 inches. Four species
known.
CAMPOSTOMA ANOMALUM (EAFINESQUE)
STONE-ROLLER; DOUGH-BELLY; GREASED CHUB
(MAP XXIII)
Rafinesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 52 (Rutilus).
G., VII, 183 (dubium); J. & G., 149, 150 (prolixum) ; M. V., 52; J. & E., I, 205; N.
44; J., 55; F., 79; F. F., I. 6, 77; L., 14.
Distinguishable from all other Illinois Cyprinidce by the peculiar dis-
position of the very long intestine, which is wound many times in a trans-
verse spiral about the air-bladder in the species of this genus, in which alone
of all fishes this arrangement is known to occur. Length 6 inches; body
stoutish, subfusiform, only moderately compressed; depth 3.9 to 4.8 in
length, usually more than 4.3 in adults; caudal peduncle as a rule somewhat
longer than head, its depth 2 to 2.5 in its length; old males heavy forward,
the predorsal region swollen and the back more or less elevated. Color
brownish olive, the upper parts with brassy luster; sides and caudal peduncle
irregularly blotched or mottled with blackish; belly satiny whitish; a dusky
vertical bar behind opercle; males with a dark cross-bar through middle of
dorsal and anal and a vertical bar at base of caudal, especially conspicuous
in spring, when the rest of each fin is fiery red and the snout and sometimes
almost the entire body covered with tubercles; females sometimes with a
faint dusky cross-bar on dorsal, the anal and caudal plain; young with more
or less pinkish to purplish on body. Head subconic, little compressed, 4 to
4.6 in length, its width in its length 1.7 to 2; interorbital space very little
convex, 2.5 to 3.3 in head, usually less than 3; eye small, circular, 4.2 to 5.2
in head, situated forward of middle of head and nearer its upper than under
CAMPOSTOMA — STONE-ROLLEES 111
surface; nose 2.3 to 2.8, the muzzle moderately decurved, overhanging the
rather large and horizontal mouth; maxillary 3.3 to 4.6 in head, reaching
scarcely back of vertical from posterior nostril; lower jaw wholly included;
upper lip quite fleshy; breadth of isthmus 1.3 to 1.5 times diameter of orbit.
Teeth 4-A or 1, 4-4, 0, with oblique grinding surface without terminal hooks,
or with only a slight one on one or two teeth; intestine 5 to 9.5 times length
of head and body; peritoneum black. Dorsal fin with 8 rays, set slightly
behind ventrals and nearly midway between muzzle and base of caudal;
longest dorsal ray 1.2 to 1.6 in head; anal rays 7; pectorals about % to
ventral?, 1.2 to 1.4 in head, ventrals falling quite short of vent in males,
reaching or almost reaching it in females. Scales rather small, 6-8, 46-53,
6-8. more or less crowded forward, the crowding scarcely noticeable in females
but very evident and often conspicuous in old males; scales on breast very
small, about 15 transverse series between pectorals; scales before dorsal 15
to 26; lateral line complete.
This is a species of wide distribution occurring in the Great
Lake region, along the south Atlantic slope to the Gulf, and in
the valley of the Mississippi from Wyoming to Indiana, Ohio,
and Texas.
It is a fish of the creeks and the smaller rivers, its ratios of
preference, according to our collections, being 3*4 for the former
and 2^ for the latter. It has been taken only occasionally by
us from rivers of a large size, and but rarely from lakes and ponds.
Indeed, the notable preference of the species for rocky or sandy
streams as shown by its frequency coefficient of 3.26, and for
swift water over still water (coefficients respectively, 1.70 and
.59) would tend to exclude it from stagnant or muddy waters of
any description. In accordance with these preferences, it has
not once occurred in our collections from the streams of the
lower Illinoisan glaciation, none of our 166 Illinois localities for
this species falling within that district. Nine of them are from
the hill region of extreme southern Illinois, and one is from the
Wabash in Wabash county, but the southernmost points for the
remaining 156 localities are in Montgomery county in the west-
ern part of the state, and in Coles county in the eastern part.
This species is distinguished from all our other minnows by
the great length of the intestine, which is wound spirally about
the air-bladder. There are about twenty gill-rakers to each gill,
but they are so short as to constitute a very inefficient straining
apparatus. The pharyngeal teeth have well-developed grinding
surfaces, and are practically without terminal hook. Intestines
of specimens examined with reference to the food of the species
were invariably found filled from end to end with a slime-like
matter consisting almost wholly of fine mud from which, with
112 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
proper treatment, fragments of organic matter could be readily
separated. This was nearly all of vegetable origin, chiefly
filamentous algae, with diatoms, and minute fragments of vari-
ous kinds of plant tissue. Sometimes the intestine was filled
with almost pure mud.
Dr. Jordan says of this species that "it spawns early in
spring, and it ascends in great numbers all the running streams
even the very smallest. Later it retires to the deeper places in
the creeks, where it may be readily recognized by its quick
motions and dusky colors. Most of the specimens seen are
comparatively small, but occasionally an old male may be
noticed in the spring with its entire body rough and gray with
tubercles, and with its vertical fins gaily variegated with black
and orange. Such individuals appear to have exhausted their
vitality and die quickly in confinement, and are often found
dead. Young individuals are active and hardy in the aquarium,
where they feed on confer vse and .diatoms. "
This minnow is unusually tenacious of life, being among the
hardiest of the aquarium fishes and extremely persistent on the
hook. It is regarded by anglers as one of the best of live baits
for black-bass fishing. Males in breeding dress and females
apparently near spawning have been found by us from Novem-
ber 15 to December 15 in fall, and from May 1 to June 15 in
spring. Breeding males often have the head and almost the
entire body tuberculate. According to Dr. Reighard, an ex-
cavation is made by the male in sand or gravel in advance of
spawning.
GENUS CHROSOMUS EAFINESQUE
Body moderately elongate; not much compressed; no barbel; jaws
normal; premaxillaries protractile; teeth 5-5 or 4-5, moderately hooked,
with well-marked grinding surface; alimentary canal twice length of body;
peritoneum black; dorsal rays 7 or 8; anal rays 9; scales small, 67 to 85 in
lateral series; lateral line imperfect or wanting; size small, not over 3 inches.
Three species; New England to the Dakotas, chiefly northward.
CHROSOMUS ERYTHROGASTER EAFINESQUE
RED-BELLIED DACE
(MAP XXIV)
Raflnesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 47 (Luxilus), 48.
G., VII, 247 (Leuciscus); J. & Gu 153; M. V., 53; J. & E., I, 209; N.( 47; J.( 61; F.,
79; F. F., 1. 6, 80; L,., 14.
The minute scales, 77 to 91, in the lateral line, and the two longitudinal
stripes of dark color upon the sides, will readily distinguish the present species
CHKOSOMUS 113
from all other species of Cyprinidce found within our range. Length 2 to 3
inches; body oblong, moderately compressed, tapering about equally each
way from middle of body; depth 4.4 to 4.9 in length; depth of caudal peduncle
2.1 to 2.4 in its length. Color above brownish olive, with a broad vertebral
streak of dusky and dark spots forming an indistinct row on upper part of
each side; sides marked with two black stripes (faint in females), the upper
and narrower one extending from upper corner of gill-cleft nearly straight
backward to base of caudal, sometimes breaking up into spots or oblique
bars on caudal peduncle; the lower stripe broader, extending from snout
through eye and along lower portion of sides to end of caudal peduncle,
followed by a black spot at base of caudal rays; the interspace between lateral
bands a bright silvery or satiny cream, tinged with brassy to crimson in males;
belly white, overlaid with silvery; females much more obsurely marked than
males which in spring coloration have the belly, breast, and chin bright
scarlet, and the fins a bright lemon-yellow, the dorsal with a large blotch of
bright scarlet at its base and the body everywhere minutely tuberculate.
Head rather pointed, 4 to 4.2 in length, its width 1.8 to 2; interorbital space
nearly flat, 2.6 to 3 in head; eye 3.3 to 3.8; nose 2.9 to 3.5, short, pointed,
longer than the small eye; mouth moderate, terminal, oblique, the tip of
upper lip nearly at level of middle of pupil; maxillary 3.2 to 4 in head (usually
greater than 3.4), reaching but slightly past anterior nostril-opening; jaws
about equal; isthmus less than width of eye. Teeth 4-4, 4-5, or 5-5, long,
slender, and compressed, with a long and narrow masticatory groove, and
with tips slightly hooked; intestine 2.4 to 3.5 times length of head and body;
peritoneum black. Dorsal fin with rays usually 7, in occasional instances
6, placed behind ventrals and about equidistant between snout and base of
caudal; longest dorsal ray 1.1 to 1.3 in head; anal rays 7 or 8, usually 8;
pectorals 1.2 to 1.5 in head; ventrals reaching vent. Scales very small,
17-20, 77-91, 9-12 (not usually over 85 in Illinois specimens), of uniform size
everywhere, the exposed surfaces scarcely deeper than long; lateral line
incomplete, there being usually no pores present on posterior half of body;
scales before dorsal 35 or 40.
This beautiful species, one of the most showy in our waters,
occurs rarely in our collections from the northern half of the state
and from extreme southern Illinois. None of our twenty-two
localities of its occurrence falls within the lower glaciation, and
all but three of them are in northern Illinois. We have not
taken the species from Lake Michigan or from any part of the
lake drainage. Outside the state it' has been reported from
Maine and New Brunswick to North Carolina, from Michigan,
and from the Ohio Valley generally to the streams of Kansas
tributary to the Missouri, and to northern Alabama. It is
commonly found only in small clear streams, and has not once
been taken by us from any of the larger rivers.
Its food is evidently obtained by nibbling or sucking the
surface slime from stones and other objects on the bottom. It
114 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
consists, in all the cases examined by us, mainly of mud con-
taining algae with an occasional trace of Entomostraca.
The breeding season falls in May and June, at which time
the colors of the male reach their most gorgeous development.
While not especially hardy, this species lives well in the aqua-
rium, where it is indeed a most beautiful object.
GENUS HYBOGNATHUS AGASSIZ
Body elongate, somewhat compressed; jaws normal, sharp-edged, the
lower in some species with a slight hard protuberance in front; premaxillaries
protractile; no barbel; teeth 4-4, with oblique grinding surface and little if
any hook; alimentary canal 3 to 10 times length of body; peritoneum black;
dorsal rays 8; anal rays 7 to 9, scales large, usually 32 to 41 in lateral series;
lateral line complete. Size moderate, 2^ to 6 inches. Described species
numerous, though most are imperfectly known, and doubtless many syn-
onyms. Ventral and southwestern United States into northern Mexico;
two species found in Illinois.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF HYBOGNATHUS FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Silvery species, with a prominent hard protuberance at tip of inside of lower
jaw and with teeth long and scarcely hooked; length 6 inches nuchalis.
aa. Olivaceous, with dark lateral band continued through eye to end of snout;
no symphysial protuberance; teeth short and distinctly hooked; length
2% inches nubila.
HYBOGNATHUS NUCHALIS AGASSIZ
SILVERY MINNOW
(MAP XXV)
Agassiz, 1855, Am Jour. Sci. Arts (Silliman's Journal), XIX, 224.
G., VII, 184; J. & G., 156; M. V., 53; J. & E., I, 213; N., 45 (also argyritis), J., 56
(also argyritis); F., 79; F. F., I. 6, 79; L., 14.
A large silvery minnow, with large and loosely imbricated scales, spindle-
shaped body and pointed head, the lower jaw thin and hard and furnished
with a small hard lump just inside the mouth in front. Length 6 inches,
body subfusiform, not much compressed, deepest at front of dorsal and
tapering about equally backward to base of caudal and forward to the pointed
snout; depth 3.9 to 4.5 in length; caudal peduncle rather stout, shorter than
head, its depth 1.7 to 2.3 (usually less than 2) in its length. Color olivaceous
green above, translucent in life; sides clear silvery, with bright reflections;
fins unspotted; scales not distinctly dark-edged, their entire surface being
about equally specked. Head small, slender, subconical, its length 4 to 4.6,
its width 1.8 to 2.1 in its length; interorbital space gently convex, 2.5 to 2.9
in head; eye small, circular, 3.8 to 4.5 in head; nose 2.9 to 3.5 in head, pointed
and considerably longer than the small eye; mouth small, terminal, oblique,
tip of upper lip not far below level of middle of pupil; maxillary 3.6 to 4.3 in
head, its length but little greater than diameter of eye; back of maxillary
HTBOGNATHUS 115
falling far short of orbit, scarcely exceeding as a rule the vertical from an-
terior nostril-opening; lower jaw with a hard sharp edge and a noticeable
protuberance just inside the mouth at the symphysisof the mandibles; jaws
about equal; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 4-4, narrow, with little grinding
surface and very little hook; intestine extremely variable in length, from
3.7 to 8 times length of head and body, being as a rule over 5; peritoneum
dusky. Dorsal fin with usually 8 rays, occasionally 7, set slightly in front
of ventrals, usually a little nearer muzzle than base of caudal; longest dorsal
ray 1 to 1.2 in head; anal rays 8 (rarely 7); pectorals 1.1 to 1.4 in head; ven-
trals falling far short of vent in adults. Scales 5, 37-39, 4, large and rounded,
the exposed surfaces little deeper than long; lateral line complete, and nearly
straight except for a slight downward curve in front of ventrals; scales before
dorsal 13 to 16.
This species is generally distributed throughout the state,
occurring in all our stream systems, including those of the Michi-
gan drainage, but most abundantly in those of southern Illinois.
It is essentially a river species — one of the few Illinois minnows
occurring in larger ratio in rivers than in creeks. It is most
abundant in rivers of the second class (coefficient, 2.18), and
next in creeks (1.91), but we have also found it not very in^
frequent in the lakes and ponds of the river bottoms (.43).
In general distribution it ranges from Delaware to Georgia
and Alabama, and from thence southwest to the Rio Grande,
north to the tributaries of the Missouri in the Dakotas, and to
the Red River of the North. In this state it is often found in
deep and muddy waters, and less frequently than most minnows
in swift and gravelly streams. It is one of the five Illinois
species found most generally over a mud bottom, its frequency
coefficient being 1.68. It has the long intestine, the simple
pharyngeal teeth with a well-developed grinding surface, and
the few and short gill-rakers characteristic of the mud-eating
minnows, and its food corresponds to these structural peculiar-
ities. According to our observations the intestine is always
filled with fine mud, containing only filamentous algae, diatoms,
and other vegetable forms likely to be found on a mud bottom.
It is frequently seen in large schools of from fifty to one hundred
in deep and quiet water, always lying nearer the bottom than
the top, or moving slowly along the bottom as it feeds. The
chisel-shaped lower jaw tipped with cartilage is probably used
for scraping up the mud and ooze.
The sexual differences of this species are not striking, al-
though the spring males have the nuchal region somewhat
swollen, and the top and sides of the head beset with very minute
tubercles. Females greatly distended with eggs have been
116 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
taken by us early in June. This minnow is not hardy, and is
consequently an undersirable live bait. It is said by Dr. Bean
to be much used for food.
HYBOGNATHUS NUBILA (FOEBES)
(MAP XXVI)
Forbes, 1878, Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist., I. 2, 56 (Alburnops).
J. & G., 167 (Cliola); M. V., 53; J. & E., I, 215; F., 79; L,., 14.
Length 2 to 2*/£ inches; form much as in the last, the body subfusiform,
moderately compressed, and evenly tapered in both directions from the
rather deep middle-body region; depth 4 to 4.5 in length; caudal peduncle
as long as head or a little longer; readily distinguished from H. nuchalis by
smaller size, absence of a symphysial protuberance, and by the prominent
dark lateral band, which passes around snout. Color usually rather dusky;
sides dull silvery, belly yellow; a dark band along the lateral line and the
row of scales above, extending from a faint caudal spot forward through the
eye and around the snout, tipping the chin; black vertebral line before the
dorsal; dorsal scales thickly specked with black, those of belly plain; none
of the scales distinctly dark-edged; fins plain. Head 3.5 to 4.8 in length,
slender, conic, depressed above, being nearly quadrate in transverse section
behind orbits; interorbital space nearly flat, 2.8 to 3.5; eye large, high,
nearly circular, 2.8 to 3.1 in head; nose scarcely longer than eye, 3.5 to 4.5;
mouth larger than in the last species, terminal, oblique, the maxillary 3.5
to 4 in head, extending back of posterior nostril, and almost in front of orbit;
jaws about equal, the lower lacking the hard sharp edge and the symphysial
protuberance found in the last species; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 4-4,
only slightly hooked, with long though narrow grinding surfaces; intestine
2.8 to 3.5 times the length of head and body; peritoneum black. Dorsal fin
with 8 rays, over ventrals and farther from muzzle than base of caudal; anal
rays 8; pectorals reaching % to ventrals; ventrals short of vent in females,
exceeding it in males. Scales 5 or 6, 36-38, 3 or 4, of uniform size and dis-
tribution on all parts of body; lateral line complete, very slightly decurved
anteriorly; scales before dorsal 13 or 14.
Males in breeding dress with head somewhat sparsely studded with
small but hard and sharp tubercles; smaller tubercles sprinkled over scales
of predorsal region. Tuberculate males and females distended with eggs
taken from the Kiswaukee at Belvidere on May 12.
This species, which was described by the senior author
from specimens collected from Rock River, at Oregon, 111., has
since been taken only rarely in this state, principally in the ex-
treme northwestern part. Our later collections number 2 from
Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties, 2 from the Kishwaukee at
Belvidere, 1 from Sand creek, Warsaw, and 1 from the Ohio at
Cairo. It seems to be essentially a western species, occurring
abundantly in the tributaries of the Missouri River in Missouri,
PIMEPHALES — FATHEADS 117
and in the streams of the Ozark region in northern Arkansas.
It is also reported from the Northwest as far as Wyoming.
GENUS PIMEPHALES EAFINESQUE
FATHEADS
Body robust or elongate, little compressed; head short and rounded;
mouth small, inferior; upper jaw protractile; no barbel; teeth 4-4, with
oblique grinding surface, usually but one of the teeth hooked; intestinal
canal more than twice length of body; peritoneum black; dorsal rays 7 or
8; anal rays 7: the first (rudimentary) dorsal ray in males evidently separated
by membrane from the second, and not adnate to it as usually in minnows;
scales rather small, 43 to 47 in lateral series; lateral line complete or im-
perfect. Size small, 2}/£ to 4 inches. Two species, generally distributed
throughout the United States east of the Rockies.
KEY RO THE SPECIES OF PIMEPHALES FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Body short and stout, depth 3 to 4 in length; lateral line more or less in-
complete promelas.
aa. Body moderately elongate, depth 4 to 5 in length; lateral line complete....
notatus.
PIMEPHALES PROMELAS RAFINESQUE
BLACK-HEAD MINNOW; FATHEAD
(PL., p. 128; MAP XXVII)
Raflnesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 53.
G., VII, 181; J. & G., 158; M. V., 55; J. & E., I, 217; N., 45; J., 55; F., 79; F. F.,
I. 6, 78; L., 14.
Length 2^2 inches; body robust, short, thick and deep, much heavier
forward, not notably compressed; depth 3.2 to 4 in length; caudal peduncle
stout, its length about same as head, its depth usually less than 2 in its length.
Color rather dark olive, with a tinge of coppery or purplish forward; dorsal
fin with a dusky cross-bar about the middle, faint in females and young, but
appearing as a large jet-black blotch covering most of the lower two thirds
of the fin in spring males; other fins plain in females, in males all more or less
dusky, pectorals and anal most so; spring males often found in which almost
the entire body is dusky, the head in such instances being a jet-black.*
Head 3.6 to 4 in length, very broad, short, and blunt, sometimes appearing
almost globular in breeding males; width of head usually great (see Cliola
rigilax), 1.4 to 1.7 in its length; interorbital space broad and nearly flat
(except in spring males, in which it is swollen), 2 to 2.5 in head; eye 4.1 to
4.8 in head; nose longer than eye, 3 to 3.5 in head; mouth rather small,
subterminal and quite oblique in females, in which the tip of the upper lip
is nearly on a level with the upper margin of the pupil — less oblique in males,
* Males taken from Kickapoo Creek at Elmwood in June, 1900, have the head jet-black,
and a;ll the rest of the body an extreme dusky with the exception of a broad transverse bar of
lighter color just back of and tipping the opercle and a similar bar which passes around the sides
directly beneath the dorsal fin.
118 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
in which level of upper lip is scarcely above that of lower margin of orbit;
maxillary a little longer than eye, reaching very little past anterior nostril,
3.5 to 4.5 in head; jaws about equal; isthmus comparatively broad, its width
greater than diameter of eye. Teeth 4-4 or 4-5; intestine 2 to 3 times the
length of head and body; peritoneum black. Dorsal fin I,* 8, low, placed
directly over ventrals and a little farther from muzzle than base of caudal;
longest dorsal ray 1.2 to 1.6 in head, usually greater than 1.4, anal rays
I,* 7; pectorals % to ventrals, 1.2 to 1.5 in head; ventrals past front of anal
in males, scarcely reaching vent in females. Scales 8 or 9, 42-48, 5 or 6,
much crowded in front of dorsal fin, before which there are about 25-30
rows; lateral line incomplete, sometimes almost wanting; when present, with
a noticeable downward curve anteriorly.
This species has a general range from the northeast to the
southwest, but is not reported from the southeastern part of the
United States. It occurs throughout the Great Lake basin to
Lake Champlain, throughout the Ohio basin and up the Missis-
sippi to the headwaters of the Missouri, and thence northward
to the Red River of the North and the Saskatchewan, and
southwest to the Rio Grande. Its distribution in Illinois is a
miniature copy of its general range, being limited to the northern
and western three fourths of the state, leaving the southeastern
part with no representation of this species in our collections.
It is, in fact, one of the fishes already frequently mentioned,
which are practically limited to the Mississippi drainage in this
state, and occurs in our collections from the tributaries of the
Ohio only from one group of four localities on the headwaters of
the Embarras where these approach most closely to the upper
tributaries of the Kaskaskia. Notwithstanding the general
exclusion of a large part of southern Illinois from its range, it
enters the lower Illinoisan glaciation in the branches of the
Kaskaskia. It frequents muddy waters freely, occurring there,
indeed, in disproportionate frequency, our ninety-five collections
of the species giving us a frequency coefficient of 2.08. Like
most of our minnows, it is relatively more abundant in creeks
than in other waters (coefficient 2.68) and, next to these, in the
smaller rivers (1.82). It is fairly well represented, however, in
rivers of the first class (.85), and occurs not infrequently in low-
land lakes and ponds (.23). It has not- been taken by us from
our northeastern lakes of glacial orgin nor from Lake Michigan
or from the drainage of its basin.
We have found it commonest in the short muddy creeks con-
nected with the larger rivers, and especially abundant in the
* See key to genera of Cyprinidce.
PIMEPHALES — FATHEADS 119
muddy parts of a short stream near Warsaw, in Hamilton county,
running down from the bluffs to the Mississippi River, where it
was associated with Cliola vigilax, a species of somewhat similar
distribution.
Its tolerance of muddy waters is shown by our frequency
coefficient of 2.08 for those with a mud bottom; and we have
found it with less than the average preference of minnows for a
rapidly moving stream (coefficient, .73; still water, 1.37).
It belongs to the mud-eating group of minnows, and its
alimentary structures correspond to this fact, the intestine being
from two to three times the length of the head and body, and the
pharyngeal teeth not hooked but with well-developed grinding
surface. Our only knowledge of its food is derived from a study
of four specimens from muddy streams in northern and central
Illinois. The intestines of these were largely filled with mud
containing some algse and a considerable number of insects,
partly of terrestrial species and partly aquatic larvae of Diptera.
Females greatly distended with eggs, and males in full
breeding color, have been taken by our collectors in May and
June. The snout of the breeding male bears three rows of very
large tubercles, one on a level with the nostrils and the others
between this and the upper lip. Dr Kirtland reports that these
fishes make shallow excavations in the breeding season under
stones and the ends of logs in still water, and that, after deposit-
ing their eggs, they defend them bravely against all intruders.
The species is not a good live bait, although often sold as such.
PIMEPHALES NOTATUS (BAFINESQUE)
BLUNT-NOSED MINNOW
(MAP XXVIII)
Rafinesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 47 (Minnilus).
G., VII, 182 (Hyborhynchus); J. & G., 159 (Hyborhynchus); M. V., 54; J. & E., I,
218; N., 45 (Hyborhynchus); J., 55 (Hyborhynchus); F. F., I. 6, 79 (Hyborhyn-
chus); F., 78; L., 14.
Length 2 to 3^ inches; body elongate, little compressed, the back
broad and rather flat; depth 4.3 to 4.8 in length; caudal peduncle rather
slender, longer than head, its depth 2.1 to 2.6 in its length, as a rule greater
than 2.3. Color pale olivaceous above, all the scales of upper part of body
with dark edgings prominent; sides a dull silvery bluish, under which is a
plumbeous lateral stripe, extending across opercle and through eye to end
of snout: no dark vertebral streak; a prominent dark spot at base of caudal;
belly whitish; dorsal fin with a dark blotch in front on first 3 rays, a little less
than half way up from base of fin; other fins plain, except for faint dusky
120 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
lines crossing dorsal and caudal; breeding males with the head jet-black,
except for a light transverse bar at back of opercle, the dorsal blotch enlarged
and extending as a broad bar from front to back of fin; other fins and entire
body more or less dusky. Head 4 to 4.4 in length, small, but rather broad
and flat above; the muzzle very blunt; width of head 1.6 1.8 in its length;
interorbital space 2.2 to 2.5; eye 3.5 to 4.4 in head; nose 3.1 to 3.4, longer
than eye; mouth small, inferior, nearly or wholly horizontal, the tip of the
upper lip below level of lower margin of orbit; maxillary scarcely longer
than eye, 3.8 to 4.3 in head, reaching to posterior nostril; lower jaw included;
isthmus not quite so broad as in the last species, its width about ]/io diameter
of orbit. Teeth 4-4; intestine about twice the length of head and body;
peritoneum black. Dorsal fin 1-8 (rarely 1-7), placed a little behind ventrals
and about equidistant between front of eye and base of caudal; longest dorsal
ray 1.4 to 1.7 in head; anal rays 7; pectorals short, reaching little more than
half way to ventrals, no difference in this respect being noticeable between
males and females; ventrals in both males and females falling short of vent.
Scales 6 or 7, 41 to 44, 4, rather crowded before dorsal, but not so much so as
in the last species, rows before dorsal about 23; lateral line usually complete,
with a slight downward curve in front of ventrals.
FIG. 24
This is by far the most abundant and widely distributed
minnow in Illinois. It appeared in 377 of our collections, and is
abundant in all of our river basins, in the glacial lakes of the
northeastern part of the state, and in the streams of the Lake
basin. Generally speaking, it ranges from Winnipeg and Lake
Champlain through the Great Lake basin and the north Atlantic
region as far as New Jersey, and down the Mississippi Valley
to the Alabama and the Rio Colorado of Texas. It passes
freely into the lower Illinoisan glaciation, occurs abundantly in
small streams along the bluffs of the Mississippi, and seems to
find a satisfactory place of residence in streams of any size or
lakes or ponds of any description. It is most abundant in
creeks (coefficient, 2.57), and scarcely less so in the smaller
rivers (2.03), but is rather rare in the larger rivers, from which
it has been taken by us but 23 times in 293 collections.
It is one of the mud-eating group, the alimentary canal being
commonly packed from end to end with mud containing fila-
SEMOTILUS — PALLFISHES 121
mentous algse and miscellaneous vegetable debris. Occasionally
fragments of insects or a specimen of the mud-loving Ento-
mostraca may be found in the general mixture, and individual
specimens have been reported to eat decayed fish in the
aquarium.
Its spawning season, if we may judge from our collections, is
from May 15 to June 15 in central Illinois. Dr. Eigenmann re-
ports that the eggs are sometimes laid on the under surface of
various objects submerged in shallow water. He found them
throughout June and a part of July, one of the parents being,
as a rule, on guard about the nest. The snout of the male in
the breeding season bears three rows of large tubercles, seven in
one row at the margin of the upper lip, five in a row directly
above this, and four in an upper row, two of them between the
nostrils and one on each side between the nostril and the eye.
GENUS SEMOTILUS EAFINESQUE
FALLFISHES
Body robust; mouth terminal; upper jaw protractile; a small barbel
on the upper side of the maxillary just in front of its extremity (not at its
tip as in most American minnows) ; teeth 2, 5-4, 2, hooked, without grinding
surface; intestine short; peritoneum pale; dorsal rays 7 or 8; anal rays 8;
scales 45 to 60 in lateral series; lateral line continuous. Size large, 6 to 18
inches. Two species, S. oJromaculatus being found from Maine to Wyoming,
and S. corporalis, the large chub or fallfish of the Eastern creeks, being
confined to the east of the Alleghanies.
FIG. 25
SEMOTILUS ATROMACULATUS (MITCHILL)
HORNED DACE; CREEK CHUB
(MAP XXIX)
Mitchill, 1818, Am. Month. Mag., II, 324 (Cyprinus).
G., VII., 269 (Leucosomus corporalis); J. & G., 221 (corporalis); M. V., 66; J. & E.,
I, 222; N., 45 (corporalis); J., 62 (corporalis); F., 75 (corporalis) ; F. F., I. «,
88 (corporalis); L., 15.
122 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Length usually 6 to 8 inches, sometimes reaching a length of a foot;
body rather elongate, but robust, heavy forward, the back gently arched
in front of the dorsal fin; depth 4.1 to 4.6 in length, caudal peduncle shorter
than head, its depth 2 to 2.5 in its length. Color dusky bluish-olive above;
tinges of light purplish on sides as far down as lateral line; a faint plumbeous
lateral band, somewhat more distinct towards end of caudal peduncle; a
faint vertebral streak and a dark bar behind opercle; sides below lateral line
greenish gray to silvery; belly silvery; dorsal fin with a distinct black blotch
at base, between first and third rays; in breeding males there is sometimes a
broad but indistinct transverse bar of dusky color crossing the fin about
midway; other fins plain, or, at most, with slight traces of dusky in spring
males. Head large, everywhere convex, broadly rounded above, 3.5 to 3.9
in length; width of head 1.6 to 1.8 in its length; interorbital space 2.4 to 2.7;
eye 4.8 to 7.1 in head, usually more than 6 in adults; nose long, broadly and
bluntly rounded, 2.7 to 3.3 in head; mouth very large, terminal, oblique, tip
of upper lip at level of lower margin of pupil; maxillary about 2^ times eye,
reaching beyond anterior margin of orbit; jaws about equal; isthmus less
FIG. 26
Left branchial cavity of SemotUus atromaculatus, with opercle removed
to show left pharyngeal arch in situ; also pharyngeal jaws removed
and viewed from front.
than eye. Teeth extremely variable,— 4,1-0,4, 4,1-0,5, 4,2-1,5, 4,2-2,5,
5,2-1,5, 4,2-2,4, in nine specimens examined by us; intestine .9 to 1.1 times
length of head and body; peritoneum pale, a very little dusky forward.
Dorsal fin with 8 rays, situated behind ventrals, equidistant between front
of eye and base of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1.6 to 1.8 in head; anal rays
8; pectorals short, reaching ^ to % to ventrals, 1.5 to 1.9 in head; ventrals
short of vent in adults. Scales 10 or 11, rarely 9, 55 to 69, 5 to 7, consider-
ably crowded in predorsal and scapular regions, about 35 rows before dorsal
fin; lateral line complete, with a strong downward curve in front of ventrals.
This is essentially a creek species, our frequency coefficient
for creeks being 3.77, and for the smaller rivers 1.67. In lakes
and ponds we have taken it but 5 times in 591 collections, and
in the larger rivers but 5 times in 293 collections. Its preference
for creeks is also reported by R. C. Osburn, who says that in
seining up stream an increase in its numbers is very noticeable
SEMOTILUS — FALLFISHES 123
as the headwaters are approached. Within these limits its
distribution in Illinois has been quite general, including all our
hydrographic divisions except the Michigan drainage and show-
ing no marked preponderance in any. Outside this state it
ranges far and wide throughout the central and western United
States, excepting, however, the Great Lakes and the extreme
southern and southwestern part of our area. From the St.
Lawrence and its tributaries in Canada, and from New Bruns-
wick, Maine, and Vermont, it is found westward and south-
ward through the Hudson valley to the Potomac and the
Roanoke, through the Ohio and the Mississippi valleys to the
Alabama River, and northwestward to Wyoming.
It is an active swimmer and exceedingly voracious, and with
an unusually varied diet for a minnow, including considerable
quantities of vegetable food on the one hand, and small fishes on
the other. A fourth of the food of twenty-two specimens con-
sisted of algae and of miscellaneous vegetable debris. Four of
these specimens had eaten little else than filamentous algae,
and three had captured small fishes. Grasshoppers, caterpillars,
ants, chrysomelid and scarabseid beetles and various other
terrestrial insects, together with Corisa, dipterous larvae, and
other aquatic forms, were the insects represented, and three of
our twenty-two specimens had eaten only crawfishes.
This species is reported by Jordan to reach a length of a
foot, and to be an excellent bait, when df the proper size, for
bass, wall-eyed pike, and pickerel. With the possible exception
of Hybopsis kentuckiensis, it is decidedly our gamiest minnow.
It is always ready to bite at a grasshopper, and will even rise
to the fly. It thrives in the aquarium, and with good treat-
ment soon becomes so tame as to feed from the hand*.
Males in full breeding dress have been taken in our May
collections. There are, in spring males, two large tubercles on
each side of the upper lip just below the nostrils, a row of four
other large ones on each side of the eye, a cluster of minute
tubercles on the lower part of each opercle, and a row on the
margin of most of the scales on the upper part of the caudal
peduncle. Reighard has seen a male of this species preparing
a nest by excavating the sand and gravel in advance of spawn-
ing, but this is abandoned after the eggs have been laid.
* The eastern chub (Semotilus corporalis) does not occur west of the Alleghanies. It is
said by Atkins to spawn in May. It builds great heaps of gravel in running water, but avoids
eddies and ripples when spawning. The males build the nest, carrying pebbles in their mouths.
124 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
GENUS OPSOPCEODUS HAY
Body fusiform, somewhat compressed; mouth extremely small, terminal;
upper jaw protractile; no barbels; teeth 5-5 or 4-5, with edges serrated and
no grinding surface, the tips hooked; intestine short; peritoneum white;
dorsal rays 7 to 10; anal rays 7 or 8: scales 37 to 42; lateral line complete or
imperfect. Size very small, 2J^ inches. Species 3 or 4; confined to the
Mississippi Valley and the eastern United States.
FIG. 27
OPSOPCEODUS EMILI/E HAY
(MAP XXX)
Hay, 1880, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 507.
Forbes in J. & G., 247 (Trycherodon megalops); M. V., 68; J. & E., I, 248 (megalops);
P., 74; L., 15 (emiliae and megalops).
The very small and upturned mouth, the black spot on the posterior
rays of the dorsal fin, and the incomplete lateral line of this species serve to
distinguish it readily from all other minnows found in our range. Length
usually less than 2}/£ inches; body moderately elongate, compressed, the
back perceptibly elevated, the profile a more or less even incline from a point
over the tips of the reflexed pectorals; depth 4.1 to 4.8 in length; caudal
peduncle slender, longer than head, its depth 2.2 to 3.2 in its length, not
usually, however, over 2.5. Color light olive, yellowish, the scales except
on and very near belly conspicuously dark-edged;* a narrow dark lateral
band, extending forward across opercle and through eye to end of snout,
becoming faint anteriorly; no distinct caudal spot, but sometimes, in highly
colored males, an indistinct vertical bar at base of caudal; fins of females
plain, or, at most, the dorsal with faint traces of dusky on anterior third;
breeding males with the snout and chin thickly studded with minute tubercles,
and with a large blotch of dusky covering almost entire dorsal fin except a
patch at base and another at tip of fin; a second blotch of dusky at back of
fin in some males, situated about half way up from base and crossing last
three rays; other fins plain. Head small, 4.2 to 4.5 in length; width of head
* No other species of Cyprinidae found in this state has the cross-hatching more distinct or
extending farther below the lateral line, typical specimens having almost the entire body so
marked.
ABRAMIS BKEAMS 125
1.7 to 1.9 in its length; interorbital space little convex, 2.3 to 2.6 in head;
eye 3.1 to 3.7, a little longer than the snout, but less than the interorbital
space; nose short and blunt, 3.2 to 3.8 in head, the extremely oblique mouth
giving it a turned-up or "snubbed" appearance; mouth extremely small
and very oblique, making an angle of less than 30° with the vertical; maxil-
lary 3.7 to 4.6 in head, shorter than the eye and scarcely reaching anterior
nostril; upper lip almost or quite on a level with upper margin of pupil;
jaws about equal; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 5-5 or 4-5, very slender,
strongly hooked, and sharply and irregularly crenate; intestine about .9 of
length of head and body; peritoneum very lightly specked with dusky.
Dorsal fin with 8 or 9 rays, inserted a little behind front of ventrals, but nearer
muzzle than base of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1 to 1.3 in head; anal rays 8;
pectorals %, or more, to ventrals; ventrals to or slightly past vent. Scales
6, 38-40, 4; lateral line variously imperfect, sometimes present only on the
first 4 or 5 scales, sometimes extending, with numerous interruptions, to
the middle of the caudal peduncle; slightly decurved anteriorly; 15-18 scales
before dorsal.
This is a southern species in general range, distributed from
Ohio through Indiana and Illinois to Georgia, Arkansas, and
Oklahoma, and in our collections is relatively much the most
abundant from southern Illinois. Northward it has been taken
almost wholly along the larger rivers — the Illinois, the Missis-
sippi, and the Rock. It is mainly a species of creeks and ponds
with us, however, although more than usually abundant from the
larger rivers also. Females greatly distended with eggs, and
tuberculate males in high spring color, have been taken by us
about Meredosia between the 10th and the 20th of June.
GENUS ABRAMIS CUTIEE
BREAMS
Body deep and strongly compressed; belly before ventrals forming a
keel over which the scales do not pass; mouth oblique or horizontal; pre-
maxillary protractile; no barbels; teeth 5-5, hooked and with grinding surface;
alimentary canal short; peritoneum (in American species) pale; dorsal rays
8 to 10; anal typically long, with 20 to 40 rays in the European species;
American forms with anal shorter, the rays 9 to 18; scales 39 to 55; lateral
line developed. Size rather large,* the American bream reaching a length
of 12 inches. Species numerous, inhabiting both Europe and North America;
American forms 1 (or 2) ; distributed from Nova Scotia to Texas.
* The common bream of Europe (Abramis brama) has been known to attain a weight of
12 Ib in some of the Irish lakes.
126 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
ABRAMIS CRYSOLEUCAS (MITCHILL)
GOLDEN SHINER; ROACH; BREAM
(MAP xxxi)
Mitchill, 1814, Rep. Fish. N. Y., 23 (Cyprinus).
G., VII, 305 (americanus), 306 (leptosomus) ; J. & G., 249 (Notemigonus leptosomus),
250 (N. chrysoleucus); M. V.,- 68 (Notemigonus); J. & E., I, 250; N., 48 (Note-
migonus americanus); J., 61 (Notemigonus); F. F., I. 6, 81 (Notemigonus
chrysoleucus); F., 74 (Notemigonus); L., 15.
The small, pointed head, greatly compressed form, strongly decurved
lateral line, and the sharp keel on the belly behind the ventral fins, will as a
rule distinguish this species with readiness from all other Illinois species of
its family. Length 6 to 8 inches; body moderately elongate in the young,
in adults becoming very deep and strongly compressed, the thickness in the
predorsal region contained sometimes nearly three times in the greatest
depth in fully adult specimens; depth 3 to 3.6 in length; caudal peduncle
short, its greatest depth 1.4 to 1.7 in its length. Color a clear dark greenish
olive above, becoming steel-blue in some lights; sides silvery, with bright
golden reflections; a half-diamond-shaped or triangular spot of dark color
more or less evident at base of exposed portion of each scale; dorsal and anal
fins tipped with dusky; lower fins yellow, the ventrals bright orange at tips
in breeding individuals of boths sexes; young with a faint vertebral streak
and a distinct dark band along sides. Head small, subconic, flattened on
the sides, 4 to 4.5 in length; width of head 1.7 to 1.9 in its length; interorbital
space, 2.4 to 2.7 in head, markedly convex; eye 3.4 to 4.4 in head, within the
anterior half of the head, and rather low, about as near chin as crown; nose
sharply pointed, appreciably longer than eye, 3.2 to 3.8 in head; mouth
rather small, terminal, oblique, tip of upper lip even with top of pupil; maxil-
lary not reaching past anterior nostril; 3.5 to 3.9 in head; jaws about equal;
isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 5-5 to 4-4, constricted at base and sometimes
slightly hooked; intestine from 1 to 1.8 times length of head and body; peri-
toneum lightly specked with dusky. Dorsal fin with 8 rays, set distinctly
behind ventrals, its first ray about equidistant between upper corner of
gill-opening and base of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1 to 1.3 in head; anal rays
11 to 14; pectorals 1.1 to 1.3 in head, reaching about % to ventrals; ventrals
falling short of vent in adults. Scales 9 to 1 1, 45 to 52, 3 ; lateral line complete,
broadly and deeply decurved, and often flexuose from back of opercle to a
point about midway of caudal peduncle, its distance from the back in the
middle of the body 2^ times the interval below.
This extremely abundant species occurs from New Bruns-
wick and the Province of Quebec southward to St. Johns River
and the lakes of Orange county, Florida, westward to the
branches of the Missouri in the Dakotas, and southwest to the
Nueces River in Texas. It is not reported from the Great Lakes.
Professor Hay says that it prefers slow streams and grassy ponds,
and is sometimes found in large numbers in the muddiest and
most uninviting holes. In Ohio, Osburn found it chiefly in
ponds, quiet pools, and weedy bayous. According to Dr. Bean,
A Bit AMIS BREAMS 127
it is one of the commonest fishes of Pennsylvania, frequenting
sluggish waters and abounding in bayous and weedy ponds
where it grows to a length of a foot and a weight of a pound
and a half. According to Dr. Jordan, "it is especially character-
istic of sluggish waters in either lake, pond, or bayou. In Ohio
it is extremely abundant, in the weedy bayous most of all.
The yellow pond-lily is its favorite shelter. "
It has been taken by us in 303 collections, more frequently
than any other fish except the blunt-nosed mumow(Pimephales
notatus), which has appeared in 377. The most notable pecu-
liarities of its local and ecological distribution in Illinois are its
frequency in lowland lakes and ponds (coefficient, 1.36), and
over a muddy bottom (3.79). Our map of the distribution of
the Illinois collections of this species shows that, although it is
widely distributed throughout the state, occurring in many
localities in each of our stream systems, there is a notable differ-
ence in the size of the streams which it chiefly inhabits in the
southern and eastern parts of the state, where it is essentially a
creek species, and in the remainder of the state, where it has been
taken chiefly along our larger rivers. It is also very much more
abundant in the Wabash basin, the Big Muddy, and the tribu-
taries of the Ohio than in any other part of Illinois, appearing
there three and four times as frequently to the hundred collec-
tions as in the Illinois valley or the streams of northwestern
Illinois.
It has a more efficient equipment of alimentary structures
than any other of our common minnows, and a correspondingly
wide range of food resources. Its intestine is rather long — one
and a third times the length of the head and body together; the
gill-rakers are long, fine, and numerous; and the pharyngeal
teeth are provided both with terminal hooks and grinding sur-
faces. We find its food varying, consequently, according to
situation, from a mere mass of mud, to mollusks, insects,
Entomostraca, and vegetable substances. Where mollusks are
abundant, it sometimes feeds on nothing else; and in ponds
containing many minute Crustacea, these may be its sole food
One specimen taken from Nippersink Lake, in the northern part
of the state, had filled itself with wild rice. Insects, mainly
terrestrial, were also eaten by several, and some of the specimens
studied, had devoured quantities of algae.
The golden shiner is said to be an excellent pan-fish, if of
sufficient size. It is active all winter, and can be taken through
128 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
the ice. It lives well in the aquarium, and makes a good bait
for black bass.
Spawning females, with eggs running from the vent, have
been taken by us from the first to the last of May, and occasional
specimens were found full of eggs as late as July 30. The eggs
are extremely adhesive, and contain no oil globule. The males
average smaller in size than the females, and have the back
sonewhat more swollen at the nape. Their sides are rough with
minute tubercles, but the head and snout are not tuberculate.
GENUS CLIOLA GIRARD
Fishes with the form and appearance of Pimephales, but with the ali-
mentary canal shorter than the body, the peritoneum pale, and the teeth
more hooked — allying them rather with Notropis; mouth inferior; premaxillary
protractile ; teeth 4-4; dorsal rays 8, the anterior ray club-shaped and separated
from the second by membrane, as in Pimephales; anal rays 7; scales 42 to
48; lateral line developed. Size small, 2}^ to 3 inches. Two species known;
central and southwestern United States.
x-
FIG. 28
CLIOLA VIGILAX (BAIRD & GIRARD)
BULLHEAD MINNOW; FATHEAD
(MAP XXXII)
Baird & Girard, 1853, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 391 (Ceratichthys).
G., VII, 259 (Leuciscus tuditanus); J. & G., 165 (tuditana), 166 (taurocephala),
169; M. V., 54; J. & E., I, 253; J., 56 (Alburnops tuditanus); F., 78; L,., 15.
Length 2 to 3 inches; body stout, only moderately elongate, not much
compressed, the thickness of the body in the predorsal region contained
about 1^ times in its depth; depth 4.1 to 4.5 in length; caudal peduncle
stout, shorter than head, its depth 1.5 to 2.2 in its length. Color dusky
olive or yellowish above; sides silvery, with but a faint suggestion of a dark
lateral band; a small jet-black caudal spot, and a prominent black spot on
the anterior 3 or 4 rays of the dorsal fin about half way up; spring males
with head leaden to blackish, and entire body more or less dusky. Head 3.7
BLACK-HEAD MINNOW, Pimephales proinelas Rafinesque
BULLHEAD MINNOW (Male), Cliola vigilax (Baird & Girard)
/,
BULLHEAD MINNOW (Female), Cliola vigilax (Baird & Girard)
Xotropis cayuga Meek
CLIO LA 129
to 4.1 in length, broad and flat above and little tapered forward, the muzzle
very blunt; width of head 1.5 to 1.7 in its length; interorbital space 2.3 to
2.8, nearly flat; eye small, circular, entirely within upper half of head, 3.2
to 4; nose longer than eye, 2.9 to 3.3 in head; mouth rather small, terminal,
oblique, tip of upper lip about on a level with inferior margin of orbit; maxil-
lary 2.9 to 3.6 in head, not reaching orbit; jaws equal; isthmus about half
diameter of eye. Teeth 4-4, with grinding surface and slight hook; intestine
about equal to length of head and body; peritoneum silvery with a few small
and scattering dark specks. Dorsal fin low, its longest ray 1.4 to 1.9 in head,
usually less than the head's width; dorsal rays 1-8, the first little more than
half the length of the second, thickly covered with flesh in spring males;
insertion of dorsal nearly directly over ventrals and about equidistant between
snout and base of caudal; anal rays 7; pectorals reaching little more than
% to ventrals; ventrals in both males and females usually reaching to vent,
but always falling short of anal. Scales 6 to 8, 39 to 44, 4 or 5, usually 7-4
above and below; 21 to 27 rows before dorsal; lateral line complete, but
slightly decurved in front of ventrals.
This fish, though often confounded with Pimephales notatus,
differs sharply from it in its more oblique mouth and in the dis-
tribution of the dark punctulations on the scales, the entire sur-
face of the scales of the upper half of the body being more or less
dusted with dark specks in Cliola, while in P. notatus the scales
are very distinctly dark-edged. It will scarcely be confused with
P. promelas, which has the mouth smaller and lips (except in
males) thinner, and the lateral line to a greater or less degree
imperfect. If at any time external differences fail, it may be
separated with ease from either species by its generic characters.
This little species, although one of our minor minnows, only
two or three inches long, is one of the most abundant in the larger
rivers of the state— the fifth on our list in order of frequency in
rivers of the first class. This feature of its distribution is deriv-
able also from our map of the state showing the distribution of
the 116 localities from which our 194 collections of the species
have been made. It occurs with still greater frequency in the
smaller rivers and the creeks, more abundantly in the former,
however, than in the latter. From lakes and ponds it has been
taken by us only 28 times in 591 collections. Its preference for
a rapid current (coefficient, 2.46) and a clean bottom (2.04) is also
especially pronounced. Professor Hay likewise reports, in his
list of the lampreys and fishes of Indiana, that this species
appears to prefer clear streams. It is generally distributed from
Ohio to Georgia, the Dakotas, Iowa, Arkansas and Texas, and
the Rio Grande. It has occurred to us much the most abun-
dantly in the streams of the Kaskaskia and the Wabash basins,
130 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
its frequency coefficients for those stream systems (3.31 and 2.27
respectively) being many times those for any others in the
state. It is an exception to the general rule in the fact that it
enters freely the lower Illinoisan glaciation, notwithstanding its
evident preference for clear water.
Gravid females occur in our June collections, and in others
taken as early as the 21st of May. Females are uniformly
smaller than males, and the latter are further distinguished in
spring by nine large tubercles on the snout, five of them in a
row just above the upper lip, two additional ones between the
nostrils, and one on each side between the nostril and the eye.
GENUS NOTROPIS EAFINESQUE
Body oblong or elongate, either more or less compressed; mouth mostly
terminal and oblique, sometimes subinferior; premaxjllaries protractile; no
barbels; teeth in 1 or 2 rows, the main row always 4-4; peritoneum as a rule
pale, though often dusky, and in some species black (anogenus) ; dorsal rays
usually 7 or 8; anal rays ordinarily 7 or 8 (or 9), in a few species 11 or 12;
scales usually rather large, as a rule less than 40 in lateral series; lateral line
complete or imperfect. Size usually small, most species not exceeding 3 or
4 inches. A very large group, embracing about 100 species, all confined to
the fresh waters of America east of the Rocky Mountains; 17 species in
Illinois.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF NOTROPIS FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Anal rays typically 7 or 8; occasionally 9 in two compressed forms (see bb,
below), in which, however, scales before dorsal are not over 17, and no
black spot is present at base of first dorsal rays; teeth 4-4; 1, 4-4, 1; or
1 or 2, 4-4, 1 or 2.
b. Eye moderate, 2% to 2% in head, always less than 4; body not usually much
compressed, the back gently and broadly rounded in front of dorsal fin;
scales not closely imbricated; teeth 4-4; 1, 4-4, 1; or 1 or 2, 4-4, 1 or 2.
c. Small species, seldom over 2% inches in length; with (1) a black lateral
stripe along sides and through eye to end of snout, or (2) a conspicuous
dark spot above and toelow each pore of lateral line anteriorly, or (3) pale
species, with no vertebral streak and the spots above lateral pores incon-
spicuous; teeth 4-4 or 1, 4-4, 1 (except heterodon).
d. Eye 3 or more in head (sometimes under 3 in heterodon, in which dark
lateral stripe extends through eye to end of snout, tipping chin); small,
usually less than 2% inches.
e. Scales before dorsal large, 12 to 15 in number; teeth 4-4 (except heterodon).
f. A black stripe along sides through eye to end of snout.
g. Chin white; mouth small, nearly horizontal, the upper lip below level of
lower margin of pupil cayuga.
gg. Chin black at tip; mouth moderate or very small, oblique, tip of upper lip at
level of upper margin of pupil.
NOTROPIS 131
h. Maxillary reaching posterior nostril; mouth moderately oblique, making 40°
to 60° with vertical; teeth 0, or 1, or 2, 4-4, 0, or 1, or 2; peritoneum
silvery heterodon.
Kh. Mouth extremely small and upturned, the maxillary scarcely reaching
anterior nostril, and making an angle of 20° to 30° with vertical when
mouth is closed; teeth 4-4; peritoneum black anogenus.
ff. Black lateral stripe, if present, developed only posteriorly (not continued
forward through eye to end of snout).
i. Mouth more or less oblique, jaws subequal; lateral line distinctly decurved
anteriorly. A dark vertebral streak, and a plumbeous lateral band more
or less distinct posteriorly; scales of lateral line of average depth; length
2% inches blennius.
ii. Mouth little, if any, oblique, tip of upper lip below level of lower margin of
orbit; lower jaw distinctly shorter than upper; lateral line nearly straight.
phenacobius.
ee. Scales before dorsal smaller, 17 to 19 in number; mouth inferior, lips rather
thick; teeth 1. 4-4, 1 gilbert!.
dd. Eye very large, 2% to 2% in head; dark lateral stripe not developed an-
teriorly; some dusky color on chin at tip; teeth 1, 4-4, 1; length 3 inches. .
illecebrosus.
cc. Large species, 4 to 6 inches in length when adult; plumbeous lateral stripe
not continued to head; course of lateral line not anywhere marked out by
conspicuous dark spots above and below each pore; a broad vertebral
streak always present; teeth 1 or 2, 4-4, 1 or 2.
j. A prominent black spot at base of caudal fin; scales before dorsal 18 to 20.
hudsonius.
jj. No black spot at base of caudal; scales before dorsal 15 or 16 jejunus.
bb. Eye small, 4 to 5 in head in adults; body more or less distinctly compressed,
the back sharply rounded in front of dorsal fin; scales closely imbricated;
teeth 4-4 or 1, 4-4, 1.
k. Body very short and deep, the depth 3 to 3.3 in length; usually no dark
color on posterior membranes of dorsal fin, teeth as a rule 4-4, sometimes
1, 4-4, 1 or 0 lutrensis.
kk. Body more elongate, depth 3% to 4 in adults; a more or less distinct black
blotch on last membranes of dorsal; teeth 1, 4-4, 1 whipplii.
aa. Anal rays 9, 10, 11, or 12; teeth 2, 4-4, 2.
I. Dorsal fin in front of or over ventrals; exposed portions of scales of flanks
notably deeper than long; a broad dark vertebral streak; anal rays 9 or
10, usually 10 cornutus.
II. Dorsal fin behind ventrals; scales roundish, the exposed portions not notably
deeper than long.
m. Scales loosely imbricated, those before dorsal in 15 to 17 series; no black
spot at base of dorsal.
n. A dark vertebral streak; anal rays 9 or 10 pilsbryi.
nn. Vertebral streak very narrow and usually faint.
o. Eye equal to or longer than snout; maxillary equal to eye; snout blunt;
anal rays 9, 10, or 11 (usually 10) athennoides.
oo. Eye shorter than snout; maxillary 1% times eye; snout sharp; anal rays
9 or 10 rubrifrons.
Tim. Scales closely imbricated, about 30 series in front of dorsal; a black spot
usually evident at front of base of dorsal; anal rays 10 to 12, usually
umbratilis.
132 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
FIG. 29
NOTROPIS ANOGENUS FORBES
Forbes, 1885, Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist., II. 2, 13$.
M. V., 55; J. & E., I, 259; L., 16.
A small, weak species, very similar in general appearance to N. heterodon,
but with complete lateral line, and always clearly distinguishable from that
species by its black peritoneum and its very small and extremely oblique
mouth, the maxillary standing at an angle of no more than 40° with the
vertical. Length \Y^ inches; body moderately elongate, considerably com-
pressed, the depth 4.3 to 4.5 in length; caudal peduncle rather slender and
longer than head. Color dark above, yellowish beneath: sides silvery with a
distinct plumbeous to blackish lateral band, extending from a small dark
spot at base of caudal along sides and through eye to end of snout, tipping the
chin; scales of back quite thickly specked with black over most of their sur-
faces; the third row above lateral line only narrowly edged with dusky; the
two rows covered by the lateral band rather densely dusted with fine specks
among which are occasional much larger ones; fins faintly dusky. Head
small, 4.3 to 4.5 in length, bluntly conic, its width l^ in its length; in-
terorbital space 2.6 to 2.9; eye 3.1 to 3.3; nose short and blunt, 4.5 to 4.8
in head; mouth very small, terminal, extremely oblique, the tip of the upper
lip at about same level as upper margin of pupil; maxillary 4.5 to 5.1 in head,
scarcely twice diameter of pupil, not reaching back of anterior nostril;
isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 4-4, with well developed grinding surfaces,
sometimes plain, sometimes crenate; teeth more or less hooked at tip; intestine
1.2 to 1.3 times length of head and body; peritoneum black. Dorsal fin with
8 rays; about one scale behind ventrals, a little nearer base of caudal than
muzzle; longest dorsal ray somewhat more than head; and rays 7; pectorals
less than % to ventrals; ventrals reaching vent. Scales 5 or 6, 34 to 37, 3
or 4; rows before dorsal 13 or 14.
This well-marked species was described by the senior author
in 1885 from 24 specimens collected in the upper Fox River at
McHenry, 111. It has since been taken in the state but once.
A well-marked specimen was found in Fourth Lake in 1892. Dr.
Meek found the species in Cayuga Lake, N. Y., in 1888, and has
recently obtained a number of excellent specimens from northern
NOTROPIS 133
Indiana. It has been taken in Orchard Lake, Oakland county,
Mich., by Mr. T. L. Hankinson during the present summer
(1906).
A female taken June 12, was full of eggs, as were some of
the types, taken from the 8th to the 10th of May.
NOTROPIS CAYUGA MEEK
(PL., P. 128; MAP XXXIII)
Meek, 1888, Ann. Ac. Nat. Hist., N. Y., 305.
J. & E., I, 260; L., 16.
Length 2V£ inches; body moderately elongate, depth 4.5 to 5.2 in length;
caudal peduncle about equal to head, rather slender, its depth 2.3 to 2.8
in its length. Color olivaceous, the scales above dark edged, their outlines
sharply defined; a black lateral stripe along sides and through eye to end of
snout; a faint caudal spot; the base of each scale of lateral line marked out
by a conspicuous crescentic band* of black, these bands crossing the lateral
stripe and breaking it up into bars posteriorly, extending below it on anterior
portion of body; vertebral streak almost obsolete. Head bluntly conic,
proportionately longer than in the variety next described, 3.7 to 4,1 (average
of 10 specimens 3.84) in length, width of head 1.9 to 2.2; interorbital space
2.9 to 3.5 in head; eye large, equal to snout, 3.1 to 3.5 in head; nose 3.2 to
3.8 in head; mouth very small, subterminal, very slightly oblique, the upper
lip below level of lower margin of pupil; back of maxillary under first nostril;
its length less than eye, 4.2 to 4.9 in head (average of 10 specimens 4.47);
jaws subequal; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 4-4, hooked, the grinding
surface narrow; intestine 1 to 1.2 times length of head and body; peritoneum
silvery. Dorsal fin with 8 rays, inserted distinctly behind ventrals and
farther from muzzle than from base of caudal; longest dorsal ray a little
less than head, in which it is contained 1.1 to 1.2; anal rays 7 or 8, usually
8; pectorals % to ventrals, 1.3 to 1.5 in head; ventrals to vent or front of anal.
Scales 5, 34 to 36, 3 or 4; 12 to 15 rows before dorsal; lateral pores wanting
on some scales.
This species is distributed from Lake Champlain and the
St. Lawrence River to the Dakotas and Assiniboia, Nebraska,
Kansas, Arkansas, and the Neches and Comal rivers in Texas.
It is not abundant in Illinois, having been taken by us in only
30 collections, nearly all of them from the northern half of the
state. It is most abundant in creeks, although it occurs in the
northeast glacial lakes and has been taken once by us from the
Michigan drainage.
Females apparently near spawning have been captured as
early as June 5 and as late as August 1.
* Compare description of N. heterolepis Eig. & Eig., Amer. Nat. Feb. '93. p. 152.
134 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
NOTROPIS CAYUGA ATROCAUDALIS EVERMANN
Evermann, 1891, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., XI, 76.
Length 2j/£ inches; body comparatively shorter and deeper than in the
last species, the depth 4 to 4.6 in the length; caudal peduncle slender, its
depth 2.2 to 2.7 in its length. Color as in the last, except that the dark
lateral stripe is solid, there being no transverse crescentic bars at bases of
scales of lateral line. Head short, 3.8 to 4.2, its width 1.7 to 1.9 in its length;
interorbital space 2.6 to 3.1; eye 2.8 to 3.3; nose 3 to 3.7; mouth very small,
but relatively larger than in the last species, the maxillary 3.6 to 4.3 (average
3.83 for 10 specimens). Teeth, intestine, and peritoneum as in last species.
Dorsal fin with 8 rays, inserted distinctly in front of ventrals and closer to
the muzzle than to the base of the caudal. Scales 5, 33-38, 3 or 4; 12 to 14
before dorsal; lateral line sometimes wanting on a few scales.
Females distended with eggs taken in June; snout, cheeks, chin, and
top of head of breeding males quite thickly covered with evident though
small tubercles. (Tubercles not observed in males of N. cayuga.)
We have ten collections of this minnow, containing thirteen
specimens from the Illinois and adjacent waters, near Meredosia,
and one from the main river at Havana. A specimen from
Mackinaw creek in Woodford county, one from Anderson's
branch, in Union county, and one from the Little Fox River at
Phillipstown may be referred with some uncertainty to this
variety. Specimens taken at Greenway, Arkansas, by Dr.
Meek are, without much question, identical with the form here
described. The uncertainty arises from the difference between
the published figure of N. cayuga atrocaudalis and the specific
description, the figure showing the lateral stripe solid and the
dorsal fin inserted in front of the ventrals, and the description
stating that the dorsal is slightly behind the ventrals.
NOTROPIS HETERODON (COPE)
(MAP XXXIV)
Cope, 1864, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 281 (Alburnops).
G.f VII, 261 (Leuciscus); J. & G., 163 (Hemitremia) ; M. V., 55; J. & E., I, 261; N..
47 (Hemitremia); J. 62 (Hemitremia); F. F., I. 6, 85 (Hemitremia); F., 78; L., 16.
This small species, distinguished from N. anogenus by its larger and less
oblique mouth and pale peritoneum, agrees with it in the general form of its
body and in having a dark lateral stripe from the tip of the snout to the base
of the caudal. It is sharply enough separated from N. cayuga by its larger
mouth and black-tipped chin. Care is sometimes required to separate it
from Hybognathus nubila, although that species differs from it radically in
its generic characters. Length 2 inches; body moderately compressed and
back as a rule noticeably elevated in adults; depth 4.1 to 4.6 in length; caudal
peduncle slender, its depth 2.3 to 3 in its length. Color olivaceous, rather
NOTKOPIS 135
dusky above, the dark punctulations on the scales confined mostly to the
edges; sides leaden silvery, with a black stripe extending forward through
eye to end of snout; belly with an otange tint; fins plain. Head small, conic,
3.9 to 4.2 in length; width of head 1.8 to 2 in its length; interorbital space
2.6 to 3.1; eye quite large, 2.7 to 3 in head, being usually about Yz longer
than the snout, the distance from the tip of which to the anterior rim of the
pupil is about equal to the diameter of the orbit; nose short and rather
sharp, 3.5 to 3.8 in head; mouth moderate, oblique, the upper lip as a rule
on a level with the upper margin of the pupil; cleft of mouth making an angle
of 40° to 60° with the vertical; maxillary scarcely reaching front of orbit, its
length about % the diameter of the very large eye; jaws subequal, the isthmus
less than pupil. Teeth as a rule 1, .4-4, 1, in occasional instances 1, 4-4, 0,
0, 4-4, 1, or 4-4; the first three teeth of the outer row usually strongly hooked
and with a well-developed groove whose edges are somewhat crenate; intes-
tine shorter than body and head; peritoneum silvery. Dorsal fin with 8
rays, slightly nearer snout than base of caudal, set almost directly over
ventrals; longest dorsal ray somewhat less than head (1.1); anal rays 8,
occasionally 7; pectorals short, less than ^ to ventrals, 1.3 to 1.6 in head;
ventrals reaching vent. Scales 5, 35-38, 3; 12 to 14 scales before dorsal;
lateral line as a rule developed only anteriorly; some specimens met with,
however, in which not more than 2 or 3 pores were lacking on posterior
half of body.
FIG. 30
The typical form of this species appears to be confined, with
us, [to the northern part of Illinois, being most abundant in the
small glacial lakes of Lake and McHenry counties, where it is
found in clear, cool water among weeds and over sand along
shore. Specimens taken from the headwaters of the Fox, Des
Plaines, and Du Page rivers, and some from the upper Rock
and its tributaries (Yellow creek, Stephenson county, Kiswaukee
River at Sycamore, Rock River at Oregon, and Green River at
Geneseo) have the teeth 0,4-4, 1, or 1. 4-4, 1, though the body
is somewhat slender and the eye is hardly so large as in the lake
form. From farther southward we have about 80 collections,
chiefly from the sluggish waters of the Illinois River and tribu-
tary lakes at Havana and Meredosia, in which the dentition is
136 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
more usually 2, 4-4, 2, and the lateral line is nearly always com-
plete. Collections of the same form, which may be identical
with the unnamed* variety of N. heterodon described some years
ago from Switz City swamp, Indiana, and localities in southern
Illinois, have also been taken in lowland streams of the Wabash,
Ohio, and Big Muddy valleys.
New York to Michigan, Minnesota, and Kansas, including
Lakes Michigan and Huron and the Ohio basin. Distributed
sparingly throughout the state, mainly in the lowland and glacial
lakes, and in a way to indicate an avoidance of the lower Illi-
noisan glaciation. Our 93 collections, from 21 localities, were
derived in extraordinarily small proportion from either creeks
or rivers of the smaller size. The order of relative abundance
in our waters is as follows: glacial lakes, 2.68; lowland lakes,
1.44; the larger rivers, .98; creeks, .63; and the smaller rivers,
.17. It is about equally abundant from northern and from
central Illinois, but is considerably less common in the waters
of the southern part of the state.
The food of eighteen specimens studied, was peculiar in
respect to the large percentage of Entomostraca included — a fact
perhaps to be accounted for by the small size of the species and
the somewhat unusual development of the gill-rakers, although
many of the specimens examined were taken where Entomostraca
were very abundant at the time. Aquatic insect larvse, mainly
Chironomus, an amphipod crustacean (Allorchestes) , and flowers
and seeds, with filamentous algae, were the other principal
elements of the food.
The species spawns in May and June in central Illinois.
The snout and top of the head of the male are finely tuberculate.
* Notropis heterodon, var., Gilbert Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1884 p. 207.
Ilk
XOTROPIS
FIG. 31
NOTROPIS BLENNIUS (GIRAED)
STRAW-COLORED MINNOW
(MAP XXXV)
Girard, 1856, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 194 (Alburnops).
M. V., 56 (deliciosus); J. & E., I, 261; N., 46 (Hybopsis stramineus) ; J., 57 (Al-
burnops stramineus); F. F., I. 6, 84 (Luxilus cornutus) ; F. 78 (stramineus);
K, 17.
A small pale species of rather indefinite characters, almost entirely
without marked distinctions of either form or color. Length 2^ inches;
body about equally tapered both forward and backward from its deepest
point, which is a little in front of a line connecting first dorsal and ventral
rays; moderately compressed; depth 4.2 to 4.8; caudal peduncle rather
slender, its depth 2 to 3.1 in its length. Color very light olive above, paler
below; sides silvery, with an indistinct light-leaden stripe above lateral line,
above and below each pore of which is a black spot; belly silvery; a faint
vertebral streak, broadening into an evident blackish blotch at front of
dorsal; caudal spot faint or but a trace; head olivaceous above, the cheeks
and opercles silvery; dorsal and caudal often with
some dusky; other fins pale. Head small, conic,
3.8 to 4.2 in length of head and body; width of head
1.7 to 2 in its length; interorbital space 3 to 3.6 in
head; eye 2.9 to 3.4, usually over 3.2 in full-grown
specimens; nose bluntly conic, scarcely decurved,
its length equal to diameter of eye in adults, 3.3 to
3.8 in head, usually about 3.5; mouth rather small,
terminal, slightly or moderately oblique, the tip of
the upper lip seeming to vary in position from quite
on a level with the inferior margin of the pupil to even with the lower margin
of the orbit; maxillary 3.3 to 3.7 in head, about reaching vertical from front
of orbit; jaws about equal; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 4-4, rather
strongly hooked, with grinding surfaces developed on at least two or three
teeth; intestine .9 to 1.2 times length of head and body; peritoneum more
or less densely sprinkled with rather large and coarse black specks. Dorsal
fin with 8 rays (rarely 7) , inserted almost directly over, or slightly in advance
of, ventrals, and usually almost exactly equidistant between muzzle and base
of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1.1 to 1.3 in head; anal rays 7 (rarely 6) ; pectorals
FIG. 32
138 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
about % to ventrals, 1.2 to 1.4 in head; ventrals reaching vent or front of
anal. Scales 5, 32-36, 4; 12 or 14 before dorsal; lateral line complete, general-
ly noticeably decurved on anterior half of body.
This abundant but rather insignificant and indefinite species
belongs to the group which apparently avoid the streams of the
southern Illinoisan glaciation. Although distributed through-
out the state from the Ohio and. Saline rivers on the south to the
extreme northern boundary, and represented in our records by
128 collection localities, but five of these are within that area,
and these are on its northern borders where its peculiarities are
least pronounced. It is consistent with this limitation to its
distribution in this state that it should show a decided preference,
according to our collection records, for clean swift waters over
muddy and stagnant ones. Its frequency coefficient for waters
over a bottom of rock or sand is 2.00, and the corresponding
frequency ratio for a swift current is 1.18. It is essentially a
species of .small rivers and creeks, our frequencies for these two
classes of streams being 2.65 and 2.23 respectively, while that
for the larger rivers is only .41 and that for lakes and ponds but
.17. In general distribution it is limited to a region extending
from the Great Lake basin, Lake Champlain, and the streams
of the St. Lawrence system, by way of the Missouri River to
Wyoming, northward to the Lake of the Woods and the Red
River of the North, and southward through the Ohio and the
Mississippi basins to the San Antonio River in Texas.
From the little that is known of its feeding habits, its food
is no more peculiar than its general appearance, consisting of a
mixture of aquatic insects, crustaceans, and chance vegetation.
NOTROPIS PHENACOBIUS FORBES
Forbes, 1885, Bull. HI. State Lab. Nat. Hist., II. 2, 137.
This fish unites with a strong general resemblance to Phenacobius the
characters of Notropis. The body of the adult is short and deep, the head
square, the nose long, and the eye unusually large.
^^^IX Length 2^4 inches; depth 3.5 to 4; caudal peduncle 4
^^B Bt to 4-75. Color in alcohol indefinite; sides somewhat
£' » A silvery, scales along and above the lateral line slightly
%,, "* specked with black. The head is quadrate in trans-
verse section, flat above, 3.75 to 4; nose decurved, 3.4
FIG 33 to 3.5; interorbital space 2.9 to 3.1. The mouth is
inferior, horizontal, rather small, lips fleshy, not lobed,
lower jaw much the shorter, 2.75 to 3.1 in head, upper lip opposite the lower
margin of the pupil, upper jaw to posterior margin of nostrils, 3.33 to 3.9
NOTROPIS 139
in head. Teeth 4-4. Intestine about equal to head and body, .97 to 1.17.
Eye very large, circular, placed high up, 3.4 to 3.5 in head. Branchiostegals
free from isthmus. Dorsal 1-8, decidedly before ventrals, its length 7 to 8
in body; anal low, 1-8; paired fins rather broad and short; ventrals not reach-
ing vent, and pectorals falling far short of ventrals, the former 6.25 to 6.4
in head and body. The scales are thin, large, crowded anteriorly upon the
sides, breast wholly naked in all the specimens seen. Lateral line 35 to 36,
longitudinal rows 7 to 9, 13 to 14 before dorsal. Described from 10 speci-
mens, the only ones seen, all taken at Peoria.
This species is retained with some hesitation, owing to the
fact that the ten type specimens obtained many years ago are
the only ones of it ever seen, and through some unaccountable
misadventure all but one of these types have disappeared from
the State Laboratory collection. Concerning this species Dr.
Evermann writes me, under date of March 8, 1908, after an
examination of this type: "In some respects this specimen
resembles N. blennius, but is much deeper and more arched,
and the head is slightly longer. We have compared it with
the type of 'Cliola chlora Jordan,' which is considered a synonym
of N. scylla, but it is not that species. * * * If you have any
reason for believing that this specimen is the type of your N.
phenacobius, I would be disposed to accept it as such and let
the species stand as good. "
FIG 34
NOTROPIS GILBERTI JORDAN & MEEK
(MAP XXXVI)
Jordan & Meek, 1885, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 4.
M. V., 57; J. & E., I, 266; L., 17.
The long, broad, and flat head, comparatively inferior mouth, and
rather thick lips of this species distinguish it sufficiently from all other
Illinois species of the genus Notropis. Length 2^2 inches; form much as
in Ericymba buccata, the body subfusiform, usually rather long and slender,
and the back gently and broadly elevated; depth 4.3 to 5; caudal peduncle
usually longer than head, slender, its depth 2.1 to 2.9 in its length. Color
light olive above; sides silvery; a conspicuous median dorsal stripe and a
plumbeous lateral streak; scales above dark-edged, those below lateral line
140 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
on posterior half of body and caudal peduncle rather sparsely specked with
black; top of head and muzzle darkish; fins all plain; dorsal, caudal, and
pectorals pale rosy in spring males, in which also the head is covered with
very fine tubercles that suggest a sprinkling of white dust. Head long,
broad, flattish above, 3.5 to 4 in length; its width 1.8 to 2.1 in its length;
interorbital space 3 to 3.6; eye 3 to 3.8; nose long and muzzle decurved, the
snout usually greater than eye, 2.8 to 3.3 in head; mouth rather large, nearly
horizontal and inferior, the tip of the upper lip below the level of the lower
margin of the orbit; lower jaw included; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 1,
4-4, 1; intestine a little less than head and body; peritoneum silvery, with
sometimes a very few dark specks. Dorsal fin with 8 rays (sometimes 9)
quite uniformly set slightly behind ventrals; longest dorsal ray ^7 of head in
adults, 1.1 to 1.4; anal rays 8 (occasionally 9); pectorals about % to ventrals,
1.3 to 1.6 in head; ventrals to or past vent. Scales 6, 34-37,4, smaller and
crowded anteriorly, 16 to 18 rows before dorsal; lateral line complete, de-
curved anteriorly.
This is a western species, the range of which to the eastward
terminates in Illinois. It extends westward through Iowa to
eastern Colorado, being most abundant, so far as known, in
muddy streams of the plains from the Des Moines to the Platte.
It occurs also in tributaries of the Missouri in Missouri and
Iowa. Only 2 of the 32 localities from which it has been recog-
nized in this state lie outside the Mississippi drainage, and both
of these are in the Wabash Valley, one near the mouth of that
stream and the other on the extreme headwaters of the Em-
barras. It seems to be essentially a species of small rivers and
creeks, our ratios of occurrence in the larger rivers and in lakes
and ponds being quite insignificant.
Gravid females have been found by us in the latter part of
June.
NOTROPIS ILLECEBROSUS (GIRAED)
(MAP XXXVII)
Girard, 1856, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 194 (Alburnops).
J. & E., I, 268 (illecebrosus); L,., 17 (shumardi).
The very large eye, large oblique mouth, and broad head of this species
distinguish it from all other Illinois minnows of its genus. Length 3 inches,
body moderately compressed, the back little elevated; depth 4.5 to 5.4 in
length; caudal peduncle rather slender, its depth 2.1 to 2.7 in its length.
Color olivaceous or straw, the sides little silvery; a dark lateral band, con-
tinued forward through eye to end of snout, tipping the chin; fins all plain.
Head broad and flat above, 3.8 to 4.1 in length; width of head 1.8 to 2.1;
interorbital space 2.8 to 3.2; eye very large, >£ to Y± longer than nose or
maxillary, 2.4 to 2.8 in head; nose 2.9 to 3.6, blunt and shorter than the very
large eye; muzzle not decurved; mouth large and quite oblique, the tip of
upper lip above level of lower margin of pupil; maxillary reaching front of
NOTBOPIS 141
orbit; lower jaw slightly shorter than upper; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth
1, 4-4, 1; intestine about 1.15 times length of head and body; peritoneum a
very dark brown to almost solid black. Dorsal fin with 8 rays, inserted a
little behind ventrals, about equidistant between muzzle and base of caudal;
longest dorsal ray usually a little less than head, 1 to 1.2; anal rays 8 (occa-
sionally 7); pectorals % to % to ventrals, 1.1 to 1.3 in head; ventrals to
vent, not reaching anal in any of our specimens. Scales 5 or 6 (usually 5),
35-37, 3; 13 to 15 in front of dorsal fin; lateral line complete, somewhat
decurved anteriorly.
This species, rather rare in Illinois, is closely limited in the
main to the tributaries of the Wabash in the eastern part of the
state, from which it is recorded in our collections at 17 localities,
the only other places of its occurrence in this state being Cedar
Lake, in northeastern Illinois, Mazon creek, a branch of the
Illinois River near its origin, and a small bluff stream of the
Mississippi, in Hancock county. Its general range is from the
Lake Erie basin and the Ohio River westward to Arkansas and
Missouri.
Females with fully developed eggs, and breeding males with
muzzle and chin tuberculate, have been taken by us in the latter
part of May.
NOTROPIS HUDSONIUS (DEWITT CLINTON)
SPOT- TAILED MINNOW
(MAP XXXVIII)
DeWitt Clinton, 1824, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., I, 49 (Clupea).
G., VII, 251 (Leuciscus); M. V., 57; J. & E., I, 269; N., 46 (Hybopsis); J., 56 (Al-
burnops); P. F., I. 6, 82 (Hybopsis); F., 77; L.., 17.
The usually large and conspicuous black caudal spot of this minnow,
rarely absent in western specimens of the species, will commonly serve to
call attention to it when found, and will serve to separate it from the other
larger and paler species of Illinois Cyprinidce. Length 4 to 6 inches; body
moderately robust, not much elongate, considerably compressed, the sides
vertical at their middle; depth 4 to 4.5 in length; caudal peduncle shorter
than head, its depth 1.9 to 2.3 in its length. Color very pale olive; sides
142 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
with a very broad silvery to plumbeous band; commonly a large black spot
at base of caudal fin; scales faintly cross-hatched on upper part of body and
for a little distance below lateral line forward; spots above and below pores
of lateral line faint or wanting; fins pale. Head short, 4.1 to 4.7 in length of
head and body; width of head 1.8 to 2.1; interorbital space 2.5 to 2.9; eye
moderate, 2.8 to 3.5 in head, equal to nose or slightly shorter or longer in
adults; nose blunt, usually somewhat decurved, 3.2 to 3.5 in head; mouth
rather small, nearly horizontal, the tip of upper lip below level of lower
margin of pupil; maxillary usually not quite reaching orbit, 3.7 to 4.5 in head;
lower jaw shorter than upper; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth variable: 0,
4-4, 1; 1, 4-4, 1; 1, 4-4, 2; or 2, 4-4, 2; teeth of main row more or less hooked,
and generally quite compressed, the grinding surface developed as a quite
narrow groove whose edges are smooth; intestine .9 to 1.4 times length of
head and body; peritoneum silvery, finely but not densely specked with dark.
Dorsal fin with 8 rays, set usually a trifle in advance of the ventrals and nearer
snout than base of caudal; longest dorsal ray about equal to the length of the
short head; anal rays 8; pectorals scarcely % to ventrals; ventrals usually
short of vent. Scales 5 or 6, 36 to 39, 4; 15 to 18 before dorsal; longitudinal
rows of scales above lateral line with the appearance of " running out" behind
dorsal fin, as in N. cornutus; lateral line usually complete, not much decurved
anteriorly.
FIG. 36
This abundant, graceful, and well-known species, essentially
a northern minnow in this state, is much the most abundant in
our largest rivers and in lakes, its frequency ratio in the former
being 1.8, and in the latter 1.76. In small rivers and in creeks
it has 'been taken only occasionally, the corresponding ratios
being .29 and .14. It is abundant in its favorite localities, and
appears in 147 of our collections. In Illinois it is limited to the
Mississippi and Lake Michigan drainage, and has occurred but
twice south of the central part of the state, once in Union county
and once from the Ohio at Cairo. We have found it most
frequently in the Illinois River and its adjacent waters at Havana
and Meredosia, from which two places 119 of our collections
have come. It is also one of the commonest longshore minnows
in southern Lake Michigan, swarming especially about the piers
off Chicago, where it is caught in quantities and sold fbr bait.
NOTROPIS 143
Although reported from South Carolina, it is essentially a
northern species, ranging from New England, Quebec, and the
Lake of the Woods through the Hudson and Great Lake basin to
the streams of the Missouri in Minnesota and the Dakotas. It
is abundant in the Great Lakes and at the mouths of the rivers
opening into them. In Ohio and in Indiana, as in Illinois, it is
generally confined to the northern parts of the state.
It is a typical minnow in its food, depending on insects,
crustaceans, and vegetation, the latter partly algae of the fila-
mentous forms and partly fragments of aquatic plants. This
general statement does not indicate the variety of its resources
or the seeming indifference with which it will fill itself with one
or the other kind of food which it finds most abundant. One of
our specimens, for example, had eaten nothing but algae, and
these plants made three fourths of the food of another. Three
had eaten only insects, and these were 90 per cent., or more, of
the food of three others. Two had taken nothing but Entomos-
traca, all a species of Cypris feeding upon the bottom. Four had
filled themselves with various vegetable structures, and 90 per
cent., or more, of the food of three others consisted of like
material. Three out of four of these minnows, taken at Nipper-
sink Lake in May, had eaten only terrestrial snout-beetles
(Rhynchophora) , whose occurrence in the water was a matter
of chance. The larvae of day-flies (Ephemerida) made more than
three fourths of the food of three other specimens. One had
eaten a small fish, and traces of like food were found in another.
NOTROPIS LUTRENSIS (BAIRD & GIRARD)
RED FIN
(MAP XXXIX)
Baird & Girard, 1853, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 397 (Leuciscus).
G., VII, 258 (Leuciscus); J. & G., 172 (Cliola iris and C. jugalis), 174 (C. gibbosa
and C. forbesi), 175 (C. lutrensis), 176 (C. suavis), 177 (billingsiana); M. V.,
57; J. & E., I, 271; J., 57 (Cyprinella forbesi); F., 77; L,., 17.
This little fish is especially distinguished among Illinois Cyprinidce by
the brilliancy of its color and by the depth and thinness of its body, fully
grown specimens not seldom having the depth in length less than 2%. It is
very nearly allied to the next species, N. whipplii, compared with which it
seems to be merely a more specialized form, the two sometimes intergrading
in an obscure and very puzzling way. It may, however, be distinguished
from the next species, as a rule, by its greater depth when adult, by the
144 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
greater thickness at the nape, the more elevated back and steeper profile,
and by the absence, in most specimens, of the black spot on the posterior part
of the dorsal fin. Length 2% inches; depth 2.7 to 3.2 in length in adults, the
young more slender; caudal peduncle shorter than head, its depth 1.7 to 2.1
in its length. Color of females and postnuptial males olivaceous under
iridescent steel above, pale greenish to greenish gray and silvery lower down
and on belly; a faint purplish wedge-shaped bar behind opercles; fins plain
(in typical specimens), tinged with reddish or orange in males. , Spring males
with the upper parts a brilliant iridescent steel-blue, the sides and belly
orange-red to crimson, and the top of head, cheeks, and opercles flushed with
rose; gill-opening bordered with red; the postopercular bar a brilliant purplish
violet, behind which is a broad vertical band of faint crimson; all the fins
reddish, the dorsal dusky with greenish at base; pectorals plain red; ventrals
blood-red tipped with a narrow margin of orange; caudal dusky near base,
crimson outward, tipped with darker. Head 3.6 to 4 in length, stout and
deep, depressed but not flat above, the profile angled at the nape, most so in
males; width of head 1.8 to 2.2 in its length; interorbital space 2.5 to 2.8,
nearly twice the small eye; eye 4 to 4.5, less than nose; nose 3.1 to 3.6 in head,
conic, sharper and upturned in males; mouth oblique, the tip of upper lip
above level of lower margin of pupil; maxillary 3 to 3.6 in head, reaching to
vertical from back of posterior nostril, but not to orbit; lower jaw included, the
upper considerably projecting in males (in females the jaws are usually very
nearly equal) ; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth variable, usually 4-4, though
0, 4-4, 1, 1,4-4, 0, and 1,4-4, 1 are not uncommonly met with in our collec-
tions; the supernumerary teeth are usually weak and much less developed
than in the next species, in which the number is normally 1,4-4, 1; intestine
shorter than head and body, in which it is contained .8 to .9 times; peritoneum
silvery, finely but not densely specked with black. Dorsal fin with 8 rays,
set a little behind or over the ventrals; longest dorsal ray 1.1 to 1.3 in head;
anal rays usually 8, sometimes 7 or 9; pectorals % to ventrals, 1.2 to 1.4 in
head; ventrals to vent in females, to front of anal in males. Scales 6, 34-37,
3-4; rows before dorsal 14 to 17; lateral line complete, strongly decurved,
being approximately parallel with the lower outline.
This little redfin, one of the most beautiful, in its breeding
colors, of any of our minnows, is essentially a western species; and
all our 163 collections have been made from the streams of the
Mississippi drainage. Outside this state the species ranges from
South Dakota and Wyoming to Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and
Arkansas, and the tributaries of the Rio Grande. It is a minnow
of the streams, present in about equal ratio in creeks and the
larger and the smaller rivers, but found in lowland lakes with only
about half the frequency of its occurrence in running waters. It
tolerates muddy waters, as is shown by its frequency coefficient
of 1.69, and it enters the lower Illinoisan glaciation in the
branches of the Big Muddy. It is closely allied to N. whipplii,
and appears, in fact, to intergrade with that species, of which
it is the representative to the south and west.
NOTROPIS 145
This active minnow loves to play in the swift ripples of
rocky streams, where its presence may be betrayed to the watch-
ful observer by flashes of rainbow color from a fish not otherwise
visible. It spawns from the middle of May to the last of June.
The breeding males are excessively tuberculate, with a double
row of tubercles bordering the upper lip, a triangular or cres-
centic patch about each eye, two longitudinal rows along the
middle of the top of the head, and several shorter ones upon the
sides. The scales of the nape and those of the sides of the
body are also tuberculate, especially those on the caudal peduncle
between the anal fin and the lateral line. Sometimes all the
scales are tuberculate, with the exception of a few in front of the
ventrals, on the lower part of the sides and belly. We have
even seen females with small tubercles upon the head.
NOTROPIS WHIPPLII (GIRARD)
STEEL-COLORED MINNOW; SILVERFIN; LEMON-FIN
(MAP XL)
Girard, 1856, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 198 (Cyprinella).
G., VII, 254 (Leuciscus spilopterus) ; J. & G., 178 (Cliola), 179 (C. analostoma);
M. V., 58; J. & E., I. 278; N., 47 (Cyprinella galacturus); J., 57 (Photogenis
analostanus); F., F., I. 6, 87 (Photogenis analostanus) ; F., 77; L., 17.
This species, which presents a general resemblance to N. lutrensis, is
generally distinguishable from that species by its more elongate, lanceolate
form, by its longer and more pointed head, and, in most cases, by the black
spot on the posterior membranes of the dorsal fin (a mark absent in typical
specimens of lutrensis). Length 3 to 4 inches; depth 3.3 to 4 in length in
adults; females and young more slender, the depth 4.3 to 5; caudal peduncle
slightly shorter than head, its depth 1.7 to 2.2 in its length. Color leaden
silvery over olive in females, somewhat bluish forward and above. Males
bright steel-blue to purplish above, dull silvery white or greenish on lower
part of sides and on belly; steel color most prominent behind and above
opercles and above lateral line backward along sides to tip of caudal peduncle;
cheeks and opercles metallic purplish blue; iris brassy, purplish outward
above; scales of sides with dusky bluish lines parallel to their edges, pro-
ducing the appearance of a very regular and sharply defined lozenge-blocked
reticulation* over the entire side, this appearance being aided by the great
uniformity in size of the scales; a rather broad but faint vertebral streak;
two black blotches on the posterior membranes of the dorsal (fainter in
females); paired fins, lower part of belly, tips of anal and caudal, and the
* These lozenges of darker blue outline on a purplish or steel-blue ground form one of the
most noticeable features of the coloration of this species distinguishing it ordinarily with readi-
ness from A7, lutrensis, in which, except in some specimens from the more northward part of its
range, the cross-hatching on tho scales is indistinct.
146 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
front and upper margin of the dorsal charged with clear satin-white pigment
in males in the spring; basal half of dorsal in full breeding dress light green;
lower fins lemon-yellow, except tips of ventrals and anal. Head small,
subconic, not so stout as in the last species, 3.9 to 4.2 in length; profile scarcely
angled at nape; width of head 1.9 to 2.2; interorbital space 2.5 to 2.7 in head,
very convex; eye small, 3.9 to 4.8 in head; nose somewhat longer than in the
last species, 2.8 to 3.2 in head, conic and usually more or less upturned,
especially in males; mouth slightly less oblique than in the last, the tip of the
upper lip scarcely above level of lower margin of orbit; maxillary longer than
eye, reaching to back of posterior nostril-opening, but not to orbit, 3.1 to
3.6 in head; lower jaw shorter than upper; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth
usually 1, 4-4, 1*, the edges of the grinding surface often more or less crenate,
intestine .8 to .9 times length of head and body; peritoneum silvery, finely
specked with black. Dorsal fin with 8 rays, set a little behind the ventrals,
its longest ray usually a little less than head, in which it is contained 1.9 to
1.2; anal rays 8 or 9; pectorals 1.2 to 1.4 in head, about % to ventrals in fully
grown specimens, about % in young but sexually mature males; ventrals
to vent in females, past front of anal in males. Scales 6, 36-39, 3; 14 to 16
before dorsal, where they are scarcely crowded; lateral line decurved anteriorly
to about parallel with lower outline.
Extremely abundant in Illinois, especially in the smaller
streams of the central part of the state, and taken in 270 of our
collections. A species of the creeks and smaller rivers in this
state, its frequency ratios for those streams being approximately
2J/2, while those for lakes and the larger rivers are but .11 and
.35 respectively. It shows a marked preference for swift water
and for a clean bottom, our coefficients for these situations being
1.3 and 1.6 respectively. It is generally distributed from Lake
Champlain and the St. Lawrence River through the lakes of
central New York and the Great Lake basin to Minnesota,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, northern Alabama, and Arkansas.
Two thirds of the entire food of 33 specimens examined, con-
sisted of insects, nearly half of which were terrestrial. Three of
our specimens had eaten small fishes, and a mixture of vegetable
elements derived from both aquatic and terrestrial plants had
been eaten mainly by four, one of which had fed only on algae,
while three others had taken some 90 per cent, of their food
from miscellaneous plant structures, including seeds, anthers,
and pollen, and fragments of grass-like vegetation.
Females apparently about to spawn have been taken by us
from May 21 to June 12, but others which had not yet deposited
their eggs occur in our collections occasionally up to the middle
* Cases of apparent N. whipplii in which the teeth are 4-4 or 1, 4-4, 1 occur in a few collec-
tions from localities in which N. lufrensis and N. whipplii seem to intergrade. In general our
collections show, however, that little variation need be looked for in this species.
COMMON SHINER, Notropis cornutus (Mitchill)
BLACKFIN, Notropis tiinbnitilis atripes (Jordan)
NOTltOPJS 14f
of August. Breeding males have the head largely tuberculate,
together with a pad-like tuberosity, closely set with tubercles,
on the snout. The scales of the upper part of the sides in front
of the dorsal fin are likewise tuberculate.
NOTROPIS CORNUTUS (MITCHILL)
COMMON SHINER
(MAP XLI)
Mitchill, 1817, Am. Month. Mag., I, 289 (Cyprinus).
G., VII, 249 (Leuciscus); J. & G., 186 (Minnilus), 192 (M. plumbeolus); M. V., 58
(megalops); J. & E., I, 281; N., 47 (Luxilus); J., 57 (Luxilus) F., 77 (megalops);
L., 17.
This species, in size one of the largest of our minnows, is distinguished
especially by the great depth of the exposed portions of the scales and (in
spring males) by the brilliant and more or less mottled salmon-pink coloration.
Length 5 to 8 inches; body elongate in the young; adults shorter and much
compressed, the sides nearly vertical; depth 3.3 to 4.4 in length; anterior
dorsal region gibbous and rather swollen in adult males; caudal peduncle
rather deep, its depth 1.6 to 2.3, usually less than 2.1, in its length. Color
of midsummer males olivaceous above with steel-blue luster; belly and lower
part of sides silvery; a broad dark vertebral streak and a faint plumbeous
lateral band, showing as gilt when seen through water; scales above lateral
line thickly specked with dusky, with narrow edges of darker; scales along
middle of each side partly with the most of the exposed surface unspecked
bright silvery with dusky bases, and partly wholly dusky, giving rise to a
mottled appearance which is most accentuated in tV-e breeding season; dorsal
and caudal fins somewhat dusky, other fins plain; coloration of spring males
very brilliant, the upper parts greenish and the sides a rich salmon-pink over
silvery, with mottlings of dusky emerald; females and young are plain
olivaceous above and silvery below. Head 3.8 to 4.2 in length, rather large
and heavy, compressed, rounded between the eyes, the muzzle bluntish;
width of head 1.9 to 2.1; interorbital space 2.6 to 3.1 in head; eye rather
small, 3.1 to 4.7 in head, usually over 4 in adults; nose much longer than eye
in adults, 2.8 to 3.3 in head; mouth moderately large and oblique, the tip of
the upper lip usually very little above level of lower margin of orbit; maxillary
Yz longer than eye in fully grown specimens, 2.9 to 3.2 in head, scarcely reach-
ing front of orbit; lower jaw slightly shorter than upper; isthmus less than
pupil. Teeth 2, 4-4, 2, with rather narrow grinding surface; intestine .9 to
1.5 times length of head and body; peritoneum dusky to solid brown. Dorsal
fin with 8 rays, set usually a little in advance of the ventrals and closer to
muzzle than base of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1 to 1.3 in head; anal rays 9
or 10, usually 9; pectorals % to ^ to ventrals, 1.2 to 1.5 in head; ventrals
usually not reaching vent. Scales 6, rarely 7, 37-40, 3, rows before dorsal
16 to 25; always much deeper than long on the flanks, becoming exceedingly
so in adults; longitudinal rows with an appearance of "running out" behind
the dorsal fin; lateral line complete, decurved anteriorly.
148 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
This common, large, and well-known minnow, one of the
most conspicuous in our series, is unequally distributed through-
out the state, very abundantly so in its northern two thirds. It
occurs also in the hill streams of southern Illinois, but is nearly
absent from the lower Illinoisan glaciation, whence we have
taken it indeed but three times — from two localities on the Little
Wabash and from one on the headwaters of the Kaskaskia at the
northern boundary of this area. It is especially a minnow of
creeks and the smaller rivers — our coefficients for which are 3
and 2.45 respectively — scarcely ever occurring in either lakes or
the larger streams. It shows also a marked preference for clear
waters, which corresponds to its avoidance of the lower Illinoisan
glaciation. Its coefficient of preference for a clean bottom is 2.2.
Outside our territory it is reported from the entire eastern
United States (including the Great Lakes) from the Rocky
Mountains to the Atlantic, with the exception of Texas and the
southeastern region from the Neuse River on the north to the
Alabama on the west. It also ranges into Canada, from New
Brunswick and the River St. Lawrence and its tributary streams
in Quebec to the Assiniboin in Manitoba.
Somewhat more than a third of the food of 21 specimens
examined by us consisted of vegetable objects, a large per-
centage of which were algae, and the greater part of the remainder
was insects, both aquatic and terrestrial, the former, however,
largely preponderant. A single specimen had eaten only fishes.
The crustacean ratio was, as usual, insignificant. A single
aquatic worm (Lumbriculus) was observed in one. The individ-
uals of this little collection varied widely in respect to the
food they had last taken, five, for example, having eaten insects
only, while two had eaten little or nothing but algae and other
vegetable objects.
Its spawning season begins about May 1 and continues to
the last of June. Spring males have the top of the head, the
tip of the snout, and the predorsal region covered with rather
large tubercles. This minnow takes a worm or a grasshopper
readily, and is one of the fishes most likely to be found on a
boy's string. Although it sometimes grows to a length of eight
inches, it is usually too small to be of importance as a pan-fish,
but Dr. Henshaw recommends it as the best live bait for black
bass.
NOTROPIS 149*
NOTROPIS PILSBRYI FOWLER
Fowler, 1904, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., LVI, 245-247.
Fishes intermediate between those forms - typified in Illinois by N.
cornutus on the one hand and N. atherinoides and rubrijrons on the other,
and possessing resemblances to both. Readily distinguished from the first
by the rounded and loosely imbricated scales of the sides and by the backward
insertion of the dorsal fin, and from the latter by the difference in general
proportions (the present species being much shorter and deeper), and by the
presence (as in N. cornutus) of a broad dark streak along the mid-dorsal line.
Length 2% inches; form robust, the body deep in front of dorsal and
moderately compressed; back elevated, the upper and lower outlines tapered
evenly to the tip of the pointed snout, much as in Hybognathus nuchalis;
depth 4 to 4.4 in length; caudal peduncle but little shorter than head, more
slender than in N. cornutus, its depth 2.3 to 2.5 in its length. Color in life
not known; in spirits, a dusky olive above, the scales rather densely specked
over their entire surface and not distinctly dark-edged; sides below lateral
line and belly silvery, unspecked; a broad dusky band along side, interrupted
on opercle and in eye (in preserved specimens), but faintly apparent before
eye to end of snout, tipping chin; a broad and distinct dark vertebral streak;
dorsal and lower fins pale; caudal somewhat dusky. Head conical, 4 to 4.3
in length, the muzzle pointed and profile slightly angled at nape; width of
head 2 to 2.1 in its length; interorbital space nearly flat, 2.9 to 3.1 in head;
eye 3.4 to 3.5 in head, slightly less than snout; nose 3.3; mouth rather large,
oblique, tip of upper lip above lower margin of orbit; maxillary longer than
eye, 2.8 in head, barely reaching front of orbit; jaws subequal; isthmus less
than pupil. Teeth 2, 4-4, 2, compressed and hooked, the grinding surface
developed as an extremely narrow groove on at least two of the teeth; peri-
toneum densely and coarsely specked with brown. Dorsal fin with 8 rays,
inserted distinctly behind ventrals, its first ray farther from muzzle than
base of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1.3 to 1.5 in head; anal rays 9 or 10; pectorals
% to ventrals, 1.3 in head; ventrals quite reaching vent. Scales 6, 37 or
38, 3 or 4, large, cycloid and loosely imbricated, not notably deeper than
long on sides and not crowded anteriorly; the rows appearing to "run out" on
back behind dorsal as in N. cornutus; lateral line decurved anteriorly, com-
plete; 15 scales before dorsal fin.
Sexual differences not known, the three specimens from
Illinois which were taken on May 30 (1901; Ac. No. 28174)
being males with sexual organs considerably developed but
without tubercles.
Found in this state only from the East Fork of the Mazon
River, near Gardner. The identity of this species with N.
pilsbryi Fowler, which was described in 1904 from the White
River basin in Arkansas, seems open to no question.
150 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
FIG. 37
NOTROPIS JEJUNUS (FORBES)
(MAP XLII)
Forbes, 1878, Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist., I. 2, 60 (Episema).
.J & G., 194 (Minnilus); M. V., 60; J. & E., I, 290; F., 77; L,., 18.
A pale silvery minnow of rather indefinite characters, in form resembling
Hybognathus nuchalis, the outline being fusiform, with dorsal and ventral
contours similar, but lacking the long intestine and maxillary protuberance
of that species and with the head rather blunter. Length 2 to 2^ inches;
depth 3.8 to 5 in length, the body deepest just in front of the dorsal fin;
body considerably compressed, the greatest width about % the greatest
depth; caudal peduncle somewhat shorter than head, its depth 1.9 to 2.4
in its length. Color pale, the sides silvery with a broad plumbeous band;
lateral scales rather coarsely specked with black, those of back more finely
specked over their entire surfaces; cross-hatching most evident along lateral
line and below it, where the scales are pale except at outer edges; a dark
vertebral streak but no caudal spot; cheeks and opercles silvery below, steel-
blue to cerulean above; a conspicuous splash of emerald on lateral aspect of
occiput — just behind eye; iris silvery with some lavender; fins all plain.
Head 3.8 to 4.5 in length, squarish in transverse section at orbits, being
only slightly rounded above; width of head 1.7 to 2.2 in its length; interorbital
space 2.5 to 2.9 in head; eye very little shorter than snout in adults, 3.2 to
3.8 in head; nose bluntly conic, 3.1 to 3.6; mouth moderately large, very
little oblique, the tip of the upper lip little above level of lower rim of pupil;
maxillary 2.8 to 3.4 in head, extending hardly to front of orbit; lower jaw
slightly shorter than upper; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth usually 2, 4-4,
2; sometimes 1, 4-4, 1 or various intermediate combinations; grinding sur-
face, if present, narrow and irregular; intestine .9 to 1.2 times length of head
and body; peritoneum silvery, with a few small specks of dark color. Dorsal
fin with 8 rays, occasionally 7, set as a rule almost directly over ventrals
and about equidistant between muzzle and base of caudal; longest dorsal
ray 1.1 to 1.4 in head; anal rays usually 7, occasionally 6 or 8; pectorals short,
1.1 to 1.4 in head, as a rule less than % to ventrals; ventrals falling distinctly
short of vent. Scales 5, 34-37, 3 or 4; rows before dorsal 13 to 15; scales
rather large, thin, and round; lateral line little decurved.
,
1
',
NOTROPIS 151
This is a small and insignificant species, without marked
specific characters, obviously limited by preference to the larger
rivers (coefficient, 1.63) and apparently avoiding the lower
Illinoisan glaciation. It occurs also in considerable numbers in
the smaller rivers (1.12), but is usually scarce in creeks and only
moderately abundant in the lowland lakes. In Illinois it has
occurred in 51 collections, rather sparingly distributed along
the main streams and in their neighborhood, from the northern
boundary to Cairo and from the Wabash and Ohio to the Missis-
sippi. It is reported from the northern Mississippi Valley at
large, and from the Ohio basin, ranging from Kansas and western
Pennsylvania to Wyoming and Winnipeg. In Pennsylvania
it occurs only in the Ohio basin.
The species is too small to be of any importance except as
food for larger fishes.
Its breeding season is apparently late, no females with
swollen ovaries occurring in our collections until the last of June,
and specimens loaded with eggs being found by us as late as
August 27. The sexual differences are not noticeable.
NOTROPIS ATHERINOIDES RAFINESQUE
SHINER
(PL., P. 158; MAP XLIII)
Raflnesque, 1818, Am. Month. Mag., 204.
G., VII, 254 (Leuciscus rubellus), 255 (L. copii); J. & G., 202 (Minnilus rubellus
and M. dinemus); M. V., 61; J. & E., I, 293; N., 47 (Minnilus dilectus and
amabilis), 48 (M. rubellus and M. dinemus); J., 60; F. F., I. 6, 86 (Minnilus);
F., 76 (dinemus, part); L., 18 (also arge and dilectus).
A common slender silvery minnow of the larger rivers, known especially
by its bright silvery color and by the posterior insertion of the dorsal fin.
Length 2^2 to 4^2 inches; general form slender, moderately compressed,
both back and belly about equally and very little arched, the body deepest
in front of dorsal fin; profile from dorsal to muzzle a gentle convex curve;
depth in length in typical specimens 4.9 to 5.5*. Color translucent green
above (olivaceous) ; sides bright silvery, the iridescent emerald, lavender, and
cerulean, common in other silvery minnows, being scarcely noticeable in
this species; scales above faintly specked, but not blotched or prominently
dark-edged; a narrow and rather faint dark vertebral line, and a faint plum-
beous lateral band from opercle to caudal; no caudal spot; cheeks and opercles
* Specimens in some collections from Illinois have the depth as low as 4 to 4.25 in length,
these shorter and deeper forms seeming to grade insensibly into the typical Blender atherinoides.
152 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
pure silvery, having the sheen of fine silver-leaf; iris almost pure silvery;
fins all pale, transparent; well called "shiner" or "silvery minnow". Head
short and very bluntly conic, 4.1 to 4.8 in length, usually about 4.5; width
of head 2.1 to 2.4 in its length; interorbital space 2.9 to 3.3; eye about
equal to snout (larger in younger specimens), 3 to 3.4 in head; nose 3.3 to
3.6; mouth moderate, terminal, oblique, tip of upper lip even with middle
of pupil; maxillary 3 to 3.4 in head, scarcely longer than eye, nearly reaching
front of orbit; jaws subequal; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 2, 4-4, 2,
occasionally 1, 4-4, 2 or 2, 4-4, 1; the masticatory surface a very narrow
groove; intestine commonly less than length of head and body; peritoneum
rather densely specked with black. Dorsal fin with 8 rays, set well behind
ventrals, the distance from dorsal to caudal not more than 78 to 85 per
cent, of that from snout to dorsal; longest dorsal ray 1.1 to 1.2 in head; anal
rays 9, 10, or 11, usually 10; pectorals short, about % to ventrals, 1.2 to 1.4
in head; ventrals not reaching vent. Scales rather large and very thin,
6, 36-40, 3, rows before dorsal 18 to 21; lateral line decurved.
Extremely variable, having been described under various names even
from our own state. No attempt is made here to separate the forms
atherinoides, arge, and dilectus, the two latter of which should probably be
regarded as synonyms of the present species. It appears to be distinct in
our collections from N..rubrifrons, from which it differs in its shorter head,
shorter maxillary, larger eye, and blunter snout, as well as in its coloration
and faintly developed secondary sexual characters.
This graceful and attractive species, distinguished by a
golden lateral stripe on a clear green ground, is an excessively
abundant and active minnow, occurring throughout the state,
but almost strictly confined everywhere to the larger lakes and
rivers. Among our collections from the smaller lakes of north-
eastern Illinois we have not obtained a single specimen of this
species, while the waters of Lake Michigan, but a few miles
away, were swarming with them along the shore, and especially
about the wharfs. There they are captured in great numbers,
together with the most abundant of the lake species, the spot-
tailed minnow, and sold for bait. Of our 206 collections, the
greater part are from rivers, 2.14 being the coefficient for rivers
of the second class, and 1.21 for those of the first class. The
coefficient for creeks is .93, and that for lowland lakes is .66, our
Lake Michigan collections not being represented in this series.
The distribution map of the state, for this species, shows a
curious difference between southern Illinois, where this minnow
occurs mainly in the creeks and smaller rivers, and the remainder
of the state, in which the larger streams are its principal resort.
It appears to have a moderate preference for a good current (1.19)
and for a clean bottom (1.22). but it is nevertheless one of the
species which enters the lower Illinoisan glaciation freely. It is
NOTROPIS 153
distributed throughout the state in fairly equal ratio, although
less abundant in the Illinois, the Kaskaskia, and the Big Muddy
than in the other stream systems. It is one of the small number
of species which we have found present in the Michigan drainage
in larger ratio (1.96) than in any other section. In its continental
distribution it is, on the whole, a northern species, its general
area extending from the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain
through the Great Lakes to the northern shore of Lake Superior,
the Red River of the North, and the Saskatchewan, and through
the Ohio Valley to Tennessee and the Washita River in Kansas,
and up the tributaries of the Missouri.
It moves and feeds in large schools, thousands being fre-
quently seen together near the surface. The food of those exam-
ined by us (18 specimens, all from the northern part of the
state) consisted principally of insects, nearly two thirds of which
were terrestrial species, and the remainder chiefly case-worms
and larvae of day-flies. Six of the specimens had, indeed, eaten
insects only, and these made 90 per cent, of the food of two
others. Three taken from Peoria Lake in October had eaten
only Entomostraca, which amounted, in fact, to the unusual
ratio of 22 per cent, of the food of the whole group. A single
specimen had taken about 40 per cent, of its food from the
thread algae, and a minute fish had been eaten by another.
Females greatly distended with eggs and apparently about to
spawn have been collected by, us from the middle of May to the
first of June. The sexual differences are slight, and we have
seen no tuberculate males.
NOTROPIS RUBRIFRONS (COPE)
ROSY-FACED MINNOW
(MAP XLIV)
Cope, 1865, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 85 (Alburnus).
Q., VII, 255 (Leuciscus) ; J. & G., 202 (Minnilus rubrifrons and M. percobromus);
M. V., 61 (dilectus); J. & E., I., 295; N., 47 (Minnilus); J., 60; F., 76 (dinemus,
part) ; K, 18.
The smaller size, darker and less silvery coloration, shorter and deeper
body, longer head, longer snout and maxillary, and smaller eye, as well as
the dense tuberculation and flushed color of the head and predorsal region
in spring males of this species, will serve to distinguish this from the last
species described. Length 2% inches; body moderately elongate, back little
elevated; caudal peduncle slender, its depth 2.4 to 2.8 in its length; depth in
length 4.8 to 5.8. Color of upper parts rather dark olive, the scales dark-
edged; sides silvery above and below the dark, to almost black, lateral band;
154 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
a faint and narrow dark vertebral streak; fins plain; forehead, opercles, and
predorsal region flushed with red in spring males. Hqad long, conic, pointed,
3.8 to 4.3 in length, its width 2.3 to 2.6 in its length; interorbital space little
convex, 3 to 3.6 in head; eye smaller than in the last species, 3.2 to 3.6 in
head in adults, in which it is distinctly less than the maxillary; nose 3 to
3.4 in head; mouth rather large, oblique, tip of upper lip almost at top of
pupil; maxillary distinctly longer than eye, 2.7 to 3.1 in head, reaching
vertical from front of orbit; jaws subequal; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth
2, 4-4, 2, the grinding surface slight and present on few teeth; intestine .8
to .9 of length of head and body; peritoneum dusted with coarse brown specks.
Dorsal fin with 8 rays (occasionally 7), set well behind ventrals, so that
distance from dorsal to caudal is 74 to 81 per cent, of that from muzzle to
dorsal; longest dorsal ray 1.3 to 1.5 in head; anal rays usually 10, sometimes
9 or 11; pectorals scarcely % to ventrals, 1.2 to 1.5 in head; ventrals usually
short of vent. Scales 6 (or 7), 36-40, 3; rows before dorsal 17 to 21; lateral
line decurved anteriorly.
The rosy-faced minnow is a bright-colored species which
delights in the clear waters of rapid streams. It has been rare
in our work, occurring only in the Mississippi drainage of the
northern third of the state, in the tributaries of the Illinois, the
Rock, and the Mississippi, and only once from the main stream.
It is a species of northern distribution, ranging from the lower
St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain to the Lake of the Woods,
thence southward to the headwaters of the James, through the
Ohio Valley to the Alleghany River, and to the tributaries of
the Missouri in Kansas and Missouri. In Ohio it is reported by
Osburn as occasionally occurring in large schools over clean
gravelly places in ripples, the females ready to spawn during the
latter part of May — a date which agrees with our own observa-
tions in Illinois. The spring males have the head and fore part of
the body excessively tuberculate, and there are sometimes weak
tubercles on the same parts of the breeding females also.
NOTROPIS UMBRATILIS ATRIPES (JORDAN)
BLACKFIN
(PL, P. 147; MAP XLV)
Jordan, 1878, Bull. 111. St. Lab. Nat. Hist., I. 2, 59, (Lythrurus atripes).
J. & G., 197 (Minnilus atripes); M. V., 61 (umbratilis) ; J. & E., I, 300, also (?) 301
(umbratilis fasciolaris); N., 47 (Lythrurus diplaemius); J., 59 (Lythrurus
atripes and diplaemius); F., 76 (also macrolepidotus) and Bull. 111. St. Lab. Nat.
Hist., II. 2, 138 (macrolepidotus); L., 18 (umbratilis).
Fishes with the dentition and the elongate anal fin of Notropis (e. g.,
atherinoides and rubrifrons), but with the form of body (deep and com-
pressed) of Cyprinella (e. g., N. whipplii) or Moniana (N. lutrensis); most
easily distinguished from the fishes of the first subgenus mentioned by the
NOTROPIS 155
deeper and more compressed body, and from the latter by the smaller scales,
which are much crowded anteriorly. Length 3 inches; body as a rule rather
deep and compressed, the depth 3.2 to 4.2 in length; profile usually angled
at nape in adults; caudal peduncle less than head, its depth 1.7 to 2.4 in its
length. Color dark purplish blue above, greenish blue, not silvery, on middle
part of sides, and greenish lower down and on belly; a dusky lateral band on
caudal peduncle, becoming obsolete forward: scales, except on belly, dusted
with dark specks but not prominently dark-edged; dorsal fin with a more or
less prominent black spot at its base in front*; anal tipped with dusky in
males; dorsal with or without a dusky bar mesially; spring males with the
dorsal and caudal fins greenish at base and bright brick- to blood-red out-
ward; lower fins nearly uniform red, the pectorals less brilliant, pinkish or
rose; females pale olive, plain. Head conic, comparatively pointed, 4 to
4.1 in length; width of head 1.8 to 2.1; interorbital space quite convex, 2.2
to 3 in head; eye small, shorter than snout, 3.4 to 4.2 in head; nose 2.8 to 3.3;
mouth moderate, oblique, tip of upper lip above lower margin of pupil;
maxillary 2.7 to 3.2 in head, reaching front of orbit; jaws about equal; isthmus
less than pupil. Teeth 2, 4-4, 2, with more or less developed grinding sur-
faces on the median teeth of the outer row, this surface narrow and either
plane or concave; intestine .8 to .9 of length of head and body; peritoneum
silvery, rather sparsely and coarsely specked with brown. Dorsal rays 8,
the fin set well back of ventrals; longest dorsal ray 1 to 1.1 in head; anal
rays 10, 11, or 12, usually 11; pectorals more than % to ventrals; ventrals
to or past vent. Scales 9 or 10, 41 to 48, 4, crowded anteriorly, the rows
in front of dorsal fin 26 to 30, lateral line deeply decurved.
This is an exceedingly handsome species, especially during
the breeding season. It is commonly said to be most frequently
seen in clear, swift streams. Our frequency coefficient for
creeks reaches, in fact, the extraordinary number of 3.9, while
that for the smaller rivers is 1.9, and for the larger rivers, .16.
In lowland lakes we have found it but once in 549 collections,
and in glacial lakes not at all. On the other hand, 109 collections
for which we have the necessary data give us a frequency
coefficient of 1.76 for still-water situations as compared with
those with a rapid current — from which we may infer that in
Illinois, at any rate, the species is more frequently to be found
in quiet waters than in those with a rapid flow. Our similar
data concerning cleanness or muddiness of bottom, drawn from
69 collections only, give us no evidence of any definite choice,
the corresponding coefficient being 1.01. The species has been
* Great variation in color is found in our specimens, making it extremely difficult to dis-
tinguish varieties. We have included all Illinois specimens accordingly under the oldest name
for this portion of the range of this wide-spread and variable species. Most of our specimens
have the dark blotch at base of dorsal prominent and anal dusky in males (atripes) • others, but
much fewer in number, have the spot faint or obsolete (macrohjndotns) • in some specimens there
are distinct traces of 3 to 5 vertical bars of dusky on back portion of sides and fore part of caudal
peduncle (fascwlaris?) .
156 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
taken by us 208 times, from 136 Illinois localities. Outside the
state it is distributed far and wide, from the Great Lakes and
the smaller lakes of New York to the Roanoke River on the
Atlantic coast and to the Tombigbee in Alabama, and westward
through the Ohio Valley to the Arkansas and the tributaries of
the Missouri in Kansas and Missouri. Notwithstanding this
wide-spread general occurrence, its distribution in this state is
somewhat peculiar, as shown by the fact that, although we have
collected it throughout the state, our records of its occurrence
are several times more numerous from the eastern half of Illinois
than from the western. It is one of the species which enters
freely the lower Illinoisan glaciation, and is, indeed, much more
abundant southward than in the northern parts of the state. Its
area of greatest proportionate abundance in our collections is that
containing the Big Muddy, the tributaries of the Wabash, and
the small rivers and creeks of extreme southern Illinois.
Females bursting with eggs have been taken about the
first of June, together with spring males with heads profusely
covered with small tubercles of a peculiar whitish tint. Tuber-
culate males have occurred, indeed, in our collections from the
middle of May to August 1.
GENUS ERICYMBA COPE
Body elongate, little compressed; muzzle broad; interorbitals, suborbi-
tals, and dentaries containing greatly developed mucus channels, which
appear externally as distinct transverse vitreous streaks; no barbel; premaxil-
laries protractile; teeth 1, 4-4, 1 or 4-4, without grinding surface, hooked;
intestine short; peritoneum silvery; dorsal rays 8; anal 8; scales about 35;
lateral line continuous. Size small. One species known.
ERICYMBA BUCCATA COPE
SILVER-MOUTHED MINNOW.
(MAP XLVI)
Cope, 1865, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 88.
G., VII, 185; J. & G., 204; M. V., 62; J. & E., I, 302; N., 45; J., 61; F., 76; K, 18.
Small, pale silvery to straw-colored fishes with an elongate and de-
curved snout, sufficiently distinguished from all other Illinois Cyprinidce by
the externally visible mucus channels in the infraorbital and lower jaw-bones.
Length 3 to 4 inches; body fusiform, rather elongate and little compressed,
and the back not much elevated; profile not angled at nape, being a gentle
convex curve from base of dorsal to tip of snout; depth 4.1 to 5.2 in length;
EBICYMBA 157
caudal peduncle as a rule about % length of head, slender, its depth con-
tained 2.2 to 2.9 in its length. Color pale olive above, the scales rather nar-
rowly and indistinctly dark-edged; sides pale silvery with bluish reflections;
a dark dorsal streak and an indistinct plumbeous lateral band developed
posteriorly; no caudal spot; fins all
plain ; cheeks and opercles bright silvery ;
iris silvery below, with some dusky
above; spring males without bright
colors. Head long for its depth, de-
pressed above, with prominently de-
curved muzzle; chin broad and flat;
length of head 3.5 to 3.7 in body and
head, its width 1.9 to 2.4 in its length;
interorbital space nearly flat and quite
narrow, 3.5 to 3.9 in head; eye 3.3 to FlG 38
to 3.6 in head; suborbitals, inter-
opercles, and lower jaw-bones with greatly developed mucus channels,
appearing externally as vitreous streaks; nose 2.6 to 3 in head, always dis-
tinctly longer than eye; mouth small, horizontal, subinferior, tip of upper
lip below level of lower margin of orbit; maxillary 3.5 to 4 in head, not reach-
ing past anterior nostril-opening; lower jaw much shorter than upper;
isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 4-4, or 1, 4-4, 1, rather strongly hooked,
the grinding surface somewhat weakly developed as a narrow groove whose
edges are smooth; intestine .9 to 1.0 times length of head and body; peri-
toneum bright silvery, with a very few scattered dark specks. Dorsal fin
with 8 rays, set nearly directly over ventrals, but distinctly nearer tip of
snout than base of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1.1 to 1.2 in head; anal rays 8,
sometimes 7; pectorals long, reaching nearly to ventrals; ventrals past vent
but not quite to front of anal. Scales 5, 32-35, 3; 13 to 15 rows before
dorsal; breast without scales; lateral line nearly straight.
This interesting little fish is especially peculiar because of the
tubular cavities, the so-called mucus canals, in the bones of the
side of the head and the lower jaw. It has, on the whole, an
easterly distribution, ranging, according to Jordan and Ever-
mann, from Michigan and western Pennsylvania to Kansas and
southward to western Florida. In our collections it has been
limited almost wholly to the central eastern part of the state,
occurring chiefly in the headwaterte of the minor tributaries of
the Wabash and in the upper course of the Kaskaskia River,
and in the tributaries of the Iroquois and of the Sangamon.
The distribution map of the state for this species suggests a
relation to an eastern center, and an extension past the water-
sheds from the tributaries of the Wabash to the headwaters of
adjacent streams. Our 74 collections came in so large a propor-
tion from the smaller streams that the coefficient of frequency
for creeks is 4.85, and that for the smaller rivers is 1.06. It has
158 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
occurred to us from first-class rivers but once in 293 collections,
and not at all from stagnant waters of any description. It has
a very decided preference for a clean bottom, it we may judge
from the 38 collections of the species made for which data of this
description were recorded, its frequency coefficient for this class of
situations being 3.2. It is a noticeable fact, however, that the
species nevertheless occurs within the lower Illinoisan glaciation,
particularly in the headwaters of the Kaskaskia in the northern
part.
Females apparently near spawning condition have been
taken by us in late May and early June. The sexual differences
are not well marked, and the males have neither tubercles nor
brilliant colors in spring.
GENUS PHENACOBIUS COPE
SUCKER-MOUTHED MINNOWS
Body elongate, little compressed; mouth inferior, the lower lip thin
mesially and enlarged on each side into a fleshy lobe; upper jaw protractile;
no barbel; teeth 4-4, hooked and with grinding surface; intestine short;
peritoneum silvery; dorsal rays 8; anal 7; scales 45 to 60; lateral line com-
plete. Length 3 to 4 inches, the adults having much the appearance of
young suckers. About 5 species known, confined chiefly to the central and
southeastern United States.
PHENACOBIUS MIRABILIS (GIEABD)
SUCKER-MOUTHED MINNOW
(MAP XLVII)
Girard, 1856, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 191 (Exoglossum).
J. & G., 205; M. V., 63; J. & E., I, 303; N., 46 (teretulus lidsternus); J., 61 (scopife-
rus); F. F., I. 6, 88 (scopiferus); F., 76; K, 18.
The inferior sucker-like mouth, thick lips, small scales, and black spot
at base of caudal fin in this species will, taken together, distinguish it from all
other minnows found in Illi-
nois. Length 3^ inches;
form of body much as in the
common red-horse (Moxos-
____ m^K ^m^m_ toma aureolum) , — the inferior
'"' '^MS^j^^^HBI ^S^&fi^H^teue^ mouth and fleshy lips adding
to .the resemblance, — fusi-
form, the back moderately
FIG. 39 elevated, depth 4.6 to 5 in
length; Caudal peduncle
about equal to head, its depth 2 to 2.2 in its length. Color olivaceous, the
sides with a dull silvery luster overlying a dusky lateral shade; a distinct
black caudal spot and a narrow vertebral streak, golden in life, when the
PHENACOBIUS — SUCKER-MOUTHED MINNOWS 159
shoulders are also dusted with gold specks; belly silvery; all scales except
those of belly sprinkled with minute black specks which become denser at
edges of scales; cheeks and opercles silvery with some greenish; pupil brilliant
black; iris with a wide inner rim of gold above and silvery below, the outer
portion being variegated light or dark green and gold with some silvery below;
fins all pale. Head subquadrate in transverse section and flat above, short,
3.9 to 4.5 in length; width of head 1.6 to 1.9 in its length; interorbital space
flat, 2.7 to 3.3 in head; eye small, 3.6 to 4.8; nose nearly twice length of eye,
2.3 to 2.6 in head; mouth very small, wholly inferior and horizontal, the
tip of the upper lip on level of chin and breast; maxillary 3.7 to 4.3 in head,
not reaching to orbit; lower jaw included; upper jaw provided with a fleshy
lip which is continuous on each side with the lower lip, forming laterally a
somewhat prominently projecting lobe; the two lobes of the lower lip separated
at the middle by a narrow and projecting horny frenum, not separated from
the chin by either a groove or a fold; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 4-4,
hooked, one of them occasionally with a narrow grinding surface; intestine
about equal to length of head and body; peritoneum plain silvery. Dorsal
fin with usually 8 rays, sometimes 7 or 9, always set distinctly in front of
ventrals and nearer muzzle than base of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1 to 1.4
in head; anal rays 7; pectorals short, reaching little more than half way to
ventrals in fully grown specimens; ventrals a little -short of vent in adults.
Scales 6, 43-51, 5; rows before dorsal 18 to 22; lateral line complete and
little decurved.
Owing to the range of variation in size of scales in this species, we have
found it impossible to separate this and P. scopifer in our collections, and
have therefore included the latter species in the synonymy of P. mirabilis.
This little fish is, in Illinois, upon the eastern border of its
range, doubtless extending into Indiana, although not hitherto
reported from that state. It is distributed mainly west and
south through Iowa to South Dakota and through Missouri to
the Sabine and Trinity rivers emptying into the west Gulf.
In this state it is of general distribution, occurring in all our
river basins, but mainly in the smaller streams. It is most
abundant with us in creeks — where its frequency coefficient
rises to 3.18 — and in the smaller rivers — 2.19. In the larger
rivers its coefficient falls to .32, and in lowland lakes to .05.
Although we have taken it in 159 Illinois collections, it has not
occurred once in the upland glacial lakes. It is also most abun-
dant here in swift streams, particularly in those with a sandy
bottom, or in the more rapid and rocky portions of somewhat
sluggish creeks. The corresponding coefficients are 1.32 for
waters with a rapid flow, and 1.36 for those with a clean bottom.
Nine of our specimens studied with reference to their food
were found to have eaten little but the aquatic larvae of a gnat-
like fly (Chironomus) , which is abundant on the bottom and under
160 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
stones. A few case-worms (Phyrganeidce) occurring in some
similar situations were the only other important element of the
food, of which insects made practically 98 per cent. Its small
inferior mouth, provided with fleshy lips something like those
of a sucker, enables this minnow to collect readily its peculiar
food, in respect to which, as well as in its favorite haunts,
it bears a considerable resemblance to the darters. In the
aquarium it rests, like a darter, upon the sand, supported by its
pectoral fins, the head moving gently up and down with the
opening and closing of the gills.
Females greatly distended with eggs were taken by us in late
May and early June. Spring males are profusely but rather
minutely tuberculate on the top of the head, on the opercles,
and on the back and upper part of the sides to the posterior end
of the dorsal fin.
GENUS RHINICHTHYS AGASSIZ
Body elongate, little compressed; mouth small, subinferior; upper jaw
not protractile, the upper mesially continuous with the skin of the forehead; a
small barbel at tip of maxillary; teeth 1 or 2, 4-4, 1 or 2, hooked and without
grinding surface; intestine short; peritoneum dusky; dorsal rays 7 to 9; anal 6
or 7; scales 60 to 70; lateral line continuous. Size small, 3 to 5 inches.
Species few, 2 in Illinois. Active fishes, inhabiting mountain springs of the
east and west and the swifter and cooler brooks of the central United States.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF RHINICHTHYS FOUND IN ILLINOIS
Snout long- and prominent, projecting far beyond the inferior mouth, less than
2% in head and more than twice length of eye in adults cataractae.
Snout moderate, projecting little beyond the mouth (which is subterminal),
more than 2% in head, and not over 1% times length of eye in adults
atronasus.
RHINICHTHYS CATARACTS (CuviER & VALENCIENNES)
LONG-NOSED DACE
Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1842, XVI, 315 (Gobio).
G., VII, 176 (Ceratichthys) and 189 (Rhinichthys marmoratus and R. nasutus) ;
J. & G., 207; M. V., 63; J. & E., I, 306; N., 45 (nasutus and maxillosus) ; J., 62;
F.( 75 (atronasus, part).
Distinguished from the next species by its longer snout, longer and
much projecting upper jaw, more elongate body, and less coarsely mottled
coloration. Length 2^ inches; depth 4.8 to 5.2 in length; caudal peduncle
as long as or longer than head, its depth 2.1 to 2.6 in its length. Coloration
RHINICHTHYS 161
olivaceous, paler below; sides with some spots and splotches of dark color,
but the mottling less prominent than in R. atronasus; back, sides, cheeks
and opercles, and caudal peduncle more or less densely punctulate with
dusky; lateral band indistinct; a black spot on
opercle; fins all plain, no spot at middle of base
of dorsal fin. (Spring males with lips, cheeks,
and lower fins crimson. — Jordan & Evermann.)
Head long and greatly narrowed, the pointed
muzzle very prominent, 4 to 4.1 in length; width
of head 1.8 to 2.2; interorbital space 3.2 to 3.3
in head; eye 4.8 to 5.6; nose long and pointed, F
twice the length of the eye, 2.2 to 2.5 in head;
mouth wholly inferior and horizontal, tip of upper lip half way between
lower margin of orbit and chin; maxillary 2.9 to 3.1, extending a little past
anterior nostril; lower jaw much shorter than upper, the muzzle projecting
beyond tip of chin for a distance nearly equal to half length of snout; a small
maxillary barbel; isthmus twice diameter of orbit. Teeth, 2, 4-4, 2; peritone-
um finely but not very densely punctulate with brown. Dorsal fin with 8
rays, set behind ventrals, its distance from muzzle 15 to 20 per cent, greater
than to base of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1.2 in head; anal rays 7; pectorals
about y% to ventrals, 1.1 to 1.3 in head; ventrals short of front of anal, pass-
ing vent. Scales very small, 7 to 10, 63-70, 7 or 8; lateral line little decurved.
This species, although very wide-spread and abundant under
its preferred conditions, has been very rare with us, being repre-
sented in all our collections by only four specimens, one obtained
near Waukegan, in northeastern Illinois, and three from Big
creek, near the town of Anna, in Union county, in the extreme
southern part of the state. It generally prefers clear, cold
streams — a fact sufficient to account for its scarcity within our
limits. It ranges very widely north, south, east, and west, from
New Brunswick and the Province of Quebec through the Great
Lakes to the headwaters of the Missouri in Montana, northward
to the Saskatchewan, and across the mountains to the Columbia
River, southward along the Atlantic coast to the Potomac and
the James, and by way of the Mississippi Valley to the Rio
Grande. It is said to occur also in the Great Salt Lake basin
of Utah.
1G2 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
RHINICHTHYS ATRONASUS (MITCHILL)
BLACK-NOSED DACE
Mitchill, 1815, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 460 (Cyprinus).
G., VII, 191; J. & G., 208; M. V., 63; J. & E., I, 307; N., 45, also 46 (lunatus and
meleagris); J., 63 (obtusus and meleagris); F., 75 (part); L,., 18.
Length 1}/± inches; body moderately elongate, very little compressed;
depth 4.5 to 5 in length; caudal peduncle rather short and deep, less than
head, its depth 1.7 to 2.1 in its length. Color
_~— 7-";7.: dusky to blackish aboye, the back and sides
variously mottled with darker; a black band
^ -.. along sides, through eye to end of snout, be-
x - low which is a paler streak; belly silvery; a
distinct black blotch at base of dorsal be-
hind; dorsal otherwise and all other fins plain;
spring males with the lower fins and often
pIG 41 almost entire body more or less blood-red,
this color becoming obsolescent by midsum-
mer. Head pyramidal, subquadrate in transverse section, being a little
wider than deep; length of head 3.6 to 4.2 in head and body, its width 1.7
to 2 in its length; interorbital space flat, 2.8 to 3.1; eye small, 4.3 to 4.9; nose
long and projecting, but not decurved, both nostrils lying well in upper half
of head; length of nose 2.7 to 3 in head; mouth rather small, subterminal,
slightly oblique, tip of upper lip as high as lower margin of orbit; maxillary
shorter than in the last species, 3.3 to 4 in head, usually over 3.6, reaching
scarcely past anterior nostril; a minute maxillary barbel; lower jaw included;
isthmus twice width of orbit. Teeth 2, 4-4, 2; peritoneum silvery except
high up, where it is dusky. Dorsal fin with 8 rays, set distinctly behind
ventrals, 15 to 20 per cent, farther from muzzle than base of caudal; longest
dorsal ray 1.3 to 1.4 in head; anal rays 7; pectorals about % to ventrals,
1.3 to 1.5 in head; ventrals past base of anal in adult males. Scales 9 to
11, 62-71,8 to 10; lateral line complete, little decurved.
This species, widely distributed like the preceding, extends
from New Brunswick and the rivers of northeastern Quebec
through the Hudson and the Great Lakes to the James and the
Roanoke, to the Dakotas in the northwest, and through the Ohio
basin to Iowa and northern Alabama. We have found it in only
six Illinois collections, all but one in the clear swift brooks of the
northern part of the state. The northern Illinois localities re-
ported are Oregon, Ogle county, Bailey's creek and other streams
of La Salle county, Big Rock creek and Little Rock creek, near
Piano, in Kendall county, the lakes about Henry, in Marshall
county, and Farm creek, near Peoria. We have also two speci-
mens from Big creek, near Anna, in Union county, in extreme
southern Illinois.
HTBOPSIS 163
This is an active fish, decidedly preferring clear rocky streams.
Breeding males were taken about Ottawa in June. It has been
seen to spawn in shallow running water, piling pebbles up about
the nest after the eggs are deposited. Spring males have the
front of the head and the occipital region finely tuberculate.
GENUS HYBOPSIS AGASSIZ
Body robust or elongate; mouth terminal or inferior; a barbel always
present, terminal on the maxillary (in one species there are 2 barbels on each
side); premaxillary protractile; teeth 4-4, or 1, 4-4, 1 or 0, hooked and with
grinding surface narrow or obsolete; intestine short; peritoneum pale, dusky,
or black; dorsal rays 7 or 8; anal 6 to 8; scales 35 to 60; lateral line con-
tinuous. Species numerous, about 17; 5 in Illinois. A large and varied
group, embracing both small species from 2^ to 5 inches in length and larger
forms up to a length of 10 or 12 inches. United States east of the Rockies;
one species from California.
HYBOPSIS HYOSTOMUS (GILBERT)
Gilbert, 1884, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 203 (Nocomis).
M. V., 64; J. & E., It 316; L,., 19 (part).
Very small minnows with an inferior mouth, and with barbel ^ to Yi as
long as snout, easily distinguished among Illinois Cyprinidce by their small
size, elongate eye, posteriorly placed mouth (tip of lower lip under first
nostril), and rusty- to blackish-punctulate coloration. Length of our largest
specimens 1% inches; body moderately elongate, subfusiform, little com-
pressed, heaviest forward of dorsal fin; depth 4.9 to 6.2 in length; caudal
peduncle slender, its depth 2.5 to 2.8 in its length. Color silvery, every-
where more or less dusted with brownish specks; similar but larger specks,
suggesting rust-spots in preserved material, found on nose, suborbitals, and
opercles; fins all pale. Head rather long, 3.7 to 4, its width 2 to 2.1 in its
length; interorbital space nearly flat, 3.5 to 4 in head; eye 2.8 to 3.4, ellip-
tical, its long diameter 1% to 1^ times its short; nose 2.7 to 3.1, about as
long as eye, broad, bluntly pointed and decurved, projecting nearly half
its length beyond the mouth; mouth wholly inferior and horizontal, tip of
lower lip directly under first nostril; maxillary 3.3 to 3.8 in head, reaching
past front of orbit; barbel long, 2 to 3 in snout; isthmus less than pupil.
Teeth 4-4, rather strongly hooked, the grinding surface extremely narrow
or not at all developed; peritoneum silvery, with some rather coarse specks
upward. Dorsal fin with 8 rays, rarely 7, set about over ventrals and
equidistant between muzzle and base of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1.1 to
1.3 in head; anal rays 7 or 8, usually 7; pectorals more than % to ventrals;
ventrals past vent. Scales 5, 34-36, 4; 14 before dorsal; lateral line decurved.
Sexual differences not noted, our specimens being few and probably
not fully grown.
164 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Taken by us in only three collections — from the Rock River
at Erie, from Green River at Cleveland, and from the Illinois
River at Naples. The first two came from fairly swift water
running over rock and gravel. The species is said to be rather
common in sandy river channels from Iowa and southern Illinois
southward to the Alabama River. It ranges also westward and
northward in the Missouri to Nebraska and Minnesota.
HYBOPSIS DISSIMILIS (KIBTLAND)
SPOTTED SHINER
(MAP XLVIII)
Kirtland, 1840, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist., Ill, 341 (Luxilus).
G., VII, 177 (Ceratichthys); J. & G., 215 (Ceratichthys) ; M. V., 64; J. & E., I. 318;
N., 45 (Ceratichthys); J., 62 (Ceratichthys); P., 74 (Semotilus) ; L., 19.
Known from H. amblops, which, of our species, it most resembles, by
its more slender body, smaller eye, and more or less mottled coloration.
Length 3 inches; body long and slender,
subfusiform, little compressed, depth 4.7
to 5.3 in length; caudal peduncle slender,
about equal to the head, its depth 2.3 to
2.8 in its length. Color olivaceous, the
sides silvery; a more or less distinct
bluish lateral band, most evident poste-
. 42 riorly, in places widened or broken into
blotches; back and sides marked with
irregularly X-shaped splotches formed by dark punctulations on the scales;
a dusky band through eye to end of snout; fins plain. Head somewhat long
flattish above, 3.9 to 4.2 in length, its width 1.9 to 2.2 in its length ; interorbital
space 3.3 to 3.9; eye 3.1 to 3.8, little elliptical; nose 2.4 to 2.7 in head, bluntly
pointed and somewhat decurved, projecting little beyond the mouth; mouth
horizontal, inferior, tip of lower jaw as far in front of anterior nostril as that
is in front of eye; length of maxillary 3.6 to 4.3 in head, reaching to anterior
nostril; barbel usually rather less than diameter of pupil; isthmus wide, its
breadth equal to diameter of orbit. Teeth 4-4, with very narrow grinding
surface; intestine 1 to 1.5 times length of head and body; peritoneum black.
Dorsal fin with 8 rays, set distinctly in front of ventrals, and about equidistant
between tip of snout and base of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1.1 to 1.3 in head;
anal rays 7; pectorals about % to ventrals; ventrals to vent. Scales 5 or 6,
38-47, 4 or 5; 14 to 17 rows before dorsal; lateral line complete, nearly straight.
No females with eggs found in our collections, which are
few, and mostly taken in midsummer or after. Males with
organs apparently well developed, but without tubercles, taken
in the middle of June.
HYBOPSIS 165
An uncommon species in this state, its known localities being
one on the lower Kaskaskia, one on the upper Embarras in Coles
county, one on the Sangamon in Macon county, one on the Kick-
apoo in Logan county, one on Spoon River in Fulton county, and
four on Rock River, in Lee and Winnebago counties. In north-
ern Illinois it has been taken chiefly in swift water flowing
over sand. Outside the state it is to be found from Lake Erie
to the headwaters of the Tennessee, west to Arkansas and Iowa,
and north to the Saskatchewan River and to Calgary.
HYBOPSIS AMBLOPS (EAFINESQUE)
BIG-EYED CHUB; SILVER CHUB
(MAP XLIX)
Raflnesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 51 (Rutilus).
Q., VII, 179 (Ceratichthys hyalinus); J. & G., 214 (Ceratichthys) ; M. V., 64; J. &
E., I, 320; J., 62 (Ceratichthys); F., 75 (Semotilus) ; L., 19.
Length 2 to 3 inches; a small but rather robust species, the body less
slender and more compressed and the eye larger than in H. dissimilis; depth
4.6 to 5.2 in length, being greatest in
the predorsal region; caudal peduncle
rather slender, its depth 2.2 to 2.5 in
its length. Color olivaceous, overlaid
above with translucent greenish and
with silvery on sides; scales above lateral
line everywhere finely punctulate, only
FIG. 43 indistinctly dark-edged; a dusky to
blackish lateral stripe continued forward
through eye to end of snout; no vertebral streak or caudal spot; fins all plain;
males and females similarly colored. Head 3.6 to 3.9, broad and flattened
above; width of head 1.9 to 2 in its length; interorbital space 3 to 3.9 in
head; eye large, usually longer than interorbital space or snout, 2.8 to 3.1
in head; muzzle bluntly decurved, the nose 2.9 to 3.4 in head, projecting
sometimes as much as width of pupil beyond mouth; mouth small, hori-
zontal, inferior, the tip of the lower jaw little in advance of first nostril;
maxillary 3.6 to 4.6 in head, usually reaching to vertical from front of orbit;
barbel variable, usually rather small, sometimes scarcely discernible, and
as a rule not projecting below cheek; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 1,4-4,
1, occasionally 4-4 or with the supernumerary tooth absent on one side;
teeth stoutish towards base, with a very small and sharp hook; grinding
surface not much developed; intestine shorter than head and body; peri-
toneum coarsely specked with brown. Dorsal fin with 8 rays, set as a rule
almost directly over ventrals about equidistant between muzzle and base of
caudal; longest dorsal ray 1.1 to 1.3 in head; anal rays 7 or 8; pectorals about
% to ventrals; ventrals to vent. Scales 5, 35-38, 4 or 5; 12 to 15 rows in
front of dorsal; lateral line nearly straight.
166 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Males without tubercles or flushed coloration in spring. Females much
distended with eggs taken about first of June.
This is one of our Illinois species whose distribution in the
state presents an ecological problem which we have no present
means of solving. Ranging from Lake Erie to the Black Warrior
and the Alabama southward, and to Iowa and Arkansas on the
west, it occurs abundantly in southeastern Illinois, but has been
taken by us in only two neighboring localities additional, one on
the upper Kankakee and the other on the Mackinaw. It is one
of the species, in fact, which has the appearance of spreading over
the state from the south and east mainly by the branches of the
Wabash, but reaching adjacent waters as if by overland migra-
tion. It is notably a species of creeks, for which its frequency
coefficient rises to the unusual figure of 3.97. We have found it
relatively about half as abundant in the smaller rivers, and of
only occasional occurrence in rivers of the larger class. None of
our 51 collections has been taken from stagnant waters of
any kind.
HYBOPSIS STORERIANUS (KIRTLAND)
STOKER'S CHUB
(MAP L)
Kirtland, 1842, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., I, 71 (Rutilus).
J. & G., 213 (Ceratichthys lucens); M. V., 65; J. & E., I, 321; N., 46; J., 56
(Alburnops); L., 19.
A large species, known at once from our other species of Hybopsis by
the double-rowed dark edging of the scales above the lateral line. Length
5 or 6 inches; body elongate, considerably compressed; back often somewhat
elevated; depth 4.3 to 5.3 in length; caudal peduncle rather slender, its
depth 2.2 to 2.6 in head. Color translucent greenish above, with purplish
reflections; brilliantly silvery on sides and below; an indistinct plumbeous
lateral band, overlaid in life with emerald, below which is a band of silvery
to bluish blending with the silvery of belly; no caudal spot and no vertebral
streak; scales above lateral line, except a few along middle of back in front
of dorsal fin, each with two subparallel rows of dark dots near posterior
border, between which is a crescentic lighter space; cheeks and opercles
bright silvery; fins plain, the dorsal and caudal sometimes slightly dusky.
Head 4.3 to 5.3 in length, comparatively short and compressed, cheeks
nearly vertical; width of head 1.8 to 2; interorbital space entirely flat or
somewhat concave, 3.3 to 3.5; eye 2.9 to 3.4 in head; preorbital bone especially
prominent, large, oblong, and silvery; nose 2.8 to 3.1, a little longer than
eye, moderately decurved, the tip of the muzzle somewhat thickened and
pad-like, though not projecting much beyond mouth; mouth rather small,
HYBOPSIS 167
inferior and horizontal, tip of upper lip far below level of lower margin of
orbit; maxillary 3.2 to 3.7 in head, barely reaching front of orbit; barbel
evident, though scarcely projecting; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 1,
4-4, 1 or 0, stout and little hooked, with grinding surface usually not much
developed; intestine about .9 of length of head and body; peritoneum silvery.
Dorsal fin with 8 rays, occasionally 9, more or less falcate, set a little in
advance of ventrals, and distinctly closer to muzzle than base of caudal;
longest dorsal ray 1 to 1.2 in head; anal rays usually 8, sometimes 7 or 9;
pectorals % or less to ventrals; ventrals to vent in young only. Scales 6,
37 to 40, 4; 14 to 16 rows in front of dorsal; upper longitudinal rows with
appearance of running out behind dorsal fin, as in Notropis cornutus, this
appearance aided by converging longitudinal lines formed by connecting
cross-marks of light color on the scales of some of the rows; lateral line
gently decurved anteriorly.
Sexual differences slight; upper surface of pectoral rays in spring males
with very fine pectinately disposed tubercles; no sexually mature females
in our collections; some rather young females with ovaries just beginning
to enlarge taken about May 20.
A fish of the larger streams and lowland lakes, widely dis-
tributed in Illinois, though rare with us throughout its range.
Our 28 collections carry it from Cairo to Jo Daviess county and
from the Wabash to the Mississippi. None of them, however,
are from the lower Illinoisan glaciation. One collection is from
the Rock River near Milan, seven come from the Illinois and its
larger tributaries, an equal number are from the Mississippi and
its neighboring lakes and bayous, five from the Wabash and its
tributaries, three from the Saline River, and two from the Ohio.
Outside Illinois it is generally distributed from Lakes Erie and
Ontario to Wyoming, Nebraska, and Arkansas, ranging south-
ward also to Tennessee.
HYBOPSIS KENTUCKIENSIS (EAFINESQUE)
RIVER CHUB; HORNY-HEAD
(MAP LI)
Rafinesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 48 (Luxilus).
G., VII, 178 (Ceratichthys biguttatus and C. cyclotis) and 179 (C. stigmaticus and
C. micropogon); J. & G., 212 (Ceratichthys biguttatus and C. micropogon);
M. V., 65; J. & E., I, 322; N., 45 (Ceratichthys biguttatus); J., 62 (Ceratichthys
biguttatus); F. F., I. 6, 89 (Ceratichthys biguttatus); F. 75 (Semotilus bigut-
tatus); L., 19.
A large species, with a general resemblance in form to Semotilus, but
the snout more pointed, mouth less oblique, and with no caudal spot (except
in young). Length 6 to 8 inches; body subfusiform, very little compressed,
robust anteriorly, the body deepest in front of the dorsal fin; profile scarcely
declined from front of dorsal to occiput in adults, the descent from that
point to muzzle rapid; depth 3.9 to 4.5; caudal peduncle less than head, its
168 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
depth 1.9 to 2.1 in its length. Color of top of head and back a rich green,
darkest at edges of scales; below this a narrow and more or less indefinite
band of much lighter green, extending forward on iris above pupil and on
opercle as yellowish; passing forward through pupil and ending behind in
a faint caudal spot, is a more or less indistinct dark lateral band; lower part
of sides and belly yellowish to pearly gray; sides everywhere with coppery
and greenish reflections; on each side of head behind eye a spot of pale red
about size of pupil, most brilliant in spring males; a curved dusky bar behind
opercle; dorsal and caudal fins with membranes orange except at tips, the
edges being bluish gray; anal orange in the membranes; other fins plain;
breeding colors brighter, red spots on sides of head accentuated in males;
very young specimens with a prominent black lateral stripe passing around
snout forward and ending behind in a pronounced caudal spot. Head 3.6
to 3.8 in length, conical, top of head and cheeks quite rounded; width of
FIG. 44
head 1.8 to 2; interorbital space 2.6 to 2.9'; eye very small, 4.1 to 5.6 in head;
nose sharp, scarcely decurved, 2.4 to 2.9; mouth rather large, subterminal,
not very oblique, the tip of the upper lip about half way between lower
margin of orbit and lower edge of cheek; maxillary 3 to 3.6 in head, not
quite reaching to front of eye ; lower j aw shorter than upper ; breadth of isthmus
nearly equal to diameter of orbit; barbel as a rule evident, though usually
not projecting beyond cheek, occasionally discernible only with difficulty.
Teeth variable, usually 4-4 in our specimens, though not infrequently 1,
4-4, 1 or 0; on pharyngeal jaws from eight well-preserved specimens, which
were all carefully examined for lost or broken teeth, the following com-
binations were found; 1,4-4, 1; 0,4-4, 1; 1,4-0, 3; 0,4-1, 3; 0,2-1, 4;0, 2-1,
3; intestine 1.1 to 1.4 in length of head and body; peritoneum dusky. Dorsal
fin with 8 rays, placed almost exactly over the ventrals, a little nearer base
of caudal than muzzle; longest dorsal ray 1.3 to 1.4 in head; anal rays 7;
pectorals somewhat over % to ventrals; ventrals to vent in males, short of
it in females. Scales 6 or 7, 39 to 44, 5; 17 to 22 rows before dorsal fin;
lateral line complete or nearly so, gently decurved anteriorly.
This fish is of particular interest to us because of the pecu-
liarity of its distribution in this state. Although it occurs
throughout the Great Lakes from Michigan to Ontario, and
from Wyoming to Pennsylvania and southward to North Caro-
HYBOPSIS 169
lina and Alabama, our collections in the state of Illinois are
limited to the more recently glaciated areas, only one having
been made by us below the southern boundary of the Wisconsin
glaciation. Against this single locality in southern Illinois
(Union county) we have 122 localities in the northern two thirds
of the state, where the species is not only abundant but is
generally distributed, mainly in the smaller streams and also in
the glacial lakes of the northeastern section. We have taken it
from Lake Michigan at Chicago.
According to our 137 collections of the horny-head, it is
almost wholly a species of the creeks and smaller rivers, the
frequency coefficient for the first being 3.08 and for the second
2.47. It has been so rare in stagnant waters that we have taken
it but twice in our 591 collections from lakes and ponds. From
the larger rivers we have obtained it 6 times in 293 collections.
It seems to be with us especially a fish of swift waters and a
hard bottom, the coefficient for the former class of situations
being 1.38 and for the latter 2.24. It is consistent with this
fact that, although commonly scattered throughout the Wis-
consin glaciation, it stops short at the southern boundary of
this area, not entering the lower Illinoisan at any point.
The spawning season of this species is late May and early
June. In spring males the top of the head is swollen to form
a kind of crest, which may be considerably higher than the
level of the neck, and is covered with large tubercles.
The length of ten inches which this fish sometimes attains,
perhaps accounts for the rather prominent appearance of craw-
fishes in its food. Thirteen specimens from northern and central
Illinois had derived less than half their food from the animal
kingdom, about a fourth of it consisting of insects, largely case-
worms and other larvae of Neuroptera, another fourth of craw-
fishes, eaten by two of the specimens. The vegetable food was
about equally divided between thread algse and seeds of grasses.
Although insects appear in relatively small ratio, two of these
fishes had eaten nothing else, and another had eaten 95 per
cent, of aquatic larvae. Two other specimens had taken only
vegetation, which also composed 80 per cent, of the food of
three additional. It will be noticed that the alimentary canal
of this minnow is of more than average length, a fact probably
related to its vegetarian habit. As a game fish, according to
Jordan and Evermann, it is the most active and vigorous of its
tribe. "Any sort of hook baited with an angleworm or white
—20 F
170 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
grub is a lure the horny head can seldom resist, and he bites
with a vim and energy worthy of a better fish. The fight he
makes, 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 hornyhead lies in the fact that it is one of
the best of live baits for nobler fish. For muskallunge, pickerel,
wall-eyed 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. A hardy, active min-
now, and of an attractive color, as a live bait it is unsurpassed. "
GENUS PLATYGOBIO GILL
Body elongate, somewhat compressed; head short, broad, and depressed;
mouth subterminal; a well-developed barbel at back of maxillary; teeth 2,
4-4, 2, with narrow grinding surface; dorsal 8; anal 8; scales 45 to 50; lateral
line continuous. Length 6 to 12 inches. Species few, confined principally
to the east slope of the Rocky Mountains; one species found in Illinois.
FIG. 45
PLATYGOBIO GRACILIS (RICHARDSON)
FLAT-HEADED CHUB
Richardson, 1836, Fauna Bor. A'mer., Fishes, 120 (Cyprinus).
G., VII, 240 (Leuciscus gracilis), 267 (Leucosomus communis) and 268 (Leucoso-
mus gulonellus); J. & G.( 219, also 220 (pallidus Forbes); M. V., 65; J. & E.,
326; I-1., 75 (pallidus); L., 20 (pallidus).
A silvery minnow with a broad, flat head, fine scales, and an evident
barbel terminal on the maxillary. Length of our largest specimens 3 inches;
specimens 10 to 12 inches long known from the waters of the upper Missouri;
body rather elongate, the depth 5.1 to 5.4 in the length; adults much more
slender than young; caudal peduncle slender, its depth 2.1 to 2.4 in its length.
PLATYGOBIO 171
Color plain silvery, with a plumbeous luster along sides, and traces of a
dusky lateral stripe behind dorsal; fins all plain; young with sides more or
less punctulate with brown, suggesting the appearance of Hybopsis hyostomus.
Head 4 to 4.3, broad and depressed and fiat above, its width 1.6 to 1.7 in
its length; interorbital space 2.2 to 2.5; eye small, 3.9 to 4.6*; nose 2.7 to 3.1
in head, blunt, the muzzle overhanging the inferior mouth; mouth rather
large, nearly horizontal, tip of upper lip below level of lower margin of orbit;
barbel prominent, as a rule extending below cheek; lower jaw shorter than
upper; isthmus narrow, scarcely wider than pupil. Teeth 2, 4-4, 2, hooked
and with masticatory surface; peritoneum bright silvery. Dorsal fin with
8 rays, set a little in front of ventrals and nearer muzzle than base of caudal;
longest dorsal ray 1 to 1.1 in head; anal rays 8, occasionally 9; pectorals
long, pointed, % to ^5 to ventrals; ventrals nearly to vent. Scales 6, 50-55,
5, crowded forward, 21 to 23 rows before dorsal; lateral line complete, very
little decurved.
Sexual differences not well known, probably not strongly marked. A
young male taken by us from the Ohio River had the snout tuberculate.
This is a northwestern species whose occurrence once within
the limits of this state is to be taken as little more than an acci-
dent. Some 20 specimens were collected by us in 1880 from the
Ohio River at Cairo, but it has not been otherwise reported from
any point east of the Mississippi. Its territory of general dis-
tribution extends throughout the Missouri River and its tribu-
taries as far down as Kansas City, and thence to the Saskatche-
wan, Assiniboin, Athabasca, and McKenzie rivers, in the Do-
minion of Canada. A careful comparison of P. pallidus Forbes
with specimens of the present species obtained by Dr. Meek
from the Missouri River at Sioux City, Iowa, leads us to con-
clude that the two are identical, such differences as are manifest
being probably due to the immature condition of the Ohio
River specimens.
This is said to be a fish of the river channels, and is not
known to ascend small streams. It is especially characteristic
of the shallow alkaline creeks of the Northwest.
* Up to 6 in adults, according to Jordan and Evermann.
172 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
OBDER NEMATOGNATHI
THE CATFISHES
Skeleton bony; four anterior vertebrae coossified, modified, and fur-
nished with a chain of small bones (Weberian ossicles) connecting the air-
bladder (if present) with the auditory organ; ventral fins abdominal; dorsal
and pectorals each with a single spine; pectoral arch suspended from the
skull; a mesocoracoid arch present; suboperculum wanting, or modified into
the uppermost branchiostegal; premaxillary forming border of mouth (except
in the genus Diplomystes, of Chili), the maxillary being often rudimentary
and supporting the base of a barbel; air-bladder, if present, with open duct
(physostomous). A large group, comprising some 1,200 species and 150
genera, found in the fresh waters of both hemispheres and of all the continents,
few species being marine; most abundant in the Amazon region. Most
species are naked-skinned, although the numerous small forms of the South
American family Loricariidce* have the sides and back armored with rough
bony plates.
FAMILY SILURID^E
THE CATFISHES
Body more or less elongate, naked or covered (in many South American
forms) with bony plates; no true scales; lateral line usually present; skeleton
osseous; 4 anterior vertebrae modified, and furnished (in forms in which air-
bladder is developed) with a chain of small bones (Weberian ossicles) con-
necting the air-bladder with the ear; ventral fins abdominal; anterior rays
of dorsal and pectorals usually spinous; an adipose fin usually present; tail
not heterocercal; mesocoracoid present; gill-openings generally wide; sub-
operculum wanting, or modified into the uppermost branchiostegal; margin
of upper jaw formed by premaxillaries only; teeth in jaws in broad bands;
lower pharyngeals separate; air-bladder usually present, simple, with open
duct, connected (see above) with the organ of hearing by Weberian ossicles.
This family is very large and widely distributed, embracing
about 700 species, found chiefly in fresh water, in all parts of the
globe. Catfishes are most abundant in tropical and subtropical
regions. Some species grow to a very large size, and all except
the very small forms are of more or less value as food. The
giant "sheatfish," or "wels," of Europe, which is abundant in
the Danube, reaches a weight of 300 to 400 Ib, being next after
the sturgeons the largest European fish. There are in the United
States, Canada, and Mexico upwards of 35 species of catfishes,
* Some tropical Siluridce are imperfectly mailed.
SILUEID^ — THE CATFISHES 173
three genera and 12 species of which are found in the waters of
the Mississippi Valley. It is a remarkable fact that no catfishes
are found indigenous to the waters of the United States west of
the Rocky Mountains, although several species have recently
been introduced there by the United States Fish Commission.
No extinct forms of importance are known. A few remains
have been recovered from the lower and middle Eocene and
Tertiarjr. The evidence from paleontology (chiefly the absence
of fossils) and from the anatomy of the living forms, indicates
that the catfishes are a recent group, derived doubtless from
scaly ancestors, and probably related to the Characinidce or
Cyprinidce.
The catfishes are mainly dwellers in more or less muddy
water, making their home most of the time upon the bottom and
chiefly feeding there. Agreeably to this habit, their eyes are
small, and their cuticular sensory organs are highly developed.
The family, taken together, is nearly omnivorous in habit, and
their alimentary structures have a corresponding generalized
character. The capacious mouth, the wide oesophagus, and the
short, broad stomach admit objects of relatively large size and
of almost any shape. The jaws, each armed with a broad pad
of fine sharp teeth, are well calculated to grasp both hard and
soft bodies. The gill-rakers are of average number and develop-
ment, and the pharyngeal jaws — broad, stout arches below and
oval pads above, with their opposite surfaces covered with
minute, pointed denticles — serve well to crush the crusts of
insects and the shells of the smaller mollusks. The indifference
of several of the species to the past history or the present con-
dition of their food distinguishes them as the most important
scavengers among our common fishes. With the eel, they are
to be considered among the most destructive enemies of shad in
the streams of the Atlantic coast, as is proven by the contents
of stomachs of many specimens taken over the spawning grounds
of that fish. Most of the species are nocturnal, remaining more
or less sluggish throughout the day. In winter they appear to
take little or no food. Their extreme tenacity of life and om-
nivorous habit favor their multiplication in almost any kind
of situation, often enabling them to survive through drought
or other hardships to which all their neighbors succumb.
All except the smaller catfishes, the stonecats, are used for
food, and the best of them rank well among river fishes for edible
qualities. The bullheads are mostly consumed locally, as pan-
174 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
fish. The larger catfish keep well in cold storage and may be
shipped great distances in ice alive, frozen in the cake. Small
quantities are smoked in Chicago and St. Louis and at other
points in the middle Mississippi Valley, as a substitute for the
higher-priced smoked sturgeon. The smoked product was 50,-
000 Ib in 1898. The larger species are taken in seines and
fyke-nets, while the bullheads are most commonly caught on
set-lines. The larger catfishes, as well as the bullheads, will
bite readily at the hook. The catfish catch, including bullheads,
for the state of Illinois was 1,500,000 Ib in 1899, while that for
the Illinois River and its tributaries in 1903 was 999,000 Ib.*
Statistics of the Illinois River Fishermen's Association for 1899
showed a catch of 241.000 Ib of the larger catfishes (Ictalurus)
and of 499,100 Ib of bullheads.
Catfishes are well adapted for stocking ponds and sluggish,
muddy streams. Their ready acclimatization has led to their
successful introduction into the streams of Europe and the
Hawaiian Islands. Local species have been introduced in the
streams of the Pacific coast and are now thriving there. The
United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries has said
(Rep. 1903, p. 83) that "both commercial fishermen and anglers
throughout the country are showing increased interest in cat-
fishes, and requests for stocking public and private waters have
recently been numerous. " It is thought that it will not be long
before the government undertakes the establishment of a
breeding station for the purpose of supplying the need indicated
by such requests.
By Igoking to the numbers, food, habits, endurance, methods
of reproduction, and local and ecological distribution of our cat-
fishes and bullheads, and to their means of defense and offense,
we may form a more or less definite idea of their place, signifi-
cance, and efficiency in the general scheme of fresh- water life,
and thus be enabled to see something of the consequences which
would necessarily follow if they were to be generally destroyed.
By their ability to live contentedly in situations commonly
avoided by most other fishes, they organize into their living sub-
stance much food material which would otherwise disappear as a
mere natural waste, and, in so far as they are themselves eaten by
other fishes, they thus increase the general supply of fish food in
* In 1894 the total catch for tho interior waters of the United States (23 states) was 14,726,000
Ib, Illinois coming first with nearly two million pounds and Iowa next with 985,000 ft. The
total for the United States (17 states) had fallen to 7,648,000 ft in 1899 ami to 5,191,000 ft
in 1903.
SILUEID^ — THE CATFISHES 175
the waters they enter and inhabit. By their services as scaven-
gers, they help to protect more sensitive fishes from the effects
of the pollution of the water through a decomposition of objects
which they are themselves very willing to devour, and in this
way also they may convert into a form acceptable to other
fishes food substances otherwise useless. As we have found
them to be eaten more or less by both our species of black bass,
by the sand-pike (Stizostedion canadense), and by the yellow
bullhead and the mud-cat, their utility in this sense seems
appreciable.
On the other hand, it must be noticed that they have ap-
peared very rarely in the food of fishes, in comparison with their
numbers and general distribution. Only nine fishes out of more
than 1,200 examined had eaten them, while 45 of these same
fishes had eaten more or less freely of a single species of another
family— the gizzard-shad. Reviewing the food of the catfishes
themselves, it seems to us clear, from our present data, that they
devour other fishes much more generally than others devour
them — that whatever tends to their multiplication and contin-
uance tends rather to diminish the number of other species in
our waters than to increase them. Their partial immunity is
doubtless due in considerable measure to their remarkable
defensive apparatus of stiff, acute, projecting, poisoned spines
in the pectoral and dorsal fins, weapons capable of inflicting
really painful punctures in animals as large as man. These
fin-spines are evidently an advantageous substitute for the
defensive armor of scales which our catfishes have lost in the
course of their evolution.
The nocturnal habits of catfishes must also contribute to
their protection from predaceous enemies, and the wide range
of their dietary enables them to exist in much larger numbers
than would be possible if their choice of food were more restricted.
Where one kind fails them for a time they may find an abundance
of another. Their power to crush the shells of many mollusks
and to reject the fragments gives them access to a means of
subsistence very abundant in many of the waters which they
inhabit, and available to but few other fishes, and their habit
of leading and guarding their young of course greatly increases
their chances of survival.
Our catfishes are not by any means all of equal habit, or of
similar distribution and geological relationship. The stonecats
remain the size of minnows and the channel-cats are among the
176 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
heaviest of the fishes of our great rivers. The former lurk, like
darters, under stones in small streams, and the latter spend their
time in the deeper waters of the Mississippi and the Illinois.
The species of Ictalurus prefer clear water and a strong current,
while certain of the bullheads thrive in stagnant pools, exposed
to the vicissitudes of the overflow and retreat of the waters
upon the river bottoms, and liable, indeed, to destruction by
the complete drying out of the ponds in which they often become
imprisoned. If they succeed in living there, however, until
the next overflow, they add by so much to the average catfish
population of the streams. Even these bullheads, so like that
the species can be distinguished with difficulty, diminish mutual
competition by difference of ecological preference, and a con-
sequent different local distribution. The yellow and black
bullheads, for example, are commonest in creeks (frequencies,
2.22 and 2.25), and the brown bullhead in lakes and ponds
(frequency, 1.36); and the first two, notwithstanding their
similar situations, have been taken together by us less frequently
than either of the other two pairs, indicating some difference of
local preference within the limits of their like more general dis-
tribution. The three more abundant stonecats also plainly
evade each other, Noturus flavus and Schilbeodes miurus by a
different general distribution within the state, and both of
these avoiding S. gyrinus by a difference of ecological prefer-
ence, being most abundant in clear swift waters, while gyrinus
is found most frequently in quiet waters over a mud bottom.
By all these various characteristics of structure, habit, prefer-
ence, and capacity, the family is remarkably adapted to life
in our interior waters, and its predominance in them is thus
easily understood.
KEY TO THE GENERA OF SILURID^E FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Adipose fin with its posterior margin free.
b. Premaxillary band of teeth without lateral backward extensions; anal rays
17 to 35, including rudiments.
c. Bony bridge from occiput to dorsal fin complete; tail deeply forked. . .Ictalurus.
cc. Bony bridge from occiput to dorsal fin broken; caudal fin typically rounded,
truncate or slightly emarginate (forked in A. lacustris) Ameiurus.
bb. Premaxillary band of teeth with a backward extension on each side; anal
rays 12 to 15, including rudiments Laptops.
aa. Adipose fin adnate to the back, continuous with the caudal and separated
from it only by a notch.
d. Premaxillary band of teeth with lateral backward extensions, as in Leptops;
skin thick, tough, and villose, not translucent Noturus.
dd. Premaxillary band of teeth truncate at the ends, as in Ameiurus; skin thin-
ner than in d, smooth or very finely villose, sometimes translucent
. Schilbeodes.
ICTALURUS — CHANNEL-CATS
177
41;
FIG. 46-49
Premaxillary teeth of (46) Ameiurus melas (47) Leptops olivaris,
(48) Noturus flavus, and (49) Schilbeodes gyrinus.
GENUS ICTALURUS KAFINESQUE
CHANNEL-CATS
Body elongate, slender, compressed posteriorly. Head typically slender
and conical; broad in a single species, anguilla, which approaches the genus
Ameiurus. Supraoccipital process produced backward, its emarginated end
receiving the acuminate anterior point of the second interspinal, thus form-
ing a continuous bony bridge from the head to the dorsal spine. Mouth
small, terminal, the upper jaw longer. Teeth subulate, in a short band
on each jaw. Anal fin long, with 25 to 35 rays. Caudal fin elongate, more
or less deeply forked, the lobes pointed. Coloration usually pale, bluish
olive to silvery.
Fresh waters of North America; 4 species known, all being
large, more or less active, species of the river channels.* These
are the true "catfishes," in distinction from the bullheads
(Ameiurus) and the mud-cat (Leptops) . They are the best of
the family as food.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF ICTALURUS FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Anal fin of from 30 to 35 rays, including rudiments, its free margin nearly
straight; eye low, nearer lower than upper surface of head; color bluish or
silvery, usually without specks furcatus.
aa. Anal fin shorter, of 24 to 29 rays, including rudiments, its free margin
rounded; eye above median axis of body, nearer upper than lower surface
of head.
b. Head small, slender, subconic, its greatest width about iV of its length;
dorsal fin high and pointed, the longest ray about % of head; color bluish
olive to silvery, always more or less spotted with darker punctatus.
bb. Head large, broad and heavy, its greatest width nearly & of its length;
dorsal fin low and more or less rounded, its longest ray little more than
% of head; color slaty olive to yellowish anguilla.
* This statement is not well known to apply to I. anyuilla.
178 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
ICTALURUS FURCATUS (LE SUEUR)
BLUE CAT; CHUCKLE-HEADED CAT; FULTON CAT
Le Sueur, 1840, in Cuv. & Val., XV, 136 (Pimelodus).
G., V, 103 (Amiurus); J. & G., 109; M. V., 39; J. & E., I, 134; N., 50; J., 66 (Ich-
thselurus furcatus, Amiurus nigricans [part]; F., 82 and 83, (furcatus, pondero-
sus, nigricans [part]; F. F., II. 7, 456; L/., 9.
Body slender, somewhat compressed, the back elevated, depth 4 to 4.5
in length; profile long, steeper than in the next species, the elevation 18° to
23° and the contour broken at the nape (the elevation from that point to
dorsal being greater than from snout to nape) . Size large, reaching a weight
of over 40 pounds. Color bluish or slaty gray above, shading to silvery
below and almost white on belly; fins, especially the anal, frequently edged
with dusky; spots very few or entirely absent. Head small, wedge-shaped,
more angular than in the next species, its length 4 to 4.4, its greatest depth
5.2 to 5.6 in body; top of head and nape prominently convex, the back
subcarinate in front of dorsal, the skin thin and fitted closely over the bones;
mouth small, inferior, the lower jaw wholly included; lips thin; maxillary
barbels reaching past gill-opening; eye small, oval, lying on the median axis
of the body and nearer lower than upper surface of head; diameter of orbit
7.2 to 7.8 in head. Dorsal fin high, nearer snout than adipose, its distance
from snout 3 to 3.5 in length; the spine rather longer and more slender than
in I. pundatus, its length 1.5 to 1.7 in head; the posterior edge usually fur-
nished with well-developed retrorse teeth. Caudal deeply forked, the lobes
about equal. Anal fin long, of 30 to 35 rays, including rudiments, its base
about ^ length of body, the free margin straight or very slightly rounded.
Pectoral spine a little shorter than that of dorsal; humeral process 1.3 to
1.6 in length of spine.
FIG. 50
Anal and caudal fins of Ictalurus furcatus.
This species is found throughout the Mississippi Valley and
the Gulf states, being most abundant southward, and especially
so in the Atchafalaya in Louisiana, where one to two million
pounds are taken annually. It forms a large per cent, of the
1CTALURUS — CHANNEL-CATS 179
catch of catfish.es at Alton, where the smaller channel-cat
(/. punctatus) is known as " fiddler, " and fished for with special
small nets. It is rare in the Illinois River and the smaller
tributaries of the Mississippi in this state. It grows to a great
size, specimens weighing as much as 150 Ib* being occasionally
caught, although the average size of the larger ones taken is
only 15 to 20 R). It is commonly known as the " Fulton" or
"blue cat" by Mississippi River fishermen. It is called " white
Fulton" by those who apply to the smaller species (J. punctatus}
the name "blue Fulton"; and "Mississippi cat" is the name
given it by some Illinois River fishermen.
It frequents the deeper waters of the river channels, coming
out into the shallower sloughs and backwaters in spring. A
specimen examined by Dr. Kofoid had eaten fragments of bark
(twenty per cent.), insect fragments and larvae (fifty per cent.),
and miscellaneous organic debris. The senior author found
fishes only in the stomach of a specimen taken in 1887. The
breeding habits of the species are not known. It is caught on
trot-lines baited with hickory-shad, mooneye, or crawfish
(Louisiana), and in fykes and bait nets. In the words of Dr.
Jordan: "The flesh is of excellent quality, firm and flaky, of
very delicious flavor, nutritious in a high degree, and always
commanding a high price. * * * It is of all the catfishesthe
one most deserving of cultivation and popular favor, and which
could with profit be introduced into other countries. "
ICTALURUS ANGUILLA EVERMANN & KENDALL
Evermann & Kndall, 1897, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm.,
J. & E., Ill,' 2788.
Body robust, head broad, the back little elevated, the contour from
occiput to adipose fin being almost straight and parallel with median axis;
depth 4.7 in length; profile steep from snout to postorbital region, from
which point the elevation to dorsal is slight and gradual. Length of single
specimen obtained 24 inches; others of somewhat larger size, weighing 10
to 12 pounds, reported by fishermen about Henry, Illinois. Color slaty
olive, darker above, yellowish on sides; anal and caudal dark-edged. Head
large, broad, and heavy, much as in species of Ameiurus, the cheeks and
postocular portion unusually prominent; length of head 4.1; width 4.7 in
length of body; interorbital space somewhat concave, a deep groove extend-
ing backward to front of dorsal; bones of top of head covered heavily with
flesh and thick skin; mouth broad, upper jaw longer than lower; maxillary
* These large specimens were formerly thought to belong to another species (Ameiurus
nigricans, ponderosus, etc.), but have recently been shown by Dr. Evermann not to be distinct.
180 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
barbels scarcely reaching gill-opening, other barbels short; eye small, 8 in
head, situated near upper surface of skull. Dorsal fin low, its longest ray
little more than ^ of head; the spine short and robust, about 3 in head;
dorsal distance 3 in body. Caudal moderately forked, the lobes not much
pointed. Anal fin with 25 rays, its free margin symmetrically rounded.
Pectoral spine short and robust, with strong retrorse teeth on its posterior
edge; humeral process about 2J/2 in pectoral spine.
This species is here described from a single specimen, ob-
tained in Senachwine Lake, near Henry, in August, 1903.
Since then, several specimens have been seen by us at Alton
and Graf ton, where it is not rare in fyke-net catches made in
May and June. H. L. Ashlock, of Alton, says that fishes of this
species weighing 26 Ib are taken at Alton and Graf ton, where
it is sometimes called " nigger-lips " by the fishermen. Its flesh
is said by Dr. Evermann to be firm and of excellent flavor.
ICTALURUS PUNCTATUS (EAFINESQUE)
CHANNEL-CAT; FIDDLER
(MAP Lil)
Rafinesque, 1818, Amer. Month. Mag., 359, (Silurus).
G., V, 102 (Amiurus caudafurcatus) ; J. & G., 108; M. V., 39; J. & E., I, 134; N., 50;
J., 66 (Ichthaelurus punctatus and robustus) ; F., 82; F. F., II. 1, 456; L., 9.
Body slender, scarcely compressed, and the back very little elevated,
depth 4.2 to 5 in length,* usually nearer 5 than 4; profile long and almost
straight, very slightly convex, the elevation 16° to 18°, that from nape to
dorsal somewhat less than elevation from snout to nape. One of the larger
catfishes, reaching a weight of 20 to 25 pounds. Head and upper parts of
body dark to lighter olive, with coppery luster on cheeks and sides above
lateral line; sides below lateral line light olive with much silvery luster and
with small spots of darker; belly pearl-gray in region of ventrals, more
yellowish forward; maxillary barbels black, chin barbels whitish or ashen;
fins, except ventrals and pectorals, greenish, the anal with a silvery band at
base; ventrals and pectorals a smoky greenish gray. Head small, slender,
subconic, its length 3.6 to 4 in body, its greatest depth less than in /. anguilla,
4.9 to 5.2 in body; interorbital space flat or slightly convex; occipital region
and shoulders gently rounded and covered with thin, close-fitting skin;
mouth more nearly terminal than in anguilla, the upper jaw only slightly
longer than the lower; lips somewhat thicker than in preceding species;
maxillary barbels long and slender, reaching past gill-opening; eye oval,
lying above median axis of body and nearer upper than lower surface of head;
diameter of orbit 4 to 8 in head. Dorsal fin high, placed a little nearer snout
than adipose, distance from snout to dorsal 2.5 to 2.7 in length; dorsal spine
usually rather more robust and shorter than in I. furcatus, 1.4 to 2.2 in head,
its posterior edge usually almost smooth. Caudal fin deeply forked, the upper
lobe longer and more slender than the lower. Anal fin short, composed of 24
to 29 rays, including rudiments, its base from 3.4 to 3.7 in length of body,
ICTALURUS — CHANNEL-CATS 181
the free margin rounded. Pectoral spine about equal in length to dorsal;
humeral process one half length of pectoral spine.
FIG. 51
Anal and caudal fins of Ictalurus punctatus.
This is the most abundant of our true catfishes. It is com-
monly distributed throughout the state, occurring in 171 of our
collections, in all our river basins, and in all our principal classes
of situation except the glacial lakes of northeastern Illinois.
The young of this species have, however, a much wider range
than the adults, and are frequently abundant in headwater
streams and creeks in which full-grown individuals are never
taken.
The channel-cat is about equally common in the three sec-
tions of the state, and approximately so in the three classes of our
streams. The frequency coefficients for rivers of the first and
second classes and for creeks are 1.02> 1.6, and 1.37 respectively.
In lakes and sloughs it is much less abundant, its frequency
ratio in 549 collections from such situations being but .39. It
has a decided preference for clear swift waters, but not so general
or so strong as to exclude it to any appreciable degree from the
lower Illinoisan glaciation.
It is found throughout the Mississippi Valley, the Gulf and
Great Lake regions, and northward to Ontario and Winnipeg,
being especially abundant in the Red River at the latter place.
Southward it extends to the Alabama River and the Florida
peninsula, Louisiana, Texas, and the rivers of northern Mexico.
This fish is often known by fishermen as the " fiddler" or
"blue Fulton," but anglers on the upper Illinois and the Fox
usually refer to it as the " channel-cat. " It is seldom taken of
more than five pounds weight, although specimens are occasion-
ally seen weighing from fifteen to twenty pounds. It is "a
trimmer, more active fish than any of the related species,
* * * living in clearer, more swiftly flowing water, " for these
182 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
reasons being well esteemed by anglers in many localities.
Its flesh is likewise firmer, and perhaps more flaky and better
flavored than that of any of the other catfishes.
Our knowledge of its food is based upon an examination of
43 specimens taken from the Illinois and the Mississippi rivers
during the spring, summer, and autumn months of 1878, 1880,
and 1887. About a fourth of the food consisted of vegetable
matter, much of it miscellaneous and accidental. Three speci-
mens, however, had eaten nothing but algae, and fragments of
pondweed (Potamogeton) made 20 per cent, of the food of another
three. A single fish had fed on still-house slops; and a dead
rat, pieces of ham, and other animal debris attested the easy-
going appetite of this thrifty species. Pieces of fish were found
in all of this group, commonly, however, of so large a size as to
make it certain that they were the debris of the fishing boats.
Occasionally fishes evidently taken alive composed the whole
food. Mollusks, about equally large water-snails and large
thin clams (probably in most cases Anodonta), were a decidedly
important element, being found in 15 of the 43 fishes. They
amounted to 15 per cent, of the food of the group, and several
specimens had taken little or nothing else. Notwithstanding
the number of bivalves eaten by this fish, no fragment of a shell
was ever found in their stomachs, but the bodies of the mollusks
seem to have been separated, while yet living, from the shells,
as indicated by their fresh condition and by the fact that the
shell muscles were scarcely ever present. Fishermen say that
they are often first notified of the presence of catfishes in their
seines by seeing the fragments of clams floating on the surface,
disgorged by the struggling captives. Still more interesting
and curious is the 'fact that the spiral-shelled mollusks found
in the stomachs of these fishes were almost invariably naked,
the more or less mutilated bodies having only the opercles
attached. The shells are evidently cracked in the jaws of the
fish and rejected before the food is swallowed. As many as
120 bodies and opercles of water-snails (Melantho and Vivipara)
were by us taken from the stomach of a single Illinois River cat-
fish. Insects were, however, a principal food of the specimens
studied, making 44 per cent, of all, and eaten by 28 of the fishes.
Five, in fact, had eaten nothing else, and others had taken 90 per
cent., or more, of insects, mostly aquatic, although now and then
a fish had filled itself with terrestrial specimens. Most of the
aquatic insects were larvse of day-flies, dragon-flies, and gnats,
AMEIURUS — BULLHEADS : HORNED POUT 183
to be found only on the bottom. Our records indicate that
this fish spawned in May in 1898 (Craig). The spawning
season in the Wabash is said by Dr. Jordan to begin in June.
The channel-cat is taken very frequently in bait nets and
baskets , the former being called by the fishermen " fiddler-nets. "
These are baited usually with " dough-balls, " made by mixing
flour and water, allowing the paste to sour, and then baking it;
or, in summer, with " roasting ears" of corn which become sour
after soaking in water for a day or so. The sour smell of either
the dough or the corn is said to be especially attractive to this
fish. Separate statistics of the fisheries of this species are not
available, although it may be said to constitute the bulk of the
catfishes (not including bullheads) of the annual Illinois River
catch, which was 241,000 Ib in 1899.*
GENUS AMEIURUS EAFINESQUE
BULLHEADS; HORNED POUT
Body moderately elongate, robust anteriorly, the caudal peduncle much
compressed. Head large, wide. Supraoccipital bone extended backward,
terminating in a more or less acute point, which is entirely separate from the
second interspinal buckler, leaving a gap in the bony bridge from occiput to
dorsal fin. Mouth large, the upper jaw in most species the longer. Teeth on
premaxillaries and dentaries in broad bands, of equal breadth and without
backward prolongations at the angles. Anal fin of varying length, its rays
17 to 35. Caudal fin short, truncate, or only slightly emargmate in typical
species, more or less deeply forked in those species (as A. lacustris) which
approach the genus Ictalurus. Color various, usually darker than in Ictalurus,
species found in Illinois being yellow, brown, black, or mottled.
Species numerous, swarming in every pond and sluggish
stream in the central and eastern United States; one species
found in China. All of the local species except the one first
described (A. lacustris} are smaller than the channel-cats, not
often exceeding 12 inches in length. All are of value as food
fishes.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF AMEIURUS FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Caudal fin deeply forked lacustris.
ia. Caudal fin rounded, truncate or slightly emarginate.
b. Anal rays 24 to 27, including rudiments, usually 25 or 26; caudal fin rounded
posteriorly; color waxy yellow to greenish, sometimes blackish above
natalis.
Statistics of the Illinois Fishermen's Association.
184 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
bb. Anal rays 17 to 24, including rudiments, seldom more than 23; caudal fin
always evidently emarginate.
c. Anal rays 21 to 24, usually 22 or 23, including rudiments; pectoral spine in
young with 5 to 10 well-developed strong and sharp teeth on its posterior
edge, their length more than half the diameter of the spine, becoming
more numerous and relatively much reduced in size in adults, in which
they range from 10 to 25; black pigment on anal fin typically densest on
membranes near their free margin, in spots forming an obscure longitudi-
nal bar near base of fin, or in faint mottlings irregularly distributed on
both membranes and rays; in pale unmottled specimens both the mem-
branes and the rays about equally pigmented nebulosus.
cc. Anal rays 17 to 20, usually 18 or 19, including rudiments; pectoral spine
at all ages entire or only slightly roughened behind, or (rarely) in adults
with 5 to 10 obscure weak and blunt teeth on its posterior edge; outer
% of anal membranes uniformly pigmented, always darker than the rays,
the fin never mottled or barred or uniformly pigmented on both mem-
branes and rays as in c , ... melas.
AMEIURUS LACUSTRIS (WALBAUM)
CATFISH OF THE LAKES*
Walbaum, 1792, Artedi Pise., 144 (Gadus).
G., V, 100 (borealis); J. & G., 108 and 882 (Ictalurus lacustris, I. nigricans, [part]);
M. V., 39 (nigricans, part); J. & E., I, 137; J., 66 (nigricans, part); P., 83
(Ictalurus nigricans, part); L., 9.
Large fishes with the tail forked as in Ictalurus and with the occipito-
dorsal bridge nearly complete, but with the dark coloration and broad, de-
pressed head of Ameiurus', weight ordinarily 5 to 15 pounds, sometimes 40
pounds.f Depth 4.5 in length; caudal peduncle stout, its depth 1.6 in its
length. Color dark slaty to bluish black above, paler below; without dusky
spots; anal dusky-edged. Head broad and depressed, 3.8 in length; width of,
head 1.2 in its length; interorbital space flat, 1.8 in head; eye 8.3 in head, 4.6
in interorbital distance; nose 2.5; upper jaw longer than lower; maxillary
barbels to gill-opening. Dorsal fin 1-6, inserted nearer snout than adipose;
dorsal distance 2.7 in length; spine short and bluntly pointed, about as long
as nose, its posterior edge not serrate; caudal deeply forked; anal rays 24;
pectoral spine about same length as dorsal, weakly serrate behind; humeral
process about ^ pectoral spine.
Described from a single specimen taken at Green Bay, Wis.,
in 1904.
This species is peculiar to the Great Lake basin, being com-
mon in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. It was
long confused by American ichthyologists with the great blue
cat (Ictalurus furcatus) of the Mississippi River. Little is
* Recent studies by Dr. Evermann (Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 47, III, 2788) have shown
that this species is probably confined to the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence basin, the speci-
mens of "Great Mississippi Catfish" hitherto described from the Mississippi under the names
nigricans, ponderosus, and lacustris belonging to Ictalurus furcatus.
f The large size, 150 Ib, assigned to the species by Jordan & Evermann (Bull. 47) and by
Bean, 1. c., is due to inclusion with it of Bean's A. ponderosus. Jordan and Evermann in the
appendix to Pt. III. of Bulletin 47 state that the skeleton of A. ponderosus is that of an Ictalurus.
AMEIURUS — BULLHEADS; HORNED POUT 185
known distinctively of its habits, commercial value, or edible
qualities. M. Montpetit, writing of the fishes of Canada,
speaks enthusiastically of it as a food species, and describes
the methods of catching it in the St. Lawrence.
AMEIURUS NATALIS (LB SUEUR)
YELLOW BULLHEAD
(PL., P. 187; MAP LIU)
Le Sueur, 1819, M6m. Mus., V, 154 (Pimelodus).
G., V, 101 (Amiurus); J. & G.( 105 and 881 (bolli); M. V., 40; J. & E., I, 139; N., 50
(cupreus); J., 66 (Amiurus); F., 83 (Ictalurus); F, F.. II. 7, 459 (lotalurus);
L., 9.
Body stout, sometimes obese, rather short and thick and tapering* but
little from dorsal to adipose fin, depth 3.5 to 3.9 in length; profile low, the
elevation from snout to dorsal fin 10° to 14°; caudal peduncle deep, 1.7 to 2.2
in head; skin thick, the epidermis of belly very coarse; fleshy prominences
covered with thick and loose skin on either side of a median groove through
occipital region to base of dorsal. Length 12 to 18 inches, not often found
over 12 inches. Color of upper parts yellowish green to blackish, the sides
lighter, yellowish brown or waxy yellow; belly yellow; nasal and maxillary
barbels light brownish, lower barbels pinkish buff; fin membranes very
weakly pigmented, the rays lighter. Head large, broad, and somewhat de-
pressed, its length 3.1 to 3.5 in body, its greatest width through the cheeks,
the breadth here about same as depth of body at front of dorsal; nose short and
broadly rounded; mouth wide, horizontal, upper jaw usually slightly longer
than lower, maxillary barbels reaching about to posterior edge of opercles;
eye small, 7.2 to 8.5 in head. Dorsal fin small and low; the spine rather short,
2.2 to 2.6 in body. Caudal rather short, rounded posteriorly. Anal fin of 24
to 27 rays, including rudiments, usually 25 or 26, the longest rays somewhat
less than depth of caudal peduncle; base of fin 3.5 to 4 in length of body,
the free margin but slightly rounded, almost straight from the fifth to the
twentieth ray. Pectoral spine strong, its length about same as dorsal spine,
usually smooth, but sometimes weakly serrate near tip; humeral process 1.8
to 2.2 in pectoral spine.
An abundant species throughout the state, but much less
so than the black bullhead (Ameiurus melas). Taken in 122 of
our collections. It is commonest in creeks, and next in lowland
lakes, the coefficients for these two situations being 2.22 and 1.18
respectively. In local distribution it contrasts in an interesting
way with the brown bullhead, which is much the commonest
in lakes and ponds, and comparatively scarce in creeks, where
its frequency coefficient is only .28. These species resemble
each other so closely that they are not often distinguished by
fishermen, and their food and habits are virtually identical.
—21 F
186 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Their mutual rivalries might hence result to their common
disadvantage except for a partial avoidance of competition by a
difference of local and ecological preference. Our collection
data indicate for this species a strong preference for muddy
water, its frequency coefficient for streams with a mud bottom
being 1.72. Consistent with this fact is its distribution in the
lower Illinoisan glaciation. We have found it in all our river
basins,, including the Michigan drainage area and the north-
eastern glacial lakes, but have not taken it in the extreme north-
western part of the state. It has also been absent in our collec-
tions from the main streams of the Wabash, the Ohio, and the
Mississippi, and from the short creeks of the Mississippi bluffs.
It seems with us to be more abundant southward, and has
occurred with the greatest frequency in the streams of the
Wabash Valley.
It is generally distributed from Lakes Erie and Huron and
the smaller lakes of Ontario to North Carolina and the Florida
peninsula, the Alabama River, and Texas. It occurs also in
the Arkansas River and up the Missouri to South Dakota. It
is one of the commonest and best known bullheads through-
out its range.
As illustrated by the food of a dozen specimens, this species
has the habits of a scavenger. One of these fishes had gorged
itself with the waste of a fish boat, and one had made the
greater part of its last meal from the remnants of a dead cat.
Three of these specimens had eaten fishes taken alive, and four
others had eaten crawfishes. May-fly larvae and a few water-
snails were the only other objects worth mentioning. Seven
young specimens, from two to three and a half inches long, had
fed principally on Entomostraca, the remainder of their food
being chiefly small mollusks and insect larvae.
This fish is distinguished from the brown bullhead (A.
nebulosus) only by the more observant of our fishermen, some of
whom call it " greaser" or " slick bullhead," its skin being very
thin, and the fish, in consequence, particularly hard to dress.
Its maximum weight is !J/£ to 2 Ib.
The yellow bullhead spawned at Havana in May in 1898
(Craig). Females with ripe spawn were seen in market at
Meredosia on May 24, 1900 (Large). In the words of Dr.
Jordan these fishes are "small, but good eating," as we have
ourselves proven.
\
AMEIURUS — BULLHEADS; HORNED POUT .—
^^VVVVtrt^JiA/'
AMEIURUS NEBULOSUS (LE SUEUR)
187
SPECKLED BULLHEAD; COMMON BULLHEAD; BROWN BULLHEAD
(MAP LIV)
Le Sueur, 1819, M6m. Mus., V, 149 (Pimelodus).
J. & G., 104 (catus); M. V., 40; J. & E., I, 140; N., 50 (albidus, atrarius, vulgaris);
J., 66 and 67 (catus, xanthocephalus (?), marmoratus, vulgaris); P., 83 (Icta-
lurus nebulosus, part); F, P., II. 7, 460 (Ictalurus); L,., 10.
Body typically elongate, never more than moderately robust, rather
more compressed than in A. melas; depth from 3.5 to 4.3 in length, usually
nearty or a little more than 4; profile
long and almost straight, the shoulders
never prominent and no groove before
dorsal; skin thin, fitting closely over
top of head and nape, that of belly
consisting of a very thin and delicate
epidermal layer over a thick layer of
unpigmented connective tissue. Size
ranging larger than in the next species,
reaching 18 inches. Color variable,
usually a rather dark yellowish brown
faintly clouded, more strongly mottled
with darker in the nominal variety
marmoratus, sometimes nearly black;
under parts, including chin, breast,
and belly, pale gray, pinkish, or satiny
whitish; nasal and maxillary barbels
of same shade as top of head; lower
barbels slaty to pinkish white, sometimes faintly marbled with darker; fin
membranes less strongly pigmented than in A. melas, the black on anal
typically densest in the membranes near 'their free margin, in spots which
form a more or less faint longitudinal bar near base of fin, or in faint mottlings
irregularly distributed on both membranes and rays; in pale unmottled
specimens both the rays and membranes weakly, but about equally pig-
mented. Head 3.2 to 3.6 in body, subconic, rather narrower and more slender
than in the next species and somewhat more depressed, its length always
considerably greater than its width, which is contained 1.2 to 1.3 in length
of head in adults, in length of body from 3.9 to 4.7; nose longer and the snout
more sharply rounded than in A. melas; upper jaw usually distinctly longer
than lower; maxillary barbel usually reaching considerably beyond gill-
opening, often beyond humeral process. Dorsal spine variable, 1.8 to 2.5 in
head, as a rule rather long. Caudal typically somewhat more deeply emar-
ginate than in the next species. Anal fin of 21 to 24 rays, including rudiments,
usually 22 or 23, its base from 3.2 to 4.1 in length of body; free margin of fin
from about the eighth to the fifteenth ray but little rounded, sometimes
almost straight, the rays rather slender and split usually less than a third of
the way to base. Pectoral spine as a rule rather long, curved, and sharply
pointed, its length 1.8 to 2.4 in head, usually less than 2; the posterior edge in
the young furnished with 6 to 10 well-developed retrorse teeth, whose length
FIG. 52
Caudal, anal, and pectoral fins of Ameiu-
rus nebulosus.
188 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
is half, or almost equal to, diameter of spine, the teeth relatively much
smaller and more numerous in adults, in which their number ranges from 10
to 25; humeral process longer and sharper than in A. melas.
The brown bullhead, distributed throughout the length of
the state, is nevertheless the least abundant of our common
horned pouts. As remarked under the preceding species, it is
peculiar in its preference for stagnant waters, of both lowland
and upland lakes and ponds, and it is next commonest in the
larger streams. Our frequency coefficients are 1.46 for glacial
lakes, 1.25 for lowland lakes, and .94 for the larger rivers. We
have found it most frequently in the immediate course of the Illi-
nois River, and have not taken it at all in the northwestern part
of the state, nor at any point within the lower Illinoisan glacia-
tion.
Outside our area it is reported from lakes of New Bruns-
wick to those of the Saskatchewan system, including the Great
Lakes in general, and from thence southward to the Florida
peninsula and to Texas. It has been introduced also into many
rivers of the Pacific states, and into the small lakes of southern
Oregon, in all of which it has become excessively abundant. It
is said by Bean to be the commonest catfish in Lake Erie and
its tributaries. It is the jcommon bullhead or horned pout of
New England and New York, but in this state these names are
much more likely to be applied to the more abundant black
bullhead (A. melas}, the commonest of its kind in the smaller
creeks. The present species is the principal bullhead of the
market catches from the larger rivers.
The food of 13 specimens examined by us was unusually
simple for that of a catfish, consisting chiefly of small bivalve
mollusks, larvae of insects taken upon the bottom, distillery
slops, and accidental rubbish. One of the specimens had eaten
eighteen leeches, leeches appearing in the food of four others,
and a few had taken terrestrial insects and univalve mollusks.
The adults are almost always more or less blotched or mot-
tled, all gradations between the well-mottled form (marmoratus)
and the typical brown nebulosus being found regularly in the
same market catches. These fishes have thick skin, and are
easier to dress than the yellow bullheads (A. natalis). We have
found both the mottled and the brown forms, with occasional
specimens of the black bullhead (A. melas), indiscriminately
referred to as " bullpouts " or " speckled bullheads" by the
fishermen who were dressing them.
AMEIURUS — BULLHEADS; HOKNED POUT 189
The horned pout 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 eatable.
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 neighbor." — -THOREAU.
It is known that many pond-stocking experiments with
this species in France failed at first owing to the failure to select
the proper kind of situations.
These fishes will live where no others can survive, and when
the air supply is bad far past the point of supporting life in
ordinary fishes, they have merely to come leisurely to the surface
and renew the supply in their swim-bladders. In the late fall
they become sluggish and cease feeding, often "mudding up,"
or burying themselves more or less in soft leafy ooze along
shore.* They will lie dormant in the mud at the bottom of
dried-out shallows for weeks at a time without harm, and have
even been found, according to some (Dean), in cocoon-like
clods of nearly dried mud, still alive. In pond culture experi-
ments in Georgia (Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., 1884, p. 32) they
were found to relish apples, persimmons, watermelons, and even
corn, wheat, and sorghum seed. They will take almost any
kind of bait. The charge of spawn-eating has frequently been
preferred against this fish, as well as its near relatives, especially
by the whitefish and shad culturists. The evidence for such a
view is, however, scanty.f
The brown bullhead spawns in spring, the time having been
May in 1898 at Havana (Craig). Their nests were found by
Professor Birge in shallow bays with sandy bottom, six inches
to two feet deep. The eggs are laid in masses similar to those
of the frog, and are of a beautiful cream-color. In aquarium
* Shallow lakes in Vermont are mowed in the spring by the farmers to allow seining for
them.— Evermann and Kendall, Rep. IT. S. Fish Comm., 1894.
f It is interesting in this connection to note that Herr Fuhrmann, writing of recent ex-
periments carried out in France (Bull. Soc. Acclim., Vol. 51, p. 351, Nov., 1904), states that
this species does not eat the eggs of Coregonus except when they are very fresh, that is before
they are hardened by the water, which occurs very quickly after they are deposited.
190
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
experiments by Smith and Harron (Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., 1902,
p. 150) the eggs hatched in 5 days, during which time both parents
constantly watched them, fanning them with their fins. At times
the male will take masses of eggs into his mouth, possibly to clean
them, as they are ordinarily soon ejected. The young are watched
by the male and are sometimes mouthed as are the eggs.
This species is of fair food quality, being perhaps somewhat
inferior to the yellow bullhead. It was successfully introduced
about twenty years ago into Germany, France, the Netherlands,
and England, and, in the continental countries especially, its
flesh is much esteemed. It has multiplied very rapidly since
its introduction into California, being in fact one of the readiest
of fresh-water species to undergo acclimatization. Separate
statistics of the Illinois product of this catfish are not available,
though it may probably safely be said that it forms by far the
major part of the total bullhead catch, which was 499,100 Ib
for the Illinois River in 1899.
AMEIURUS MELAS (EAFINESQUE)
BLACK BULLHEAD
(MAP LV)
Rafinesque, 1820, Q. J. Sci. Lit. Arts, Lond., 51 (Silurus).
J. & G., 104 and 881 (Silurus xanthocephalus and A. brachyacanthus) ; M. V., 41; J.
& E., I, 141; N., 50 (confinis, pullus); J., 67; F.( 83 (Ictalurus nebulosus, part);
L., 10.
Body typically robust, shorter and deeper than in the preceding species,
but sometimes quite elongate, the depth 3.1 to 3.5 in length of body in adults;
^^^^^ profile slightly convex and hardly so
long as in nebulosus; top of head and
occipital region covered with thick and
rather loose skin; shoulders rather
prominent on each side of a median
groove in well nourished adults; skin
noticeably thicker and tougher than
in the last species, that of belly con-
sisting of a thick and coarsely cellular
epidermal layer over a thin layer of
pigmentless connective tissue. Size
rather small, not often over 12 inches
in length. Color as a rule very dark
brown or green to black above, the
sides with more or less luster of green
or gold; under parts of head and body
greenish, plumbeous, or yellowish as
far back as anal fin, never satiny white; fin membranes dusky to black, the
rays usually much lighter, the contrast in color quite evident in the anal fin,
FIG. 53
Caudal, anal, and pectoral fins of Ameiurus
melas.
AMEIURUS — BULLHEADS; HORNED POUT 191
which is never marbled or equally pigmented on both membranes and rays
as in A. nebulosus. Head heavy, 3.1 to 3.5 in length, rather short and much
broadened behind, its greatest breadth 3.5 to 4 in length of body, usually
about 3.7 and sometimes almost equaling its length, in which the width is
contained 1.1 to 1.2, usually less than 1.2; mouth wide, the snout short and
broadly rounded; jaws about equal; maxillary barbels reaching to or only
slightly beyond opercular opening, seldom to tip of humeral process. Dorsal
spine variable, in typical specimens rather short and robust and quite or
nearly straight, but sometimes long and slender and considerably curved.
Caudal slightly emarginate. Anal fin short, of 17 to 20 rays, including rudi-
ments, usually 18 or 19, its base from 3.9 to 4.4 in length of body, the free
margin distinctly rounded; anal rays rather stout, those about middle of fin
split almost half way to base. Pectoral spine rather shorter and blunter than
in A. nebulosus, usually not much curved, its length 2.4 to 3.6 in head, usually
a little less than 3; the posterior edge usually entire or only slightly roughened,
or, more rarely (in adults) with 5 to 10 indistinct weak and short teeth;
humeral process rather short, rugose, and bluntly pointed. This species
much resembles A. nebulosus, and is quite variable, but may usually be
distinguished by its smaller size, shorter and deeper anal fin, and shorter
pectoral spines.
This, the common bullhead of the Illinois boy, abundant
everywhere in our smaller streams, is distributed throughout
the entire length and breadth of the state. In the main features
of its distribution it agrees with the yellow bullhead, being, like
that species, decidedly the most abundant in creeks, and least
so in the larger rivers. Its frequency coefficients for our 247
collections containing it are as follows, in the order of their
size: creeks, 2.25; the smaller rivers, 1.26; lowland lakes, 1.00;
glacial lakes, .55; the larger rivers, .47. This species also shows
a notable preference for the more quiet and muddier parts of
the streams it inhabits, as shown by our ratios of 1.58 for a
muddy bottom and 2.37 for stagnant water or a quiet current.
Notwithstanding the similar ecological distribution of the black
and yellow bullheads, they show an observable tendency to a
local separation, as illustrated by a study of our collections of
the species in detail, 247 of the black bullhead and 122 of the
yellow. These represent 319 separate collections of fishes, only
50 of which contain examples of the .two species together, the
less numerous species, natalis, occurring in 72 of these collections
without the more numerous one.* With reference to the
* Recurring to our detailed collection records, bringing into comparison as to frequency
of associate occurrence natalis and nebulosus on the one hand and natalis and melas on the
other, and computing the coefficients of association for each of these two pairs of species, we
get for the first pair a larger coefficient (3.07) than for the second pair (2.12). Since the species
of the first pair differ widely in the kinds of water bodies which they principally inhabit and
those of the second pair agree closely in this respect, we see in the distribution of these species
192 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
different sections of the state, we find this bullhead most abun-
dant in the creeks of the Mississippi bluffs and in the valleys of
the Wabash and the Kaskaskia, where its ratios of frequency,
mentioned in the above-named order, are 1.23, 1.58, and 1.71.
We have found it least abundant in the streams of the Michigan
drainage.
Generally speaking, it is not distributed so far to the north-
ward or eastward as our other abundant bullheads. Its range
extends from the Genesee River in New York through the Great
Lakes of Ontario, Erie, and Michigan to the Missouri basin,
which it seems to occupy thoughout, and thence southward to
Kansas, Alabama, and Texas. It is especially abundant west
of the Mississippi. It is said by Jordan to thrive in small
ponds, particularly in those with a mud bottom.
When the studies on the food of fishes from which our infor-
mation on that subject is chiefly drawn, were made by the senior
writer in 1888, this species was not clearly distinguished from the
brown bullhead, nebulosus, and the statements made under the
latter head relate in part to the present species. The food of 36
specimens, doubtless composed of these two species commingled,
is distinguished by the fact that nearly a fourth of it consisted of
aquatic vegetation of various kinds, including distillery refuse
eaten by one of the fishes. Two of these bullheads had filled
themselves with other fish, a sunfish and a perch among them.
Small bivalve mollusks made a fifth of the food, and river snails
and aquatic insects — the latter somewhat more than a fourth
of the entire quantity — together with crawfishes and other
crustaceans, were the other more important elements.
The habits of the species are, so far as known, very similar to
those of the brown bullhead. It is of smaller size, and, owing
to its local distribution, is not very common in the market
catches, which are usually made from the larger streams.
This fish was spawning at Meredosia May 4, 1899.
evidence of two methods of avoiding competition over the same territory, one by a difference
of preference as to size and kinds of waters inhabited (natalis and nebulosus) and the other by
a difference in the kinds of situations chiefly frequented (natalis and mdas). A similar com-
putation for natalis and nabulosus gives us a still smaller associative coefficient (1.9). In other
words, of these three pairs of species, the yellow and the brown bullheads are found least fre-
quently in the same kinds of waters, and least frequently also in the same situations; the black
and the yellow bullheads are found most frequently in the same kinds of waters, but with medium
frequency in the same situations; and the yellow and the brown species are found least frequently
in the same waters, but most frequently associated in the same situations.
LEPTOPS 193
GENUS LEPTOPS EAFINESQUE
Body elongate, and much depressed anteriorly. Head large, wide and
depressed; skull covered with thick skin; supraoccipital bone entirely free
from head of second interspinal. Teeth in broad bands on premaxillaries
and dentaries, the band of teeth on upper jaw continued backward on each
side in an elongated triangular extension. Lower jaw longer than upper.
Dorsal spine enveloped in thick skin. Anal rays about 13. Caudal ob-
long, subtruncate, with numerous accessory rays. One species known; a
large catfish, living in the muddy bottoms of deep rivers.
LEPTOPS OLIVARIS (EAFINESQUE)
MUD-CAT; YELLOW CAT; GOUJON; MORGAN CAT
(MAP LVI)
Raflnesque, 1818, Amer. Month. Mag., 355 (Silurus).
G., V, 101 (Pimelodus punctulatus) ; J. & G., 102 and 881 (Pilodictis) ; M. V., 41; J.
& E.( I, 143; N., 50 (Hopladelus) ; J., 67 (Pelodicthys); F., 83; F. F., II. 7, 462;
L.., 10.
Body elongate, depth 4.4 to 5.2 in length, back broad and flattened as
far back as origin of ventrals, the region between ventrals and front of adipose
very nearly cylindrical; caudal peduncle narrow and compressed, 2.5 to 3.1
in head; profile straight as far as nape, the elevation from nape to dorsal
somewhat abrupt. Size large, reaching a weight of 50 to 75 pounds. Color
usually dark olive, variously mottled in the young, the mottling tending to
become obsolete in adults; upper parts darker, belly yellowish or grayish;
fins colored about as adjacent parts of body, usually darker near margins;
dorsal and adipose fins marbled with darker in young specimens. Head long
and very broad, much depressed and exceedingly flattened above, its length
3.2 to 4, its width 3.7 to 4.4 in length of body; interorbital space very wide
and almost flat, 2 to 2.4 in head; lower jaw longer than upper, lips rather thin:
barbels short and slender, the maxillary pair falling much short of gill-opening;
eye very small, 8 to 14 in head, situated far forward and high up on head and
directed obliquely upward. Dorsal spine very slender, its length about ^/>
height of fin; distance from snout 2.3 to 2.5 in length. Caudal very little
emarginate. Anal short, its rays 12 to 15. Pectoral spine short and robust,
3 to 4.4 in head, much flattened dorso-ventrally, its anterior and posterior
edges roughened or weakly serrate; humeral process short, its length less
than ^ of pectoral spine.
This huge catfish, one of the largest of our river species, is
common in the Illinois and the Mississippi rivers, and occurs in
our collections from the Rock and the Wabash. We have it
also from a branch of the Little Wabash, in Wayne county;
from Crooked creek, in Brown county; and from Spoon and
Green rivers. Our frequency coefficients are 3.25 for the larger
rivers, 1.29 for the smaller, .5 for lowland lakes, and .34 for
creeks. It is perhaps best known to the fishermen of the Missis-
sippi River as the /'Morgan cat/' and less often referred to as
194 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
the "cushawn," a corruption of the French goujon. Other
local names are mud-cat, flat-belly, and nigger-belly.
This fish frequently reaches a weight of 50 to 75 pounds,
and is said by Dr. Evermann occasionally to weigh as much as
a hundred pounds. It lives and feeds on or near the bottom,
and fishermen at Havana say that they frequently find it in
hollow logs. Fishes are, so far as known, its principal food.
Among those eaten by it we have observed a common river
sunfish (Lepomis), several minnows, and a bullhead. In the
Southern States, fresh hickory-shad is greatly valued as a live
bait for* the mud-cat, and crawfishes and cut bait made from
eels are also used. This fish is caught both on set-lines and in
fyke-nets, and is often taken by jugging, the bait being attached
to a jug filled with air, the effect of which is finally to bring the
worn-out fish to the surface. It is commonly regarded as one of
the very best of the catfishes for food, the flesh being of a fine
texture and an excellent flavor. The spawning time in Illinois
is in May or later, according to Havana fishermen. The species
is found in all suitable waters throughout the Mississippi Valley,
and in the Gulf states, from Alabama west and south to Mexico.
It is most abundant in the lower courses of the larger streams,
and in the bayous and overflow ponds of the lower Mississippi
Valley.
GENUS NOTURUS (EAFINESQUE)
Form more or less elongate, the head broad and much flattened above,
the body behind dorsal nearly cylindrical. Skin thick and tough and ap-
preciably villose. Band of teeth in upper jaw with a backward prolongation
on each side, as in Leptops. Adipose fin adnate to the back, separated from
the caudal by a notch, as in Schilbeodes. A poison gland present at base of
pectoral fin. The single species belonging to this genus is similar in ap-
pearance and habit to the species of Schilbeodes, though it grows to a much
greater size and frequents large streams rather than brooks. The broad flat
skull of Noturus, the dentition, and the thick and villose skin, are characters
which ally the genus closely with Leptops.
NOTURUS FLAVUS EAFINESQUE
STONECAT
(MAP LVII)
Raflnesque, 1818, Amer. Month. Mag., 41.
G., V, 104 (also platycephalus); J. & G., 100; M. V., 41; J. & E., I, 144; N., 50; J.,
67; F.( 84; L,., 10.
Body moderately elongate, broad and flattened in front of dorsal, sub-
cylindrical behind it, the tail compressed; depth 4 to 5 in length. Length 9
XOTURUS 195
inches.* Color above almost uniform olive-green, sometimes blackish; sides
of head and body shading to yellowish brown or yellow, belly whitish; a
saddle-like or crescentic blotch of yellowish or gray behind dorsal and usually a
large but fainter squarish one in front of it; lips, chin, and lower barbels
yellow; fins of about same shade as adjacent parts, with edges paler. Head
very broad, much flattened above, its length 3.6 to 3.9, its width 4 to 5 in
length of body; upper jaw projecting, lips thick and coarsely striate; maxillary
barbels short, about half length of head; eye 4.6 to 6 in head, placed high and
directed well upward. Dorsal fin small, its distance 2.4 to 2.8 in body, the
spine very short, but little more than % the height of fin. Caudal not quite
symmetrically rounded, the upper posterior margin usually truncate; notch
between adipose and caudal deep. Anal fin of about 16 rays. Pectoral spine
with a few weak retrorse teeth on its anterior edge near tip, the posterior edge
entire or very little roughened; humeral process very short.
This interesting little fish, commonest under stones in swift
waters in the larger creeks and smaller rivers, is rather abundant
and widely distributed throughout the northern half of the state,
but has not been once taken by us south of Douglas county.
It is hence wholly absent from the lower Illinoisan glaciation,
and is confined to the Mississippi drainage, in our experience,
except for three localities on the headwaters of the Big Vermilion
and the Kaskaskia. The frequency ratios of our 40 collections
are 3.19 for the smaller rivers, 2.06 for creeks, and .58 for the
largest streams. It has not once appeared from stagnant waters
of either highland or lowland lakes. Its decided preference for a
swift current and a clean bottom is shown by our coefficients
of 5.31 for the latter situation and 2.75 for the former.
The peculiar limitation of the range of this fish in Illinois
seems entirely independent of its general distribution, which
includes the territory from Canada through the Great Lakes
to Virginia and Tennessee, and thence west and southwest to
Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Texas. In Indiana it
occurs, according to Hay, in the Wabash and its tributaries,
in the Kaskaskia, and in Lake Michigan, the St. Joseph River,
and the small lakes of northern Indiana.
The species has very little value as food on account of its
small size, which seldom exceeds a length of twelve inches. It
is much dreaded by fishermen because of the pain produced by
the punctures of its poisoned pectoral spines. It seems to
have no common name, being doubtless usually mistaken for
a young bullhead. Together with the other stonecats it may
be easily distinguished from the bullheads (Ameiurus) by the fact
* Largest one in our Laboratory collections. Jordan says it sometimes reaches 12 inches.
196 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
that the long and low adipose fin is continuous with the caudal
except for a shallow notch, while these fins are wholly separate
in the other catfishes. According to Dr. Jordan, it lurks
habitually under stones and logs. Dr. Eigenmann reports that
the eggs of this species were laid, in Turkey creek, Indiana, in
the latter half of June, in depressions under boards, and that
they were apparently watched by the adult. The young re-
main for some time in the nest after hatching.
GENUS SCHILBEODES BLEEKER
Body more or less elongate, subcylindrical anteriorly, the tail compressed.
Head less depressed than in Noturus. Skin rather thin, very finely villose or
almost smooth. Supraoccipital bone free from head of second interspinal.
Teeth subulate, in broad bands, the band of upper jaw abruptly truncated
at each end as in Ameiurus (without lateral backward extensions as in Leptops
and Noturus). Adipose fin long and low, connected with the accessory rays
of the caudal, from which it may or may not be separated by a notch. Caudal
fin obliquely truncated or rounded, with numerous rudimentary or accessory
rays both above and below caudal peduncle. Anal fin short, its rays 12 to 23.
Ventrals much rounded. A poison gland present beneath the epidermis
surrounding base of pectoral spine.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF SCHILBEODES FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Pectoral spine entire behind or only slightly roughened near base;* adipose
fin continuous with caudal, the notch being absent or faint, never acute.
b. Jaws equal; anterior and posterior edges of pectoral spine entire, or the
anterior edge very slightly roughened near tip; color purplish olive to dark
brownish, without noticeable specking; three dark streaks on sides
gyrinus.
bb. Lower jaw included; pectoral spine entire In front or with 1 or 2 obscure
points near tip, entire or weakly toothed near base behind; color dark
brown to blackish, flecked rather coarsely with darker; dorsal, anal, and
caudal fins pale-edged nocturnus.
aa. Pectoral spine with distinct posterior serrse, which are recurved and in
length more than % the diameter of spine; notch between adipose and
caudal fins always more or less acute.
c. Pectoral spine short, 3 in head, the posterior serrse not % diameter of spine;
notch between caudal and adipose fins usually shallow; color light brown,
sometimes faintly mottled; a large squarish spot of lighter color on back
before dorsal and a smaller crescentic one behind it exilis.
cc. Pectoral spine longer, less than 2 in head, its posterior serrse strong and in
length nearly equaling diameter of spine; notch between adipose and cau-
dal fins deep and acute; color grayish with black specks and larger
blotches; 4 saddle-like blotches on back, the last but one extending upon
adipose fin to its edge miurus.
* Arkansas specimens of S. nocturnus have a few short sharp teeth near base behind (Jordan).
Tadpole Cat, ScMlbeodes gyrinus (Mitchill)
Freckled Stonecat, ScMlbeodes nocturnus (Jordan & Gilbert)
Slender Stonecat, Schilbcodes ex-ilis (Nelson)
Brindled Stonecat, Schilbeodes miurus (Jordan)
SCHILBEODES 197
SCHILBEODES GYRINUS (MITCHILL)
TADPOLE CAT
(MAP LVIII)
Mitchill, 1818, Amer. Month. Mag., 322 (Silurus).
J. & G., 98 (Noturus); M. V., 42 (Noturus); J. & E., I, 146; J., 68 (Noturus sialis);
F., 84 (Noturus); F. F. II, 7, 462 (Noturus); K, 10.
Form robust, the body shorter and deeper than in other species; depth
3.8 to 4.4 in length. Length of adults 3 to 5 inches. Color olivaceous to
almost blackish, top of head darker; translucence of skin giving rise to a
marked light purplish or flesh color on sides in strong light; a dark median
lateral streak on side extending to base of caudal, a similar fainter one near
belly, and two higher up on side, the upper one extending along base of
adipose fin; belly, breast, and chin yellowish; pupil dull dark blue, iris bluish,
tinged with gold or coppery; fins plain, all except ventrals and pectorals a
rather dusky olive. Head large and fleshy; broad forward, short and flat,
the contour from snout to dorsal steep and almost straight; length of head
3.2 to 3.9, width 3.6 to 4.9 in length of body; interorbital space 1.6 to 2.1 in
head, eye 6.3 to 7.6; jaws about equal; barbels barely reaching gill-opening.
Dorsal fin placed well forward, its distance 2.5 to 2.9 in length; the spine
rather long, more than Yi the height of fin, 2.4 to 2.9 in head. Caudal rather
long, broadened mesially and tapering slightly to its truncate end. Anal
short, its rays 13 to 15. Pectoral spine strong, its length 1.9 to 2.4 in head,
tapering evenly from the base to the sharply pointed tip, its upper surface
strongly ridged and grooved diagonally, not flattened as in S. nocturnus; the
anterior edge entirely smooth or with 2 or 3 obscure points near tip; posterior
edge smooth; humeral process moderate, its length less than 4 in pectoral
spine. Lateral line developed anteriorly, much interrupted or altogether
wanting on posterior half of body.
This fish, although distributed throughout the state, is
most abundant in our collections to the southward and eastward
in the branches of the Kaskaskia and the Wabash. The species
enters with special freedom the lower Illinoisan glaciation,
avoided by Noturus fiavus. We have found it about equally
common in large rivers, creeks, and lowland and upland Jakes,
but for some unexplained reason only three of our 193 collec-
tions have come from the smaller rivers. It is more abundant,
relatively to the number of collections made, in still and muddy
waters than in those with a rapid current and a clean bottom,
our frequency coefficients for the first and second of these
situations being 1.47 and 1.45 respectively. According to Pro-
fessor Hay, it is accustomed to hide under stones and logs.
Generally speaking, it is a species of wide range, from the
Hudson River on the east through the Great Lakes to
the Dakotas and Montana, and from this line southward to the
198 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Florida peninsula and through the valleys of the Missouri and
Ohio to the Tombigbee River in Alabama.
Though the commonest of the stonecats in Illinois, it is
nevertheless not usually distinguished by fishermen, and has no
generally accepted common name. Like the other species of
this name, it is provided with poison glands, placed just beneath
the epidermis surrounding the spines of the pectoral and dorsal
fins, and the wound from either of these spines is little less
painful than a bee's sting. These glands are ductless, and the
poison which they secrete is only liberated when the epidermis
of the spine is torn.
The food of 13 specimens examined, consisted almost wholly
of amphipod and isopod Crustacea, of various forms of Ento-
mostraca, and of insect larvae (case-worms, day-flies, and gnats)
of kinds likely to be found on the bottom. A single specimen
had eaten a small fish, and another a planarian worm.
Males and females taken by us June 8 were already spent,
and the spawning season probably falls in May.
This little fish is too small to be used for any purpose except
as bait. It is said to be very tenacious of life, and to serve as
an excellent bait for black bass, against which its formidable
defensive apparatus evidently does not protect it.
SCHILBEODES NOCTURNUS (JORDAN & GILBERT)
FRECKLED STONECAT
(PL., P. 196)
Jordan & Gilbert, 1886, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 6 (Noturus).
J. & E., I, 146; L,., 10.
Moderately robust, but less so than in S. gyrinus, the head narrower
forward and the profile less steep than in that species; depth 4.8 to 5.1 in
length. Size small, not found over 3 inches. Color a uniform dark brown,
thickly and rather coarsely flecked with black, except on breast and belly;
dorsal, adipose, caudal, and anal fins specked with black much as body, but
with narrow edgings of pale. Head short and moderately broad, its length
3.8 to 4.1 in body, its greatest width in opercular region, narrower forward,
4.3 to 4.6 in body; interorbital space 1.9 to 2.4 in head; eye moderate, 4.8 to
6 in head; upper jaw longer than lower; barbels short and robust, the maxil-
lary pair falling considerably short of gill-openings. Distance from snout to
dorsal 2.8 to 3 in length; dorsal spine short, scarcely half the height of fin, 2.4
to 3.4 in head. Caudal long and somewhat tapered terminally. Anal fin
short, of 15 to 16 rays, Pectoral spine moderate, its length 2 to 2.1 in head,
slender towards base and widening outward, the tip acute; the upper surface
comparatively flat and the diagonal grooves inconspicuous; the anterior edge
SCHILBEODES 199
with 2 or 3 obscure points near tip, posterior edge smooth or with a few weak
teeth near base (not found in Illinois specimens) ; humeral process about 4 in
pectoral spine. Lateral line usually complete.
This little species is rare in Illinois, having been taken by
us but eight times — twice from creeks near Havana, three times
from creeks near Lincoln, twice from tributaries of the Kas-
kaskia in Clinton and Shelby counties, and once from Camp
creek in Henderson county. Outside our limits it is reported
from sandy streams of the lower Wabash basin in Indiana, from
the Poteau, Washita, and Saline rivers in Arkansas, and from
the Sabine, Trinity, and Lampasas rivers in Texas. It appears
to be nowhere common, and we have no information concern-
ing its natural relations or special habits.
SCHILBEODES EXILIS (NELSON)
SLENDER STONECAT
(PL., p. 196)
Nelson, 1876, Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist., I. 1, 51 (Noturus).
J. & G., 100 (Noturus); M. V., 42 (Noturus); J. & E., I, 147; J., 67 (Noturus); F.,
84 (Noturus); L., 10.
Elongate, the slenderest of our stonecats, the body almost cylindrical in
region of dorsal, depth 4.9 to 6 in length, diminishing but slightly to caudal
peduncle; profile low. Length 3 to 4 inches. Color yellowish brown, uni-
form on sides, but darker above, with a crescentic spot of lighter color on
back behind dorsal and a larger squarish one on occiput; median fins pale or
slightly dusky with darker margins, the contrast in color most marked in
the dorsal. Head small, narrow and depressed, its length 3.9 to 4.3 in body,
its width 4.8 to 5.8; interorbital space 2.2 to 2.9 in head; jaws nearly equal,
the upper very slightly longer than lower; maxillary barbels not reaching
gill-openings; eye 5.3 to 7.3 in head. Dorsal fin small and low, placed well
forward, its distance from snout 2.9 to 3.1 in length; the spine short and
sharp, scarcely half the height of fin. Caudal symmetrically rounded pos-
teriorly; its accessory rays numerous and well developed; the notch between
adipose and caudal variable, usually obscure, sometimes acute. Anal fin
with 14 to 17 rays. Pectoral spine short and sharp, 2.7 to 3.1 in head, weakly
serrate anteriorly near tip, the basal % of the posterior margin furnished
with about 6 slender teeth, whose length is about ^ the diameter of the
spine; humeral process obscure.
This little stonecat was originally described in the first
volume of the Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory of Nat-
ural History, from specimens found in the Illinois River. We
have since taken it from the Pecatonica at Freeport, in Stephen-
son county; from the Du Page River in Will county; from Honey
creek in Henderson county; and from two creeks in Union
200 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
county, in extreme southern Illinois. It is also reported from
Wisconsin, from the Tippecanoe River in Indiana, from the
Arkansas River, and from the streams of the lower part of the
Missouri basin as far west as Kansas.
SCHILBEODES MIURUS (JORDAN)
BRINDLED STONECAT
(PL., P. 196; MAP LIX)
Jordan, 1877, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. T., Vol. XI, 371 (Noturus).
J. & G., 99 (Noturus); M. V., 42 (Noturus); J. & E., I, 148; N., 50 (Noturus mar-
ginatus); J., 68 (Noturus); F., 84 (Noturus); L., 10.
Body broad anteriorly, though scarcely robust; slender and compressed
posteriorly; depth 4.6 t/o 5.6 in length; profile rather steep and nearly straight.
Length 3j/£ inches. Color grayish with black specks and larger blotches;
the back crossed by more or less definite saddle-like blotches of black, one
before dorsal, one behind it, one on adipose, and a fainter one at base of
caudal, the last blotch but one extending into adipose fin to its edge; tip of
dorsal, caudal, and anal blackish. Head wide and extremely depressed
anteriorly, much higher behind; interorbital space flat, 2.1 to 2.5 in head;
length of head 3.5 to 3.9 in body, width 3.9 to 4.3; upper jaw a little longer
than lower; maxillary barbels hardly reaching gill-openings; eye large, 4.3
to 5 in head. Dorsal fin higher than long, its distance from snout 2.6 to 2.8
in length; the spine long, more than half the height of the fin. Notch between
adipose and caudal usually deep and acute, the caudal tapering terminally.
Anal short, the rays 13 to 15. Pectoral spines long, 1.5 to 1.8 in head, much
curved; the basal % of anterior edge very finely serrate, the posterior margin
with 6 to 8 strong hooks, whose length is more than half the diameter of the
spine; humeral process short.
In our Illinois collections this species has been taken but 30
times, and, with a single exception, from localities in the eastern
part of the state on the tributaries of the Wabash and the Ohio.
It has occurred once in the extreme headwaters of the Kaskas-
kia, in close proximity to upper branches of the Embarras, in
which we have found it several times. It contrasts. Iiowever,
in distribution with Noturus flavus, occupying those parts of
the state which the former does not penetrate. Indeed, these
two species have been taken together in only one of our collec-
tions. It agrees closely with flavus in its ecological preferences,
being, like that species, found only in running streams (but
most abundantly in creeks) and absent, so far as our observations
go, from standing waters. It likewise agrees with flavus in its
preference for a clean bottom and a swift current. The relations
of these two species to each other, and of both to Schilbeodes
SCHILBEODES 201
gyrinus, offer an interesting example of the methods by which
closely related species may avoid disadvantageous competition
with each other, flavus and miurus occupying similar situations
in similar waters, but mainly distributed in different parts of the
state, while gyrinus, with its general distribution covering the
area of both the other species, is related differently from these
both to water bodies and to situations in them. Like both the
other species mentioned, miurus has a wide general range which
offers no explanation of its limited distribution in Illinois.
From the tributaries of Lake Michigan on the north it
ranges south to Louisiana and west to the lower part of the Mis-
souri basin. Hay, in his list of Indiana fishes, mentions its
occurrence in Minnesota and North Carolina.
—22 F
202 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
ORDER HAPLOMI
PIKE-LIKE FISHES
Skeleton bony; anterior vertebrae distinct, without Weberian ossicles;
ventral fins abdominal, rarely wanting; all fins soft-rayed, although the first
dorsal ray is in a few forms somewhat stiffened and spine-like; no adipose fin;
pectoral arch suspended from the skull; mesocoracoid wanting (this character
constituting the only important distinction between these fishes and the
Isospondyli); opercular bones well developed; air-bladder with a distinct
duct. Four families; species numerous and widely distributed, chiefly in-
habiting fresh or brackish waters of both hemispheres.
KEY TO FAMILIES OF HAPLOMI FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Vent normal, not far in front of anal fin; eyes normal.
b. Lateral line present; jaws duck-bill-like • • Esocidae.
bb. Lateral line wanting.
c. Upper jaw not protractile Umbridae.
cc. Upper jaw protractile (the upper lip separated from the skin of the forehead
by an evident groove, which passes wholly across the muzzle)
Poeciliidae.
aa. Vent jugular, in front of pectorals and close 'behind gill-openings; eyes more
or less concealed by thick skin; ventrals ordinarily wanting, or much
reduced \ Amblyopsidae.
FAMILY UMBRID^E
THE MUDFISHES
Body oblong, broad anteriorly and compressed behind; head somewhat
flattened; scales cycloid, covering head and body; lateral line wanting;
skeleton osseous; anterior vertebrae simple; no spines in fins; ventrals ab-
dominal; dorsal fin posterior; caudal rounded; no mesocoracoid; gill-mem-
branes little connected; branchiostegals 6 to 8; pseudobranchise hidden,
glandular; gill-rakers little developed; mouth moderate, premaxillary not
protractile; lateral margin of upper jaw formed by the maxillaries, which are
toothless and without distinct supplemental bone; premaxillaries, lower jaw,
vomer, and palatines with bands of villiform or cardiform teeth, stomach
without blind sac; no pyloric caeca; air-bladder simple, with distinct duct;
oviparous fishes.
UMBRA — MUDFISHES 203
Fishes of small size and carnivorous habit, inhabiting
muddy weedy bottoms of fresh-water streams and ponds; very
tenacious of life. One genus, with three species, one European
and two American, one of the latter inhabiting local waters.
The Umbridce represent an archaic type, older than the Esotidce,
and evidently characteristic of an earlier fish fauna. Their
survival in forms so widely separated geographically is interest-
ingly suggestive to the student of distribution and descent.
GENUS UMBRA (KRAMER) MULLER
MUDFISHES
Generic characters included in description of family. Size small; species
3, inhabiting fresh waters of the United States and Austria; one species
known from Illinois.
UMBRA LIMI (KIRTLAND)
MUD-MINNOW; MUDFISH
(Pi,., P. 211; MAP LX)
Kirtland, 1840, Bost. J. Nat. Hist., Ill, 277 (Hydrargira).
G., VI, 232; J. & G., 350; M. V., 87; J. & E., I, 623; N., 43 (Melanura); J., 52 (Mela-
nura); P., 71; F. P., I. 6, 73; L., 21.
Length 4 inches; body oblong, compressed, caudal peduncle deep; depth
in length 3.9 to 5 3; greatest width of body about % its greatest depth; depth
caudal peduncle 1.3 to 1.6 in its length. Color of upper parts dull brownish
plive mottled with black; sides with about 14 indefinite narrow transverse
bars of dark color, the interspaces bluish forward; breast, belly, and under
sides of head yellowish; a large black blotch-like bar at end of caudal pe-
duncle; a black stripe across cheek and through eye to end of snout; fins plain
olive-green, the caudal somewhat darker at center. Head 3.3 to 3.8; width
of head 1.7 to 1.9 in its length; interorbital space nearly flat, 4.3 to 5.4; eye
3.8 to 5.2; nose 3.9 to 5; mouth rather large, maxillary reaching to middle of
orbit, 2.8 to 3.8 (usually about 3) in head; teeth on premaxillary, lower jaw,
vomer, and palatines; gill-membranes free from isthmus. Dorsal fin 14,
sometimes 15, inserted behind ventrals and behind middle of body; anal 8 or
9; caudal rounded; pectorals short, broad and round, 1.6 to 2 in head. Scales
35, transverse series 13 or 14;no lateral line;opercles with large scalesjscales
on opercles embedded.
Mud-minnows are small fishes, few individuals exceeding
five or six inches in length. They are frequently mistaken by
fishermen for the young of the dogfish, from which, however,
they are very readily distinguished by the short dorsal fin.
They rest quietly upon the bottom much of the time, and when
204 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
disturbed first dart away to a little distance, and then bury
themselves, tail downwards, in the mud with one or two quick
twists of the body. They have also the singular habit of burrow-
ing into the mud when the water evaporates from a pond.
Professor Baird says that a locality which, with the water
perfectly clear, will appear destitute of fish, will perhaps yield
a number of mudfish on stirring up the mud at the bottom and
drawing a seine through it. Ditches on the plains of Wisconsin,
or mere bog-holes containing nothing else beyond tadpoles,
may thus be found full of mudfish.
The intestine is short, less than the body in length, the gill-
rakers are thick and rather long, about half the length of the
filaments, and the pharyngeal apparatus is insignificant. The
food of ten specimens taken from six localities consisted largely
of minute duckweed (Wolffia) and unicellular algse, insects and
crustaceans making, however, more than a fourth of the food.
The latter were mainly Entomostraca. Thin-shelled univalve
mollusks (Physa) were taken from two of the specimens, and
amphipod Crustacea (Crangonyx) from one. Dr. Abbott reports
that he has seen mud-minnows leap out of the water a distance
greater than their length to catch insects resting on blades of
grass.
They apparently spawn in early spring, and Abbott reports
that in New Jersey he has found them apparently ripe on the
16th of March, and that even earlier than this they were making
their way up stream in small brooks, leaping from eddy to eddy,
evidently on their way to their spawning beds. We have
found ripe females during the first week of April at Havana.
Dr. Ryder says that their adhesive eggs are laid singly upon the
leaves of aquatic plants. Those observed by him hatched on
the sixth day.
This little fish is rather peculiarly distributed in Illinois,
occurring in our collections almost entirely in the extreme
northern and the extreme southern parts of the state. We have
elsewhere taken it only at Havana and Meredosia, on the Illi-
nois River, where it has occurred ten times in nearly eleven
hundred collections. Its frequency coefficients are correspond-
ingly unequal for the three sections of the state, those for south-
ern and nbrthern Illinois being 1.48 and 1.28 respectively, while
that for central Illinois is but .23. We have found it most
frequently in lakes and ponds, and next in the smaller rivers.
ESOCIDJ3 — THE PIKES 205
It is a northern species, on the whole, ranging from Quebec
and Ontario throughout the basin of the Great Lakes to the
Ohio, and southward along the Atlantic as far as New Jersey,
and northward to the Minnesota River. We have found no
record of its occurrence in the Missouri basin. It is usually
taken from grassy ponds and clear creeks with a soft mud bottom.
FAMILY ESOCID/E
THE PIKES
Body elongate, more or less compressed posteriorly; scales cycloid,
covering body and portions of head, which is always naked above; lateral
line weakly developed; skeleton osseous; anterior vertebra simple; no spines
in fins; ventral fins abdominal; dorsal posterior; caudal emarginate; no
mesocoracoid; gill-membranes separate; branchiostegals 12 to 20; pseudo-
branchiae glandular, hidden; gill-rakers tubercle-like, toothed; mouth very
large, its cleft half of head; premaxillaries not protractile, most of margin of
upper jaw formed by maxillary, which is furnished with supplemental bone;
premaxillaries, vomer, and palatines with bands of strong cardiform teeth;
lower jaw with strong teeth of different sizes; tongue with a band of small
teeth; stomach not caecal, without pyloric appendages; air-bladder simple,
with distinct duct; oviparous.
Fresh waters of northern parts of Europe, Asia, and North
America. Size moderate or large. One genus with six species,
all but one confined to North America; fossil remains found in
Oligocene of Europe. All are of carnivorous habit, being vora-
cious and gamy. The flesh is flaky and of good flavor.
GENUS ESOX (AETEDI) LINNAEUS
PIKES
Characters of the genus included above.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF ESOX FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Cheeks entirely scaly; branchiostegals 11 to 16.
b. Opercles entirely scaly; dorsal rays 11 or 12; scales 105; color greenish,
barred or reticulated with darker; fins without black spots; length 12
inches vermiculatus.
bb. Opercles with the lower half bare of scales; dorsal rays 14 to 16; scales 125;
color purplish gray to greenish, with many small whitish or yellowish spots;
dorsal, anal, and caudal spotted with 'black; length 3 feet lucius.
aa. Lower half of both cheeks and opercles naked; branchiostegals 17 to 19;
dorsal rays 17; scales 150; color dark gray, sides usually with scattered
round black spots, sometimes without spots, sometimes banded with dark;
fins spotted with black; length 4 to 8 feet masquinongy.
206 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
ESOX VERMICULATUS LE SUEUR
LITTLE PICKEREL; GRASS PIKE
(MAP LXI)
Le Sueur, 1846, in Cuv. & Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., XVIII, 333.
G., VI, 230 (cypho); J. & G., 352 (salmoneus); M. V., 88; J. & E., I, 627 (Lucius);
X., 43 (salmoneus, cypho, and umbrosus) ; J., 53 (salmoneus, cypho, and
ravenelli?); F., 71 (Lucius); F. F., II. 7, 435; L,., 21 (Lucius).
Length 12 inches; body elongate, compressed, caudal peduncle slender;
depth 5 to 7 (5.2 to 6.7) in length; greatest width of body about % its
greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 2 to 2.6 in its length. Color typically
grassy to grayish green, with darker streaks, bars, and reticulations, the
lighter colored interspaces worm-track-like (hence vermiculalus) ; color
variable, sometimes nearly plain; centers of scales (sides) brassy, blue, or
green; a yellowish streak along middle of back; belly white; head dark olive
with light patches; a dark slaty streak below eye; opercles grassy green; a
dusky streak from eye across cheek and opercle; pupil dull bluish black; iris
with narrow inner ring of burnt golden, rest brownish to blue and purplish;
caudal mottled near base; other fins dusky in the rays, otherwise plain. Head
3 to 3.4 (usually greater than 3.2); width of head 2.8 to 3.2; interorbital
concave, 5 to 6.2; eye 5.5 to 6.8, midway of head; nose long, duck-bill-like,
shorter than in the next species, 2.4 to 2.7 in head; mouth large, maxillary
past front of orbit, 2 to 2.4 in head. Dorsal rays 12; anal 12; caudal well
forked; ventrals less than half to vent; pectorals short, 2.8 to 3.3 in head.
Scales 103 to 108; cheeks and opercles fully scaled; no supplementary lateral
line.
This little pike, never over 12 inches in length, but frequently
mistaken for the young of a larger species, is distributed through-
out Illinois, most abundantly, however, according to our ex-
perience, in the southern part of the state, where its frequency
coefficient rises to 1.73 as compared with .69 for central Illinois
and .88 for northern. It is most abundant in creeks, but is also
quite common in ponds and the smaller rivers. It has a notice-
able preference for quiet and muddy waters, and the greater
part of our collections have come from the weedy branches of the
Embarras, Little Wabash, and Big Muddy, in eastern and central
Illinois. It has also occurred occasionally in the main stream of
the Illinois, or in the muddy overflow ponds of the bottoms.
Indeed, large numbers of this fish are annually destroyed by
the drying up of such ponds after the overflow.
Its general range includes the tributaries of Lake Erie and
Lake Michigan, extending thence southward to the Tennessee,
Escanaba, and White rivers, and, according to Evermann and
Cox, to the Neuse River on the Atlantic slope. From the fact
that it is not contained in Evermann and Goldsborough's list
ESOX— PIKES 207
of the fresh-water fishes of Canada, we infer that it is not to
be found north of the Great Lakes.
In its feeding structures, this little species is a reduced copy
of the destructive and voracious common pike, and its food, as
illustrated by eighteen specimens, seems to be purely animal.
Two of these had eaten frog tadpoles, and eight had taken fishes,
one of which was a cyprinoid minnow, one a sunfish, and the
other a common top-minnow (Gambusia) of the southern part
of the state. The remaining food was mostly composed of the
larger aquatic insects. Amphipod and isopod crustaceans have
been found in the stomachs of other specimens, taken from
Quiver Lake, near Havana.
The species apparently spawns early, and ripe individuals
of both sexes have been seen by us in March.
ESOX LUCIUS LINN^US
COMMON PIKE; PICKEREL
(MAP LXII)
Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., Ed. X, 314.
G., VI, 228 & 229 (estor and depraudus) ; J. & G., 353; M. V., 89; J. & E., I, 628
(Lucius); N., 43 (lucius var. estor, and ? boreus) ; J., 53; F., 71; F. F., II. 1,
435; L., 21 (Lucius).
Length 3 feet; elongate and compressed; depth 5 to 7; greatest width
about Y*, greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 1.7 to 2.2 in its length.
Color of back and sides bluish or grt enish gray with more or less of purplish
luster; yellowish below and white on belly; sides with irregular rows of small
roundish spots of yellowish or gold; single scales of side each with a broad
V-shaped golden spot; top of head plain dark olive-green; cheeks and opercles
bluish gray or heliotrope with pale greenish spots; iris light drab below with
golden margin, brassy yellow above pupil and forward; all fins wax-yellow
in the rays; dorsal with 3 to 5 rows of roundish black spots equal in length to
the width of three membranes; caudal and anal similarly marked; ventrals
with faint traces of spots; pectorals plain. Head 2.9 to 3.6 (usually less than
3.4); width of head about 3; interorbital 4.3 to 6.2; eye 5.8 to 9.5, midway of
head; nose 1.9 to 2.4; mouth very large, maxillary past front of orbit, 2 to 2.2
in head. Dorsal rays 15 or 16; anal 14 or 15; ventrals half way to front of
anal; pectorals % to ventrals, 2.2 to 2.6 in head in adults. Scales 122 to
125: cheeks fully scaled; lower half of opercles naked; lateral line irregular,
supplementary lateral pores in short and broken series above and below it^
especially on caudal peduncle.
This noble fish, completely and almost ideally equipped for
the predatory life, has now nearly disappeared from the larger
and muddier streams of Illinois, but is still found in abundance
in the headwaters of the Kankakee and in the small glacial lakes
808 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
of the northeastern part of the state. It is also occasionally
caught in the clearer sloughs and lakes (usually fed by springs)
of the Illinois, Rock, and Green rivers. Several specimens of
good size have recently been taken by us from the lock pond
at Henry, on the Illinois.
It is a cosmopolitan species of the northern hemisphere,
found in the fresh waters of northern Europe, Asia, and North
America, and ranging as far south in Europe as Italy and Greece.
In this country it is abundant in suitable situations from Alaska
southward through Canada, and through the upper Mississippi
Valley and the eastern United States to the Potomac on the
Atlantic slope and to the Missouri and its branches in Iowa
and Nebraska.
The average weight of the pike taken from our region is not
over 5 Ib, but a specimen weighing 26J/2 pounds is reported by
Dr. Jordan to have been caught in the Kankakee. The record
weight for Europe is 145 Ib — that of a specimen taken at Bre-
genty in 1862.
This fish is commonly called pickerel in Illinois, although its
more appropriate name of pike is also sometimes used. It pre-
fers clean, clear, cool water of a sluggish current, in which it
remains generally quiet by day. It is a strong and active
swimmer, extremely voracious, and with senses remarkably
acute. It launches itself like an arrow upon its prey, seldom
missing its aim, and fighting courageously with others of its
kind. It is purely carnivorous, its food consisting of fishes
among which we have noticed sunfish and black bass, together
with frogs, crawfishes, and the larger insects. Mice, reptiles,
and young ducks have been reported by various authors to
have been taken from the stomachs of pike.
It spawns in March in our latitude, selecting shore water
about a foot and a half in depth. Professor Benecke of Konigs-
berg says of this species, as quoted by Goode, that "it lives a
hermit life, only consorting in pairs during the spawning season.
The pairs of fish then resort to shallow places upon meadows
and banks which have been overflowed, and, rubbing violently
upon each other, deposit their spawn in the midst of powerful
blows of their tails." The spawning time in east Prussia falls
in the months from February to April, occasionally beginning
before the departure of the ice. A single female may deposit
as many as a hundred thousand eggs. The young hatch in
ESOX PIKES 209
about fourteen days, and may reach a length of a foot by the
end of the first year.
The flesh of the pike is of fairly good flavor, but is full of
small bones. It is not much prized in this country, but is gen-
erally more esteemed in Europe. The voracity of this fish
and its inferior quality as food have led to attempts at its
destruction in Europe and in parts of Canada. It is readily
captured with minnow bait, or with a trolling-spoon, and will
also take a fly. It is often caught with a hook through holes
in the ice in winter, and affords a valuable food to many an
Indian hunter in the Canadian woods.
This destructive fish has greatly decreased in numbers in
this state during the last twenty-five years. The older fisher-
men at Havana remember when a thousand pounds were caught
at a time, while now scarcely as many will be taken during an
entire year. In 1899, according to the report of the United
States Fish Commission, 21,000 pounds of pike were taken in
the Mississippi and Illinois rivers within the state of Illinois.
The total catch from the Mississippi Valley was 216,952 pounds,
having fallen to that figure from 809,134 pounds in 1894.
ESOX MASQUINONGY MITCHILL
MUSKALLUNGE
Mitchill, "Mirror, 297, 1824".*
The muskallunge is sufficiently distinguished from other species of the
genus Esox in the key preceding.
This giant fish, reported to reach a weight of a hundred
pounds and to average three feet in length — specimens six feet
feet long and weighing eighty pounds have been caught — has
not been taken by us in Illinois, although it occurs in Lake
Michigan and rarely in the smaller lakes in the northeastern
part of the state. It is said by Jordan to be native to all the
Great Lakes and the upper St. Lawrence, to certain streams and
lakes tributary to the Great Lakes, and to a few of the lakes in
the upper Mississippi Valley. It occurs also in Canada to the
northward. In Ohio, according to R. C. Osburn, a variety of
the species, ohiensis, distinguished by narrow irregular cross-
bars formed by the coalescing of spots upon the sides, is found
in the Ohio River and its tributary streams. It is equally
esteemed for its game and food qualities.
* Reference on authority of De Kay.
210 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
FAMILY PCECILIIDyE
THE KILL! FISHES
Body oblong or moderately elongate, compressed behind; head broad
and depressed; scales cycloid, rather large, adherent; head scaly, at least
above; lateral line wanting or represented by a few imperfect pores; skeleton
bony; anterior vertebrae simple; fins without spines, or (rarely) a rudimen-
tary spinous dorsal, or a single spine (not in Illinois forms); ventrals ab-
dominal, rarely wanting; dorsal inserted posteriorly, about over anal; caudal
not forked; no mesocoracoid ; gill-membranes somewhat connected, free from
isthmus; branchiostegals 4 to 6; pseudobranchiae wanting; gill-rakers very
short; mouth terminal, small, the lower jaw usually projecting; premaxillary
extremely protractile; margin of upper jaw formed by premaxillaries; teeth
incisor-like or villiform, sometimes present on vomer, but usually on jaws
only; stomach siphonal, without pyloric appendages; air-bladder simple,
often wanting; most species oviparous; some forms ovoviviparous, the
young well developed at time of birth.
Fresh-water fishes of small size, widely distributed in
Southern Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. Some species
occur in bays and arms of the sea, in more or less brackish water.
Genera about 35; species about 200; 2 genera and 4 species
found in Illinois.
Many of the species of this family are surface swimmers,
" top-minnows, " inhabiting canals, ponds, swamps, and sluggish
or stagnant streams, where they feed on insects and other life
found swimming or floating at the surface of the water. Other
forms (not found in Illinois) are free swimmers in the river
channels, and still others dwell in the mud of stream bottoms.
Certain species are especially valuable as mosquito destroyers.
KEY TO GENERA AND SPECIES OF PCECILIID^E FOUND IN ILLINOIS
Fundulus. — Anal fin of the male similar to that of the female, not modified into an
intromittent organ; species oviparous.
a. Dorsal rays 13 or 14; scales 43-45; color olivaceous with numerous dusky
cross-bars diaphanus.
aa. Dorsal rays 7 to 9; scales 28 to 36.
b. Scales 33 to 36.
c. Sides with numerous narrow lengthwise streaks or rows of dots of dark
color, the males with dark cross-bars dispar.
cc. A single black lateral stripe from head to tail; males with obscure cross-bars.
notatus.
Gambusia. — Anal fin of males modified into a sword-shaped intromittent organ;
species viviparous.
bb. Scales 28 to 30; no evident stripes or cross-bars affinis.
FUNDULUS — KILLIFISHES 211
GENUS FUNDULUS LACEPEDE
KILLIFISHES
Body rather elongate, little elevated, compressed behind head broad
and flat above; mouth moderate, lower jaw projecting; jaws each with 2, or
more, series of pointed teeth; preopercle, preorbital, and mandible with
conspicuous mucus pores; dorsal and anal fins rather similar in size, either
large or small, the anal slightly higher in males of some species than in
females, but not developed as an intromittent organ; scales moderate.
Species very numerous, mostly American, inhabiting the
fresh waters of the interior and the arms of the sea, on both
coasts. All are oviparous. They are all carnivorous in greater
or less degree. The three species found in Illinois* are typical
" top-minnows," feeding on surface-swimming insects, etc.
FUNDULUS DIAPHANUS MENONA (JORDAN & COPELAND)
MENONA TOP-MINNOW
(MAP LXIII)
Le Sueur, 1817, J. Ac. Nat. Sci..Phila., 130 (Hydrargira diaphana).
Jordan & Copeland, 1877, P. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 68 (menona).
J. & G., 335 (menona) ; M. V., 85; J. & B., I, 645; N., 42 (diaphanus) ; J., 52 (menona) ;
P., 72 (diaphanus); F. P., I. 6, 71 (diaphanus); L,., 21.
Length 3 inches; body rather slender and not much compressed, caudal
peduncle long; depth 4.5 to 5.3; greatest width about % of greatest depth;
depth caudal peduncle 2.2 to 2.4 in its length. Color (males) light olivaceous,
spotted with dusky on back and on sides above lateral line; 15 to 20 dark
transverse bars on each side, reaching from back to belly, broader than the
silvery interspaces; belly silvery white; opercles emerald, dusted with dark,
specks; an emerald-green spot behind opercle; iris mingled iridescent emerald
to lavender, with a narrow inner rim of gold next to pupil; fins pale, dorsal
with a faint longitudinal bar of dusky near base; base of caudal with a squarish
golden spot. Females have dark bars shorter and narrower than in males,
and the interspaces wider than the bars, olivaceous, without silvery luster;
dorsal fin without dark bar. Head quite flat above, 3.5 to 3.9; width of head
1.9 to 2.2 in its length; interorbital space 2.8 to 3.1 in head; eye 3 to 3.5; nose
2.9 to 3.7, usually more than 3.3; mouth small, maxillary 3.6 to 4 in head,
mandible equal to eye, lower jaw slightly projecting; teeth pointed, curved,
the outer ones scarcely enlarged. Dorsal inserted in front of ventrals, its
rays 13 or 14; anal rays 11; ventrals short of vent; pectorals 1.7 to 1.9 in
head. Scales 43 to 45; transverse series 14 or 15; no lateral line; cheeks and
opercles covered with large scales.
* For key to species, see key to genera and species of Paciliidce, preceding.
212 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
This little top-minnow, rare in Illinois and taken by us but
twenty times, all in the northern half of the state, is, in fact, a
northern species in the United States, found outside Illinois in
the lakes and ponds of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin,
and in the Missouri basin as far south as the Kansas River.
The typical form (Fundulus diaphanus) occurs from the head-
waters to the brackish mouths of coastwise streams from
Quebec, New Brunswick, and Maine to Cape Hatteras, and in
the lakes of New York State. Our Illinois examples of menona
have been mainly taken from upland lakes of the headwaters
of the Fox and Des Plaines, from the headwaters of the Rock
River, from the lakes of the Calumet series, and from pools
near Bloomington, in McLean county. In Wolf and Calumet
lakes it was most frequent near shore among weeds and rushes,
in clear water and over a bottom of sand.
The food of eight specimens from the northeastern lakes
comprised insects, both aquatic and terrestrial, amphipod
Crustacea (Attorchestes) , various Entomstraca, especially those
living upon the bottom, a few thin-shelled univalves (Planorbis},
and the seeds of plants which had fallen into the water, these
last taken in quantity too large to have been accidental.
Females moderately distended with large eggs were taken
by us in Sand Lake Aug. 3, 1887, a fact which indicates a late
spawning period. Dr. Eigenmann, however, found the eggs
of this species in grassy bottoms of Indiana lakes June 24.
FUNDULUS DISPAR AGASSIZ
(MAP LXIV)
Agassiz, 1854, Amer. J. Sci. and Arts, 353 (Zygonectes).
J. & G., 341 (Zygonectes); M. V., 86 (Zygonectes); J. & E., I, 658; N., 42 (Zygonectes);
J., 52 (Zygonectes); F., 72 (Zygonectes); F. F., I. 6, 72 (Zygonectes); L., 21.
Length, 2 1/2 inches; body rather short and deep, compressed, caudal
peduncle short; depth 3.5 to 4.3; greatest width about % of greatest
depth; depth caudal peduncle 1.5 to 1.9 in its length. Color (females) light
olive, with 9 or 10 wavy longitudinal lines of brown traversing each side
along the lower edges of the rows of scales; no distinct* transverse bars;
dorsal and anal with a few faint dusky spots; caudal plain; adult males and
females with a triangular bluish blotch below eye, and a smaller blotch above
and in front of it, the two blotches more or less confluent with similar color
in the eye itself. Males with irregular longitudinal rows of reddish brown
* Females 1^£ inches long taken in Wolf Lake South Chicago, in August, 1903, had faint
vertical bars. These disappeared at times and on one occasion when apparent in direct side
view disappeared at other angles. These females were in all other respects typical.
FUNDULUS — KILLIFISHES 213
dots on sides, not connected in wavy lines as in females, and with about 10
narrow transverse bars of dusky olive; conspicuous reddish brown spots on
proximal half of caudal and fainter ones on dorsal and anal. Head 3.5 to 4.3,
broad and flat above; width of head 1.5 to 1.7 in its length; interorbital space
1.9 to 2.3 (usually about 2); eye 2.8 to 3.4; nose 2.8 to 3.7; mouth small,
maxillary 2.8 to 3.3, mandible less than diameter of eye; lower jaw scarcely
projecting; teeth pointed, those on lower jaw rather short and weak. Dorsal
inserted behind ventrals, its rays 7; anal rays 9 or 10, the fin much longer in
males than in females; ventrals to vent; pectorals nearly to ventrals, 1.5 to
1.8 in head. Scales 34 to 36; transverse series 11; no lateral line; cheeks and
opercles covered with large scales.
This little killifish although occurring in all parts of the
state, is peculiarly distributed. Nearly all our collections of it
have been made along the course of the larger rivers — not from
the streams themselves, however, but rather from the weedy
lakes and ponds of the river bottoms and the upland lakes of
northeastern Illinois. Consistently with this statement, the
frequency coefficient of this species is 2.17 for lakes and sloughs,
and but .22 for creeks, and .67 for the larger rivers. None of
our 83 collections has been taken in rivers of the second class.
The7 known general distribution of the species is rather
limited, extending from lakes and sluggish streams of northern
Ohio westward to Missouri and southward to the Pearl and
Big Black rivers in Mississippi.
This minnow swims habitually at the surface with the head
and back showing, in which position it may be easily identified
by a bright silvery spot on the top of the head. About
half the food of the specimens studied by us consisted of insects,
fully half of these land insects which had fallen into the water.
Mollusks and crustaceans, with a small amount of the more
delicate aquatic vegetation, were the other objects of the food.
Ripe fishes of both sexes were obtained by us at Havana
on the 29th of May, 1896.
FUNDULUS NOTATUS (RAFINESQUE)
TOP-MINNOW
(MAP LXV)
Rafinesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 86 (Semotilus).
G., VI, 314 and 315 (Haplochilus pulchellus and aureus); J. & G.. 339 (Zygonectes) ;
M. V., 86 (Zygonectes); J. & E., I, 659; N., 42 (Zygonectes); J., 52 (Zygonectes);
F., 72 (Zygonectes); F. F.f I. 6, 71 (Zygonectes); L., 22.
Length 2^ to 3 inches; body moderately elongate, flattened above,
little compressed anteriorly; depth in length 4.4 to 5.3; greatest width more
than 24 greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 1.5 to 2.1 in its length. Color
(females) brownish olive with a purplish black lateral band continued for-
214 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
ward across cheek and opercle and through eye to end of snout; belly pinkish
white; median fins more or less specked with dusky, anal faintly so and only
near base; males with sides crossed by 16 or 17 rather obscure bars of dusky,
and with edges of lateral band somewhat serrate; anal with two or three rows
of prominent dark specks. Head much depressed and rather elongate, 3.5 to
3.9 in length; width of head 1.6 to 2; interorbital space 2.2 to 2.5; eye 3.3 to
3.9; nose 2.8 to 3.4, noticeably longer than eye; maxillary 2.8 to 3.3 in head,
mandible greater than eye; jaws subequal, the lower scarcely so long as
upper; "teeth in a broad band, the outer series considerably enlarged,
canine-like" (J. & E.). Dorsal inserted behind ventrals, its rays 9; anal rays
11, the fin noticeably longer in males (longer than head) than in females
(about V$ head); ventrals to vent; pectorals almost or quite to ventrals, 1.4
to 1.9 in head. Scales 33 to 34; transverse series 11; cheeks and opercles
and top of head covered with large scales.
This is much the most abundant Illinois species of its
family, and is the one to which the name of top-minnow has
been most generally attached. It occurs in great abundance
throughout the state in waters of all descriptions, most fre-
quently, however, in the smaller streams and headwaters of
southern and eastern Illinois. Its condensation southward is
illustrated by our frequency coefficients for the three sections
of the state — 2.13 for southern Illinois and .42 and .44 for
central and northern Illinois respectively. By far the greater
part of our collections have been taken from the basins of the
Kaskaskia and the Wabash, and the ponds and creeks of the
extreme southern part of the state.
Outside Illinois it occurs from Michigan, and Wisconsin
southward throughout the entire lower Mississippi Valley to
Louisiana and the rivers of Texas. It is reported by collectors
to be most abundant in ponds, creeks, and canals, and along the
margins of sluggish streams. It is a surface swimmer, as its
common name implies, and, like Fundulus dispar, it is easily
distinguished in the water by a silvery occipital spot.
Nearly the whole food of the species consists of insects, as
illustrated by our examination of 17 specimens taken from vari-
ous places in central and southern Illinois. The 10 per cent, of
vegetation eaten by these fishes was almost wholly filamentous
algae, taken in such quantities by some as to make it certain that
their presence in the food was not a matter of accident. In one
fish, for example, the entire intestine was crammed with these
algae, and in three others they made more than half the food.
Insects were the major part of the remainder, although Ento-
mostraca and amphipod Crustacea (Crangonyx) were likewise
common.
GAMBUSIA 215
Dr. Eigenmann found ripe females in Turkey creek,
Indiana June 27 ; and we have taken specimens greatly distended
with eggs between the 16th and the 27th of the same month.
GENUS GAMBUSIA POEY
Body moderately elongate, becoming deep in the adult female; head
flat above; mouth moderate; lower jaw projecting; both jaws with bands
of pointed teeth; dorsal and anal fins rather short and small, the anal more
or less in advance of the dorsal and in the male much advanced and modified
into a long intromittent organ; scales as in Fundulus.
GAMBUSIA AFFINIS (BAIRD & GIRAED)
VIVIPAROUS TOP-MINNOW
(MAP LXVI-)
Baird and Girard, 1853, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 390 (Heterandria).
G., VI, 334, 335, 336 (holbrooki, humilis, and affinis); J. & G., 345, 346 (patruelis,
humilis, affinis), 340, 341, 892 (Zygonectes atrilatus, brachypterus, inurus);
M. V., 87 (patruelis); J. & E., I, 680; J., 52 (Zygonectes menalops): F., 71
(patruelis); L,., 22.
Length l}/2 to 2 inches; body robust and not much elongate, consider-
ably compressed; depth 3.7 to 4.3 in length; greatest width of body about
% of its depth; depth of caudal peduncle 2.1 to 2.4 in its length. Color
" light olive, each scale edged with darker; a very narrow dark streak* along
sides; top of head dusky; a more or less distinct triangular bluish-black bar
below eye; sides and belly anteriorly dusky with dark dots; a black blotch
on each side of belly, caused by the black internal organs showing through
the skin; young specimens often uniformly yellowish; fins dusky; the caudal
usually with cross series of dots". Head short, broad, and flat above, 3.7 to
4 in length; width of head 1.4 to 1.6 in its length; interorbital space 2 to 2.5
in head; eye 2.6 to 3.2; nose 2.8 to 3.6; maxillary 2.8 to 3.4; mandible equal
to eye; lower jaw slightly longer than upper; teeth in broad villiform bands.
* Not evident in our preserved material. — R. E. R.
216 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Dorsal rays 6 or 7, the fin inserted behind ventrals; anal rays 8 (females) or
6 (males) ; anal fin of males inserted nearer muzzle than base of caudal (vice
versa in females), its anterior rays modified into a long, blade-like intromit-
tent organ; ventrals reaching to vent; pectorals past front of ventrals, 1.2
in head. Scales 28 to 30; transverse series 8 or 9; top and sides o head
covered with large scales.
G. affinis lives along the southern coasts, in brackish as well
as in fresh water, from the Potomac and Delaware to the St.
Johns and the Escambia rivers in Florida, and down the Missis-
sippi to New Orleans and thence to the rivers of Texas and
Mexico.
Specimens examined by Dr. H. M. Smith were found to have
fed on algae, diatoms, and fragments of mosquitoes.
Sexual dimorphism is strongly manifested in this species,
the males being very small in comparison with the females and
furnished with a long intromittent organ, the modified first ray
of the anal fin. The males are much fewer than the females,
68 out of 69 specimens counted by Dr. Smith having been
females. The species is viviparous, and a specimen taken by
us in Running Lake, Union county, July 15, 1883, contained
embryos with prominent eye-spots. Dr. Smith found females
with large eggs July 1 in Maryland, and Aug. 11 obtained others
containing young apparently ready for extrusion. Dr. Ever-
mann found specimens containing well-developed embryos at
San Antonio, Texas, in November and December, and observa-
tions by A. A. Duty, reported by Dr. J. A. Ryder, indicate that
more than one brood may be produced in a season.
This little top-minnow," fairly common in extreme southern
Illinois, has been taken by us outside that region only from
Quincy, Meredosia, and Pekin. Our 18 collections are too few
to give us data of local distribution, but when treated with refer-
ence to the joint occurrence of this species with others more
abundant and more widely scattered through the state, they
disclose an interesting situation, illustrating the methods by
which closely related species occupying the same territory come
to evade an injurious competition with each other. Bringing
into comparison the collection records for the four species of
this family, and taking note of the relative frequency with
which the same species have been taken together in the same
collection, we find that Gambusia affinis occurs with our most
abundant and most widely distributed top-minnow (Fundulus
notatus} with nearly three times the relative frequency of the
joint occurrence of F. notatus and F. dispar, and that it occurs
AMBLYOPSID^: THE BLINDFISHES
217
jointly with the less abundant species, F. dispar, with one and
a third times that frequency — facts which are to be understood
only when the general distribution of all these species is taken
into account. G. affinis finds in southern Illinois the northern
limit of its range, its occurrences beyond that boundary being
evidently merely accidental. In its general distribution it goes
southeast to Florida and southwest to Mexico, while the three
other species are so distributed that Illinois is in the midst of
the area occupied by them. These general occupants 'of our
area have come to avoid each other locally in great measure, as
shown by their relatively small coefficients of association — an
adjustment forced upon them by the competitive relations in
which they otherwise would live — while G. affinis, entering the
territory of these three species only at its southern border, has
not become ecologically adjusted to them, and is consequently
to be found in their favorite haunts more frequently than they
are in those of each other. These various relations may be
more clearly shown by the following table.
TABLE OF ASSOCIATE RELATIONS OF FUNDULUS DISPAR,
F. NOTATUS, AND GAMBUSIA AFFINS
Species
Collections
Joint occur-
rences
Frequency
coefficients
F. dispar
F. notatus
83
210
17
1.47
F. dispar
G. affinis
83
18
2
2.01
F. notatus
G. affinis
2iO
18
11
4.37
FAMILY AMBLYOPSID^E
THE BLIXDFISHES
Body moderately elongate, compressed behind; head long and depressed;
body with small cycloid scales, irregularly placed, and more or less imbedded,
so that the body appears naked; head naked, the surface sometimes crossed
by papillary ridges; lateral line wanting; skeleton osseous; anterior vertebrae
simple; ventral fins small or wanting, abdominal; no spines in fins; dorsal
nearly opposite anal; caudal truncate or rotinded; no mesocoracoid; gill-
— 23 F
218 FISIIKS OF ILLINOIS
membranes more or less completely joined to isthmus; branchiostegals about
6; pseudobranchise concealed; gill-rakers very short; eyes in typical genera
very rudimentary and hidden under the skin, in such forms the body being
translucent and colorless; mouth rather large; lower jaw projecting; pre-
maxillaries scarcely protractile, forming entire margin of upper jaw; jaws
and palatines with bands of slender villiform teeth; stomach csecal, with one
or two pyloric appendages; air-bladder present; ovary single; some (and
probably all) of the species ovo viviparous; vent jugular.
Fishes of small size, living in or about subterranean streams,
caves, and swamps of the southern United States. Four genera
and six species known, the majority being blind, with pale,
almost pigmentless, bodies, and with the eyes covered with thick
skin, inhabiting the cave region of southern Indiana, Kentucky,
and Missouri. The single species found in Illinois retains the
use of its eyes, and has the color of ordinary fishes. The group
Amblyopsidce is a very ancient one, as indicated by many points
in their anatomy. The forward position of the vent, though
not peculiar to these fishes, is found in only one other fresh-
water family (Aphredoderidce*) , likewise a relict of a family all
but extinct.
GENUS CHOLOGASTER AGASSIZ
Eyes well developed; ventral fins wanting; body not translucent, the
skin having more or less pigment, and the color being much as in ordinary
fishes; pyloric caeca 4; character otherwise those of the family. Swamps of
the southern United States; a single species found in Illinois, at the mouths
of caves in Union and Pope counties.
CHOLOGASTER PAPILLIFERUS FOEBES
SPRING CAVE-FISH
(PL., P. 220)
Forbes, Amer. Nat., 1882, 2.
J. & G., 325, 890 (papillifer); M. V., 83; J. & E., I, 704; P., 72; L., 22.
Length 2.4 inches; elongate, little compressed, caudal peduncle deep;
head with rows of tactile papillae, as in the true blindfishes (Amblyopsis and
Typhlichthys); depth 5 to 6; greatest width % of depth; depth caudal pe-
duncle 2 in its length. Color dark brown above, paler below; sides with 3
narrow longitudinal stripes, the upper and lower ones black, and the middle
one of the ground color or paler (not black, as in C. cornutus) ; caudal fin dark
brown, with several vertical rows of white specks running across the rays;
anterior portion of dorsal similar in color but paler. Head short, broad, and
exceedingly depressed, 4 in length; width of head 1.5 in its length; interorbital
CHOLOGASTER 219
space flat, 3.4 in head; eyes 2.8 in head, mostly on its upper surface; nose
broadly rounded, 3.5; mouth rather large, maxillary not reaching eye; lower
jaw projecting; sides and top of head with numerous mostly short and broken
and chiefly single rows of small sensory papillae; a prominent double row on
outside of each lower jaw. sunk in a groove extending from back to front of
mandible, and within this a parallel ii regular row of smaller papillae on the
lower surface of the jaw; especially conspicuous papillae about the nostrils;
the latter conspicuous, tubular, projecting forward, with expanded openings.
Dorsal and anal fins thick and fleshy, their height about equal to their length ;
developed dorsal rays 6, the fin inserted behind the middle of the body and
slightly in front of the anal; developed anal rays 5; caudal broadly rounded;
ventrals wanting; pectorals 1.7 in head. Scales very small, cycloid, covered
with thick skin.
Known at present only from a cave spring in Union county
coming from the foot of a Mississippi River bluff, and from a
cave on the Ohio River near Golconda, in Pope county. This
species was originally described from material sent the senior
author in 1879 and again in 1881 by F. S. Earle, of Cobden, 111.,
and specimens have since been repeatedly taken from the Union
county spring by various assistants of the State Laboratory.
The occurrence of the species in Pope county was reported to
me by Dr. Meek in 1908.
Especial interest attaches to this little fish as intermediate
between the true blindfishes of the caves (Amblyopsis and
Typhlichthyus) and earlier described species of Chologaster.
The sensory structures of C. papilliferus correspond in character
to its situation as a partially subterranean species. Studies
recently made by Dr. Eigenmann show that the optic nerve
and all of the important elements of the eye are present, but
that the choroid is very thin and its pigment scanty, and that
the retina is much degenerated.
The food and feeding habits of this species have not been
especially studied, although it is known to be carnivorous. Dr.
Shufeldt, quoting a note from Eigenmann, says that it detects
its prey by its cutaneous sense-organs and not by its eyes,
illustrating this statement by Eigenmann's observation of the
behavior of a fish in capturing, by an instantaneous movement,
a Gammarus which was approaching it from behind and below,
where it could not have been seen by its captor. This does not,
however, preclude the usefulness under other conditions of such
eyesight as it has retained, especially when the fish is lurking
under stones in the neighborhood of the outlet of its subterra-
nean resort.
220 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
OBDER ACANTHOPTERI
THE SPINY-RAYED FISHES
Skeleton bony; the anterior vertebrae unmodified and without Weberian
ossicles; ventral fins more or less anterior (thoracic) in nearly all forms,
being abdominal in a few of the more archaic families; ventrals typically with
1 spine and 5 soft rays; anterior rays of dorsal and anal typically simple (un-
segmented) and spinous; shoulder girdle attached to the skull by a post-
temporal; no mesocoracoid, so far as known; hypercoracoid usually perforate;
opercular apparatus complete; border of mouth formed by the premaxillaries
alone, which are usually dentigerous; maxillary always present and toothless,
normally distinct from the premaxillary; air-bladder typically without duct
in adult; scales usually, though not always, ctenoid.
To this group belong the great majority of existing marine
fishes, as well as numerous families more or less peculiar to fresh
water. At least 5 more or less distinct suborders of Acanthop-
teri are represented in the waters of Illinois, by far the greater
number of the species belonging to the perch-like or bass-like
families of the group Percoidei.
KEY TO FAMILIES OF ACANTHOPTERI FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Ventral fins abdominal, i. e., inserted nearer first (soft) rays of anal than to
the angle under throat formed by the union of the free gill-membranes
(which definition does not include some members of the families Gasteros-
teidw and Percopsidce found outside of Illinois).
b. Dorsal fin with a single spine or preceded by 4 or more free spines.
Suborder Hemibranohii.
c. No adipose fin; dorsal fin preceded by 4 or more free spines. . Gasterosteidae.
Suborder Salmopercas.
cc. An adipose fin; dorsal, anal, and ventral fins each with a weak and rather
indistinct spine Percopsidae.
Suborder Percesoces.
bb. Dorsal fin preceded by a finlet of 3 to 8 slender spines Atherinidae.
aa. Ventral fins thoracic, i. e., inserted nearer to angle of gill -membranes than
to the first anal spine, except in the deep-bodied genera CentrachidCB
(which have dorsal spines 6 to 13 and anal spines 3 to 9 and ventrals
nearer to throat than to first soft ray of anal).
Group Percoidei.
d. Ventral rays usually I, 7 (I, 6 or 7), never I. 5; vent jugular. .Aphredoderidae.
dd. Ventral rays I, 3 to I, 5, typically I, 5.
e. Chin without barbel.
f. Body scaled.
CAVE-FISH, Chologaster papillifenis Forbes
BROOK STICKLEBACK, Eiicalia inconstant (Kirtland)
BROOK S1LVERSIDE, Labidesthes sicculus (Cope)
GASTEROSTEID^i] — THE STICKLEBACKS 221 ,
g. Anal spines 3 to 10.
h. Lateral line wanting Elassomidae.
hh. Lateral line present.
i. Dorsal fins confluent, the spinous portion low or high; in forms with the
notch deep, approaching separation, the highest dorsal spine is but little
more than % height of the highest ray Centra rchidae.
ii. Dorsal fins either (1) separate and with soft and spinous portions about
equally high, or (2) barely confluent, with the notch very deep and with
the highest dorsal spine as high or higher than the highest soft ray (which
definition does not include marine genera) Serranidae.
gg. Anal spines 1 or 2, never more than 2.
h. Lateral line not extending on rays of caudal fin ' Percidae.
hh. Lateral line extending on rays of caudal fin Sciaenidae.
Suborder Loricati.
ff. Body naked, or variously armed with prickles or bony plates Cottidae.
FAMILY GASTEROSTEID^!
THE STICKLEBACKS
Body more or less fusiform, somewhat compressed, tapering behind to a
slender caudal peduncle; skin naked or with vertically oblong bony plates; no
true scales; skeleton osseous; four anterior vertebrae more or less enlarged;
middle and sides of belly shielded by the pubic bones; ventral fins abdominal
or subabdominal, consisting of a stout spine and one or two rudimentary rays;
dorsal fin preceded by 2 or more free spines; caudal lunate; no mesocoracoid;
gill-membranes broadly joined, free from isthmus or not free; branchiostegals
3; gill-rakers moderate or rather long; mouth-cleft oblique; premaxillaries
protractile; maxillary bent at r ght angles and overlapping premaxillary at
corner of mouth; teeth sharp, in a narrow band on each jaw; no teeth on
vomer or palatines; pyloric caeca present, few in number; air-bladder simple.
These are small fishes, inhabiting fresh waters and arms of
the sea in northern Europe and America. Genera 5, species
about 12; two species, representing two genera, found in Illinois.
The fresh-water sticklebacks are very similar in their habits.
All are active, pugnacious, and greedy, and, in spite of their
small size, they are known to be very destructive to the fry of
other fishes. In certain localities along the Atlantic coast they
occur so abundantly as to be a nuisance to the fishermen, clog-
ging the nets used for smelt. Certain European species will
bear with impunity transplantation from fresh water into salt
water, and vice versa.
Most or all of the sticklebacks build nests, constructing
them out of sticks which they fasten together by silk-like threads
formed from the secretion of a gland, found only in the males.
The substance* secreted by this gland, which is in reality the
* See Mobius Arch. f. Mikr. Anat. Vol. 25 p. 554.
222 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
kidney, is much like the mucin secreted by the vineyard snail,
Helix pomatia. The nest is built, by the exertions of the male
alone, among the stems of aquatic plants where there is some
current.* It has two openings, which are "as smooth and
symmetrical as the hole leading into a wren's nest, and not
unlike it." The male induces the female to enter the nest and
lay her eggs, after which he enters and deposits his milt. The
holes in the nest are in the direction of the current, so that a
stream of water passes through it continually. The pugnacious
male watches the nest and wards off all intruders.
KEY TO XHE GENERA OF GASTEROSTEID^E FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Pubic bones firmly united, forming a lanceolate plate with a single strong
median keel; tail without keel, deeper than broad; dorsal spines 4 or 5,
the spines in a right line, non-divergent Eucalia.
aa. Pubic bones weak and feebly united to form an elongate plate with a
median longitudinal groove, on each side of which is a raised edge; tail
broader than deep, with lateral bony keel; dorsal spines 8 to 11, divergent
from right to left at various angles Pygosteus.
GENUS EUCALIA JORDAN
FIVE-SPINED STICKLEBACKS
Sticklebacks of typical form, feebly armed, the skin not mailed, and the
dorsal spines few (not more than 5) and non-divergent; tail deeper than
broad, without keel; pubic bones firmly united, forming a lanceolate plate
with a single strong median carina. Fresh waters of North America; one
species known.
EUCALIA INCONSTANS (KIRTLAND)
BROOK STICKLEBACK
(PL., P. 220)
Kirtland, 1841, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., Ill, 273 (Gasterosteus).
J. & G., 394 (Gasterosteus); M. V., 97; J. & E., I, 744; N., 42 (inconstans and
pygmaea); J., 51; F.( 70 (Gasterosteus); F. F., I. 6, 68; L., 22.
I ength 1Yi inches; body rather deep and moderately compressed; caudal
peduncle rather stout and not keeled; depth 3.8 to 4.4; greatest width about
% of greatest depth; depth of caudal peduncle 1.8 to 2.9 in its length. Color
(females and young) olivaceous, with faint lighter mottlings and with many
fine dots of black; upper part of sides and caudal peduncle with about 10
dark cross-bar-like bands more or less confluent in ring-like pattern; lower
* For full description of nest-building of Gnstei-osteus cataphraclus see J. K. Lord as quoted
by Dr. Jordan in "Guide to the Study of Fishes, " Vol. IT. p. 2?0.
EUCALIA — FIVE-SPIXED STICKLEBACKS 223
'parts silvery; upper part of cheek and opercle crossed by a splash of bright
green; median fins more or less dusky; spring males said to be jet-black,
tinged with red anteriorly. Head 3.2 to 3.8; width of head 1.9 to 2.3 in its
length; interorbital space 4.6 to 5.7; eye 3.2 to 3.4; nose 4 to 5; mouth small
and very oblique, the maxillary considerably short of front of orbit, 4 to 4.8
in head. Dorsal V (or VI), 9-10, the spines in a right line, not divergent;
caudal subtruncate (scarcely lunate in our specimens); anal rather large, I,
9 or 10, the spine shorter than the anterior rays; ventrals with a short but
strong and sharp spine with minute serratures. its length 3,5 to 4 in head;
pectorals 1.7 to 2 in head; post-pectoral plate present; thoracic processes
slender and covered with skin, widely separated; pubic bones firmly united,
forming a lanceolate, keeled process which extends backward from between
ventrals. Skin smooth, destitute of dermal plates.
This little stickleback, one of the hardiest, most combative,
and most individual of our smaller fishes, has been confined, in
our collections, to the lakes of northeastern Illinois, the Calumet
River at South Chicago, and clear brooks in LaSalle county.
It is a northern species, ranging through the Dominion of
Canada from New Brunswick to Calgary on the branches of the
Saskatchewan, and thence through the St. Lawrence, Lake
Champlain, and the Great Lakes from Ontario to Superior, to
central Ohio and the basin of the Missouri as far south as Kansas.
It is confined to fresh waters, and prefers clear cool brooks.
This species builds nests, like the others of its family. In the
aquarium it is quarrelsome, and destructive even to fishes of
larger size.
Its mouth is small, its gill-rakers are long and slender, about
half the length of the corresponding filaments, and its pharyngeal
apparatus is insignificant. The intestine is short and simple,
not longer than the head and body together. Notwithstanding
this equipment for a carnivorous life, five specimens examined
by us were found to have fed on plants and animals in equal
quantities — the former wholly filamentous algae, which had been
taken by four of the specimens in quantities to make it certain
that they were purposely eaten. The animal food was about
equally insects and crustaceans, the latter chiefly Entomostraca
and the former largely Chironomus larvse. These and specimens
of Cypris taken by one of these fishes are evidence that it feeds,
in part at least, upon the bottom.
224: FISHES OF ILLINOIS
GENUS PYGOSTEUS BEEVOOET
NINE-SPINED STICKLEBACKS
Dorsal spine 9 to 11, divergent from right to left at various angles; tail
broader than deep, with a lateral bony keel; pubic bones weak and feebly
united, forming an elongate plate with a median longitudinal groove, on each
side of which is a raised edge*; characters otherwise as in Eucalia. Species
two, in the waters of northern regions, one of them native in China; a single
species, cosmopolitan in distribution, found in the waters of Illinois.
PYGOSTEUS PUNGITIUS
NINE-SPINED STICKLEBACK
Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., Ed. X, 296 (Gasterosteus).
G., I, 6 (Gasterosteus); J. & G., 393 (Gasterosteus); M. V., 97; J. & E., I, 745; N.,
42 (nebulosus); J., 51 (occidentalis var. nebulosus); F. F., I. 6, 69.
Length 3 inches; body quite slender, considerably compressed, the
caudal peduncle very long, slender and tapering, broader than deep, and
with lateral bony keel; depth 5.1 to 5.6; greatest width about % of greatest
depth; depth of caudal peduncle 4.3 to 6.2 in its length. "Color olivaceous
above, profusely punctulate, irregularly barred with darker; silvery below"
(J. & E.). He.ad 3.3 to 3 7; width 2.4 to 3; interorbital space 4.5 to 5.1 in
head; eye 3; nose 3.3 to 3.8; mouth somewhat less oblique than in the last
species, the maxillary nearly to orbit, 3.3 to 4.4 in head. Dorsal IX (or X),
9 or 10, the spines promiscuously divergent to right and left at various angles ;
caudal scarcely lunate; anal rather low, the spine nearly as long as anterior
rays; ventrals with a long finely serrated spine, which is less than 3 in head;
pectorals 1.7 to 1.9 in head; post-pectoral plate well developed; thoracic
processes prominent, forming a U-shaped figure; pubic bones thin and feebly
united, lanceolate, with a median groove between two raised edges. Skin
naked except for small bony plates along bases of dorsal and anal and on
caudal keel.
This little species has been taken by us but once, and then
from the lower Calumet River and from Lake Michigan near the
mouth of that stream. It inhabits both fresh and brackish
water, and is found throughout northern Europe, and in North
America as far southward as the Great Lake region. It is thus
a strictly northern species.
Our only hint of its food was given us by the examination of
two specimens which had fed wholly on the larvae of gnats
(Chironomus and Simulium) and on various Entomostraca.
* Not verified for P. sinensis of China.
PERCOPSID^: THE TROUT-PERCHES 225
FAMILY PERCOPSID^
THE TROUT-PERCHES
Body moderately elongate, somewhat compressed; caudal peduncle
rather long and slender; scales with edges strongly ctenoid; head naked;
lateral line developed; skeleton bony; anterior vertebrae simple; ventral fins
abdominal, somewhat anterior; dorsal fin with 2 spines; ventrals with 1
rudimentary spine and about 8 rays; anal with 1 or 2 spines; caudal forked;
an adipose fin present; no mesocoracoid ; gill-membranes separate, free from
isthmus; branchiostegals 6; pseudobranchise present; gill-rakers short,
tubercle-like; opercle with entire edges; mouth small, horizontal; premaxil-
laries not protractile; teeth very small, villiform, on premaxillaries and
lower jaw only; stomach siphonal, with about 10 well-developed pyloric
caeca; air-bladder present; with an open duct (Boulenger); ova large, not
falling into the abdominal cavity before extrusion.
Small fishes of the fresh waters of North America; 2 genera
known, each containing a single species; one species found in
Illinois.
This family " shows the remarkable combination of true fin-
spines, ctenoid scales, and a percoid mouth, with the adipose fin,
abdominal ventrals, and naked head of the Isospondyli" (herring-
like forms). It is doubtless a surviving remnant of a fauna
which marked the transition from the soft-rayed herring-like
forms to the later-appearing groups of acanthopterygian fishes.
GENUS PERCOPSIS AGASSIZ
TROUT-PERCH
Characters in the main as above, differing from the single other known
genus of the family (Columbia Eigenmann, recently described from the
Pacific slope) in the weaker dorsal spines, the more translucent body, and
the relative absence of serration of the preopercle. Atlantic slope and Great
Lake region, in clear cold waters ; one species.
PERCOPSIS GUTTATUS AGASSIZ
TROUT-PERCH
(MAP LXVII)
Agassiz, 1850, Lake Superior, 286.
G., VI, 207; J. & G., 322; M. V., 82; J. & E., I, 784; N., 43; J., 53; F., 72; L,., 22.
Length 6 inches; body elongate, not much compressed, strongly tapered
posteriorly, the caudal peduncle slender; depth 3.9 to 4.5; greatest width %
greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 2.7 to 3.2 in its length. Color of upper
226 FISHES OP ILLINOIS
parts pale olive-buff, the scales with faint edgings of black; 8 or 9 black
spots on each side anterior to adipose fin and above lateral line; a dusky
median lateral band, more or less broken into spots; lower portion of sides
and belly silvery; entire fish translucent; the cerebral membranes showing
olive underneath skin of head; peritoneum silvery; cheeks, opercles, jaws,
and chin silvery with emerald luster; iris silvery white with faint luster of
rose; fins plain, transparent. Head slender, conical, 3.2 to 3.7; width of head
1.8 to 2 in its length; interorbital space 3.5 to 4 in head; eye .9 to 1.2 in
interorbital space, 3.3 to 4 in head; nose 2.4 to 3; mouth moderate, sub-
inferior, maxillary short of orbit, 3 to 4 in head; lower jaw included. Dorsal
I (occasionally II), 9-11; the spine very weak, the fin inserted much nearer
muzzle than base of caudal, almost exactly over ventrals; caudal deeply
forked; anal I, 5-7; ventrals abdominal, nearer anal than angle of union of
gill-membranes; pectorals reaching past front of ventrals, 1.2 to 1.5 in head.
Scale 6, 47-54, 7, ctenoid, being most distinctly so on caudal peduncle;
lateral line developed, nearly straight.
This interesting and graceful little fish, a distinctly northern
species in its main range, has been found by us chiefly in clear
spring waters at various points along the Illinois River from
Meredosia to Hennepin. We have taken it also once from a
small stream near Lincoln, in Logan county, and once from Lake
Michigan, off Chicago. It is a wide-ranging species, known from
the streams of New England and Quebec, thence west to Kansas
and northward to Hudson Bay and the Saskatchewan Valley
near Medicine Hat. It is common in the Great Lakes, but rare
south of them.
It spawns in spring, and females greatly distended with eggs
were caught by us at Havana on the 10th of March. Surface
says that in Cayuga Lake, New York, females captured in May
were in ripe condition.
FAMILY ATHERINID>£
THE SILVERSIDES
Body rather elongate, somewhat compressed; scales generally cycloid;
head usually scaly; lateral line absent or represented by only a few rudi-
mentary tubes; skeleton osseous; anterior vertebras simple; ventral fins
abdominal; two dorsal fins, well separated, the first consisting of 3 to 8
slender flexible spines, and the second of soft rays; anal with a weak spine;
no mesocoracoid; gill-membranes not connected, free from isthmus; branchi-
ostegals 5 or 6; pseudobranchise present; gill-rakers usually long and slender;
opercular bones without spines or serrature; premaxillaries protractile or
not; teeth usually present on jaws, sometimes on vomer and palatines; no
pyloric casca; air-bladder present.
LABIDESTHES BROOK SILVERSIDES , 22?
"Carnivorous fishes, mostly of small size, living in great
schools near the shore in temperate and tropical seas; a few
species in fresh water." A single genus and species found in
Illinois waters. The presence in all the species of a silvery band
along the side, often underlaid by black pigment, gives the
common name to the family.
GENUS LABIDESTHES COPE
BROOK SILVERSIDES
Body elongate, more or less compressed; belly rounded before ventrals;
head oblong, compressed; mouth small, the cleft curved, oblique, the jaws
being prolonged into a short depressed beak; premaxillaries freely protractile,
broad behind; lower jaw longer than upper; no teeth on vomer or palatines;
both dorsals short; scales with entire edges. Eastern North America to
Texas; confined to fresh waters; a single species known.
LABIDESTHES SICCULUS (COPE)
BROOK SILVERSIDE
(PL., P. 220; MAP LXVIII)
Cope, 1865, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 81 (Chirostoma).
J. & G., 406; M. V., 100; J. & E., I, 805; N., 42; J., 51; F., 70; F. F., I. 6, 69; L., 22.
Length 3 inches; body quite slender and elongate and considerably
compressed; depth 6 to 8; greatest width about % in greatest depth; depth
of caudal peduncle 2.3 to 3 in its length. 'Color pale olive-green, translucent;
a very distinct lateral silvery band, scarcely b'roader than pupil, bounded
above by a dark line; back dotted with black' (J. & E., slightly emended);
dorsal of males tipped with black. Head long and pointed, flattened, and
broader above than below, 4.1 to 4.6; width of head 2.1 to 2.5; interorbital
space 3.5 to 4; eye 3.5 to 4; nose long and slender, the jaws prolonged into a
short depressed beak, whose length is nearly twice the eye; mouth large,
maxillary to front of orbit, cleft 2.2 to 2.6; jaws equal, edge of upper jaw
strongly concave. Dorsal IV-I, 9 to 11; first dorsal inserted slightly behind
front of anal; caudal forked; anal I, 21 to 24; ventrals abdominal, much
nearer front of anal than throat; pectorals nearly to ventrals, 1.3 to 1.6 in
head. Scales cycloid, 15-16, 75-79; lateral line represented by a few isolated
pores (as a rule only on caudal peduncle) ; cheeks and opercles scaled.
This delicate and exquisite little fish, slender as a pike, semi-
translucent, and decorated with lateral stripes of brilliant silver,
is distributed through the northern, central, and eastern parts
of the state, but is wanting in all our collections from the Kas-
kaskia, the Big Muddy, the Saline, and the waters of extreme
southern Illinois. It evidentlv avoids the lower Illinoisan
228 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
glaciation. It is more abundant north than south, the fre-
quency ratios of our 121 collections of it being approximately
as 1, 2, and 3, for southern, central, and northern Illinois respec-
tively.
It occurs in a great variety of waters from Lake Michigan
and the northeastern glacial lakes of Illinois to the borders of
the main stream of the Illinois River and the muddy lakes of
the Illinois bottoms, commonest, however, in the quieter and
clearer parts of the waters which it inhabits. We have found
it somewhat most abundant in the smaller rivers (coefficient
1.67), and next in the glacial lakes (1.13) and in lowland lakes
and sloughs (1.01). It is not infrequent, however, in our collec-
tions from creeks and the larger rivers (.76 and .77).
Outside the state, it is present in all the Great Lakes, and
ranges thence southward to Florida and southwestward to
Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas.
It seems to live wholly on the animal plankton, apparently
catching its minute prey one by one, as a pike captures fish.
Its mouth, though small, is well equipped with teeth, and its
gill-rakers are unusually well developed, being numerous,
slender, armed with minute denticles, and longer than the gill-
filaments. Corresponding to its predaceous habit, its intestine
is uncommonly short, the whole alimentary canal being consider-
ably shorter than the body without the head. The food of
twenty-five specimens, obtained from widely scattered localities,
was wholly animal, arid consisted mostly of minute larvae of
gnats (Chironomus) and many species of Entomostraca, both
copepods and Cladocera. Land insects and spiders, washed or
fallen into the water, were also frequent in its food, including
forms as small as plant-lice, chalcids, springtails, and thrips.
One specimen had taken a very small unrecognizable minnow.
FAMILY APHREDODERID^E
THE PIRATE-PERCHES
Body oblong, elevated at base of dorsal, compressed behind; caudal
peduncle thick; scales strongly ctenoid; sides of head scaly; lateral line im-
perfect; skeleton osseous; anterior vertebrae simple; ventrals thoracic, with a
small spine and more than 5 soft rays; dorsal fin single, with 3 or 4 small
spines; anal with two slender spines; caudal rounded; no mesocoracoid: gill-
membranes slightly joined to isthmus anteriorly; branchiostegals 6; pseudo-
branchiae obsolete; gill-rakers tubercle-like, dentate; preopercle and pre-
orbital with free edges sharply serrate; opercle with a spine; mouth some-
Al'HUEDODERUS — PIRATE-PERCHES 229
what oblique; premaxillary not protractile; maxillary without evident sup-
plemental bone; teeth in villiform bands on jaws, vomer, palatines, and
pterygoids; pyloric caeca about 12; intestinal canal ending at throat in the
adult, the vent more posterior in the young, migrating forward, with growth,
from just behind the ventral fins; air-bladder simple, large, adherent, the
duct probably obsolete.
Fresh waters of the United States; a single living genus and
species ; several fossil genera While the structure of the skeleton
is essentially that of percoid fishes, the character of the forward
position of the vent leaves the Aphredoderidce singularly isolated,
without close relationships with the true perch-like forms.
GENUS APHREDODERUS LE SUEUE
PIRATE-PERCHES
Characters of the genus included above.
FIG. 55
APHREDODERUS SAYANUS (&ILLIAMS)
PIRATE-PERCH
(MAP LXIX)
Gilliams, 1824, J. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., IV, 81 (Scolopsis).
J. & G., 460; M. V., 113; J. & E., I, 786; N., 39 (A. sayanus and Sternotremia
isolepis); J., 48; (Aphododerus isolepis); F., 70; L., 22.
Length 2 to 4 inches; body robust, rather deep and considerably com-
pressed, the caudal peduncle stout; depth 3.1 to 3.5; greatest width scarcely
more than % greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 1.6 to 1.9 in its length.
Color dark olivaceous over transparent pinkish to lavender, the head and
body everywhere profusely specked with black, appearing bluish over the
ground-color; under side of head and sometimes fore part of breast and belly
yellowish; two blackish bars at base of caudal; fins, except ventrals, dusky
with a more deeply pigmented band around bases; ventrals yellowish ; median
fins with a narrow marginal fringe of white. Breeding males and females show
much iridescent color, the predominating lusters being violet and purple;
230 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
light coppery, green, and silvery sometimes visible; the entire bodies of
breeding males often almost black. Head broad below, depressed, the pro-
file concave, 2.8 to 3.2; width of head 1.5 to 1.8 in its length; interorbital
space 3.3 to 4; eye 1.4 to 1.8 in interorbital, 4.5 to 5.3 in head; nose 2.8 to
3.4 (usually less than 3.2); mouth moderate, oblique, maxillary nearly to
front of orbit, 2.7 to 2.9; lower jaw projecting; sides and top of head, chin,
and lower jaw with rows of sensory papillae, as in Amblyopsidce. Dorsal III,
9-12 (usually 10 or 11), the fin nearer muzzle than base of caudal, behind
ventrals; caudal fin broadly rounded, with a slight notch; anal II, 6; ventrals
jugular in adult*, nearer angle of gill-membranes than front of anal; pectorals
1.4 to 1.8 in head, reaching more than half way to anal. Scales 9-13 (usually
11-12), 49-59, 12-14, strongly ctenoid; lateral line developed anteriorly;
cheeks and opercles fully scaled.
This obscure but peculiar little fish has been found by us in
muddy pools and streams throughout Illinois, much the most
abundantly southward It is indeed so rare in northern Illinois
that only one of our hundred collections of it has been taken in
that part of the state, giving us a frequency coefficient of less
than 5 per cent., while that for central Illinois is .72 and that for
southern Illinois is 2.23. We have found it most abundant in
creeks (coefficient, 2.51), and about half as common in large
rivers (1.1) and in lowland lakes (1.24). The streams and situa-
tions it most affects are those in which there is little or no current
and a muddy bottom, our coefficient of the species for quiet
water being 3.26, and that for a muddy bottom, 3.26.
The general distribution of the pirate-perch carries it from
Long Island around the coasts of the Atlantic and the Gulf to
Texas, and northward up the Mississippi basin to South Dakota
and Minnesota and through the Great Lakes at least as far east
as Lake Erie. It has not been reported from Canada.
It was named the " pirate-perch " by Dr. C. C. Abbott,
because it ate only fishes when confined in his aquarium. Studies
made by us in Illinois show, however, that fishes form only a
small part of its normal food. The intestine is short and simple,
less than the length of the head and body without the tail; the
gill-rakers are short, thick, blunt, and few, and covered with
short spinules; and the pharyngeal jaws are small plates covered
with short, sharp, minute teeth, similar to those of the sunfishes.
The mouth is large, but not remarkably protractile. Judging
from 19 specimens dissected, the food is virtually all animal.
Small fishes had been eaten by but two, the only one recogniza-
ble being a minnow (Cyprinidce) . Insects formed the major
* On variability in position of vent with age, see Jordan (Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist.,
No. 2. 1878, p. 48), and Jordan and Evermann (Bull. 47, U'. S. Nat. Mus., Pt. I., p. 787).
ELASSOMID.E — THE PIGMY SUXF1SHES 231
part of the food, all of them of aquatic species except a few
gnats, accidental in the water. Nearly half of the food consisted
of larvae of gnat-like insects (Chironomus and Corethra), and the
remainder was mostly larvse of May-flies, water-bugs, and larvae
of aquatic beetles, together with a few amphipod and isopod
crustaceans. One of these fish had eaten a water- worm (Lum-
briculus] allied to the earthworms, and Entomostraca had been
taken by a few. A comparison of the food of specimens of
various ages, beginning with those in which the vent was just
in front of the ventral fins and ending with those in which it had
moved far forward on the throat, gave no hint of the reasons for
this extraordinary step in development, these fishes all having
eaten substantially the same food.
Dr. Abbott says that the pirate-perch builds a nest which is
guarded by both parents, who likewise protect the young until
they are about a third of an inch long. The species spawned in
the hatchery troughs at Meredosia May 1, 1899, and males
running with milt were taken in Meredosia Bay on May 23.
FAMILY ELASSOMID^E
THE PIGMY SUNFISHES
Body oblong, compressed, covered with large cycloid scales; head scaly;
lateral line obsolete; skeleton osseous; anterior vertebrae simple, ventrals
thoracic, I, 5; dorsal fin single, with 4 or 5 spines; anal with 3 spines; caudal
rounded; no mesocoracoid; gill-membranes broadly united, free from isthmus;
branchiostegals 5; pseudobranchise small, glandular, covered by skin; gill-
rakers tubercle-like; preopercles, preorbitals, and opercles with edges entire;
mouth terminal; upper jaw protractile; each jaw with strong conical teeth,
in few series; vomer with a few weak teeth; palatines toothless; no pyloric
caeca; vent normally placed; air-bladder without duct, so far as known.
Very small fishes, inhabiting the swamps of the southern
United States. A single genus, with 2 species. The Elassomidce
differ from the Centrarchidce chiefly in their small size. Cycloid
scales, while not normal to Central chidae, are found in some
forms.
GENUS ELASSOMA JORDAN
PIGMY SUNFISHES
Characters of the genus included above.
232 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Two species: E. zonatum, widely distributed in the southern
United States; and E. evergladei; confined to the swamps of
southern Georgia and of Florida.
ELASSOMA ZONATUM JORDAN
PIGMY SUNFISH
Jordan, 1877, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., X, 50.
J. & G., 461; M. V., 113; B., I, 34; J. & E., I, 982; J., 47; F., 70; L., 23.
Length \l/% inches; body oblong, deep and compressed, the profile
convex; depth 3.3 to 3.6; greatest width about Y^ greatest depth; depth
caudal peduncle 1.8 to 2 in its length. "Color olive-green, everywhere finely
punctulate; sides with about 11 parallel vertical bands of dark olive, about
equal in width, narrower than the eye, about as wide as the pale interspaces;
a conspicuous roundish black spot, nearly as large as the eye, on the sides
just above the axis of the body, under the beginning of the dorsal; soft fins
faintly barred; a blackish bar at base of caudal. Head 2.9 to 3, its width in
its length 1.8 to 1.9; interorbital space 4 to 4.3 in head; eye 3 to 3.5; nose short,
blunt, 5.3 to 5.8; mouth terminal, oblique, maxillary past front of orbit;
jaws equal. Dorsal IV to V, 9 to 10; caudal rounded; anal III, 5; ventrals
past vent; pectorals 1.8 to 1.9 in head. Scales 18-19, 37-39, cycloid; no lateral
line; cheeks and opercles scaled.
This little fish, rare in our waters and not abundant any-
where, has been taken by us in only six collections, all from
southern Illinois, four of them from the Wabash Valley, one from
Running Lake, and one from a bluff spring in Union county.
The Wabash localities are Little Fox River at Phillipstown,
Wabash River at Wabash station, Drew pond in White county,
and Swan pond near St. Francisville. It is a southern fish,
reported from North and South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana,
and Texas.
FAMILY CENTRARCHID/E
THE SUNFISHES
Body more or less shortened and compressed, the regions above and be-
low the horizontal axis about equally developed; scales usually not very
strongly ctenoid, in rare cases cycloid; sides of head scaly; lateral line present;
skeleton osseous, anterior vertebrae simple; abdominal vertebras from 3d or
4th to last with transverse processes; ventral fins thoracic, typically with 1
spine and 5 rays; dorsal fins confluent, the spines 6 to 13 (usually 10); anal
spines 3 to 9; caudal slightly emarginate or weakly furcate; no mesocoracoid;
gill-membranes separate from isthmus; branchiostegals 6, rarely 7; pseudo-
branchiae small, nearly or quite covered by skin; gill-rakers variously formed,
always armed with small teeth; preopercle entire or somewhat serrate; opercle
CENTRAKCHIDJE — THE SUNFISHES 233
ending behind in two flat points or prolonged in a black or partially black
flap at the angle; mouth terminal; premaxillaries protractile; maxillary
typically with a supplemental bone, which is obsolescent or wanting in some
small-mouthed forms; teeth in villiform bands on premaxillaries, lower jaw,
and vomer, and usually on palatines; tongue sometimes with teeth; no canine
teeth; lower pharyngeal bones separate, with conic or paved teeth; intestinal
canal short; pyloric cseca 5 to 10; air-bladder without duct in adult; color-
ation usually brilliant; the young more slender than the adults and in most
species marked by broad transverse bars.
Fresh waters of North America; genera about 12, species
about 30. Seven genera and 13 species found in the waters
of Illinois.
This family includes the crappies and black bass in addition
to the smaller forms more commonly referred to under the name
of "sunfishes." The species range in size from the smaller
sunfishes, some of which seldom exceed 3^2 inches in length, to
the rock bass and the crappie, which reach a weight of more
than 1 Ib, and the black bass, the large-mouth form of which
occasionally weighs 12 to 14 Ib.
The typical deep-bodied sunfishes, taken together as a group
of species, are about equally frequent in lowland lakes, creeks,
and the smaller rivers, and about half as common in upland lakes
and in rivers of the larger size, our general coefficients being
1.13 for each of the first three situations and .6 and .55 respec-
tively for the last two.
All the family are spring spawners so far as known. Most of
the species build nests, which consist of holes scooped out in
alluvial, leafy, or sandy bottom about the margins of the waters
they inhabit. Sexual differences in form or coloration are not
much developed.
All except the very small species are valued as food, the
sunfishes and crappies being among the best of pan-fishes. The
output of sunfishes, not including crappie and bass, for the states
of the Mississippi Valley in 1899 was 910,963 fe. Of the total,
507,680 Ib were furnished by the Illinois River alone.
The sunfishes proper — that is, the Centrarchidce exclusive of
the black bass — are a well-marked and homogeneous group of
species as to form and external structure, but a diverse assem-
blage as to ecological relationships. Some of the species, for
example, prefer running water, and others quiet; some a clean
hard bottom, and others a bottom of mud; some turbid water,
and others clear ; some creeks and rivulets, and others the larger
rivers. They also form a diverse group in respect to the dis-
—24 P
"334 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
position of the several species to avoid each others' company,
some of the species having been found together in our collections
with more than twice the average frequency, and others with less
than a third that average. The family affords, indeed, an
excellent illustration of the disposition of species close!}' allied
in structure and in classification and inhabiting the same area to
evade the mutually injurious competition to which their similar
natural endowments expose them, by avoiding each others'
company — by choosing, as a rule, different feeding grounds and
different places of resort. If we compare, for example, the pro-
portionate frequency with which the closely similar species of
the genus Lepomis have been taken together in our collections —
in the same haul of the net, or from the same situation at the
same time — with the frequency of associate occurrence of the
widely dissimilar species of the other genera of the family, we
find that the unlike species have been taken together much more
frequently than the like — in a ratio of \Y^ to 1 ; that the species of
Lepomis have, indeed, been taken in company with species of
other genera considerably more frequently than with each other.
The sunfishes, consequently, are not an associate group, but
tend to disperse themselves over a large variety of ecological
situations, those least like each other being most likely to meet
on common ground, where their unlike capacities enable them
to live together in a non-competitive way.
Of our fifteen species of sunfishes proper, including the
crappies in this number, eleven are abundant enough in this
state to play a significant part in the life of the family. Three of
these species have a more or less limited general distribution
within the state. The round sunfish (Centrarchus macropterus)
is confined to extreme southern Illinois; the pumpkinseed
(Eupomotis gibbosus) is found almost wholly in the northern half
of the state, and, except in northern Illinois proper, only along
the main streams of the largest rivers ; and the long-eared sunfish
(Lepomis megalotis), which is distributed throughout the state,
is so concentrated in southern and eastern Illinois that its com-
petitive relations are strongly affected by this fact. The war-
mouth (Chaenobryttus gulosus) is, indeed, somewhat similarly
distributed, the contrast being, however, less marked than in
megalotis. The rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris) is sharply
separated from most of the other sunfishes by its strong prefer-
ence for swift, clear streams; the bluegill (Lepomis pallidus), the
warmouth, and Lepomis miniatus are rather strongly distin-
CENTKARCHID^: — THE SUNFISHES 235
guished by their greater frequency in lakes and ponds; while
the warmouth and Lepomis humilis are especially noticeable
because of their high frequencies over a muddy bottom. The
principal species of the larger rivers are the two crappies (es-
pecially sparoides) and the bluegill; those of the smaller rivers
and creeks are the rock bass, the long-eared sunfish and Lepomis
humilis; and a special creek species is the green sunfish (L.
cyanellus), the usual sunfish of the smaller prairie streams of
central Illinois.
These differences of local situation and affiliation are most
evident in our miscellaneous collections distributed over the
minor waters of the state, and such distinctions diappear largely
in the Illinois River, which seems to serve as a kind of reservoir
or metropolis for the fish population of the country, in which its
various elements unite and mingle in a relatively indiscriminate
way. This fact appears especially on a comparison of the data
of the collections made at Meredosia and at Havana — about a
third of our whole number — with those made outside. Thus,
76 of our 170 collections of the pale crappie were made at either
Havana or Meredosia, and 94 of them came from other places.
Fifty-five percent. of these 76 Illinois River collections contained
also the bluegill, while only 27 per cent, of the 94 collections
outside these points contained both species. That is, local
differences of distribution, signifying ecological distinctions,
were twice as evident in the collections made from the smaller
waters as from those made from the Illinois.
In addition to these distinguishable differences of local prefer-
ence, the sunfishes are more strongly differentiated than usual
with respect to their feeding structures — the mouth, the gill-
rakers and the pharyngeal teeth. Those with large mouths
have a large ratio of fishes and crawfishes in the food, those with
long gill-rakers take more Entomostraca, and those with broad
and heavy pharyngeal bones, bearing stout blunt teeth, live more
largely on mollusks. Additional details on this topic will be
found in the discussion of the several genera and species.
KEY TO GENERA OF CENTRARCHID/E FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Dorsal fin little longer than anal, if any, its length 1 to 1.4 times length of
anal base; anal spines 5 to 8 in number.
b. Dorsal spines 5 to 8 (occasionally 9 or even 10) Pomoxis.
bb. Dorsal spines 11 to 13.
c. Anal spines 7 or 8 (occasionally 6), the rays 13 to 15 Centrarchus.
cc. Anal spines 6, rays 10 or 11 Ambloplites.
36 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
aa. Dorsal more than twice length of anal; anal spines -3.
d. Body comparatively short and deep, depth in adults as a rule more than %
of length; dorsal fin not deeply emarginate, the shortest spine behind
middle of fin more than % height of longest; operculum entire behind, not
emarginate, more or less prolonged in a bony process or flap with a
rounded posterior margin.
e. Tongue and pterygoids* with teeth; maxillary reaching past pupil
. Chaenobryttus.
ee. Tongue and pterygoids toothless; maxillary in most species short of middle
of orbit (to middle in L. cyanellus).
f. Lower pharyngeals (Fig. 64 and 65) narrow, the width in the length of
toothed portion about 3, outer margin straight or weakly concave, the
teeth long, slender, and acuminate; pectorals never reaching beyond
vertical from base of anal; opercular flap without red, or if red is present,
with the color forming a border and not a roundish spot Lepomis.
ff. Lower pharyngeals (Fig. 66 and 67) broad, the width in the length of the
toothed portion about 2, the outer margin a double curve; teeth short,
bluntly rounded or paved; opercular flap with a conspicuous roundish
red spot on its lower posterior corner or (in case the red spot is wanting)
the pectorals reaching past front of anal (to a vertical from last anal ray).
Eupomotis.
dd. Body comparatively elongate, depth about % length; dorsal fin deeply
emarginate, the shortest spine behind middle of fin from % to % height of
longest; operculum ending in two flat points Micropterus.
.tn
FIG. 56
FIG. 57
Roof (56) and floor (57) of mouth of Ambloplites rupestris to show dentition of a typical sun-
fish, dn, dentary; ecp, ectopterygoid; enp, entopterygoid; hy, hyoid; Iph, lower pharyn-
geal; pi, palatine; pmx, premaxillary; tn, tongue; uph, upper pharyngeal; vo, vomer.
See Fig. 56 and 57 for illustration of full dentition of a sunfish.
POMOXIS CRAPPIES 237
GENUS POMOXIS KAFINESQUE
CRAPPIES
Body moderately elongate, deep and strongly compressed; opercle
emargmate behind; preopercle and preorbital finely serrated; mouth large;
maxillary with a large supplemental bone; teeth on vomer, palatines, en-
top terygoids, and tongue; lower pharyngeals narrow, with sharp teeth; gill-
rakers long and slender, numerous; dorsal spines 6 to 8; anal spines 6; caudal
emarginate; scales feebly ctenoid.
Eastern United States and Canada; two species, which are
very similar in habit, ecological relationship, and food, scarcely
avoiding competition, on the whole, in any way clearly discernible
in our data. A tendency to geographical separation is shown
by the fact that annularis is the more abundant southward in
the general area of the genus, and sparoides northward, — the
latter, indeed, also ranging somewhat the farther to the north.
That these two species are similarly related ecologically, and
thus drawn into each others' company by their relations to their
environment instead of being separated as competitors, is shown
by a comparison of the coefficients of association of the two crap-
pies, on the one hand, and of one of these crappies and the com-
mon bluegill (Lepomis pallidus) on the other. With 167 avail-
able collections of Pomoxis annularis and 178 of sparoides, we
find 66 joint occurrences, giving us a frequency of association
of 2.53. Comparing, on the other hand, Pomoxis annularis
and its 167 collections with the widely and similarly distributed
bluegill, taken 220 times, we find them taken together in the
same collections 56 times, equivalent to a coefficient of associa-
tion of 2.13. The larger number of collections of the two unlike
species gives us a relative frequency of joint occurrence dis-
tinctly less than that of the smaller numbers of collections of
the closely similar crappies.
The species of this genus diverge from the other sunfishes in
respect especially to their numerous, long, and finely-toothed
gill-rakers, which make the most effective straining apparatus
to be found among the sunfishes, excepting only the compara-
tively rare round sunfish (Centrarchus macropterus) . The mouth
is also large for a sunfish, its opening being considerably in-
creased by the unusual length of the lower jaw. These charac-
ters of the feeding structures are represented in the food by the
presence of fishes, and by the quantities of Entomostraca taken
in spring.
238 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
KEY TO SPECIES OF POMOXIS FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Dorsal spines typically VI, rarely V or VII; dorsal distance 1.7 to 1.9 in
length, a line drawn from back tip of maxillary at right angles with an-
terior margin of premaxillary crossing back in front of first dorsal spine;
body more slender and profile more strongly S-shaped than in P. sparoides;
color light, the dark markings tending to form rings annularis.
aa. Dorsal spines typically VII or VIII, rarely VI, or IX, or X; dorsal dis-
tance 1.8 to 2, the line from back of maxillary crossing behind third or
fourth, or even fifth or sixth, to last dorsal spine; color dark, spotted, the
dark markings not forming rings sparoides.
POMOXIS ANNULARIS KAFTNESQUE
WHITE CHAPPIE
(MAP LXX)
Rafinesque, 1818, Amer. Month. Mag., 41.
J. & G., 464; M. V., 115; B., I. 7 (sparoides, part); J. & E., I, 987; N., 37; J., 47;
P., 69; F. F., I. 3, 56; L,., 23.
Length 12 inches; body elongate, compressed, and back elevated; the
profile long and quite strongly S-shaped; depth 2.2 to 2.6 in length; greatest
width about 2.75 in greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 1.1 to 1.3 in its
length. 'Color silvery olive, mottled with dark green, the dark marks chiefly
on the upper part of the body and having a tendency to form narrow vertical
bars; general color much lighter than in the next species; dorsal and caudal
fins marked with green (rather than blackish, as in the next species) ; anal pale,
nearly plain; a dusky opercular spot' (J. & E. with emendations). Head
long, 2.8 to 2.9; width of head 2.5 to 2.8 in its length; interorbital space 4.3 to
5.6, convex; eye 4.5 to 5 in head; nose 3.2 to 4.2, noticeably longer than in
the next species and also visibly longer than eye; mouth large, oblique,
maxillary past middle of orbit, 2.1 to 2.3 in head. Dorsal typically* VI, 15,
the fin inserted further from muzzle than in the next species, the dorsal dis-
tancef in the present species being 1.68 to 1.88 in the length; caudal lunate;
anal VI (occasionally V), 17-19; ventrals past first anal spine; pectorals 1.3
to 1.7 in head. Scales 6, 43-48, 12; lateral line developed on most or all scales.
The white crappie and the species following are commonly
regarded in this state as the best for food of the sunfish famihr,
with the exception of the black bass. The present species occurs
in all parts of the state, most abundantly in lakes, ponds, and
bayous, but commonly also in the smaller rivers and in creeks.
It seems to have no marked local or ecological preferences to
embarrass its entrance upon any waters containing its means
of subsistence. It enters freely, for example, upon the lower
Illinoisan glaciation, is found in the clean glacial lakes of the
* Of 337 specimens of the present species examined, 318 had VI dorsal spines, lo had V,
and 4 had VII; of 315 specimens of Pomoxis sparoides, 266 had VII spines, 46 had VIII. 2 had
VI, 1 had IX, and 2 had X.
t In two typical specimens of exactly the same length (6 inches), one annularis and one
sparoides, the dorsal distance differed 8 tenths of one centimeter. This difference may be said
to be due to difference in lenath of fins, the dorsals in both species terminating at the same dis-
tance from the end of the last vertebra.
POMOXJS — CHAPPIES 239
northeastern part of the state, and is reported from every river
basin of our entire area.
From the Great Lakes, excepting Ontario, it ranges south-
ward through the Mississippi Valley to Alabama and Texas, and
westward to Kansas and Nebraska. It has reached the Poto-
mac by way of connecting canals, has entered the Erie canal in
New York, and is reported also from Pamlico and Great Pedee
rivers, on the south Atlantic coast. It is said by Jordan to be
generally abundant in ponds, lagoons, bayous, and all sluggish
waters, and to be much more common in the southern parts of
its range. "In the lower Mississippi Valley the young of this
species literally swarm in the overflow ponds and bayous, and
vast numbers perish every year when these waters dry up."
A fish of so wide a range has, of course, many local names.
In Illinois the name of crappie is commonly applied indiscrimi-
nately to this fish and the one next described. When separately
mentioned, the present species is often called the pale crappie,
or the white crappie, or the ringed crappie, the last by reason of
the more conspicuous vertical bars upon the sides.
The maximum weight of the fish is about 2% pounds, but
the average of the Illinois River market specimens weigh less
than a pound.
This crappie is strictly carnivorous, living mainly on insects,
crustaceans, and fishes. Four fifths of the food of fifteen speci-
mens examined by us consisted of various aquatic insect larvae,
while fishes made but 11 per cent, of the entire food.
Observations made on market specimens at Havana indicate
that the species spawns in May.
This is an excellent fish with which to stock artificial ponds.
It was introduced into the Potomac in 1894, and has now be-
come abundant there. It takes the hook well, and is held in
high esteem as a game fish in the Southern States and in some
parts of Illinois. Dr. Jordan says that it will take a minnow
bait as promptly as will a black bass, but that it is not very
pugnacious, and, owing to its tender mouth, requires consider-
able skill in handling the tackle. The State and the United
States Fish Commissions are doing much to maintain the supply
of this fish in this state by collecting the young from overflow
ponds along the Illinois and the .Mississippi, and transplanting
them into other waters.
The annual catch of crappie, including the next species with
the present, varies from 800,000 to 1,300,000 pounds for the
240 JISHES OF ILLINOIS
Mississippi Valley. The Illinois River alone furnished 294,000
pounds in 1899.
POMOXIS SPAROIDES (LACEPEDE)
BLACK CRAPPIE; CALICO BASS
(MAP LXXI)
Lac6p£de, 1802, Hist. Nat. Poiss., Ill, 517 (Labrus).
J. & G., 465; M. V., 115; B., I, 7 (part); J. & E., I, 987; N., 37 (hexacanthus) ; J.,
47 (nigromaculatus); F. F., I. 3, 56 (nigromaculatus) ; F., 69; L,., 23.
Length 12 inches; body oblong, less elongate than in the last species,
deep and compressed; profile shorter and less prominently S-shaped than in
P. annularis; depth 2.1 to 2.4; greatest width 2.75 in greatest length; depth
caudal peduncle 1.1 to 1.4 in its length. Color of upper parts olivaceous,
silvery whitish to yellowish below and on belly; body everywhere spotted
with very dark green or blackish; much iridescent color everywhere, chiefly
emerald and bluish; cheeks and opercles slaty; a dark spot at back of opercle
above and a smaller one, looking like a spinous extension of opercle, below it;
pupil a bright deep blue; iris brown, lavender, and purplish with a narrow
inner ring of gold; median fins reticulated (or barred unevenly) with dusky
to black, when partly folded having the appearance of dark fins spotted with
lighter. Head 2.8 to 3; width of head 2.3 to 2.7 in its length; interorbital
space 3.8 to 4.4, convex; eye 4 to 4.5 in head; nose 3.7 to 4.3, little longer
than eye; mouth oblique, maxillary 2.1 to 2.5. Dorsal typically* VII (or
VIII), 15, the fin inserted nearer muzzle than in last species, the dorsal dis-
tance 1.8 to 2; caudal lunate; anal VI, 16-18; ventrals past second anal spine;
pectorals 1.4 to 2.1 in head. Scales 6, 38-44, 12; lateral line complete.
This crappie is a darker, deeper, and more handsome fish
than the preceding one, and, like it, is highly valued for food,
especially as a pan-fish, if taken where the water is not top muddy
or too warm. It is found throughout the state, frequently in
company with the preceding species of the same genus, from
which it scarcely differs appreciably in local distribution, in
habits, or in food. According to our data, derived from 183
collections, it is less common than annularis in creeks, and has
perhaps a noticeably stronger preference for water with a hard
bottom. We have also found it more abundant in the glacial
lakes of northeastern Illinois, from some of which, indeed, we
have not taken annularis at all.
Its general range carries it northward beyond the preceding
species, and it is reported from the Ottawa River, in Canada,
and from the Lake of the Woods.
Its food, according to our observations, is substantially
identical with that of annularis, except that 11 specimens ex-
* See note on preceding species.
' CENTRAKCHUS — ROUND SUNFISH 241
amined had taken a larger percentage of both Entomostraca and
of fishes, and a smaller one of aquatic insects. These differences
of ratio are, however, very likely local and seasonal.
The common names of this species most used in Illinois are
black crappie, calico bass, and strawberry bass, the first in
central Illinois and the others in the northern part of the state.
It does not reach as large a size as the white crappie, the
largest specimens taken weighing not much over 1J£ pounds.
The species spawned in May at Havana in 1898, and speci-
mens taken as early as April 19 yielded eggs and milt under
pressure.
This crappie" has been successfully introduced into France.
Its hardy endurance of both heat and cold, and also of foul
water, is especially favorable to its transportation and acclima-
tization. The statistics of the catch of the black crappie from
the Mississippi and the Illinois are included under those of the
preceding species.
GENUS CENTRARCHUS CUVIER AND VALENCIENNES
ROUND SUNFISH
Body short and deep, compressed; opercle emarginate behind; mouth
large; maxillary with a supplemental bone; teeth on vomer, palatines, en-
topterygoids, ectopterygoids, and tongue; pharyngeal teeth sharp; gill-rakers
setiform, very long and finely dentate, 20 to 30 in the lower angle of the arch;
dorsal spines about 12; anal spines about 8; caudal emarginate; scales not
strongly ctenoid. Southern and southeastern United States; one species.
The genus is closely allied to Pomoxis, from which it is separated only by a
greater development of the spinous dorsal and anal fins, and by the presence
of teeth on the ectopterygoids.
CENTRARCHUS MACROPTERUS (LACEPEDE)
ROUND SUNFISH; FLIER
(MAP LXXII)
LacSpSde, 1802, Hist. Nat. Poiss., Ill, 447 (Labrus).
J. & G., 463; M. V., 114; B.( I, 8; J. & E., I, 988; N., 37 (irideus); J., 47 (irideus);
P., 70; L., 23; F. P., I. 3, 56 (irideus).
Length 4 inches (occasionally 6) ; body ovate, strongly compressed, pro-
file angled at nape; depth 1.9 to 2.1 in length; greatest width more than 3 in
greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 1 to 1.2 in its length. Color green,
with series of dark brown spots on sides below lateral line, forming inter-
rupted longitudinal lines; a dark spot below eye; soft dorsal and anal reticu-
lated; young with a black ocellus at base of soft dorsal. Head rather small,
2.7 to 3.1 in length; width of head 1.9 to 2.1 in its length; interorbital space
242
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
2.9 to 3.5, concave; eye 3.3 to 4; nose pointed, scarcely as long as eye, 4 to
4.7 in head; mouth small, oblique, maxillary nearly to middle of orbit, 2.5 to
2.8 in head; opercular flap broad and thin, not prolonged; gill-rakers X -f- 30.
setiform. Dorsal XI or XII (or rarely XIII), 12-14, its longest spine about
2 in head; length of dorsal about 1.2 to 1.3 times length of anal; caudal lunate;
anal VII or VIII (occasionally VI), 13-15; ventrals past fourth anal spine;
pectorals to 7th or 8th anal spine, 1 to 1.2 in head. Scales 6 or 7, 41-43, 13
or 14; lateral line complete; scales on cheeks in 6 or 7 rows.
This little fish, found by us only in extreme southern Illinois
from Hamilton county southward, is a distinctly southern
species, occurring in lowland streams and bayous of the lower
Mississippi Valley, and in the south Atlantic region from
Florida to Virginia. In this state we have taken it in only
thirteen collections, all from creeks and sloughs tributary to the
Little Wabash, the Big Muddy, and the Cache.
The species is said by Jordan to reach a length of six inches.
Owing to its small size and comparative scarcity, except here and
there in the South, it is of no commercial importance.
GENUS AMBLOPLITES RAFINESQUE
ROCK BASS
Body oblong, moderately elevated, compressed, but robust; opercle
ending in two flat points; preopercle serrate at its angle; mouth large; sup-
plemental maxillary well developed; teeth (Fig. 56) on vomer, palatines,
tongue, entopterygoids, and ectopterygoids, a single patch on the tongue
(Fig. 57), pharyngeal teeth sharp; gill-rakers rather long and strong, dentate,
less than 10 in number; dorsal spines 10 or 11; anal spines normally 6; caudal
emarginate; scales somewhat ctenoid. Central, eastern, and southern United
States, and Canada; one species.
AMBLOPLITES — ROCK BASS 243
AMBLOPUTES RUPESTRIS (RAFINESQUE)
ROCK BASS; REDEYE: GOGGLE-EYE
(MAP LXXIII)
Raflnesque, 1817, Amer. Month. Mag., 120 (Bodianus).
J. & G., 466; M. V., 115; B., I, 10; J. & E., I, 990; N., 37; J., 44; F., 69; F. F., I.
3, 44; L., 23.
Length 8 to 10 inches; body oblong, rather robust and only moderately
compressed; profile scarcely angled at nape; depth 2.2 to 2.5; greatest width
about 2 in greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 1.12 to 1.20 in its length.
Color of upper parts olive, with black mottlings and brassy reflections; each
scale of sides with a central squarish black spot on band, these forming
longitudinal stripes traversing length of fish, being most prominent below
the lateral line; belly bluish white with darker punctulations, forming a spot
on each scale; breast specked with fine black dots and with some blue, green,
or reddish; cheeks and opercles with brassy luster; a dark opercular spot;
iris maroon before and behind pupil, plum-colored above and below, and
edged with gold; median fins amber with brown mottlings (in handsome
irregular bars) and faint edgings of black; ventrals opaque whitish with
brown specks; pectorals transparent amber, dusky in males; young irregu-
larly barred and blotched with black. Head rather large, 2.6 to 2.8. the pro-
file little angled above eye; width of head 1.9 to 2.13 in its length; interor-
bital space 3.7 to 4.3 (usually under 4); eye 3.5 to 4; nose 3.4 to 4.1; mouth
large, oblique, maxillary past middle of orbit, 2.1 to 2.4 in head: a single
patch of teeth on tongue; operculum emarginate, the flap not prolonged;
gill-rakers few. 7 to 10, rather long, strong, and stiff. Dorsal XI (occasionally
XII), 10-12 (usually 10). rather long and low, its longest spine 3. 25 to 3. 5 in
head; length of base of dorsal about 1.4 times length of anal; caudal emar-
ginate: anal VI, 10-11; ventrals to vent or somewhat past it, sometimes
nearly to first anal spine in males; pectorals to first anal spine, 1.8 to 2 in
head. Scales 6 or 7, sometimes 8, 39-43, 11 or 12 (or 13) ; lateral line usually
complete; scales on cheeks in 7 or 8 rows.
This large and handsome member of the sunfish family
reaches a length of a foot and a weight of a pound to a pound
and a half, although its average weight probably does not exceed
half a pound. It is, with us, mainly a northern species, having
been taken from but four localities in southern Illinois, and not
at all in the lower Illinoisan glaciation. This limitation of its
range is accounted for by its decided preference for clear rocky
streams, its coefficient for swift water (3.66) being the largest
in our list of sunfishes. It has occurred to us most abundantly
in rivers of medium size (2.96), and about half as frequently
in creeks (1.44), its frequencies in other situations being com-
paratively insignificant. This peculiarity of local preference
tends to separate if from the other members of its family gener-
ally, with the exception of the small-mouthed black bass,
244 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
with which it is found more frequently in company than are
any other two species of this entire family.
It has been taken, to the northward, from Lakes Huron,
Erie and Ontario, from the St. Lawrence River and Lake-
Champlain, and from northwestern streams and lakes as far
as Minnesota and South Dakota. It ranges southward to the
James and the Chattaoochee rivers on the Atlantic coast, to
the Alabama and the Tombigbee in the Gulf district, and west-
ward to the Des Moines and Kansas rivers. It is said by Jordan
and Evermann to occur also in Louisiana and in Texas.
According to Dr. Jordan, it spawns in spring, constructing
a nest on a gravel bed where the water is moderately swift, or
on a bar if in a lake, the parent fish defending the nest with
great vigor. Spent females were taken by us at Havana June 26.
"This species," says Jordan, "is pre-eminently a boy's
fish, though it is by no means despised by anglers of maturer
years. * * * * As a game-fish it is rather disappointing.
It takes the hook with vim and energy, and begins a most
vigorous fight which, however, it usually fails to keep up. It
can usually be caught at any season and at any time of day;
good fishing may be had even at night. Any kind of bait may
be used, but small minnows, white grubs, and angleworms are
best. It will take the trolling spoon quite readily, and the
spinner and the bucktail also are successful lures. Minnows
may be used either in still-fishing or in trolling. During the
summer grasshoppers are a good bait, and pieces of fresh-water
mussel or yellow perch are excellent. In the fall still-fishing with
small minnows usually meets with success. Casting with the
artificial fly is not a common method for catching the rock bass,
yet we have had many good rises and have taken some fine ex-
amples in that way; we have also taken it on the artificial frog.
Small crawfish also are a tempting bait."
As a pan-fish it is above the average but not among the
best, its flesh being somewhat soft and having a muddy flavor.
The fish is taken in rather cool clear water.
It feeds, so far as we know, mainly on insects and small
crustaceans; with a moderate allowance of fishes. Its food,
however, has not been sufficiently studied to give us a fair
average for the species.
The rock bass has been used to. some extent successfully as
a fish for artificial ponds, and it has been successfully introduced
into the waters of the Pacific states.
CH^NOBRYTTUS — WARMOUTH BASS 245
GENUS CH/ENOBRYTTUS GILL
WARMOUTH BASS
This genus has the form and dentition of Ambloplites, with the opercle
convex at the angle as in Lepomis, not ending in two points; preopercle entire;
mouth large; a supplemental maxillary present; dorsal spines 10 and anal
spines 3, as in Lepomis; caudal emarginate; scales weakly ctenoid. United
States, east of the Rockies; one species.
FIG. 59
CH^NOBRYTTUS GULOSUS (CuviER AND VALENCIENNES)
WARMOUTH BASS
(MAP LXXIV)
Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1829, Hist. Nat. Poiss., Ill, 498 (Pomotis).
J. & G., 468; M. V., 115; B., I, 13; J. & E., I, 992; N., 37; J., 45; F., 69; F. F., I.
3, 44; L,., 23.
Length 6 to 8 inches; body robust, elongate, becoming much deeper
with age; profile only slightly angled at nape; depth 2 to 2.6; greatest width
2 to 2.5 in greatest depth; depth of caudal peduncle 1.2 to 1.6 in its length.
Color olivaceous to grayish, clouded, mottled, and sometimes indistinctly
barred, with slate to bluish black; sides with golden and emerald reflections,
producing over the ground colors a rich golden brown effect; breast and belly
greenish to j^ellowish, sprinkled with dark dots and finely dusted with gold
or emerald; four or five light grayish to lavender streaks (sometimes reddish)
running from eye to back of opercle; snout, cheeks, and opercles sprinkled
with dusky and finely punctulate with gold; forehead a moldy velvety-slate,
characteristic of this fish; bony portion of opercular flap very dark, brownish
in front to bluish behind, the membranous portion coppery above to lavender
below; a narrow line of crimson about pupil; rest of iris crimson to purplish
with streaks of emerald above and below; dorsal and anal fins light grayish to
246 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
olive, with darker mottlings, the spots forming irregular rows. Head rather
large, 2.4 to 2.6; width of head 1.9 to 2.1 in its length; interorbital space 3.9
to 4.3; eye 4 to 5; nose longer than eye, 3.3 to 4.4; mouth very large, maxillary
nearly to back of orbit, 2.2 to 2.4 in head; operculum prolonged backward
and rounded behind as in Lepomis and Eupomotis, the membranous flap
narrow; gill-rakers 8 or 9 + rudiments, rather long and stiff. Dorsal X
(occasionally IX or XI), 9 or 10 (or 11); long and low, longest spine 3.5 to
4 in head; base of dorsal twice length base of anal; caudal lunate; anal III,
8-10; ventrals short of vent in females, to vent in males; pectorals short of
front of anal, 1.5 to 1.8 in head. Scales 6 or 7, 39-43, 11 or 12 (occasionally
13); lateral line usually complete; 6 to 8 rows of scales on cheeks.
The warmouth is a heavy, wide-mouthed, red-eyed sunfish,
dark and mottled like the rock bass, but with less of bronze or
other showy color. This fish, the rock bass, and the green sun-
fish form a group of abundant Illinois species, all with large
mouths, and all feeding almost wholly on fishes and insects.
Notwithstanding this similarity of food, they seem to have
learned to inhabit the same area without serious mutual com-
petition by establishing different relations to their environment.
The rock bass, as already shown, lives by preference in clear
waters flowing over a rock bottom, while the present species is
the most of a mud lover of all of our sunfishes, as shown by its
preference for a muddy bottom, represented in our collections
by the surprising coefficient of 7.33. Other factors of this
adjustment will be considered in the discussion of the green
sunfish.
The warmouth is essentially a species of lakes and ponds and
the smaller rivers, occurring also, but less generally, in creeks
and in rivers of the largest class. It is distributed throughout
the state — in the southern section mainly in the smaller streams,
but in the northern half chiefly along the Illinois River. It is
abundant in the glacial lakes of northeastern Illinois, and has
come to us also from Lake Michigan. In the southern part of
the state it is common in the lower Illinoisan glaciation, to an
extent to indicate a deliberate preference for muddy water over
pure. It is seemingly a southern species by preference in this
state, the frequency ratios for the three sections. being .44, .78,
and 1.78, from north to south.
Lakes Michigan and Erie seem to mark its most northerly
distribution, and from these it is found to the Florida peninsula
on the southeast, and to Louisiana, Texas, and Kansas on the
south and west. It is said to be common in South Carolina, but
is most abundant west of the Alleghanies. It is everywhere a
LEPOMIS — SUNFISHES 247
fish of the bayous, mud-bottomed ponds and lakes, and low-
land streams.
It reaches a length of about 10 inches, and is a fair angler's
fish, in that respect something like the rock bass. Owing to the
character of the water from which it is most frequently taken,
its flesh is apt to taste of mud, and it is not abundant enough
on commercial fishing grounds to make it a species of any con-
siderable importance.
Nearly half the food of half a dozen specimens examined by
us many years ago was found to consist of fishes, and the re-
mainder of insects — mostly of water-bugs and larvae of May-flies,
with which, however, some terrestrial insects were commingled.
GENUS LEPOMIS RAFINESQUE
SUNFISHES
Body oblong, deep and compressed; operculum ending behind in a con-
vex bony or osseo-membranous process or flap; preoperculum entire; mouth
large or small; supplemental ma'xillary developed in large-mouthed forms;
teeth on vomer and usually on palatines; none on tongue or pterygoids; lower
pharyngeal teeth conical, more or less acute, the bones narrow and weak,
flattened or hollowed out underneath, and with the outer margin straight or
concave, the width of the toothed portion being about 3 in its length; gill-
rakers various, never very long; dorsal spines 10; anal spines 3; caudal emar-
ginate.
Fresh waters of the eastern United States, Canada, and
Mexico; species about 15; 8 species found in Illinois.
The genus Lepomis, as here understood, includes Apomotis of
various authors. The forms that have been known under these
two names agree in their pharyngeal dentition,* which is re-
markably different from that of the genus Eupomotis (see Fig.
64-67) . The fact that the opercular flap is usually either en-
tirely black or black with a definite border above, behind, and
below, serves as a useful distinction of the species of this genus
from the single commonly distributed species of Eupomotis
(E. gibbosus), in which there is always a conspicuous roundish
spot of red at the lower posterior corner of the opercular flap.
The species of this genus and the next constitute the true
sunfishes, as distinguished from the crappies, rock bass, war-
mouths, and black bass. In the southern half of the state, where
* We have not found the ''complete gradation in the character of pharyngeals between
Lepomis * * * an(j Eupomotis both as to the width and form of the bones themselves
and the form of the teeth" that was described by McKay (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1881 p. 88).
(See Richardson 1904 Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist. Vol. VII., pp. 27-32.)
248 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
the yellow perch (Percd) is practically unknown, the name of
perch is commonly given to these sunfishes — most frequently,
however, under the dialectic form of "pearch."
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF LEPOMIS FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Black opercular spot borne by the stiff toony upper posterior angle of the
operculum, which is plainly distinguished from a flexible (fleshy or mem-
branous) border of different (usually lighter) color. (Fig. 60.)
b. Mouth large and cheek not very deep, the maxillary % to % longer than the
distance from the lower margin of the orbit to the lower posterior corner
of the preopercle; in life with blue spots and vertical bars of dusky; mar-
gin of ear-flap coppery to purplish; cheeks with wavy blue lines, .cyanellus.
bb. Mouth smaller and cheek deeper, maxillary about equal to or less than dis-
tance from lower margin of orbit to lower posterior corner of preopercle.
c. Sides without longitudinal rows of spots formed toy differently colored squar-
ish areas (bronze or purplish in life) at centers of scales.
d. Gill-rakers long, the longest % diameter of eye; not mottled.
e. Scales 41 to 49 in lateral line; margin of ear-flap pale blue to pinkish in
life • • ischyrus.
ee. Scales 32 to 37 in lateral line; in life green, barred with darker; small coffee-
colored specks on body and fins symmetricus.
dd. Gill-rakers shorter, the longest scarcely more than % diameter of eye, usu-
ally less; mottled, the appearance being much as in the pumkinseed
sunflsh (Eupotnotis gibbosus) ', some red or coppery on ear-flap behind....
% euryorus.
cc. Many scales of sides with squarish light-colored areas (bronze or purplish in
life), these forming more or less distinct longitudinal rows; rest of body
dusky olive miniatus.
aa. Portion of opercular flap bearing black spot very thin and flexible.
f. Bony portion of operculum terminating in front of the middle of the black
opercular spot, which is confined chiefly to the broad pale (pinkish in life)
membranous (not osseous) border; in life olive with orange spots; cheeks
and opercles with wavy broken lines of rusty orange; no black blotch at
base of last dorsal rays. (Fig. 63) humilis.
ff. Bony portion of operculum continued backward as a thin and flexible
osseo-membranous flap, which is all or nearly all black, the longitudinal
bone-striae being visible through its ensheathing epidermis. (Fig. 62.)
g. Gill-rakers short and weak, their length not over % eye; no black spot at base
of last dorsal rays; olive with blue and orange spots and wavy vertical
streaks of emerald; cheeks with wavy lines of emerald megalotis.
gg. Gill-rakers rather long and slender, their length nearly % of eye; a black blotch
at base of last dorsal rays; life-color olive, with purplish luster, .pallidus.
LEPOMIS CYANELLUS EAFINESQUE
BLUE-SPOTTED SUNFISH; GREEN SUNFISH
(PL , p. 249)
Raflnesque, 1819, Jour, de Physique, 420.
J. & G., 473; M. V., 117; B., I, 21 (Apomotis); J. & E., I. 996; N., 37 (Telipomis
cyanellus and T. microps); J., 45 (Apomotis); F. F., I. 3, 47 (Apomotis); F.,
69; L., 25 (Apomotis); R., 27-32.
Length 4 to 7 inches; body elongate, robust, becoming somewhat shorter
and deeper with age; dorsal outline rather more curved than ventral; depth
2.1 to 2.5 in length, usually about 2.2. Color olivaceous, taking on a yellow-
ish or coppery tinge below; each scale with a spot of emerald-green, the spots
LEPOMIS — SUNFISHES
249
forming more or less distinct rows, most evident on the caudal peduncle;
sides marked with seven or eight vertical bars of dusky, gradually fading
backward; two spots of emerald-green in front of eye and one just behind it;
three or four wavy lines of same color on cheek below eye, two or three of
them continued backward across opercle; iris red; bony portion of gill-flap
very dark green to blackish, with posterior edging of darker; membranous
margin of flap coppery to purplish, the color strongest on lower posterior
portion; fins all dusky, pectorals least so; soft dorsal and anal with large black
blotch at base of last rays, the former with a very narrow outer margin of
whitish; anal very dark at base, paler outward, and edged below with rich
yellow or orange; ventrals dusky near base, paler behind. Head 2.4 to 3 in
length, broad and flat above; the profile rather long and usually quite straight,
becoming slightly angled above eye in old specimens; eye 3.8 to 5.2 in head,
usually about 5 in adults; mouth very large,
lower jaw projecting beyond upper; maxillary
extending to middle of orbit, 2 to 2.5 in head;
supplemental maxillary well developed; teeth
present on vomers and palatines; lower
pharyngeals narrow but strong, the teeth
long and bluntly acuminate; flexible margin
of opercular flap fleshy, broad behind and
below, narrower above; gill-rakers long and
stiff, the longest fully ££ diameter of eye.
Dorsal IX or X, 10 to 12, spinous less than
half the height of soft portion; longest dorsal
spine 3 to 4.2 in head, usually about 4 in
adults; anal III, 9 or 10, the spines short and
strong; pectorals short, rounded behind, 1.5
to 1.7 in head; ventrals reaching to or a little
past vent, never to first anal spines. Scales 6
or 7, 45-49, 15 or 16; those on cheeks in 7 to
10 rows.
FIG.
Opercular flaps of Lepomis cy-
anellus, one figure entire, the
other showing flap denuded
of epidermis and fleshy or mem-
branous border.
This beautiful little sunfish is much
the commonest of its family in our
smaller streams, and is, indeed, often almost the sole sunfish
product of the net in the prairie creeks. Contrasting with the
warmouth, it is most abundant in creeks (1.56), and is next
so in the smaller rivers (.76). In the larger rivers and in the
lowland lakes it occurs sparingly, but it has not been taken by
us at all from the clear upland lakes of the glacial deposits, nor
from any of the waters of the Michigan drainage. It has oc-
curred in no less than 315 of our collections; that is, in about
a fifth of the whole number made. Its preference is for a quiet
current, in which respect it agrees with the next two species.
It is evidently not afraid of mud as is shown by its general
distribution over the lower glaciation of southern Illinois.
—25 F
250 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
While the warmouth and the rock bass avoid each other in
great measure by their strikingly different relations to water
and bottom, the former being a mud-loving fish and the latter
found mainly in clear rocky waters, the green sunfish avoids the
other two by its strong preference for the smaller streams, into
which they enter much less freely. The advantage of this
avoidance of each other's company is evident when we take into
account the similar food habits of these three species — all
neglecting mollusks and crustaceans and depending for food on
fishes and insects. Owing, however, to their different ecological
and local distribution, their coefficients of association are much
below the average for their family — 1.17 for the rock bass and
the warmouth, 1.51 for the rock bass and the green sunfish,
and 1.19 for the green sunfish and the warmouth — or a general
average of 1.29 for the group, to be compared with a general
family average of 1.86.
This sunfish is, according to our data, about twice as abun-
dant in southern Illinois as in either central or northern, our
frequency ratio for the first division being 1.5, and .71 and .78
for the other two. In general range it is a fish of the Mississippi
Valley, distributed from the Great Lakes to Mexico, and occur-
ring everywhere in small sluggish brooks. It is not reported
from Canada and is not found east of the Alleghanies.
It is an excellent pan-fish, although small, weighing usually
not more than a quarter of a pound. It takes the hook readily
with worm bait, and is a sprightly little fighter for so smalla
species. The food of the species, as illustrated by that of eight
specimens, was more than a third fishes, and the remainder
insects and crawfishes.
It was found by Mr. Surface spawning at Meredosia as late
as August 14, 1899.
LEPOMIS ISCHYRUS (JORDAN & NELSON)
Jordan & Nelson, 1877, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., X, 25 (Lepiopomus).
J. & G., 474; M. V., 117; B., I, 22 (? Apomotis cyanellus [part]); J. & E., I, 997
(Apomotis); N., 37 (Icthelis aquilensis); J., 45 (Lepiopomis); F., 68; L., 24 (Apo-
motis cyanellus); R., 27-32.
Length 5 to 7 inches; robust and rather elongate, the back considerably
elevated, the form resembling that of Lepomis pallidus; depth ^ to 2 in
length. Life colors not known; in spirits dusky olive with mo tilings of orange
and blue; faint blue bands on cheeks; dorsal and anal fins with dusky spot
on last rays; belly and lower fins coppery yellow. Head 2.6 to 2.7 in length,
its top short and much flattened; profile conspicuously angled above eye; eye
LEPOMIS — SUNFISHES 25T
small, 4.7 to 5 in head; mouth large, the lower jaw slightly longer than the
upper; maxillary extending to middle of eye, 2.5 to 3 in head; a well-de-
veloped supplemental maxillary bone; teeth on palatines; lower pharyngeals
narrow but strong, the teeth heavy and bluntly pointed, as in L. cyanellus;
flexible margin of opercular flap broad and rather thick and fleshy; gill-
rakers long, stiff, and rough, y^ diameter of eye. Dorsal X or XI, 12; the
spines strong and low, the longest scarcely reaching from snout to middle of
orbit, 3.1 to 3.4 in head; anal III, 9 or 10; pectorals short, 1.4 to 1.7 in head;
ventrals exceeding vent, not reaching anal. Scales 7 or 8, 43-49, 14 or 15;
6 or 7 rows on cheek.
Described in 1877 from a single specimen, taken in the
Illinois River, the exact locality unknown. Not again taken
until 1899, when two excellent adult specimens were obtained
from the Illinois River at Meredosia. Not known outside of
Illinois. Here described from 3 specimens, of which one is
the original type.
LEPOMIS SYMMETRICUS FOEBES
Forbes, 1883, Jordan and Gilbert's Synopsis, 473.
B., I, 21 (Apomotis); J. & E., I, 998 (Apomotis) ; F., 68; L., 24 (Apomotis) ; R., 33.
Length 2J/£ inches; body robust, rather short and deep; dorsal and
ventral outlines about equally curved, giving the fish a distinctively sym-
metrical appearance; profile almost straight, the angle at nape usually in-
appreciable; depth 1.9 to 2 in length. Color in life green, with darker bars; in
spirits light to darker brown; each scale with a basal spot of darker, the
spots appearing as indistinct rows from before backward, 12 or 13 in number;
body and fins with numerous small coffee-colored specks; tips of ventrals
dusky; a black ocellated spot at base of last dorsal rays in young specimens.
Head 2.7 to 2.8 in length; eye 2.8 to 3.3 in head; mouth moderate, maxillary
reaching to middle of orbit, 2.4 to 2.6 in head; a well-developed supple-
mental maxillary bone; teeth on vomers and palatines; lower pharyngeals
narrow, as in other species of Lepomis, the teeth conical, but rather heavy
and bluntly pointed; operculum short, very broadly rounded behind, its
membranous margin not very broad; gill-rakers rather long and slender,
but firm, the longest more than ^ diameter of eye. Dorsal IX or X, 10 or
11; the spines moderate, not very short, the longest reaching from snout to
pupil, 2 to 2.5 in head; anal III, 9 or 10; pectorals 1.1 to 1.3 in head; ventrals
short, hardly exceeding vent. Scales large, 5 or 6, 32 to 37, 12 to 14; lateral
line incomplete; 4 or 5 rows of scales on cheeks.
This symmetrical little species is rather rare in Illinois,
which is the northern boundary of its area of distribution. It
has been taken by us, in fact, but nine times, all but two of the
collections — made from the Illinois River at Pekin — coming
from localities in extreme southern Illinois, as follows: Ander-
son's branch and Running Lake in Union county; and Drew
252 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
pond, a pond near Hawthorne, and the Little Wabash River in
White county. Elsewhere it is reported from the Mississippi
Valley southward as far as New Orleans, and Houston, Texas.
Jordan and Evermann say that it is not infrequent in the lower
Mississippi Valley, and that in Texas it is a common pan-fish.
FIG. 61
LEPOMIS EURYORUS McKAY
McKay, 1881, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 89.
J. & G., 481; M. V., 119; B.t I, 24 (? Lepomis auritus [part]); J. & E., I, 1008
(Eupomotis); R., 32.
Length 6 to 8 inches; body rather robust and somewhat elongate; depth
2 to 2.3 in length. Color in life not very well known; in spirits dusky olive
mottled with darker, the general appearance very much as in E. gibbosus;
fin-membranes dusky, darker tessellations behind on soft dorsal and anal
and near base of caudal; opercular spot black, the margin paler, with some
red or coppery behind in life. Head 2.6 to 2.9 in length; eye 3.8 to 4.3 in
head; mouth large, oblique, maxillary reaching considerably past front of
orbit, 2.6 to 2.9 in head; jaws about equal; supplemental maxillary well
developed; teeth on vomers and palatines; lower pharyngeals narrow, but
strong, teeth conical, heavy and bluntly pointed; opercle produced backward,
sharply rounded posteriorly, the margin wide; gill-rakers well developed,
the longest % diameter of eye, rather stiff and rough. Dorsal X, 11 or 12;
the spines low, slightly longer than from snout to eye in young specimens,
2.2 to 2.7 in head; anal III, 9 or 10; pectorals short, 1.3 to 1.4 in head; ven-
trals reaching slightly past vent. Scales 6 or 7, 43-45, 14 or 15; those on
cheeks small, in 6 to 8 rows.
One of the rarest of our sunfishes, and known in this state
only by reason of two young specimens taken by us in Crooked
creek, near La Harpe, Hancock county, in 1900. It was origi-
nally described from the lower part of Lake Huron. It has been
taken sparingly in northern Indiana and Ohio, in Minnesota,
LEPOMIS — SUNFISHES 253
and in southern Michigan. Nothing is on record concerning
its habits or its life history.
LEPOMIS MINIATUS JOBDAN
(MAP LXXV)
Jordan, 1877, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., X, 26.
J. & G., 476; F. F., II. 2, 135 (garmani); M. V., 119 (garmani); B., I, 24 (auritus
[part]), 27 (garmani); J. & E., I, 1002 (also garmani); L., 24 (garmani).
Length 4 inches; body rather short and deep, usually more or less
regularly elliptical; variously robust or rather thin; depth 1.8 to 2 in length,
usually about 2 in adults. Color dark olive; sides below lateral line striped
with rows of bronze or purplish spots, the rows about 7 or 8 in number; under
parts light, with some brassy luster; upper part of head almost black; cheeks
dark bluish green; ear-flap black, its upper and lower margin silvery, some-
times a posterior edging of pale; outer third of soft dorsal and anal reddish
brown with narrow edging of paler; caudal reddish behind, with faint pale
edging; iris red before and behind pupil. Head 2.9 to 3.1 in length; profile
usually with a more or less decided depression at nape, sometimes almost
straight; eye 3.9 to 4.3 in head; mouth smaller than in preceding species,
maxillary 2.5 to 3 in head, usually about 2.7 reaching but a little past front
of orbit; a small supplemental maxillary bone; teeth present on vomers and
palatines; lower pharyngeals narrow but heavy, the teeth long but blunt;
operculum short and broadly rounded behind, its membranous margin broad
and fleshy; gill-rakers stout and short, about % diameter of eye. Dorsal
X, 10 or 11; the spines variable, usually rather low, longest 1.9 to 2.7 in
head; anal III, 8 to 10; pectorals variable, always considerably shorter than
head, sometimes but slightly longer than to back of cheek in adults; their
length 1.2 to 1.6 in length of head; ventrals always extending to vent, some-
times to anal. Scales 5, 34-41, 13 or 14, the number in the lateral line usually
nearer 40 than 34; 4 or 5 rows on cheek.
A comparatively rare sunfish, taken by us but twenty-four
times, and mostly from the bottom-land lakes and ponds of the
Illinois River. We have collected it also from two localities
on the Wabash, from one on the Mississippi in Hancock county,
and from one on a branch of the Kankakee. It is evidently a
southern species, ranging to Florida and Louisiana, and it is not
reported by Hay or Osburn in listing the fishes of Indiana or
Ohio. It is said to be common in some streams of Texas.
Specimens taken by the senior author in 1880 and 1885 from the
Little Fox River at Phillipstown, in White county, and from the
Wabash River and Drew pond, near Carmi, were described
under the name of Lepomis garmani.
Females with mature ova, and spawning or about to spawn,
were caught by Dr. Kofoid May 18, 1896, and Craig reported it
apparently spawning between the 20th and the 30th of May, 1898
254
PISHES OF ILLINOIS
LEPOMIS MEGALOTIS (KAFINESQUE)
LONG-EARED SUNFISH
(MAP LXXVI)
Raflnesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 29 (Ichthelis).
J. & G., 477; M. V., 118; J. & B., I, 1002; B., I, 26; N., 38 (Ichthelis megalotis and
sanguinolentus); J., 46 (Xenotis megalotis, inscriptus, and peltastes) ; F. F.,
I. 3, 53 (Xenotis peltastes, etc.); F., 68; L,., 24; R., 34.
Length 3^ to 6 inches; body short and deep; back much elevated and
profile steep, sometimes excessively so in adults; angle at nape usually
rather prominent; depth 1.8 to 2.3 in length.
Color light to darker olive; sides irregularly
spotted with orange and emerald, spots of latter
color often forming somewhat indistinct wavy
vertical streaks; belly pale to bright orange;
cheeks light olive to orange, with wavy streaks
of emerald; opercular flap entirely black or
with a very narrow pale margin, pinkish to
light crimson behind; iris reddish before and
behind pupil; membranes of soft dorsal and
anal pale orange; pectorals dusky, usually less
so than in females. Head 2.8 to 3.3 in length;
eye 3 to 4 in head; mouth moderate, 2.4 to 2.7
in head in adults, maxillary extending almost
to middle of orbit; no supplemental maxillary
bone and no palatine teeth; lower pharyngeals
narrow and weak, the teeth slender and acutely
pointed; opercular flap variously developed, in
adults generally very long (always much shorter
in young), often \Yi times snout, usually rather
broadened behind, with or without pale margin;
gill-rakers short, not over % diameter of eye,
very soft and weak. Dorsal X, 11, the spines
usually low, the longest reaching from snout to
middle of eye, 2.1 to 2.8 in head in adults, usually
over 2.6; pectorals short, 1 to 1.2 in head; ven-
trals usually reaching somewhat beyond first
anal spine. Scales 5, 37-39, 14, those on cheeks
in about 5 rows.
This is a very showy sunfish, one of the most brilliant, in
its breeding colors, of our fresh-water fishes. Its distribution in
Illinois is peculiar in the fact that it is extremely abundant in
the southern and eastern parts of the state, occurring everywhere
in the smaller streams, including those of the lower glaciation,
and often likewise in the larger rivers, while in the remainder of
the state, although generally distributed, it is comparatively
scarce, and is to be found mainly along the principal streams, and
FIG. 62
Opercular flaps of Lepomis
megalotis, one figure en-
tire the other showing
flap denuded of epidermis
and fleshy or membranous
border.
".
LEPOMIS — SUNFISHES 255
not widely distributed through the country at large. Our fre-
quency statistics, derived from 151 collections, show that this is
a sunfish of the creeks and smaller rivers, where its coefficients are
2.98 and 2.35 respectively, the corresponding figures for the
larger rivers and for lowland lakes being .17 and .14. In the
upland lakes we have not taken it at all.
Northward this species grades into a smaller dwarfish
variety, probably Xenotis lythrochloris, which has been taken
only in the clear swift water of the Fox at Ottawa, Lacon, and
Algonquin; in the Du Page at Naperville; in the Vermilion at
Pontiac and Fairbury; in a small creek in Du Page county; and
in Indian creek, La Salle county. These small forms have the
ear-flaps red and the scales of the cheek smaller than typical
megalotis. Their size is alone sufficient to distinguish them,
gravid females having been found only 1 % inches long, and no
specimen exceeding three inches.
Found outside our limits in Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michi-
gan; on the south Atlantic coast in Georgia and the Florida
peninsula; through the Ohio and Missouri basins to Iowa and
Minnesota, and thence south through Arkansas to the Rio
Grande. It is said to avoid muddy water, is especially abundant
in small brooks, and frequents deep still places in rivers and clear
ponds. It is wanting in the Atlantic drainage of the northern
and middle states.
The long-eared sunfish is not ordinarily more than four or
five inches long, and has no commercial importance. Our
scanty observations indicate that it feeds on aquatic insects,
mostly larvae of gnats and day-flies. Notwithstanding its more
limited distribution, it is a frequent companion of the green
sunfish (coefficient of association, 2.65), and inhabits similar
waters where it is most abundant.
LEPOMIS HUMILIS (GIKARD)
ORANGE-SPOTTED SUNFISH
(MAP LXXVII)
Girard, 1857, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 201 (Bryttus).
J. & G., 479; M. V., 118; J. & E., I, 1004; B., I, 30 (Eupomotis) ; N., 38 (Ichthelis
anagallinus); J., 45 (Lepiopomis anagallinus) ; F., 68; L>., 24; R., 34.
Size small, length not over 3^ inches; body elongate, compressed, the
back almost carinate for some distance in front of the dorsal; dorsal outline
usually somewhat more curved than ventral; profile long, sloping gradually,
usually nearly straight, the angle at the nape in most cases very slight, and
greatest in males; depth 2.1 to 2.5 in length, usually about 2.4. Color light
256
FISHES OF ILLINOIS
olive, the sides sprinkled with fine dots of gold to emerald; belly deep orange,
dusted with brown; sides with about 20 to 30 orange spots, somewhat smaller
in size than the pupil, irregularly distributed, their color deeper and brighter
in males than in females, the spots usually a dull brown in the latter; top
of head slaty; a suggestion of wavy lines of emerald on
cheeks; black color on the opercular flap mostly con-
fflft^ fined to the membranous portion, barely tipping the
operculum; the pale margin of the membrane quite wide,
/ m tjL its color variable — pale lavender, pinkish, or light crim-
^MS&V son' sPmous Dorsal with narrow edging of crimson and
H^ soft portion with wide margin of orange in males; ven-
•fc, trals and anal orange, color deeper and approaching
•~J* crimson in males; distal margin of anal dusky; other
f — -sx fins plain. Head 2.3 to 2.9 in length, its top long, flattened
( \ or very little convex; eye 3.7 to 4.5 in head; mouth
X^fcfefcA- moderate, maxillary extending past front of orbit, never
l^'^H^^^v ^° ^s middle, 2-7 to 3 in head; jaws about equal; lower
/•> B^s. pharyngeals narrow, very weak, the teeth slender and
81^ very acutely pointed; opercular bone sharply rounded
backward, black only at its tip; the membranous flap
long and broad and very thin, not forming a pale edg-
m^ on^' ^ut Dearmg the most of the black color of the
opercular spot; gill-rakers long, rather more than %
diameter of eye. Dorsal X, 10 or 11; spinous and soft
portions of about equal height; the spines slender, rather
long> the lonSest 2'4 to 2'6 in head in adults> usually
about 2.5; anal III, 9; pectorals 1 to 1.3 in head, usually
about 1.1; ventrals reaching to base of first anal spine.
Scales 4 or 5, 34-42, 11 to 13; pores lacking on some
scales; rows on cheek 5 or 6.
This is a showy and, indeed, a brilliant little fish, of a size so
small that it is ornamental only. Our 177 collections were taken
most frequently from creeks (2.06), next from the smaller rivers
(1.51), and then from lowland lakes (1.19), none at all coming
from upland glacial lakes. They were well distributed through
the state, most abundantly, however, in the prairie region of
central Illinois, where this species is found in frequent company
with the green sunfish. It is often taken along the shore of the
Illinois River and in adjacent lakes and sloughs, but has been
rare or absent in extreme northern Illinois, occurring in the Fox
and Rock river systems only near the mouths of those streams.
Its general distribution in the smaller rivers, and in lakes and
ponds of the bottom-lands, brings it also into contact with the
crappies. Its associative coefficient is 2.35 for the green sun-
fish and 2.94 for the pale crappie. If one may judge from its
feeding structures, it is protected from serious competition with
these companion species by differences in its food.
FIG. 63
Opercular fla s of Le
pomis humilis, one
figure entire, the
other showing flap
nTand Ish'y o"
membranous bor-
der.
LEPOMJS — 8UNFISHES
257
It ranges widely throughout the Mississippi Valley, from
Minnesota and South Dakota and the Ohio basin generally, to
Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas. We find no mention of it from
the Atlantic slope.
Ripe males and females in high coloration, swimming in
pairs, were taken by Dr. Kofoid in Meredosia Bay June 8, 1899.
The sexes present a notably different appearance in outline as
well as in color, the males having the forehead concave, the
profile steeper, and the ventrals longer than the females.
LEPOMIS PALLIDUS (MITCHILL)
BLUEGILL; BLUB SUNFISH
(MAP LXXVIII)
Mitchill, 1815, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. Y., 407 (Labrus).
J. & G., 479; M. V., 118; J. & E.f I. 1005; B.( I, 29 (Eupomotis); N., 37 (Ichthelis
incisor and speciosus) ; J., 45 (Lepiopomus) ; F. F., I., 3, 48 (Lepiopomus) ; F.,
67; L., 25; R., 34.
Length of adults 5 to 8 inches, the body compressed, short and deep,
extremely so in adults; the dorsal outline somewhat more curved than the
ventral; profile rather steep, not sharply angled at nape but excavate in a
shallow curve which continues almost to end of snout, giving the nose an
upturned appearance; depth 1.9 to 2.2,
usually about 2. Color light to dark
olive, with more or less luster of purple
to lavender; adults usually very dark;
belly yellow or rich yellowish brown,
with margins of scales lighter; about
six more or less distinct wavy vertical
bars of dusky on sides, most apparent
below lateral line, usually becoming
obsolete in adults; snout dull slate,
velvety; chin emerald; cheeks and
opercles olive with iridescent gold and
emerald; gill-flap deep blue-black be-
hind, velvety, without evident pale
margin, the black of the flap some-
times lightening to a dull emerald-
green; fins all more or less dusky,
ventrals and anal most so; pectorals
almost plain, pale; dorsal with a
diffuse but usually evident black
blotch at base of last rays. Head short, small, 2.9 to 3.4 in length, usually
about 3.1 in adults; eye 2.9 to 3.9 in head; mouth small, very oblique, the
jaws equal; maxillary scarcely reaching front of orbit, 2.9 to 3.3 in head in
adults; supplemental maxillary very rudimentary or wanting; no teeth on
FIG. 64
FIG. 65
Lower left pharyngeal of Lepomispattidus:
Fig. 64, from above; Fig. 65, from below.
258 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
palatines; lower pharyngeals narrow and weak, the teeth slender and sharp;
operculum more or less prolonged backward in adults, always rather wide
and bluntly rounded posteriorly, usually rather conspicuously striate lon-
gitudinally, the membranous margin very narrow or wholly wanting, its color
when present very little if any lighter than the black of the osseous portion
of the flap; gill-rakers rather long and slender, but firm, the longest almost
y$ diameter of eye. Dorsal X, 10 to 12, usually X, 11; spines long, the
longest 1.3 to 2.4 in head, usually about 2 in adults; anal III, 10 or 12; pec-
torals long, pointed behind, about equal to head or a little less, .9 to 1 in
head, usually about 1 in adults; ventrals reaching anal. Scales 6, 38-48,
13 or 14; those on cheek in 5 rows.
This is the principal sunfish of our larger rivers, and the one
appearing most frequently in the large nets of the regular river
fishermen. It occurs throughout the state, but is generally
limited to the larger streams and their principal tributaries,
except that it is common in the northeastern glacial lakes. It
has also been taken by us in the Michigan drainage. Judging
from our 214 collections, it is primarily a pond species, its fre-
quency ratio in the ponds and lakes being 1.6. In flowing
streams it is commonest in the larger rivers, and least com-
mon in creeks.
Along the Atlantic coast it is found from New Jersey to the
Florida peninsula; in the Great Lakes, from Ontario westward,
ranging thence to the south and west through the Ohio and the
lower Missouri basins to New Orleans and Texas.
It is said by Jordan and Evermann to be perhaps the best
known and certainly the most important of all our true sun-
fishes, decidedly a lake species everywhere, but more abundant
in the smaller lakes. It is the largest of our sunfishes, reaching
a length of twelve to twenty-four inches and a weight of nearly a
pound, the maximum weight being about a pound and a half.
In the food of twenty-six specimens we have found a trace of
fishes — a single darter eaten by one — a moderate percentage of
univalve mollusks, a large ratio of insects (45 per cent.), and
many of the medium-sized Crustacea. The insect food is derived
in great measure from larger aquatic larvaB than most of our
sunfishes feed upon. The stomachs of some of our specimens
were found to contain as much as 24 per cent, of aquatic vege-
taton — too large a quantity to have been swallowed accidentally
with the animals eaten. Its food differs in detail, however,
according to the situation in which it is found.
The bluegill moves in schools, and may be caught with
almost any kind of bait or tackle. Its flesh is firm and flaky,
EUPOMOTIS — -PUMPKINSEED SUNEISH 259
and it is not excelled as a pan-fish by any of our species, unless
it be the yellow perch. The greater part of the sunfish catch
of Illinois, amounting to 200,000 to 500,000 pounds a year, is
composed of this species.
It spawns in May, according to our observations at Mere-
dosia, although Dr. Kofoid found a ripe male June 12.
GENUS EUPOMOTIS GILL & JOBDAN
PUMPKINSEED SUNFISH
Form as in Lepomis; mouth always small; no supplemental maxillary
bone and no teeth on palatines; lower pharyngeals deep and broad, with
inferior and lateral prominences, the width of the toothed portion about
2 in its length; pharyngeal teeth short with the upper surfaces bluntly rounded
or paved (truncate); gill-rakers short; fins rather long; red color on opercular
flap in typical species forming a roundish spot. Eastern United States and
Canada; 3 species.
KEY TO SPECIES OF EUPOMOTIS FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Pectorals reaching vertical from base of last anal spine; wavy lines on checks
faint; border of opercular flap red in male, pale in female heros.
aa. Pectorals scarcely reaching front of anal; evident lines of emerald on cheeks;
opercular flap with a blood-red or orange spot at its lower posterior cor-
ner (white in preserved specimens) gibbosus.
EUPOMOTIS HEROS (BAIRD & GIEAED)
Baird & Girard, 1854, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 25 (Pomotis).
J. & G., 480 (Lepomis), 482 (L. notatus); J. & E., I, 1007; B., I, 32; F., 67 (Lepomis
notatus); L/., 25; R., 35.
Length 6 to 8 inches; depth 2.1 to 2.3 in length. Color pale olive, slightly
mottled; opercular flap black with a wide border, which is blood-red in males,
pale in females. Head in length 2.7 to 3; profile not angled at nape; eye 3.7
to 4 in head; mouth rather small, the lower jaw but slightly projecting; max-
illary 3.1 to 3.3 in head; teeth present on vomer, but not on tongue or pala-
tines; lower pharyngeals broad, with short blunt teeth; flexible margin of
opercular flap fleshy ; gill-rakers very short, the longest about y$ eye. Dorsal
X, 11, the longest spine % height of soft portion; anal III, 10; pectorals very
long, reaching past a vertical from base of last anal spine; ventrals past vent.
Scales 6, 36-40, 14 or 15; rows on cheeks about 4.
This is a southern fish, and has occurred in our Illinois
collections only at a few points in the Wabash basin. It has
occurred in Indiana also, in the same stream and its tributaries,
and it has been lately taken in Little Eagle Lake in Kosciusko
260
FISHES OP ILLINOIS
county, by Professor Moenkhaus. It has been reported from
the Little Miami in Hamilton county, Ohio. From these more
northerly localities it ranges southeastward to west Florida
and southwest ward to the Rio Grande.
c
EUPOMOTIS GIBBOSUS (LINNAEUS)
PUMPKINSEED
(MAP LXXIX)
Linnseus, 1758, Syst Nat., Ed. X, 292 (Perca).
J. & G., 482 (Lepomis); M. V., 119 (Lepomis); J. & E., I, 1009; B., I, 32 (aureus);
N., 38 (Pomotis auritus); J., 46 (aureus); F., 67 (Lepomis); L,., 25; R., 35, F.
F., I. 3, 53 (aureus).
Length of adults 5 to 8 inches; body strongly compressed, short and
deep, the back very highly arched in adults, ventral outline less curved than
dorsal; profile steep, convex in front of dorsal, the depression at the nape
rather slight. Coloration exceedingly brilliant and somewhat variable, olive
to grassy greenish, the back and upper por-
tion of body finely dusted with gold or
emerald; sides with quite numerous and ir-
regularly distributed large roundish blotches,
which are olive to coppery in front and
darker behind, or dark all about a roundish
coppery-colored central spot; single scales
below lateral lines each with a quadrate
central spot, these spots forming rows from
before backward, alternate ones coppery and
forming the central or anterior spot of the
large blotches before mentioned, the others
bright emerald or turquoise-blue; belly light
olive to orange-yellow; cheeks and opercles
crossed by four or five wavy lines of emerald,
the interspaces with mingled coppery and
gold over the ground olive, producing the
effect of a rich bronze in well-colored ex-
amples; iris variegated blue and greenish
with some crimson above pupil; flap of opercle
velvety black behind; a definitely bounded
roundish spot of orange or turkey-red on the lower posterior portion of the
fleshy margin; the margin above and below the spot dark to blackish with
some coppery luster; membranes of both portions of dorsal and of caudal and
anal somewhat irregularly barred with dull brownish to orange blotches;
ventrals dusky in males, paler or entirely pale in females. Head small, short
2.8 to 3.2 in length; the snout with a somewhat snubbed appearance, very
short, its length scarcely more than eye; eye 3.5 to 4.2 in head; mouth small,
the jaws equal; maxillary reaching but a little past front of orbit, 2.6 to 3.3
in head; no supplemental maxillary and no palatine teeth; lower pharyngeals
broad and deep, with inferior and lateral prominences; the teeth short and
FIG. 67
Lower left pharyngeal of Eupo-
m-jtis gibhnsvs: Fig. 66 from
above; Fig. 67 from outside.
EUPOMOTIS — PUMPKINSEED SUNFISH 261
stout, their upper surfaces bluntly rounded or paved; operculum quite firm
behind, the bony portion distinct from a broad paler fleshy margin; gill-
rakers short and soft, but little better developed than in L. megalotis. Dorsal
X, 11 or 12; the spines rather high, the highest 2 to 2.4 in head, about as long
as snout and eye. Anal III, 10 or 11; pectorals rather long, 1 to 1.1 in head;
ventrals exceeding vent, usually reaching to or a little past first anal spine.
Scales 5, 35-40, 13 or 14; 4 or 5 rows on cheek.
This very abundant species of extreme northern Illinois,
especially common in the upland lakes of Lake and McHenry
counties, is scarcely known south of the center of the state,
having occurred, indeed, but twice in all our collections below
the latitude of Springfield — once in Clear Lake, across the Ohio
from Cairo, and once in Drew pond, near Carmi, on the Little
Wabash River. It is essentially a pond species, and is next
most abundant in the smaller rivers, our ratios being 2.16 for
glacial lakes, 1.24 for lowland lakes, and 1.06 for rivers of the
second class. We have taken it only occasionally in the larger
rivers and in creeks, its absence in the latter in this state being
probably due to its preference for clear streams, in which the
greater part of our area is notably deficient. Its local distribu-
tion brings it into frequent company with the warmouth (coeffi-
cient of association, 3.72), notwithstanding the fact that the
pumpkinseed is much the most abundant northward in this state
and the warmouth decidedly so southward. Competition is
evaded, however, by their widely different food and feeding
structures. The pumpkinseed is the best fitted of all our sun-
fishes to crush and devour mollusks, and we found these making
nearly half the food of nine specimens examined by us. Fishes
were entirely wanting, insects amounted only to about a fifth,
and medum-sized crustaceans (Allorchestes and Asellus) were
represented by another fifth.
Its general range is illustrated by its Illinois distribution,
except that it extends down the Atlantic coast, at least as far as
the Carolinas. It has, indeed, been attributed to Florida since
the days of Holbrook (1855), and Goode reports it as common in
all the fresh waters of that state, but we have failed to find any
specific account of its capture there or any mention of a precise
locality from which it has been taken. Northward it occurs in
Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick, and in Lakes Huron, Erie,
Ontario, and Champlain. In the Mississippi Valley it is found
only in the northern portion, abundant as far south as northern
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, and the Osage River in Kansas.
Below extreme northern Illinois it is found mainly in lakes and
£62 FISHES OP ILLINOIS
along the Illinois River, this stream serving for this species, as for
so many others, as a highway for the dispersal movement.
It is one of the best-known fishes of its area, especially to the
small boy. It may reach a weight of six or eight ounces and a
length of eight inches, although it is ordinarily much smaller.
It is a "very beautiful and compact little fish, perfect in all its
parts, looking like a brilliant coin fresh from the mint."
The breeding habits have been described by Dr. Kirtland,
who says that the males prepare a circular nest by removing
seeds and dead aquatic plants for a space a foot in diameter,
excavating to a depth of 3 to 4 inches. The nests are in shallow
water, and are encircled by aquatic plants, space being left open
for the admission of light. Observations by Dr. Reighard indi-
cate that the male alone is concerned in building the nest. The
weight of testimony seems also to the effect that the male guards
the nest and young, although the female may be present.*
Dr. Reighard says that the male in approaching the female to
induce her to enter the nest elevates and puffs out his gill-covers
and erects his ear-flaps, so that there is a brilliant display of
color to the female in front. He also saw a similar attitude
assumed by the male when threatening or attacking other males.
The spawning season is May to June.
The pumpkinseed is a good pan-fish, but is not especially
important as a commercial product. It is sufficiently hardy to
be transported with ease, and has been acclimatized in Europe.
It is one of the best of fishes for keeping ponds free from mosquitoes.
GENUS MICROPTERUS LACEPEDE
BLACK BASS
Body rather elongate, the back not much elevated; mouth very large;
supplemental maxillary well developed; preopercle entire; operculum emar-
ginate behind; teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines; tongue usually without
teeth; gill-rakers long and slender; dorsal spines 10, the spinous and soft
dorsals confluent but divided by a deep notch; anal spines 3; caudal emar-
ginate; scales weakly ctenoid.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF MICROPTERUS
a. Mouth moderate, the maxillary never extending beyond eye, usually a little
short of back of orbit; scales on cheeks in about 17 rows; young more or
less barred or spotted, never with a black lateral band dolomieu.
aa. Mouth very large, the maxillary in the adult extending past back of orbit;
scales on cheek large, in about 10 rows; young with a blackish lateral
band salmoides.
* Dr. Smith saw both parents by a nest as a crab approached. The female retired while
the male attacked the crab and drove him off, after which he sought the female and returned
with her to the nest.
\\ .
i
MICROPTERUS BLACK BASS 263
MICROPTERUS DOLOMIEU LACEPEDE
SMALL-MOUTHED BLACK BASS
(MAP LXXX)
3, 1802, Hist. Nat. Poiss., IV, 325.
Q., I, 258 (Centrarchus fasciatus and obscurus); J. & G.. 485; M. V., 120; B., I. 15;
J. & E., I, 1011; N., 37 (salmoides); J., 44 (salmoides); F., 67; L,., 25; F. F., I.
3, 41 (salmoides).
Length 12 to 15 inches; body ovate-fusiform, moderately compressed,
becoming deeper with age; profile convex; depth 2.9 to 3.1; greatest width
about % greatest depth; depth of caudal peduncle 1.5 to 1.9 in its length.
Color of upper parts silvery to golden green, with faint vermiculations of
darker (olive-green) above lateral line and with 10 to 15 more or less indistinct
olive-green bars below it; belly and breast pale bluish gray to whitish; cheeks
with 5 olive-green bars radiating backward from eye and one forward to end
of snout; iris rufous; fins nearly plain in adults, olive to grayish, the caudal
dark about margin; young plain, or with dark spots tending to form vertical
bars, never with a dark lateral stripe; caudal of young specimens yellowish at
base, and with free margin whitish, the region between dusky; color of adults
varying* with range, the season, and the mood of the fish. Head 2.9 to 3.7;
width head 1.8 to 2.1; interorbital space convex, 3.5 to 3.9; eye 5.6 to 6.9;
nose 3 to 3.3; mouth smaller than in the next species, maxillary 2.1 to 2.3,
considerably shortf of back of orbit; lower jaw projecting; gill-rakers long,
X + 6 or 7, + rudiments. Dorsal X (or IX), 13-15, the spinous dorsal
long and low and separated by a deep notch from soft dorsal, the fifth (longest)
spine about 4 in head and the lowest posterior spine about }/£ height of fifth;
caudal lunate; anal III (rarely IV or II), 10-12; ventrals more than half to
vent; pectorals short, little past backward reach of ventrals, 1.9 to 2.1 in head.
Scales 10-12, 66-78, 19-22; lateral line complete or nearly so; scales on cheeks
in about 17 rows.
This is perhaps the most famous and familiar of our fresh-
water fishes, surpassing the brook trout in that respect because
of its much more general distribution, and the whitefish and the
lake trout both for that reason and because of its surpassing
interest as a sportsman's fish. It is far better known to many
anglers than to ourselves, and has been written upon so much
from the angler's point of view that we shall treat it briefly in
this report.
In Illinois it is mainly a northern fish, avoiding the lower
Illinoisan glaciation, within whose boundaries it has occurred
but once in our 101 collections of the species, owing largely no
doubt to its marked preference for clear, swift water. It is
much the most abundant in the northern section of the state, its
frequency ratio there being 2.35 as compared with .32 for each
* See Reighard, Henshall, et al.
t Old examples sometimes have maxillary nearly to back of orbit, according to Jordan
and Evermann.
264 FISHES OP ILLINOIS
of the other sections. We have taken it most frequently from
the smaller rivers, about half as commonly from creeks, and
somewhat less commonly from the clear upland lakes of the
northeastern part of the state. It has occurred but rarely in
our collections from either the larger rivers or from lowland lakes
and sloughs. Its avoidance of such situations is especially
illustrated by the fact that it is recorded but five times in 546
collections examined by us from the Illinois River at Havana and
Meredosia; that is, only 5 per cent, of the collections of this
species have been made from these Illinois River localities, from
which 35 per cent, of all our collections came. Its very marked
preference for a swift current and a clean bottom is a matter of
common observation, and is shown also by the data of our
collections, according to which it has come from swift waters
more than three times as often as from a quiet current, and from
a bottom of rock and sand nearly twelve times as frequently
as from one of mud.
These preferences bring about a wide separation between
this bass and the closely related species of the same genus — the
large-mouthed black bass. These two species inhabit the same
general area, may often be found in the same streams, and feed
on the same food, differing only, so far as known, in respect to
the ratios of the principal elements. Nevertheless, they avoid
competition by a difference in the situations preferred. These
closely allied species have, according to our data, an associative
coefficient of 1.08, while the small-mouthed black bass and the
rock bass, differing in characters, habits, and food, have a
coefficient of 6.24. In other words, the latter two unlike species
are brought by a similarity of local preference into each other's
company about three and a half times as frequently as the like
species of black bass. The differences of local preference are not
so great, however, but that the two species are frequently found
together. According to Jordan and Evermann, "Some small
lakes that are rather shallow, whose bottoms are chiefly mud
and whose water is warm, are found to be well suited to the
straw bass [large-mouthed] and to be entirely without the small-
mouthed black bass. But small lakes of considerable depth, cool
water, and with bottom partly of mud and partly of sand and
gravel, such as Lake Maxinkuckee, seem equally well adapted
to both species. "
The small-mouthed bass is found wide-spread throughout
the country, from Lake Champlain and the River St. Lawrence
MICROPTERUS — BLACK BASS 265
to the Muskoka lakes in Ontario, and southward to Arkansas,
northern Mississippi and South Carolina. It is abundant in
suitable situations on both sides of the Alleghanies, preferring
clear cool streams with moderately swift current, not infre-
quently being taken in swift riffles. It is not found in warm,
muddy, or sluggish water, as is the large-mouthed bass.
Curiously little is known of its food, the literature of the
subject containing only general statements apparently based on
ordinary observations. But three specimens have been ex-
amined by us, and their food consisted wholly of fishes and craw-
fishes, approximately a third of the first and two thirds of the
second. Among the fishes were a stonecat (Noturus flavus)
and a log-perch (Percina caprodes).
The small-mouthed bass reaches a weight of 5 or 6 Ib
(Henshall, Tisdale, et al.) . It is always easily distinguished from
the large-mouthed species by the shorter maxillary, which never
extends to a vertical from the back of the orbit, and by the
smaller scales, of which there are 17 rows on the cheeks, and 10
or 11 longitudinal series between the mid-dorsal and the lateral
line. In the large-mouthed form the maxillary extends past a
vertical from the back of the orbit, and the scales are consider-
ably larger, there being only 9 or 10 rows on the cheeks and 8
or 9 longitudinal series of scales above the lateral line. The
young of the small-mouthed bass have a dusky bar crossing the
caudal fin, and lack the dark lateral stripe which characterizes
the young of the large-mouthed species. This fish is often called
" tiger bass" in the East and North.
The small-mouthed bass will take live minnows or any other
live bait, and does not disdain the artificial fly. In the words
of Dr. Henshall, often quoted, "He is plucky, game, brave and
unyielding to the last wThen hooked. He has the arrowy rush
of the trout and bold leap of the salmon, while he has a system
of fighting tactics peculiarly his own. * * * I consider him,
inch for inch and pound for pound, the gamest fish that swims."
The small-mouthed bass hibernates in winter, going into
deep places under the shelter of rocks and remaining torpid till
spring (Tisdale).
This species, like the next, builds a nest,* usually in about
three feet of water on a bottom of sand or gravel. The male
roots down into the bottom, fanning away the sand with his
* In the account of the nesting habits we follow, except when otherwise stated, Lydell
(Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., 1902, pp. 39-44).
— 26 P
266 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
tail, until mud is reached, about 3 or 4 inches below the sand.
The sand forms a ridge a few inches high around the nest, and
a log often forms an additional shelter on one side. The females
are not about during the nest-building, which occupies from 4
to 48 hours. When the nest is finished, the male seeks the female
to induce her to enter the nest, biting her gently and swimming
across beneath her, striking her as he passes. The eggs and
milt are deposited with the vents of the two sexes approximated.
After the eggs are all laid, in successive ovipositions, the male
drives the female away, himself remaining alone to guard the
nest. Dr. Reighard has found that in both this and the next
species the male cares for the eggs till hatched, and watches over
the young till they are well grown. He found the small-mouthed
bass spawning in Michigan between the end of April and the
end of June. Nest-building was begun at a temperature of 60°
Fahr., but the eggs were not laid till the water reached 62° to
65°. Tisdale states that it takes six years for a weight of 3 Ib
to be reached, growth continuing after that at about half a
pound a year till a weight of 6 Ib is attained.
Though practically unexcelled as a fresh-water game fish
this species does not take the highest rank as food, being, in the
words of Dr. Henshall, "inferior to trout and whitefishes, and
perhaps even to pike and channel-cat."
Artificial propagation of this and the next species by taking
and impregnating the eggs has not been successful. The eggs
are not stripped easily, and it is necessary to kill the male in
order to get the milt. Pond culture is resorted to with consider-
able success, the percentage of natural fertilizations in well-
regulated ponds closely approaching the percentage obtained
by artificial means for species best adapted to artificial culture.
This high ratio is of course due to the fact that the parent guards
the eggs. Pond culture has for several years been in successful
operation in Missouri and in Michigan, and steps have lately
been taken towards the establishment of breeding ponds on the
upper Fox River in Illinois. The eggs of the species range in
number from 2,000 to 10,000 per individual. The fry will
endure shipping long distances in the cool days of spring or
autumn or in midwinter.
The small-mouthed bass, while taken in considerable num-
bers by anglers in the northern part of Illinois, does not figure
in the commercial fisheries of this state.
MICROPTERUS — BLACK BASS 267
MICROPTERUS SALMOIDES (LACEPEDE)
LARGE-MOUTHED BLACK BASS
(FRONTISPIECE; MAP LXXXI)
, 1802, Hist. Nat. Poiss., 716 (Labrus).
J. & G., 484; M. V., 120; B., I, 16; J. & E., I, 1012; N., 36 (nigricans); J., 44 (palli-
dus); F. F., I. 3, 39 (pallidus); F., 67; L,., 25.
Length 15 to 18 inches; form as in last species, depth 2.9 to 3.2; greatest
width about ^5 greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 1.6 to 1.8 in its length.
Color of back and sides above rather dark green, growing lighter toward
axis, and everywhere obscurely mottled with darker in ill-defined blotches;
middle of side traversed by a dark streak (indistinct in old specimens), which
is formed of more or less irregular and discontinuous blotches of dark sage-
green; belly opaque greenish white, sometimes with a faint rosy tint; iris sooty
green with bronze luster and with a narrow inner rim of gold; fins pale olive-
buff, the dorsal and caudal darker than the others; anal opaque whitish
toward tip; young with the lateral band conspicuous and as a rule little
broken into spots, passing forward through eye to end of snout; caudal of
young specimens pale near base and outer margin, between which is a dark
band. Head 2.8 to 2.9; width of head 1.9 to 2.4; interorbital space convex,
3.5 to 4.3; eye 5.8 to 7.6; nose 3.5 to 4; mouth very large, maxillary reaching
past hinder margin of orbit, 1.9 to 2.1 in head; lower jaw rather more promi-
nently projecting than in M. dolomieu; gill-rakers long, 7 or 8 on lower limb
of arch, besides rudiments. Dorsal X (occasionally IX), 12-13, the spinous
separated from the soft portion by a very deep notch, the last spine scarcely
more than ^3 length of fifth; longest spine about 4 in head; caudal lunate;
anal III (or II), 10-11 (or 12); ventrals half way to vent; pectorals short, 2
to 2.4 in head. Scales 8 or 9, 62-68, 14-18; lateral line complete or nearly
so; scales on cheeks in 9 or 10 rows.
In marked contrast to the preceding species, the large-
mouthed black bass is distributed mainly along the principal
streams or the lower courses of their larger tributaries, but it
is not by any means confined to these, occurring in lower pro-
portion in the smaller streams as well. It is also more equally
distributed throughout the state than the small-mouthed bass,
and by passing freely into the lower Illinoisan glaciation illus-
trates its indifference to warm and muddy water. We have
found it relatively commoner, in our 211 collections, in the
southern part of the state than in the central, and somewhat
more so in central than in northern Illinois, the coefficients of
frequency being 1.23, .97 and .80 respectively. Our data show a
fairly equal distribution of this species throughout the various
situations open to it, the ratios for lowland and upland lakes, for
creeks, and the smaller rivers, being approximately equal, and
those for the larger rivers about half as large.
268 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
The general area of the species extends from Lake Huron,
the upper St. Lawrence, and the Red River of the North, south-
ward to Florida, Texas, and northern Mexico. Its western limit
is in eastern Nebraska and the Dakotas, and within these bound-
aries it is everywhere common in rivers, lakes, and bayous,
generally preferring still or sluggish waters.
The food of this bass as shown by an examination of four-
teen adults, was mainly fishes and crawfishes, the former con-
sisting largely of minnows, but containing likewise catfish,
gizzard-shad, and spiny-finned species. The crawfish amounted
to only 7 per cent., and the insect food to mere traces.
The color, and other difierential characters of this and the
last species have been in as much question among angling
enthusiasts as its scientific nomenclature among systematic
ichthyologists. Named by Lacepede "Labrus salmoides," and
frequently called " trout" in the South, it had the misfortune
to be called "black" (Huro nigricans) by Cuvier and Valen-
ciennes, and "pale" (Lepomis pallida) by Rafinesque, all within
the space of a few years at the beginning of the last century.
As a matter of fact, both species are variable in color, in the
words of Dr. Henshall, "running through all the shades of slate,
green, olive and yellow, to almost white." To any one who is
acquainted well enough with their anatomical differences to
distinguish them certainly without reference to color it will soon
be evident that their variability in color leaves little chance for
debate as to "which is the black bass and which the green bass, "
such discussions being idle except for a possible small local value.
Consistently with its habit of living in sluggish or still water,
this species is somewhat less active than the last. It will, how-
ever, leap five or six feet out of the water to escape a net, and is
for that reason called the "jumper" in some localities. It ranks
high as a game fish, although it is not so much sought by anglers
as its small-mouthed relative. It will take live minnows and
other live baits, as grasshoppers, frogs, and helgramites, and is
also caught by fly-fishing. It reaches a weight of 8 or 9 R) in
this latitude, 6 or 8 Ib usually being the limit, and specimens
averaging rather below 4 Ib. In the South the species grows
larger, reaching 12 to 14 Ib (Henshall).
Its breeding habits do not differ greatly from those of the
small-mouthed bass. Its nests* are built and protected by the
* In the account of nesting and spawning habits we follow Reighard (Mich. Fish Comm.
Rep. 1903-04 Appendix).
PERCID2E — THE PEEOHES 269
males, and are usually placed among fallen leaves or fibrous
rootlets, or, perhaps, on plain sand or gravel. The sand, gravel,
or leaves are scooped out of the center to form a ridge about the
nest a few inches high. The male seeks the female or guards
the nest till she appears. The spawning is intermittent, and
the process of sexual excitation of the female by the male is
similar to that observed in the small-mouthed bass. The
spawning season is from May to June. The eggs are viscid,
and hatch in eight to ten days. The young are said to remain
together in more compact schools than the small-mouthed
species, making it easy to seine the fry (Lydell) . They reach a
length of about 6 inches in the first year after hatching.
This fish always brings a good price in the market, though
it is not specially sought. While far superior to the coarse
river fishes, it is excelled in flavor and other edible qualities by
trout and whitefish.
It bears transportation and acclimatization admirably, and
has been introduced successfully into the waters of the Pacific
states and of more than one country of Europe. It is propagated
by the methods of pond culture, but does not submit to stripping
and the ordinary methods of artificial culture used for Salmonidce
and other species.
The black-bass fisheries of Illinois, practically consisting
altogether of the present species, amounted in 1894 to nearly
90,000 Ib — 69,000 Ib of these coming from the Illinois River
alone — and in 1899 to more than 120,000 Ib, of which the Illinois
River produced 102,000.
FAMILY PERCID/E
THE PERCHES
Body more or less elongate, terete or compressed; dorsal and ventral
outlines more or less unlike; scales rather small, always ctenoid, adherent;
head scaly, or not; lateral line usually present, not extending on the caudal
fin; skeleton osseous; vertebrae 30 to 48, the anterior ones without transverse
processes ; ventral fins thoracic, 1, 5 ; 2 dorsal fins, the first of 6 to 15 spines ; anal
spines 1 or 2, the usual number 2; caudal fin lunate, truncate, or rounded; no
mesococracoid; gill-membranes separate or connected, not joined to isthums;
branchiostegals 6 or 7; pseudobranchisB small, glandular and concealed, or
wanting; gill-rakers slender, toothed; preopercle entire or serrate; opercle
usually ending in a single flat spine ; mouth various, terminal or inferior, large
or small; premaxillary protractile, or not; supplemental maxillary not distinct;
jaws, vomer, and palatines with bands of teeth, which are usually villiform,
but sometimes mixed with canines; vomer or palatines occasionally without
270 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
teeth; lower pharyngeals separate, with sharp teeth; pyloric caeca few; anal
papilla usually more or less developed; air-bladder small and adherent, often
wanting.
Fresh waters of cool regions of the northern hemisphere,
mostly confined to eastern North America and Europe; genera
about 25; species about 125, the majority of them small and
belonging to the American subfamily of Etheostomince, or darters.
Besides these little-known but unusually interesting and really
beautiful small fishes, of which we have 23 species in Illinois,
the family contains three of our best known and most highly
valued food and game species — the yellow perch, the wall-eyed
pike, and the sauger. Taken together, they form a group of
highly organized, shapely, powerful, and active fishes, thoroughly
equipped for the predatory life, and filling an important place
in the ecological system of our inland waters. All are strictly
carnivorous, and ranging as they do from a length of an inch or
an inch and a half for the least darter to one of three feet for
the wall-eyed pike, they are able to inhabit all waters, to search
all situations, and to draw their food supplies from every class
of aquatic animals, the turtles and the larger and heavier mol-
lusks only excepted. On the other hand, although they are
swift swimmers, and well armed for self-defense, we have found
them frequently eaten by other predaceous fishes, as well as by
numbers of their own family — burbot, black bass, bullheads,
yellow perch, sunfish, and crappies being among the species in
whose food we have found one or another species of the Percidce.
KEY TO ILLINOIS GENERA OF THE FAMILY PERCIDCE
a. Pseudobranchiae well developed; branchiostegals 7; no anal papilla; fishes
growing to a weight of one pound or more; preopercle distinctly serrate
below and behind, the lower serrse antrorse.
b. Canine teeth on jaws and palatines; body subcylindrical, elomgate, greatest
width about % greatest depth Stizostedion.
bb. No canine teeth; body moderately compressed, the greatest width about f
of its greatest depth Perca.
aa. Pseudobranchise small or wanting; branchiostegals 6; anal papilla usually
present; small species, not exceeding 8 or 9 inches, usually much smaller;
preopercle entire or nearly so.
c. Premaxillaries not protractile, free only at the sides, connected in front with
the skin of the forehead, from which they are not separated by a cross
groove.
d. Cranium not compressed or much elevated back of eyes, its elevation* not
more than % of its breadth;* body as a rule more or less slender and little
* Measurement of breadth and elevation is made from a point just behind the eye, situated
on the boundary between the top of the cheek (marked by a slight bulge outward from the
cranium, by being scaled, or, usually, by a postorbital pore) and the thinly and smooth-skinned
parietals.
STIZOSTEDION — AMERICAN PIKE-PERCHES 271
compressed, subcylindrical or fusiform; depth in length as a rule 6 or
more; spring- males ordinarily without red or other gaudy coloration.
e. Cranium broad between the eyes, the interorbital space 4 to 4.7 in head;
snout pig-like; darters of large size, reaching a length of 6 inches. .Percina.
ee. Interorbital space narrower, 5.5 to 9 in head; small fishes, ordinarily not
over 4 inches in length.
f. Body moderately slender, the depth as a rule about 6 in length (sometimes 7);
scales not often over 70; body not hyaline in life Hadropterus.
ff. Body extremely slender, depth 7.8 to 9 in length; scales 89-100; body hya-
line in life; back crossed by 4 broad, obliquely-forward-directed dark
bands Crystallaria.
dd. 'Cranium more or less compressed and elevated back of eyes, n-shaped, its
elevation as a rule noticeably more than % (to less than %) its breadth,
(the exceptions being species with spinous dorsal less than 60 per cent.
height of soft dorsal, and with a distinct black humeral process or scale) ;
fishes with usually more or less compressed and comparatively shortened
bodies, the depth in length as a rule less than 6 (4% to 6); spring males
(except in species with low spinous dorsal) usually with brilliant red,
blue, or green coloration.
g. Lateral line present.
h. Lateral line not noticeably flexed upward anteriorly Etheostoma.
hh. Lateral line conspicuously flexed upward anteriorly, its direction parallel
with line of back (least distance between lateral line and middle of back in
B. fusiformis about % depth of body at same point) Boleichthys.
gg. Lateral line absent; fins very short, dorsal spines 6; size very small, length
not over 1% inches Microperca.
cc. Premaxillaries protractile, i. e., a groove separating them from the skin of
the forehead (this groove sometimes crossed by a very narrow frenum in
Cottogaster shumardi, in which also there is a black blotch at front and
back of base of spinous dorsal).
i. Groove bet-ween skin of forehead and premaxillaries ordinarily, though not
always (in Illinois species), crossed by a narrow frenum; a black spot at
front and back of base of spinous dorsal Cottogaster.
ii. Premaxillaries freely protractile, a frenum never present; no black blotch
at back of spinous dorsal fin.
j. Groove separating premaxillaries from forehead inferior, not visible except
from below; maxillary adnate to the preorbital for most of its length,
nearly immovable; anal spines 2 Diplesion.
jj. Groove separating premaxillaries from forehead superior, easily visible from
in front and above; maxillary separated by a groove from preorbital for
its entire length; anal spine single.
k. Anal fin much smaller than soft dorsal; body moderately slender, depth not
over 7 in length; not hyaline in life Boleosoma.
kk. Anal fin almost as large as soft dorsal; body extremely slender, depth in
length 8 to 10; body hyaline in life Ammocrypta.
GENUS STIZOSTEDION EAFINESQUE
AMERICAN PIKE-PERCHES
Body elongate, fusiform, back broad; mouth large and premaxillary
protractile; preopercle serrated, the serrse below turned forward (antrorse)
and spaced rather wide apart; opercle with 1 or more spines; teeth in villiform
bands, in addition to which sharp canines are present on jaws and palatines;
pseudobranchise well developed; pyloric caeca 3; dorsal spines 12 to 15; anal
spines 2, slender and closely appressed to the soft rays; scales small, ctenoid.
272 fISHES OF ILLINOIS
Large carnivorous fishes of the fresh waters of North Amer-
ica north of Mexico; 2 species known. Highly valued as food,
and important as game fishes, but very costly of maintenance
if one takes into account the numbers and kinds of other fishes
necessary to bring one of these pike-perch to maturity and to
keep it in good condition until it is caught.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF STIZOSTEDION FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Pyloric caeca 3, subequal, as long as stomach; rays of soft dorsal 19 to 22,
usually over 20; cheeks rather sparsely scaled; base of pectorals without
distinct black blotch; a black blotch at back of spinous dorsal; soft
dorsal obscurely reticulated vitreum.
aa. Pyloric caeca 5 to 8, unequal, the 4 longest much shorter than stomach; rays
of soft dorsal 17 to 19; cheeks as a rule closely scaled; a distinct black
blotch at base of pectoral; last dorsal spines without black blotch; soft
dorsal with rows of dark spots eanadense.*
STIZOSTEDION VITREUM (MITCHILL)
WALL-EYED PIKE; PIKE-PERCH; JACK-SALMON
(MAP LXXXII)
Mitchill, 1818, Supp. Amer. Month. Mag., II, 247 (Perca).
G., I, 74 (Lucioperca americana); J. & G., 525; M. V., 135; B., I, 54 (Lucioperca) ;
J. & E., I, 1021; N., 36 (americanum and var. salmoneum) ; J., 44; F. F., I.
3, 32 (Stizostethium); F., 63; L,., 26.
Length 3 feet; body slender, only moderately compressed; profile long
and straight; depth 4.3 to 5.2; greatest width about % greatest depth; depth
caudal peduncle 2.3 to 2.6 in its length. Color a brassy olive-buff ground,
shading to olive-yellow in spots, and everywhere mottled with black, mot-
tlings on head, cheeks, and opercles in vermiculate pattern, those on back and
sides arranged more or less definitely in five large irregularly-shaped cross-
blotches with smaller blotches between; belly whitish, tinged with green; iris
chocolate with gold margin next pupil; cornea milky, giving the eye its
characteristic muddy or "wall-eye" appearance; spinous dorsal with a
narrow inky-black margin and with a large black blotch behind, nearly or
quite including posterior two membranes; soft dorsal reticulate or indis-
tinctly barred; base of pectoral without a prominent black blotch, an in-
distinct and diffused patch of dark color sometimes present; caudal with
indefinite bars; ventrals and anal whitish with tinge of green. Head slender
and tapered, less depressed than in next species, 3.2 to 3.5 in length; width
head 2 to 2.2 in its length; interorbital flat, 5.2 to 5.9; eye 4.6 to 6; nose 3.3
to 3.8; mouth large, terminal, little oblique, maxillary past back of pupil,
2.2 to 2.4 in head; lower jaw slightly shorter than upper; gill-rakers slender;
pyloric caeca 3, subequal, as long as stomach. Dorsal XIII or XIV, 19 to 22;
longest dorsal spine about 2^- in head; caudal lunate; anal II, 12-14; ventrals
* Represented in Illinois by variety griseum.
STIZOSTEDION — AMEBICAN PIKE-PERCHES 273
half-way to vent; pectorals 1.8 to 2.1 in head. Scales 12-14, 80-89, 19-25;
lateral line usually complete, some pores occasionally extending on caudal
fin; scales on cheeks as a rule sparse.
Although taken by us but thirty-nine times from sixteen
localities, and rare except in a few favorable situations where
the water is clear and the current swift, this species is generally
distributed in Illinois. It is a far-ranging species, of predomi-
nant northern distribution, occurring from Hudson Bay and the
Saskatchewan River through New Brunswick and New England
to the Potomac and north Georgia, and westward through all
the Great Lakes and the Ohio basin to Alabama and Minnesota.
It is preferably, however, a lake fish, and is most abundant in
the Great Lakes, particularly in Lake Erie.
It is essentially a piscivorous fish, but also feeds, according
to Jordan and Evermann, upon crawfishes when in shallow
water. Ten specimens examined by us had eaten nothing but
fishes, half of them the hickory-shad (Dorosoma) . Minnows and
sunfishes were also noticed. From a single wall-eyed pike caught
in Peoria Lake, ten specimens of gizzard-shad were taken, each
from three to four inches long. As this is a very thin, high fish,
with a serrate belly, these were about as large as a wall-eyed
pike can easily swallow, and we may, by a very moderate esti-
mate of its requirements, conclude that at least six hundred
fishes of this size would be required for its maintenance during
one year. Reckoning the average life of a pike at three years,
the smallest reasonable estimate of food for each pike-perch
would fall somewhere between eighteen hundred and three
thousand fishes, and a hundred pike-perch such as should each
year be taken along a few miles of a river like the Illinois would
require 180,000 to 300,000 fishes for their food. Probably no
fish in our streams is able to meet so tremendous a demand
except the hickory-shad — so abundant in the food of this pike —
unless the European carp, generally introduced since these
observations were made, may be an equally acceptable victim.
The wall-eyed pike is a swift and vigorous swimmer, capable
of overtaking a black bass.
It reaches a maximum length of about three feet, and a
weight of twenty-five pounds, but examples of this size are very
rare. According to Jordan and Evermann, it probably does
not average more than ten pounds in the Great Lakes. It
prefers clear water with a clean and hard bottom, and is not
often found in streams or lakes with a bottom of mud. In the
274 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Great Lakes it lives in spring and summer in shallow water
near the shore, seeking a greater depth in fall. It is much the
largest, and also commercially the most important, of all the
American perches, and has but few rivals as a food fish among
our fresh-water species. Its flesh is white and firm, and of a
flavor to satisfy the most fastidious. It is also a game fish of
the first quality, in the opinion of most anglers, and but little
inferior to the black bass. It is one of the most important fishes
propagated by the United States Fish Commission, and the
output in 1900 from a single station, that at Put-in-Bay, was
nearly ninety millions.
The catch of this species in the Mississippi Valley has fallen
off greatly in recent years, amounting to only 210,000 pounds
for seventeen states in 1899, whereas in 1894 Minnesota alone
produced 651,000 pounds. The product of the Illinois River
in 1899 was 11,000 pounds.
The pike-perch is said to spawn in April in Lake Erie. In
1898 it spawned at Havana, on the Illinois River, between April
1 and 15. The eggs are small, only about half as large as those
of thewhitefish, and the young begin to practice their carnivo-
rous instincts upon each other when only about ten days old.
The species is hardy and prolific, and it is a desirable fish for
clean lakes and clear rivers, provided these contain a continuous
abundance of otherwise useless fish for its food.
STIZOSTEDION CANADENSE GRISEUM (DE KAY)
GRAY PIKE; SAUGER; SAND-PIKE
(MAP LXXXIII)
De Kay, 1842, New York Fauna: Fishes, 19 (Lucioperca gri-sea).
J. & G., 526 (canadense, part); M. V., 135; B., I, 54 (Lucioperca canadensis, part);
J. & E., I, 1022; N., 36 (griseum); J., 43 (canadense) F. F., I. 3, 31, 33 (Stizoste-
thium); F., 63 (canadense); K, 26 (canadense).
Length 1 to 1J^ feet; body slender, only moderately compressed, the
profile straight or weakly arched predorsally; depth 5.2 to 5.5; greatest width
% of greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 2.4 to 3 in its length. Color
olive-gray, the sides brassy to orange, mottled with darker; first dorsal with
two or three rows of large, round, inky-black spots as large as pupil; no black
blotch at back of spinous dorsal; soft dorsal with 4 or 5 irregular rows of
rather indistinct dusky blotches; a large black blotch at base of pectorals;
caudal yellowish, barred with dusky. Head tapered and depressed more
than in last species, 3.4 to 3.6; width of head 1.9 to 2; interorbital space 4.6
to 5.1; eye 1 to 1.2; nose 3.2 to 3.7; maxillary past back of pupil, 2.1 to 2.2;
PERCA — RIVER PERCH 275
gill-rakers slender, pyloric cseca 5 to 8, 4 of them of moderate length, but shorter
than stomach, the others mostly rudimentary. Dorsal X to XIII (usually
XII or XIII), 17-19; longest dorsal spine about 2% in head; caudal lunate;
anal II, 11 or 12; ventrals half way to vent; pectorals 1.7 to 1.8 in head.
Scales 9-11, 85-91, 19-24; lateral line usually complete, in some specimens
extending on caudal; cheeks fully scaled, the scales very strongly ctenoid,
rows about 15.
A much smaller fish than the preceding, seldom exceeding a
foot or eighteen inches in length, and a weight of one or two
pounds. It has also occurred much less frequently in our collec-
tions, which have come mainly from the Mississippi and the
Illinois rivers, with a few, also, from the Rock, the Wabash, and
the Kaskaskia. It seems to be a species of somewhat more
limited range than the wall-eyed pike. The distribution area
of our variety (griseum) extends from the Red River of the North
and the Assiniboin River, through the upper Great Lakes and
the upper Mississippi Valley, west to Montana and south to
Tennessee and Arkansas. Its habits, so far as known, are
similar to those of the preceding species, and it occurs in similar
waters, the two having been taken together by us in about the
usual ratio for river and lake fishes.
Judging from the results of an examination of fourteen
specimens obtained from the Illinois River at different places
and times, it feeds wholly, or almost wholly, on fishes. Four of
these specimens had eaten gizzard-shad, two had taken catfishes,
one of which was a bullhead, two had eaten sheepshead (Aplodi-
notus], and one had taken a black bass and a sunfish. The
presence of a medium-sized bullhead in the stomach of one of
these fishes, wi$i its dorsal and pectoral poison-spines stiff-set
and unbroken, was a striking illustration of the voracity of
this species.
It is of much less commercial importance than the wall-eye,
the catch from the Mississippi River in 1899 reaching a total of
only 39,000 pounds.
GENUS PERCA (ARTEDI) LINNJEUS
RIVER PERCH
Body oblong, considerably compressed, back elevated; mouth moderate;
premaxillary protractile; preopercle serrate, the serrse on lower margin
antrorse, closely set; opercle with a single spine; teeth in villiform bands on
jaws, vomer, and palatines; no canines; pseudobranchise small, but perfect;
276 FISHES OP ILLINOIS
pyloric caeca 3 to 7; dorsal spines 12 to 16; anal with 2 slender spines, well
separated from the soft rays; scales rather small, ctenoid. Fresh waters of
northern regions ; 3 closely allied species, one each in Europe, Asia, and North
America.
PERCA FLAVESCENS (MITCHILL)
YELLOW PERCH; RINGED PERCH; AMERICAN PERCH
(MAP LXXXIV)
Mitchill, 1814, Rep. Fish. N. Y., 18 (Morone).
G., I, 59; J. & G., 524 (americana); M. V., 134; B., I, 48; J. & E.. I, 1023; N., 36;
J., 43 (atnericana); F. F., I. 3, 29 (americana); F., 63 (americana) ; L»., 26.
Length 1 foot; body only moderately elongate, considerably compressed;
back elevated, highest in front of spinous dorsal; the profile convex from first
dorsal spine to occiput, thence straightish or slightly concave to muzzle;
depth 3.3 to 3.8; greatest width of body about '% of its depth; depth caudal
peduncle 2 to 2.2 in its length. Color of sides and back brassy green to
golden yellow, with seven broad bars of dusky crossing each side from back
nearly to belly; belly whitish with reflections of green, salmon, and yellow;
iris brassy at edge ; spinous dorsal gray, usually with a black spot on last two
membranes; soft dorsal and caudal plain green; pectorals transparent grayish
green; ventrals and anal variously light grayish green or orange to crimson
according to season and habitat. Head 3 to 3.5; width head 1.8 to 2.1 in
length; interorbital space nearly flat, 3.8 to 4.3; eye 1.1 to 1.4 in interorbital,
4.5 to 5.5 in head; nose 3.4 to 3.7, longer than eye; maxillary to middle of
orbit, 2.4 to 2.8; opercle ending above in several coarse jagged points; pre-
opercle strongly serrate, especially below; gill-rakers X + 15, the longest
more than half length of branchial filaments; pyloric caeca 3. Dorsal XII to
XIV-II or III, 12 to 13; longest spine a little more than 2 in head; length
base of soft dorsal about % base of spinous; caudal lunate; anal II, 7-8;
ventrals more than half-way to vent; pectorals 1.6 to 1.9 in head. Scales 6
or 7, 57-62, 15-18; lateral line nearly or quite complete; cheeks scaled, in
about 8 to 10 rows.
This is one of the best-known fishes in the northern part of
the state, swarming especially along the piers on the lake front
at Chicago, where it is the common game of the local fishermen.
It occurs elsewhere in Illinois mainly in the upland lakes of the
northeastern part of the state, in the tributary streams flowing
into Lake Michigan, and in the Illinois and Mississippi rivers
as far south as Meredosia. It is virtually unknown in the
southeastern half of the state, and has never once been taken by
us in any of the streams of the Wabash or Kaskaskia systems,
or from any of those farther south. It is inconstant in its abun-
dance in the Illinois River, and is said to have increased greatly
there since the opening of the drainage canal has cooled and
cleared the waters of that stream.
PERCA — RIVER PERCH 277
Its general distribution is decidedly northerly, except on the
Atlantic coast, where it has been found as far south as the Neuse
River in North Carolina. It occurs abundantly in the Hudson
and in all the Great Lakes, and ranges throughout Quebec and
New England to Nova Scotia, westward to Iowa and the
Dakotas, and north to the Red River basin. It is unknown
from southern Indiana and southern Ohio, as it is from southern
Illinois.
It is essentially a lake fish, but occurs also in running
streams, most abundantly in the larger rivers and least so in
creeks. Our eighty-three collections have been taken with
approximately equal frequency from the glacial lakes, the lakes
of the bottom-lands, and the rivers of the largest class. It is
wholly carnivorous, but differs greatly in its food according to
the situation from which it comes. Eighteen river specimens,
for example, had made but 6 per cent, of their food of fishes,
about a fifth of it of the smaller thin-shelled mollusks, a fourth
of it of insect larvae, and nearly half of it of Crustacea — craw-
fishes, fresh-water shrimps (Palcemonetes) , amphipods, and
isopods — while a dozen lake specimens, on the other hand, had
eaten nothing but fishes and crawfishes, the former greatly
preponderating. The perch is said by Cole to eat the spawn of
other fish. There is a notable difference, also, between the
lake and river perch in respect to their coloration, the latter
being usually much the more brilliant.
The yellow perch may reach a length of a foot and a weight
of more than two pounds, but does not commonly weigh much
more than a pound. It spawns in spring, usually during April
and May, when the temperature of the water is from 44° to
49° F. Ripe males were taken by Craig at Havana on May 3,
1899. According to Dr. C. C. Abbott, the sexes go in pairs to
the spawning beds, which are selected near shore where there
is a sandy or pebbly bottom. The eggs are laid in flat bands,
and, after fertilization and " water hardening," they increase
greatly in size. A single adult deposited in the aquarium of
the Washington station of the United States Fish Commission
a string of eggs 88 inches long, which, after fertilization, weighed
41 ounces.
This perch is taken in fykes, gill-nets, and traps, or with
seines and hooks. It is one of the very best of our fishes for a
pan fry, the flesh being white, firm, and of an excellent flavor,
better, however, in northern localities than in southern.
278 FISHES OP ILLINOIS
The catch of perch from Lake Michigan in 1899 was over
three million pounds, of which 677,000 pounds came from the
Illinois shore. In the Illinois River it is taken in considerable
numbers, but mostly by line-fishing. "As a game fish, the
yellow perch can be commended chiefly on account of the fact
that anybody can catch it. It can be taken with hook and line
any month in the year, and with any sort of bait, — grasshoppers,
angleworms, grubs, small minnows, pieces of mussel, or pieces
of fish; and it will even rise, and freely, too, on occasion, to the
artificial fly; * * * It is easily taken through the ice in
winter, when small minnows are the best bait." A State
Laboratory assistant some years ago made an experiment at
simple and inexpensive fishing for the yellow perch from a pier
at South Chicago. With a piece of lath for a pole, a line of cotton
twine, a small hook, and a bit of pork for his first bait, he caught
a single perch, cut this up as bait for others, and within an
hour had a string of seventy-five.
SUBFAMILY ETHEOSTOMIN/E
THE DARTERS
The darters have long been a favorite group with students
of American fishes. Peculiar to this country,* in which the
subfamily has a great development, interesting in their variety,
their habits, and their relations to nature, and especially attrac-
tive by reason of their graceful forms, their relatively minute
size, their brilliant coloration, and the exquisite detail and finish
of their structural equipment, they are to the fishes of North
America what the hummingbirds are to South American birds.
They seem not to be so much dwarfed as concentrated fishes,
each embodying in small space all the complexity, spirit, and
activity of a perch or a wall-eyed pike.
As a group, they are most likely to be found in compara-
tively swift and rocky streams, being especially adapted to these
situations by their small size, their large paired fins, their pointed
heads, and their habit of resting on the bottom or, in some cases,
of burying themselves in sand, — all of which are means of
maintaining themselves in swift currents, and of securing from
among and under stones the insect larvae and crustaceans on
* Small percoids of Europe belonging to the genus Aspro and found in the Danube are of
larger size than the American darters, and are thought by most writers to have been indepen-
dently derived from European percoid stock, and not to be genetically related to the American
Etheostomince.
ETHEOSTOMIISLE — THE DARTERS 279
which they mainly depend for food. They swim mainly by
means of their pectoral fins, making quick dashes in the current
as a bird might make a short, rapid flight against a high wind,
and resting in the intervals upon their extended ventral and anal
fins. Unlike most of the taxonomic groups we have hitherto
discussed, the darters thus form a rather definite ecological
assemblage, assimilated by their like adaptive characters and
by their similar relations to like situations. There are, never-
theless, well-marked degress of adaptation among the 'different
genera and species; and, likewise, in the strictness of their con-
finement to the class of situations characteristic of the group.
Three of our species, for example, are often found in still or
sluggish waters and over a muddy bottom; one, the sand-darter,
is much the commonest in streams with a sandy bottom; and
another, Cottogaster shumardi, is most abundant along the borders
of the largest rivers. The species are likewise distinguishable in
other features of their local distribution, as may be readily seen by
a comparison of the distribution maps of the darters in the atlas
accompanying this report. The force of competition is thus more
or less broken among them in various ways, no exact analysis
of which has ever been attempted. The origin of these species
is an interesting and inviting problem, particularly open to
solution because of the comparatively restricted range of the
family and the fact that there is nothing to suggest an extensive
migration from the place of their original differentiation.
The food of the subfamily was studied by the senior author
many years ago from the contents of seventy stomachs repre-
senting fifteen species, collected in various parts of Illinois in
several months of four successive years. These indicated more
than their number would imply, since different darters obtained
from the same locality and on the same day usually agreed so
closely in food that the study of from two to five specimens
gave all the facts obtainable from several times as many.
Furthermore, the differences between the related species in
respect to food are so slight that specific peculiarities were
scarcely recognizable. The data obtained, therefore, really
apply to the food of the whole subfamily at different seasons in
twenty-nine localities within this state. This was, on the whole,
remarkably uniform, except that two of the species, the largest
and the smallest of the group, were found to differ from the
remainder in a way to correspond to a notable difference in
their local distribution.
280 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Briefly described, the typical species feed on insect larvae
commonly abundant on the bottoms of streams, under or among
stones, and in other similar situations, the smaller species eating
mainly dipterous larvae (most commonly Chironomus) , together
with a smaller proportion of neuropterous larvae of the smaller
sizes; while the larger darters eat essentially the same kinds of
food, but in different ratios, the neuropterous larvae being of
larger average size and also making a larger part of the food.
The two exceptional species studied, Percina caprodes and
Microperca punctulata, have deserted in great measure the usual
situations of the darters, and are frequently found among weeds
and algae in comparatively quiet water with a muddy bottom,
the others being much more closely confined to swift and rocky
shallows. Consistently with this difference, these two widely
unlike species agree in their choice of food, which in both consists
largely of Entomostraca or other small crustaceans. The larger
species had also eaten a few small mollusks (Ancylus) .
Where a group of species has become assimilated by a
similar adaptation to a common class of situations, and has
thus become a definite ecological assemblage, those in which the
adaptive processes have gone farthest are, of course, most likely
to be limited to the characteristic situation — are most likely,
consequently, to be taken by the collector in each others' com-
pany. By applying this rule to an analysis of the collections
of darters made in Illinois, we find that the most typical species
obtained by us in any considerable number are the .following
six, mentioned in the order of the relative frequency of their
associate occurrence in our collections: Hadropterus phoxo-
cephalus, Etheostoma zonale, Etheostoma flabellare, Hadropterus
aspro, Ammocrypta pellucida, and Etheostoma coeruleum. Ap-
parently the least stringently connected with their kind by the
associative relationship are Diplesion blennioides, Etheostoma
jessice, Boleosoma camurum, and Boleichthys fusiformis. The
species of the second list will presently be seen to be those which
have wandered widely from the common field of the subfamily,
and which are consequently found most frequently in situations
to which the other species rarely resort. Furthermore, in
separating themselves from their fellows in respect to local
distribution, they have not, as a rule, approached each other,
but remain as loosely affiliated ecologically among themselves
as they are with the more typical members of the group. A
notable exception to this statement is found in Boleosoma
PERCIXA — LOG-PERCHES 281
camurum and Boleichthys fusiformis, which occur in similar
waters, and most abundantly also in the same part of the state.
In these two common species the coefficient of association each
with the other is unusually high, much higher, indeed, than the
average coefficient for the most typical species of the subfamily.
The darters are distributed through southern Canada and
the United States east of the Rocky Mountains and northern
Mexico; as far westward as south Nebraska; and northward to
Qu'Appelle, in the basin of the Red River of the North. There
are some eighty or ninety species of this subfamily in North
America, and in Illinois twenty-three species belonging to ten
genera. The majority of them are less than four inches long,
and one of them does not exceed an inch and a half. The name
of " darter" is given them because of their quick, swift flights
through the water, a fact which also suggested to Rafinesque
the technical name of one of the early genera described by him
— Boleosoma, meaning dart-body. To the fisherman and the
ordinary observer these little percoids are usually either wholly
unknown or go by the general name of minnow, or, perhaps, by
the more appropriate one of "perch minnow." They are, as a
rule, brilliantly colored, and sexual color-differences are strongly
marked in many species, the females being duller than the males.
The species are much subject to local variation, but they are
nevertheless commonly well marked, and the local forms can
usually be referred, without much difficulty, to the specific
group. All spawn in spring, so far as known.
GENUS PERCINA HALDEMAN
LOG-PERCHES
Body elongate, sybcylindrical; mouth small and inferior; premaxillaries
not protractile; teeth on vomer and palatines; belly with a median row of
enlarged caducous plates; vertebrae (P. caprodes) 44 (23 + 21); pyloric caeca
(P. caprodes) 6; pseudobranchia? present, rudimentary. In the diagnostic
features above noted this genus is scarcely different from Hadropterns. On
the cranial characters of Percina, which in its skull structure more closely
resembles Perca than do the other etheostomids, Jordan and Eigenmann
have said: "As compared with the other darters, the skull of Percina is
much broader between the eyes; the parietal bones are more strongly ridged,
the sutures more distinct, the top of the cranium beyond the eyes more de-
pressed, and the supraoccipital crest more developed than in most of the
others. "* The largest of the darters ; coloration olivaceous, with dark vertical
bands on body, more or less broken into spots and reticulations; species 2.
. *Proc. I'. S. Xat. Mus., Vol. 8, p. 68.
—27 F
282 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
PERCINA CAPRODES (EAFIXESQUE)
LOG-PERCH
(MAP LXXXY)
Rafinesque, 1818, Amer. Month. Mag., 534 (Sciaena).
J. & G., 499; M. V., 126; B., I, 57; J. & E., 1026; N., 36; J., 39; F., 65; F. F., I.
3, 25; L... 26.
The largest of our darters, length 4 to 6 inches; body cylindrical, elongate;
depth 5.4 to 7 in length; greatest width of body about % of its greatest
depth; depth of caudal peduncle 2.6 to 2 .9 in its length. Color olive-buff to
yellowish; sides of adults crossed by from 30 to 40 bars of dark green color,
varying* in width and in extent from above downward, the most usual
arrangement being an alternation of short and narrow with wider and longer
ones, the merging of bars producing in some older specimens a more or less'
reticulated pattern on the sides and forming on the back 3 or 4 large saddle-
like blotches; fewer bars (15 to 30) in younger specimens, the intermediate
narrower and shorter ones being faint or entirely absent in the very young;
a small but prominent black spot at base of caudal fin, encircled by a band
of yellow; snout dusky; cheeks with iridescent green, blue, and yellow; iris
with golden margin; dorsal and caudal fins barred, other fins plain. Head
3.9 to 4.3 in length, long and pointed; width of head 1.9 to 2.2; interorbital
space flat or slightly concave, 4 to 4.8 in head; eye high, obliquely set, its
long diameter 3.6 to 4.2 in head; snout long, conic, with a pad at its tip, 2.8
to 3.3 in head; mouth small, inferior, overhung by the pig-like snout, max-
illary reaching scarcely to posterior nostril-opening; cleft 3.4 to 4 in head;
lower jaw much shorter than upper; gill-membranes narrowly connected,
distance from tip of snout to their angle scarcely greater than to back of
orbit. Dorsal fin XII-15; spinous and soft portions usually very little sepa-
rated, or not at all; height of first dorsal 2 to 2.3 in head, of second 1.6 to 2.2
(height of first 74 to 94 per cent, of second); caudal truncate; anal II, 10-11
pectorals 1.2 to 1 .4 in head; separation of ventrals about equal to their width
at base. Scales 9-11, 83-93, 12-14; lateral line usually complete, as many
as 1 to 6 pores occasionally lacking; cheeks and opercles fully scaled; nape
of typical specimens fully scaledf; breast naked; belly with deeply embedded
scales and a median row of rather small pectinate caducous plates.
Sexual differences not marked. The majority of our specimens are
young, and no gravid females appear among them. Testes were large and
white in males taken on the 12th of June 1901.
The darter is distributed through the state from Cairo
to South Chicago and the northeastern glacial lakes, mainly,
however, in the larger streams. We have found it relatively
most abundant in medium-sized rivers, and next so in creeks,
its frequency coefficients for such streams, as represented by our
* For an interesting paper on variation in the color pattern of this species see W. J. Moenk-
haus, Amer. Nat., Vol. 28, pp. 641-660.
t Naked in var. zebra Agassiz (Jordan and Evermann, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 47, I.,
p. 1027). Some apparent specimens of that form were taken in Illinois in early collections by
the senior author.
HADROPTERUS — BLACK-SIDED DARTERS 283
seventy collections of the species, being 2.26 and 1.6 respectively.
In the larger rivers, on the other hand, and in lakes, ponds, and
sloughs, it is much less common, its ratio for each being .58.
It is decidedly more frequent in northern Illinois than in either
central or southern. It is not particularly choice of localities,
and enters freely 'the turbid waters of the lower Illinoisan
glaciation. It has been taken several times along the banks of
the Illinois River, and from bays and bottom-land lakes con-
nected with that stream. It is not a swift-water species, and
has but little in its habits, food, or favorite situations, to identify
it with the darters at large.
Outside Illinois it occurs in all the Great Lakes, in Lake
Champlain, in the St. Lawrence River, and in various smaller
streams in Quebec, and thence southward to Virginia and the
Ohio basin, westward to Kansas and Missouri, and southwest-
ward to Alabama and Trinity River in Texas.
It is sometimes taken on the hook with a worm bait, and it
is probably the only one of our darters definitely known as an
angler's fish.
This species is particularly changeable in color, as observed
by us in aquarium specimens, the darker tints sometimes deepen-
ing to black, and the gold and emerald complexion of the cheeks
and opercles becoming extraordinarily bright. It was noticed
that the lower part of the transverse bars would sometimes
blacken independently of the upper part, giving an appearance
of a row of lateral blotches like those of Hadropterus aspro.
A third of the food of eleven specimens was found by us to
consist of crustaceans (mainly Entomostraca) , and the remainder
of insects, the latter chiefly Chironomus larvae, larvae of day-
flies, and water-bugs (Corixa).
GENUS HADROPTERUS AGASSIZ
BLACK-SIDED DARTERS
Body rather elongate, compressed or not; mouth rather wide, terminal;
premaxillaries not protractile; teeth on vomer and usually on palatines;
belly with a median series of enlarged ctenoid plates, which in most species
fall off at intervals, but are persistent in some; vertebrae (four species) 39
to 42 (18 or 19 + 20 to 23); pyloric caeca 2 to 4. Darters of more or less
slender and graceful form, of active habits, and of moderately brilliant color-
ation; size various, some species reaching a length of 6 to 8 inches, others
much smaller; species 11 or 12.
284 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF HADROPTERUS FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Gill-membranes not broadly united at isthmus, distance from tip of snout to
angle formed by their union scarcely exceeding that to back of orbit.
b. Color pattern transverse, consisting of (1) bars or bands, or (2) of blotches
and transversely rather than longitudinally arranged marblings.
c. Sides with about 15 blotches, some of them extending upward and down-
ward so as to form ill-defined bars; cheeks scaled evermanni.
cc. Sides with about 7 broad transverse bars, extending from below lateral line
on one side, across iback and down on other side; cheeks naked evides.
bb. Color pattern longitudinal, the sides marked with a median row of blotches
or a moniliform band, above which are longitudinally disposed marblings.
d. Scales 8-10, 64-70, 9-11; cheeks scaled aspro.
dd. Scales 6, 52-60, 6; cheeks naked ouachitae.
aa. Gill -membranes united at isthmus in a broad curve, least distance from
muzzle to free margin of gill -membranes 1% to 1% times that from muzzle
to back of orbit.
e. Head very slender and snout long and pointed, 1% times eye; interorbital
space narrow, its width twice in snout; lateral blotches small and as a
rule faint; a very small central caudal spot phoxocephalus.
ee. Head and snout less slender, the latter equaling eye; interorbital space
•broader, less than 1% times in snout; sides with 8 or 9 large and distinct,
often more or less confluent, dark blotches; base of caudal with 3 dark
blotches, the central and lower spots usually more or less merged. . scierus.
HADROPTERUS EVERMANNI MOENKHAUS
Moenkhaus, 1903, Bull. U. S. Fish. Comm., Vol. 22, 397-398.
Length of single specimen in our collection 3 inches; body stoutish, only
moderately elongate, and very little compressed, the cylindrical form suggest-
ingPerdna caprodes; depth 5.17 in length; greatest width of body about %
of its depth; caudal peduncle short and stout, its depth 2.35 in its length.
Color (in preservative) light olive with numerous blotches and marblings;
back with about 6 large and more or less quadrate dark blotches; sides with
13 or 14 blotches, some of them extending upward and downward so as to
form ill-defined bars, the dark markings above blotches being of a general
transverse rather than longitudinal pattern (as in H. aspro) ; first dorsal with
membranes dusky at base, especially toward back of fin; tips of last rays and
membranes dusky; soft dorsal and caudal faintly barred, other fins plain;
head smoky olive, a prominent dark vertical streak below eye. Head rather
short, bluntly conic, 4.08 in length; width of head 1.79 in its length; in-
terorbital space flat, 5.76 in head; eye oblique, 3.58; nose 2.97; mouth moder-
ate, the maxillary scarcely reaching to orbit, cleft 3.17 in head, lower jaw in-
cluded; gill-membranes noticeably but not at all broadly connected at isthmus,
the distance from muzzle to angle about 1.1 times that to back of orbit.
Dorsal fin XIII, 14; spinous and soft portions scarcely separated; height of
first dorsal 1.7 in head, of second 1.6 (height of first 91 per cent, of second);
caudal truncate; anal II, 12; pectorals 1.1 in head; separation of ventrals
slightly greater than their width at base. Scales 8, 69, 8 [12]*; no pores
lacking; cheeks with about 6 rows of rather large scales; opercles and nape
fully scaled; breast naked; belly naked anteriorly, a median row of im-
mature caducous plates behind.
* Number in brackets is count to middle line of belly; first count is to front of anal.
HADROPTERUS— BLACK-SIDED DARTERS 285
Our single specimen of this species was taken at Havana,
Illinois, in the summer of 1897. While presenting resemblances
to both H. aspro and P. caprodes, it may be readily distinguished
from both by its different color pattern.
Described from Lake Tippecanoe, Indiana.
HADROPTERUS PHOXOCEPHALUS (NELSON)
(MAP LXXXVI)
Nelson, 1876, Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist., I. 1, 35 (Etheostoma).
J. & G., 501 (Alvordius); M. V., 127 (Etheostoma); B., I, 63 (Percina); J. & E.,
I, 1030; J., 39 (Alvordius); F., 65; L. 27.
Length 3 inches; body moderately elongate and compressed; form
distinctive among darters for its graceful outlines, the back gently elevated
and the anterior portion of the body faultlessly tapered to the end of the
slender pointed head; depth 5.4 to 6.2 in length; greatest width of body
about Y§ of its depth; depth caudal peduncle 1.8 to 2.4 in its length. Color
yellowish brown, more or less marbled, blotched, and tessellated with darker,
but the colors generally duller than in H. aspro; sides with about 12 or 13
more or less indefinite dusky blotches, sometimes confluent into a monili-
form band, in instances fading so as to become almost imperceptible; back
with tessellations and upper portion of sides with marblings of dark color,
ordinary examples having a vermiculated appearance; first dorsal with a
broad band of orange-red across its middle and with narrow outer edging of
pale blue, the hues much more brilliant in males than in females; second
dorsal and caudal faintly barred; other fins plain, the anal and ventrals
dusky in males; a dark band from front of orbit through nostril to end of
snout; vertical streak below eye faint. Head long, slender and quite pointed,
3.6 to 3.9 in length; width of head 2.1 to 2.4; interorbital space extremely
narrow, 6.7 to 7.9 in head; eye 3.8 to 4.5; nose pointed, 3.5 to 4 in head;
mouth moderate, maxillary reaching a little past front of orbit, the cleft 3.4
to 4 in head; jaws nearly equal; gill-membranes free from isthmus and broadly
connected, the distance from muzzle to their free posterior margin 1^ to
1% times that to back of orbit. Dorsal fin XII or XIII, 12-14; spinous and
soft portions scarcely separated at base; height of first dorsal 2.2 to 2.9 in
head, second 1.7 to 2.1 (height of first 70 to 88 per cent, of second); caudal
slightly emarginate; anal II, 8 or 9, rarely 10 or 11; pectorals 1.2 to 1.4 in
head; separation of ventrals slightly less than their width at base. Scales
8-10, 64-69, 10-12 [12-18]; usually no pores lacking; cheeks covered with
very fine scales, in 14 or 15 rows; opercles and nape scaled; breast naked or
with a median large caducous shield; mid-ventral line with small caducous
plates.
This modestly colored but shapely darter is distributed
much like Percina caprodes, except that we have not found it in
the northern glacial lakes, and that it is dispersed more widely
through the smaller streams. It has occurred in ninety-five of
our collections, most abundantly in the Illinois basin, but fre-
286 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
quently also in the Rock River and its tributaries. It is com-
monest in northern Illinois and is least frequently found in the
southern part of the state. Like Percina caprodes, it has been
taken by us most generally from the smaller rivers (3.39) and
from creeks (1.59), but only rarely from the largest rivers (.4)
or from lakes or sloughs (.2). It is preeminently a species of
swift water with a bottom of rock or sand, 94 per cent, of our
collections coming from the former situation and 90 per cent,
from the latter.
It is further reported from Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri
to Kentucky, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
Consistently with the relatively large size of this species,
larvae and pupae of May-flies were found by us to predominate
in its food, including one of the largest larvae of this family
(Hexagenid) in our streams. Larvae of dragon-flies, a small
percentage of Chironomus larvae, and water-bugs (Corixa), were
the other elements of its food.
Females greatly distended with eggs were taken by us June
5, 1901.
FIG. 68
HADROPTERUS ASPRO (COPE & JOEDAN)
BLACK-SIDED DARTER
(PL. P. 285; MAP LXXXVII)
Kirtland, 1839, Journ. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 340 (Etheostoma blennioides).
Cope & Jordan, 1877, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Fhila., 51 (Alvordius aspro — substitute
for Etheostoma blennioides of Kirtland, the name blennioides being preoccu-
pied in Diplesion).
J. & G., 501 (Alvordius); M. V., 127 (Etheostomp) ; B., I, 59 (Percina); J. & E., I.
1032; N., 35 (Etheostoma blennioides); J. 39 (Alvordius maculatus); F., 65;
L., 27.
Length 3 to 4 inches; body elongate, fusiform, somewhat compressed,
less cylindrical than in Percina; one of the most graceful and elegant in form
and color of all the darters; depth 5.4 to 6.8 in length; greatest width of body
about % of its greatest depth; depth of caudal peduncle 2.5 to 3.3 in its
HADEOPTERUS — BLACK-SIDED DARTEES 287
length. Color of midsummer females and immature males yellowish olive
or straw, with dark blotches and mottlings; back with about 8 quadrate
spots, between which, on upper portion of sides, are dark, longitudinally
disposed marblings; a row of 7 or 8 large dark blotches along middle of side,
more or less confluent, and sometimes forming a continuous moniliform band,
their color dark bluish olive to bluish black; belly grayish in front, darkened
with smoky blue posteriorly; head dark olive, with a darker streak before
eye, and one below it, directed slightly backward; cheeks and opercles olive,
with sprinkling of iridescent coppery and emerald; pupil dead black; iris
brownish except for a faint narrow gold rim next to pupil; dorsal and caudal
plainly, pectorals faintly, barred. Adult males in breeding color with entire
body more or less smoky or dusky, lacking the contrast between blotches and
interspaces seen in females; in all adult males the spinous dorsal crossed near
its base by a broad dark band and both the caudal and anal dusky. Head
pointed, 3.8 to 4 in length; width of head 1.8 to 2.2 in its length; interorbital
space flat, narrow, about % of eye, 5.5 to 6.7 in head; eye nearly round,
3.4 to 4 in head; nose bluntly pointed, 3.6 to 4.1 in head; mouth rather large,
the maxillary extending past front of orbit, the cleft 3 to 3.4 in head; lower
jaw very little shorter than upper; gill-membranes as a rule not noticeably
connected* at isthmus, distance from tip of snout to angle and to back of
orbit about equal. Dorsal fin XIII-XV, 11-14; spinous and soft portions
as a rule distinctly separated at base; height of first dorsal 1.9 to 2.3 in head,
of second 1.7 to 2 (height of first 82 to 94 per cent, of second); caudal notice-
ably emarginate; anal II, 8-11; pectorals 1.1 to 1.3 in head; separation of
ventrals about equal to their width at base. Scales 8-10, 64-70, 9-11;
lateral line nearly straight, usually complete, one or two pores sometimes
lacking; cheeks and opercles covered with small scales; nape naked or with
embedded scales; breast naked; middle line of belly with enlarged caducous
plates; scales of body markedly ctenoid, giving this fish a more or less charac-
teristic feeling of roughness.
This darter, of comparatively plain and somber colors, is
more abundant in Illinois than H. phoxocephalus, but is similarly
distributed, differing, however, in the fact that our collections,
168 in number, have come much more generally from the eastern
part of the state than from the western, and that it does not
occur so frequently as phoxocephalus in the larger rivers. It is
about equally abundant in the smaller rivers and in creeks, but
rarely occurs in the larger rivers or in bottom-land 'lakes and
ponds. In ecological relations it also closely resembles its com-
panion species of the genus, but seemingly has a less decided
preference for a rapid current or a clean bottom.
It ranges somewhat farther northward, its area of distribu-
tion extending from Manitoba and the Great Lake region to
Arkansas. It is especially common in the Ohio Valley. East-
* In occasional collections of this species we meet with specimens with gill-membranes
more or less broadly connected (e.g., 28187, Salt creek, Logan Co.). These specimens do not
have the small mouth and three caudal spots of H . scierus.
288 EISHES OF ILLINOIS
ward it is reported from the James and the Roanoke, westward
from Kansas to Dakota, and northward from Winnipeg and the
Assiniboin.
In our studies of its food we were not able to distinguish
any differences between this and the related species, and the
two have, indeed, occurred together in our collections one and a
half times as frequently as is the average for the family.
HADROPTERUS OUACHITVE (JORDAN & GILBERT)
Jordan & Gilbert, 1887, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus., 49 (Etheostoma).
J. & E., I, 1035.
Length 2 inches*; body elongate, little compressed; depth in length
7.14; depth caudal peduncle 3.07 in its length. Color (in spirits) strawish
olive; back marked with 7 or 8 rather faint roundish to quadrate blotches;
upper portion of sides splashed with W- and X-shaped marks; middle of
sides with 8 or 9 large, roundish, and more or less confluent dark blotches;
dorsals faintly barred; general aspect much as in young of H. aspro, from
which this species differs markedly only in its larger scales. Head slender,
bluntly pointed, 4.38 in length; width of head 1.78 in its length; interorbital
space flat, considerably less than eye, 5.71 in head; eye 3.08; nose 3.48;
mouth moderate, narrow, and slightly smaller than in H. aspro, the maxillary
extending to front of orbit; cleft 3.48 in head; lower jaw included; gill-mem-
branes scarcely joined at isthmus, distances from muzzle to angle and to
back of orbit equal. Dorsal fin XI, 10; the two portions separated by a
space equal to width of eye; height of first dorsal 2.11 in head, second 1.6
(height of first 75 per cent, of second); caudal truncate; anal II, 8; pectorals
.96 in head; separation of ventrals same as width of base. Scales 6, 54, 6;
lateral line complete; cheeks naked; posterior portion of opercles with 3 or
4 rows of rather large scales; nape and breast nakedf; middle line of belly
naked.t
Probably present in Illinois in the Wabash basin, being
represented in our collections by a single specimen, 3.5 cm. in
length, taken from the Wabash River at New Harmony, Ind.,
on April 28, 1900. Originally described from the Saline River,
a tributary of the Washita, at Benton, Ark.
Here described from one specimen.
HADROPTERUS EVIDES (JORDAN & COPELAND)
Jordan & Copeland, 1877, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 51 (Alvordius).
J. & G., 503 (Alvordius); M. V., 128 (Etheostoma); J. & E., I, 1036; N., 36 (Etheos-
toma); J., 39 (Ericosoma); F., 65; I*, 27.
Differing from the other species of Hadropterus chiefly in squamation
and color pattern, the cheeks and nape naked and opercles with caducous
* Specimens 3 inchefe long have been obtained by Dr. Jordan (Bull. U. S. Fish Comm..
1888, p. 164).
t "Scaled" (Jordan and Evermann).
t "Sometimes with caducous plates" (Jordan and Evermann).
HADEOPTERUS — BLACK-SIDED DARTERS 289
scales. "Coloration extremely brilliant; * * * sides with about 7 broad
transverse bars extending from below the lateral line on one side, across the
back, and down on the other side; these bars wider than the eye and con-
nected along lateral line by a faint black stripe; * * * spinous dorsal
with a dusky spot on its posterior rays, and the fins destitute of the dark
bars found in related species" (Jordan and Evermann).
Represented in our collections by a single specimen, taken
from Rock River in 1877, still identifiable but in poor condition
for description. Outside of Illinois taken in the Wabash and
Maumee basins in Indiana, and west and southward to central
Iowa, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee, "in the larger clear
streams."
FIG. 69
HADROPTERUS SCIERUS SWAIN
Swain, 1883, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus., 252.
M. V., 127 (Etheostoma); B., I, 80 (Etheostoma); J. & E., I, 1037.
Length of our specimens 2 to 2^ inches*; form and appearance of H.
aspro; depth 6 to 6.7; greatest width % of depth; depth caudal peduncle
2.9 to 3.1 in its length. Color essentially as in H. aspro; yellowish olive, with
back and upper part of sides vaguely blotched with black in longitudinal
pattern, and with a median lateral row of 8 or 9 large and more or less confluent
dark blotches; a faint central caudal spot with a smaller one above it and a
larger one below, the central spot more or less merged with the lower one;
under side of caudal peduncle with small dark blotches; suborbital bar want-
ing entirely in our specimens; dorsals, caudal, and pectorals faintly barred.
Differs from H. aspro in the presence of 3 caudal spots, the lack of the subor-
bital bar, and in the blotching of under side of caudal peduncle. Head
pointed, 4 to 4.2; width of head 2.1 to 2.4 in its length; interorbital space
4.7 to 4.9; eye 3.5 to 4.1; preopercle not serrulate; nose 3.6 to 3.8, short;
mouth smaller than in H. aspro, the maxillary scarcely reaching front of orbit,
the cleft 3.4 to 3.9 in head; lower jaw included; gill-membranes broadly con-
nected, the distance from muzzle to free posterior margin of membranes
about 1*4 times that from muzzle to back of orbit. Dorsal fin X or XII, 13;
spinous and soft portions separated by a distance equal to width of eye;
height of first dorsal 2 to 2.2 in head, second 1.7 (height of first 79 to 85 per
cent, of second); caudal lunate; anal II, 9; pectorals 1.1 in head; separation
of ventrals equal to or a little greater than their width at base. Scales 7,
* "5 inches" (Jordan and Evermann).
290 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
64-67, 11 [15 or 16]; 1 to 13 pores lacking; cheeks and opercles fully scaled;
nape scaled; breast naked and belly closely scaled.
These fishes, though bearing a great general resemblance
to H. aspro j are easily distinguished from it by their much smaller
mouth and united gill-membranes*, and by the combination
of minor color-marks above mentioned.
Our specimens have the preopercle smoothf, as in H. aspro.
Described from 2 specimens taken by T. L. Hankinson from
the Embarras River at Charleston, 111., in 1904. This species
was described in 1883 from Bean Blossom creek, Monroe county,
Ind., and has since been taken in various localities from northern
Indiana to Arkansas.
GENUS COTTOGASTER PUTNAM
Body rather robust, not much compressed; mouth moderate or small;
forms intermediate between Hadropterus and Boleosoma, having the pre-
maxillaries typically protractile, or sometimes (in C. shumardi) connected
with the skin of the forehead by a narrow frenum; teeth on vomer; middle
line of belly naked, or with caducous scales; vertebrae (C. copelandi) 38
(18+20); pyloric caeca 3; coloration not brilliant. Darters of moderate
size, not over 3 inches in length; species few; one known from Illinois.
FIG. 70
COTTOGASTER SHUMARDI (GIRARD)
(MAP LXXXVIII)
Girard, 1859, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 100 (Hadropterus).
J. & G., 498 (Imostoma); M. V., 126 (Etheostoma); B., I, 92 (Boleosoma); J. & E.,
I, 1046; J., 39 (Imostoma); F., 66; L., 27.
Length 2^ to 3 inches; body stout, little compressed except posteriorly;
depth 5.2 to 6.9 in length; greatest width of body usually more than
* See note on H . aspro.
t "Preopercle finely serrated" (Jordan and Evermann, key to Hadropterus); "prepopercle
serrulate, at least in young specimens" (Jordan, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., 1888, p. 165).
COTTOGASTER 291
its greatest depth; caudal peduncle short and stout, its depth 2.1 to 2.6 in
its length. Color (in preservative) straw to brownish olive, densely blotched
and marbled with darker; sides with 8 to 15 dark blotches, which are some
times obscure, and often extended below lateral line as bar-like bands on
anterior portion of body; a faint dark band through nostril to end of snout
and a distinct bar below eye; second dorsal and caudal faintly barred in the
rays. In breeding males the barring of second dorsal replaced by a more
or less uniform dusting of both rays and membranes of lower half of fin;
first dorsal with a small black spot in front between first two rays and a
second and larger one at the back of the fin, usually between 8th and 10th
rays. Head 3.7 to 4 in length, little tapered, muzzle blunt; width of head
1.7 to 2 in its length; interorbital space flat, 5.5 to 6.4 in head, about % of
eye; eye 3.2 to 3.5; nose 2.9 to 3.7; mouth moderate, maxillary to front of
orbit, cleft 2.9 to 3.2 in head; premaxillary in Illinois specimens as a rule
connected by a narrow frenum with the skin of the forehead; lower jaw
slightly shorter than upper; gill-membranes free from isthmus and scarcely
connected, distances from muzzle to angle and to back of orbit about equal.
Dorsal fin IX, or XI, 13-15; spinous and soft portions as a rule very little
separated at base; height of first dorsal 1.7 to 2.2 in head, second 1.6 to 1.7
(height of first 76 to 92 per cent, of second); caudal noticeably emarginate;
anal II, 10-12, (usually 10 or 11); pectorals .9 to 1.3 in head; separation of
ventrals as a rule nearly equal to their width at base. Scales 6 or 7, 50-56,
7-9; lateral line complete; cheeks, opercles, and nape scaled; breast naked;
belly usually naked, sometimes scaled for a short distance in front of vent.
A species of medium size and relatively obscure coloration,
notable especially for its extraordinary local distribution, occur-
ring, as it does, almost wholly along the course of our larger
streams. It is not common in this state, having been taken but
sixteen times from nine localities, six on the Illinois, one on the
Wabash, and two on the Kaskaskia. Twice it was taken from
the deep water of the river channel at Havana.
It occurs also in the Great Lakes, and has been reported
from Erie and Michigan, and elsewhere from the Ohio, the Red,
and the Arkansas rivers of the lower Mississippi Valley. Osburn
says that it is found in Ohio on sandy bottoms in rivers, but
not in small streams.
Females with eggs were taken from the Illinois River on
the 18th and the 20th of March, 1899.
GENUS DIPLESION EAFINESQUE
Body rather elongate, little compressed; mouth small, inferior, horizontal;
premaxillaries protractile downward, the groove not visible from above or in
front as in other darters, but only from underneath; known also by the non-
292 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
protractile maxillary, which is joined for most of its length to the skin of the
front of the preorbital; no teeth on vomer or palatines; no enlarged ventral
plates; vertebrae 42 (19+23); pyloric caeca 4; coloration largely green.
Size moderate, 3 to 5 inches; a single species.
DIPLESION BLENNIOIDES (EAFINESQUE)
GREEN-SIDED DARTER
(MAP LXXXIX)
Raflnesque, 1819, Journ. de Physique, 419 (Etheostoma [Diplesion]).
J. & G., 497; M. V., 125 (Etheostoma); B., I, 100; J. & E., I, 1053; N., 35 (Etheos-
toma); J., 40; F., 66; L., 27.
Length 3 inches; body elongate, neither cylindrical nor (technically)
compressed, but narrowed dorsally in front so that a cross-section of the body
is roughly triangular; back somewhat elevated in adults and profile very
convex; ventral outline straight or slightly concave; depth 5.3 to 6.3; greatest
width of body about Y$ its greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 2.6 to
3.2 in its length. Color of upper parts light olivaceous, paler beneath, the
belly a light creamy white; sides marked with 5 to 8 vertical bars of rich
dark grassy green color, these continuous with dark saddle-like back blotches;*
below lateral line a row of Y-shaped blotches, sometimes connected so as to
form an irregular wavy or zigzag band of rich green; 20 to 50 small rufous-
orange spots scattered along sides in irregular zigzag lines, each spot occupy-
ing the center of a scale; head dark olive-green, mottled with darker green,
a dark green band passing from the eye downward and forward around
the upper jaw and a similar one downward to a short distance behind the
angle of the mouth; suborbital bar of one side usually extending beneath
chin to meet the bar of the other side; cheeks yellowish green, opercles dark
green; head pale beneath; pupil black, iris with some gold; spinous dorsal
with a band of rufous-orange spots at its base occupying about lower third
of fin, which is tipped at outer margin with a narrow edge of pale blue; second
dorsal with row of orange spots fainter, and without outer blue edging; other
fins paler, greenish; females with orange spots at base of spinous dorsal less
brilliant, and with these spots missing on second dorsal. Head short, irregu-
larly pyramidal, flat and broad below, 4 to 4.6 in length; width of head 1.5
to 1.9; interorbital space narrow, flat, 5.2 to 6.8 in head; eye roundish, high,
and somewhat protruding, 3.1 to 3.6; nose 3.1 to 3.7, the muzzle much
deeurved and projecting beyond the inferior mouth; mouth small, inferior,
horizontal, maxillary reaching to front of orbit, cleft 3.1 to 3.6 in head;
lower jaw much shorter than upper; lips rather more prominent than is
usual in darters; gill-membranes connected broadly across isthmus, the
distance from tip of snout to free posterior margin of membranes being
IK to \yi greater than to back of orbit. Dorsal fin XIII-XIV, 13-14;
spinous and soft portions joined or but slightly separated; height of first
dorsal 1.6 to 2.3 in head, second 1.4 to 1.6 (height of first 68 to 90 per cent,
of second); caudal slightly emarginate; anal II, 8 or 9; pectorals .8 to .9 in
head; ventral spines and first 4 or 5 rays rather fleshy and often somewhat
* These blotches are the only part of the bars usually visible in preserved specimens, show-
ing in life as dark pigmented areas under the green of the bars.
GREEN-SIDED DARTER, Diplesion blennioides (Rafinesque)
- ' -
FAN-TAILED DARTER, Etheostoma flabellare Rafinesque
DIPLESION 293
knobbed at extremities; separation of ventrals less than their width at base.
Scales 6-8, 57-61, 7-9 [10 or 11]; lateral line nearly straight and usually com-
plete, 1 or 2 pores occasionally lacking; cheeks naked or with a few more or less
embedded scales; opercles and nape scaled; breast naked; belly with ordinary
scales.
This beautiful and peculiar species, distinguishable at a
glance by its remarkable head, large prominent eyes, and small
inferior mouth, " giving it a decidedly frog-like profile," and by
the green or olive zigzag markings on the back, is, in its breeding
dress, one of the most beautiful of all fresh-water fishes. "The
dorsal fins become bright grass-green, with a scarlet band at
the base; the broad anal has a tinge of the deepest emerald;
while every spot and line upon the side has turned from an
undefined olive to a deep, rich green, scarcely found elsewhere
in the animal world except on the backs of frogs. The same
tint flashes out on the branching rays of the caudal fin, and may
be faintly seen struggling through the white on the belly. The
blotches nearest the middle of the back become jet-black, and
thickly sprinkled everywhere are little shiny spots of a clear
bronze-orange. "*
This darter has an almost inexplicable distribution in
Illinois, if we may judge by our collections of it. Taken by us
in thirty-six localities on the smaller streams of the Wabash
system in this state, it has not once occurred elsewheref in all
our sixteen hundred collections, although it has been once
taken from the Des Plaines at Joliet, by J. H. Ferris, as reported
by Fowler in 1906.J Its general distribution is not such as to
suggest so limited a range in Illinois, occurring, as it does, from
Lakes Ontario and Erie to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and
the lower Alabama basin, and thence to South Dakota, Kansas,
and Missouri, and the Red River in Arkansas. It is generally
distributed throughout Indiana, as shown by the details of the
list of Professor Hay, who reports it as abundant in all suitable
streams. This is one of the groups of species occurring, in Illi-
nois, only or mainly in the Wabash drainage, specially discussed
in our introductory chapter on geographical distribution. It is
found in swift water, oftenest on rocky ripples where there is a
* Jordan and Copeland, American Naturalist, Vol. X., p. 339. ,
t The indication of its presence at Chicago given on Map VII. of an article on the local
distribution of darters (Bull. 111. Stats Lab. Nat. Hist., Vol. VII., Art. VIII.) published by the
senior author in Apiil, 1907, is due to a clerical error in transferring a record based on the pres-
servation of specimens from collections on exhibition at the World's Fair in 1893.
t "Some New and Little Known Percoid Fishes." Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila Dec
1906, p. 522.
294 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
vigorous growth of algae; and it is worthy of note that the pecu-
liar color of this fish seems to assimilate it to its surroundings.
Specimens taken from the Vermilion in Vermilion county
were kept by us for several weeks alive in a soft-water aquarium
aerated by compressed air. They were very shy and easily
frightened, and fell into a panic when disturbed by a sudden
movement in the room or by a jar of the aquarium, their actions
when frightened — too quick for the eye to follow — stirring up
the sand and gravel on the bottom and so clouding the water
as to hide their retreat. They seemed very much attached to
a mass of algae placed in the aquarium with them, lying in it
by the hour, and they were frequently seen perched on a pebble
or stone by means of their ventrals, with the body inclined at
an angle of 30 to 45 degrees. When on the bottom, the body
was usually curved in a snake-like position, as if prepared for
a quick and vigorous stroke.
GENUS BOLEOSOMA DE KAY
TESSELLATED DARTERS
Body moderately elongate, subcylindrical; but slightly translucent;
mouth small, horizontal, subinferior; premaxillaries protractile; teeth on
vomer; vertebrae (B. nigruni) 37 (15 + 22), (B. camurum)3S (17 + 21); py-
loric caeca 3 to 6; belly with ordinary scales; plainly colored, usually olivaceous
with black or brown specks and with no red or blue; spring males dusky to
jet-black. Size small, 2% inches; species about 5.
KEY TO SPECIES OF BOLEOSOMA FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Lateral line complete or nearly so; pyloric cseca 6; cheeks and breast typic-
ally naked, sometimes more or less scaly nigrum.
aa. Lateral line absent on posterior half of body; pyloric caeca 3; cheeks and
opercles, and usually breast, closely scaled cam u rum.
BOLEOSOMA NIGRUM (RAFINESQUE)
JOHNNY DARTER
(Pu, P. 296; MAP XC)
Raflnesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 37 (Etheostoma).
G., I, 77 (Boleosma maculatum); J. & G., 492; B., I, 93; J. & E., I, 1056; N., 35
(brevipinne and olmstedi); J., 40 (maculatum and olmstedi); F., 66; L.., 27.
Length 2J/£ inches; body typically slender, subfusiform, little compressed;
depth 4.7 to 6.9 in length; greatest width of body about Y± its greatest depth;
depth caudal peduncle 2.5 to 3.3 in its length. Color of back and sides a very
pale strawish olive, over which are distributed small brownish dots and
splashes and more or less vaguely W-, X-, and V-shaped markings, part of
the latter forming an inde^finite lateral row, — rather aptly called "sand-
BOLEOSOMA — TESSELLATED DARTERS 295
paper" darter by one of our collectors; back finely tessellated with dark
brown in and between 6 or 7 large, but sometimes indistinct, quadrate
blotches; sometimes an obscure caudal spot; belly in life translucent pale
greenish to dull golden; head olivaceous above, with dark brown specks; a
dark streak in front of eye, a rather broad bar-like blotch behind it; lower
part of cheek very pale greenish; opercle olivaceous, with dark spots above;
pupil dull black; iris with a narrow rim of golden next to pupil ; dorsals, caudal,
and pectorals barred, the latter only near base; ventrals and anal plain, the
anal pale whitish, ventrals of a creamy to strawish hue. Spring males with
head, and with first dorsal, anal, and ventral fins a very dark bluish black,
and rest of body and fins more or less clouded with same color, the sides
being marked with 8 or 9 bars of darker color, the bars indistinct in some
specimens and in instances wholly submerged in an almost uniform black
coloration; in the less dusky spring males, in which barring is plainest, the
spinous dorsal may have dark color mostly confined to the membrane be-
tween the first and second spines and to an irregular narrow edging on pos-
terior half of fin. No difference between coloration of late-summer males
and females. Head short, 3.5 to 4.2 in length, with decurved snout, pro-
truding eyes, and flat and sloping forehead; width of head 1.6 to 2.1 in its
length; interorbital space narrow and concave, 6.5 to 8.5 in head; eye round,
protruding above level of cranium, 3.2 to 3.8 in head; nose bluntly pointed,
3.3 to 4.2; mouth rather small, inferior, maxillary reaching past front of orbit;
cleft 2.9 to 3.7 in head; lower jaw included; gill-membranes narrowly con-
nected, distance from muzzle to angle and to back of orbit equal. Dorsal
fin VIII-X (usually IX), 10-12, the spinous and soft portions often united at
base; height of first dorsal 1.7 to. 2.1 in head, second 1.4 to 1.8 (height of first
70 to 92 per cent, of second) ; caudal truncate; anal I, 6 to 9 (usually 7 or 8) ;
pectorals .9 to 1.2 in head; separation of ventrals usually a little less than
their width at base. Scales 5-7 (usually 6), 45-52, 6-8 [8-11] ; lateral line as
a rule complete, but 2 or 3 pores occasionally lacking; cheeks typically*
naked or with only a trace of scales on upper portion; opercles covered with
small scales; nape either scaled or naked; breast in typical* specimens naked,
fully or more or less scaled in many specimens from the Rock, upper Illinois,
and upper Wabash basins, in which cheeks also are scaly; belly with ordinary
scales.
The Johnny darter, much the most abundant of its sub-
family in this state, and taken by us in 243 collections, is not so
much a thoroughly typical as a fairly average darter — distin-
guished, that is, less by a precise adaptation to the special
darter environment than by a fairly equal distribution through-
out the entire class of situations frequented by the various
species of the group.
It occurs virtually everywhere in the state except in the
larger streams and in lowland lakes and sloughs, where it is
strikingly rare. It has occurred but twice, for example, in over
five hundred collections made by us from the Illinois River at
* See table on page 297.
296 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Havana and Meredosia. It is rather disproportionately infre-
quent in the waters of the lower Illinoisan glaciation, although
not by any means excluded from that area, as a glance at the
distribution map for the species will show. We have found it
most abundant in the small streams of the Wabash and Kas-
kaskia systems, in which it has occurred in 56 and 66 per cent.,
respectively, of all collections made.
It is typically a darter of the creeks and small brooks, and
44 per cent, of all our creek collections have contained it. It
has come from the smaller rivers with about half this frequency,
and from glacial lakes with about a fourth. The average
character here ascribed to it is illustrated by the fact that it
has been taken by us with darters of other species in almost
exactly the average frequency of the associate occurrence of one
species with another throughout the whole subfamily.
It is usually found among gravel and weeds, although not
infrequently on a mud bottom, from which situation some 11
per cent, of our collections came. Its preference for swift waters
is not so marked as in the case of the more typical darters,
nearly a third of our collections having come from standing or
quiet water.
Outside Illinois the species is found from New England and
Lake Champlain through the Great Lake region to the Assini-
boin River, down the Atlantic slope as far as the Catawba
River, and westward throughout the Ohio and Missouri basins
to Colorado and Montana.
Its habits are those of its subfamily. It often lies with its
head up and its body bent to one side or supported partly by a
stone. It can turn its head without moving its body; can roll
the eye about in the socket; may rest suspended, as we have
seen it do, on the under side of a floating board; and sometimes
buries itself, with a whirl, in the soft sand, so that only its eyes
are visible.
The food of a dozen specimens was so uniform that they
may fairly be taken as representative. Two thirds of it con-
sisted solely of Chironomus larvae, 7 per cent, of other minute
larvae of gnats, and the remaining 12 per cent, of larva) of small
May-flies.
The species spawns in spring, from the last of April to the
first of June. Females were depositing their eggs in our aqua-
rium at Meredosia, April 28 and 29, 1899. In the act of spawning
the male rode on the back of the female, with ventrals astride,
BOLEOSOMA — TESSELLATED DARTEKS
and pectorals and ventrals in active vibration as the pair moved
about on the bottom. The eggs are emitted at intervals, and
from time to time the female raises a cloud of sand by a vigorous
beating with the tail, perhaps for the purpose of covering them.
Males in breeding dress have the first dorsal spines more or less
swollen, and club-shaped at the tip.
In studying our collections, wide variation was noticed with
respect to the scaly covering of the breast and cheeks, ranging
from complete nakedness to complete scaliness of both, and also
a considerable variation in robustness of build. While, generally
speaking, specimens become more scaly northward and more
slender southward, it was not possible to make out, even ap-
proximately, any line or area of division, either general or local,
between the two forms, or to draw any definite dividing line
among the variants themselves. This confusion of conditions
may be illustrated by the following analysis of a single collection
of forty-six specimens (accessions No. 28180) obtained from
the north fork of the Vermilion River in Vermilion county
June 6, 1901.
VARIATIONS OF BOLEOSOMA NIGRUM (46 SPECIMENS)
Scales on cheeks.
Scales on breast
Males
Females
None
None
2
5
None
None ...
Tiace
Two thirds covered
2
0
2
Trace . .
None
0
1
One third covered
Half covered
None
None
1
1
0
0
Trace
1
2
Half covered
2
1
Trace
Fully covered
5
1
One fifth covered
Fully covered . . .
3
1
Fully covered . . .
4
1
Fully covered
4
2
Fully covered
4
0
Total
29
17
298 FISHES OP ILLINOIS
It was also impossible to distinguish any correlation, even
approximately constant, between robustness of form and
scaliness of cheeks and breasts, both stout and slender forms
having these parts sometimes naked and sometimes more or less
covered with scales. The larger percentage of specimens with
scaly breasts and cheeks came from the Rock River basin, from
the northwest district, and from the Lake Michigan drainage;
but in all these districts scaly and naked specimens were inter-
mingled, the latter preponderating. In collections from the
Kaskaskia, the Saline, the Cache, and the lower Wabash Valley,
on the other hand, both cheeks and breasts were almost in-
variably naked, while in the upper Wabash streams and in the
Illinois basin the two forms were indiscriminately commingled.
The larger number of the stouter specimens came from the Rock
River system and the northwest area, while those from the Kas-
kaskia, the Cache, and the Saline were of more slender propor-
tions, with the depth usually nearer six times than five times
the length. Similar study of specimens from a wider range
would probably show that Illinois is in a region of transition
between two varieties of this species — the typical nigrum,
with slender body and naked breast and cheeks, and some
scaly-cheeked variety, probably near olmstedi, or perhaps
identical with it.
FIG. 71
BOLEOSOMA CAMURUM FORBES
(MAP XCI)
Forbes, 1878, Bull. HI. State Lab. Nat. Hist., H. 2, 40.
J. & G., 494 (Vaillantia camura and V. chlorosoma); M. V., 130 (Etheostoma) ; B.,
I, 96; J. & E., I, 1060; F., 66; L,., 27.
A small species, not reaching more than 1% inches in length in our col-
lections; superficially resembling B. nigrum, but differing distinctly from it
in its less angular head and less pointed snout, less protruding eyes, and
widely separated dorsals. The small size, the finely and fully scaled cheeks
and breast, and the peculiar ring-like light areas on the back between the
quadrate dark blotches will usually serve for its recognization. Length 1%
BOLEOSOMA — TESSELLATED DARTEES 299
inches; body slender, considerably compressed, greatest width of body about
% its greatest depth; depth 6.5 to 7.2 in length; caudal peduncle slender, its
depth 3.1 to 3.9 in its length. Color much as in B. nigrum, but paler, the
side markings less distinctly W-, X-, and V-shaped; color pattern of upper
portion of body and back more open, being less densely and finely tessellated
than in the preceding species; back with 5 or 6 saddle-like blotches, the
corners of which are more or less distinctly connected by dark markings,
giving the fish the appearance of being marked dorsally with a chain of rings,
which are dark or light according as the eyes are focused on the saddle-like
dark blotches and their connecting bands, or on the circular light areas in-
tervening; an evident dark spot on opercles; a conspicuous zigzag streak on
nose in front of eye and a very faint suborbital bar; dorsal and caudal faintly
barred. Head 3.9 to 4.3, slightly shorter and considerably narrower than in
B. nigrum, its greatest width 2 to 2.5 in its length; interorbital space flat, 5.2
to 6.6 in head; eye round, 3.3 to 4 in head, not protruding above the cranium;
nose bluntly rounded, less decurved than in B. nigrum, 3.8 to 4.5; mouth rather
small, maxillary to front of pupil, cleft 3.1 to 3.8 in head; lower jaw included;
gill-membranes not broadly connected, distances to angle and to back of orbit
equal. Dorsal fin VIII-X, 10 or 11 (usually IX-10); spinous and soft por-
tions well apart, separated by a distance about equal to diameter of eye;
height of first dorsal 1.7 to 1.9 in head, second 1.4 to 1.7 (height of first 70 to
90 per cent, of second); caudal slightly emarginate; anal I, 7 or 8; pectorals 1
to 1.3; separation of ventrals as a rule considerably less than their width at
base. Scales 6, 52-60, 6 or 7 [7-10]; lateral line ordinarily developed on only
about half the scales; cheeks, opercles, and breast fully scaled; nape with a
median naked strip; belly covered with ordinary scales.
This rather insignificant but interesting little darter is one
of the more distinctly southern species of the group. Although
it has been taken by us in Illinois as far north as South Chicago
on the east and Green River, in Henry county, on the west,
our southern Illinois collections preponderate greatly in number
over those of central or northern Illinois, the relative frequencies
being 2.44, .46, and .10 for these three sections of the state.
Like its nearest relative, the Johnny darter, it is essentially a
species of creeks and the smaller rivers, it we may judge by our
107 collections; but it is found more frequently than that species
in standing water, especially in the lakes and ponds of the river
bottoms, and much more frequently also in rivers of the largest
class — thirtjT times, for example, from Havana and Meredosia,
where Boleosoma nigrum was obtained but twice. It is most
abundant in the Big Muddy and the Saline River basins, occur-
ring in the first in seven out of nine collections, and in the
second in eleven out of eighteen. It is especially peculiar in the
fact that more than two thirds of our material was taken from
quiet waters, and about three fifths of it from waters with a
muddy bottom. In geographical and local distribution and in
300 PISHES OF ILLINOIS
ecological preference, this little species thus separates itself
notably from its nearest ally.
Described originally from Illinois specimens, it has since
been found from Indiana and Iowa to Alabama, and southwest
to the Angelina River in Texas.
Females distended with eggs have been taken by us late
in May.
GENUS CRYSTALLARIA JORDAN & GILBERT
Body slender, elongate, subcylindrical, pellucid in life; mouth small,
horizontal; premaxillaries not protractile; teeth on vomer; vertebrae (C.
asprella) 47 (23 + 24) * ; pyloric caeca 3* ; belly naked or with a few ordinary
scales. In its protractile premaxillaries, as well as in habit, resembling
Hadropterus, but the body hyaline in life as in Ammocrypta. One species
known, a darter of rather large size, first obtained by the senior author in
Hancock county, Illinois.
GENUS CRYSTALLARIA ASPRELLA (JORDAN)
Jordan, 1878, Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist., I. 2, 38 (Pleurolepis).
J. & G., 490 (Ammocrypta); M. V., 123 (Etheostoma) ; B., I, 104; J. & E., I, 1061;
P., 66 (Arrvmocrypta); L,., 28.
A slender species, with extremely small scales, and pellucid in life.
Easily known by these marks and by the peculiar broad saddle-like bands
across the back, which are continued obliquely downward and forward to the
lateral line in this species. Length 3 to 4 inches; body very long and slender,
not at all compressed, being nearly uniformly cylindrical from nape to front
of second dorsal; depth 7.8 to 9 in length; caudal peduncle very slender, its
depth 3.7 to 4.7 in its length. "Color hyaline-olive with 3 or 4 dark, broad
cross-bands meeting over the back, the width of the first 3 about equal to
depth of body, the fourth narrower, and all extending somewhat obliquely
downward and forward to the lateral line; a dark lateral band along side,
made up of about 10 more or less confluent dark quadrate blotches, darkest
where it crosses through the cross-bands" (Jordan and Evermann). "In life
the oblique bands are of a golden, iridescent color; cheeks below eye bright
iridescent silvery; pupil black with brassy rim; iris chiefly dusky; spots on
sides dusky with traces of golden between" (H. Garman). Head 3.7 to 4.5,
its width 2 to 2.3 in its length; interorbital space very narrow, concave, 8.3
to 9.7; eye somewhat elliptical, 3.3 to 3.9 in head; nose decurved and broadly
rounded anteriorly, somewhat shovel-shaped, 2.6 to 3.2 in head; mouth rather
broad, subterminal, the maxillary not reaching to front of orbit; cleft 3.5
to 3.9 in head; lower jaw included; gill-membranes only slightly connected,
distance from muzzle to angle usually less than to back of orbit. Dorsal fin
XII or XIII, 13-15; soft and spinous portions separated by a distance almost
equal to diameter of eye; spinous dorsal high in front; height of first dorsal
1.8 to 2.5 in head, second 1.7 to 2.2 (height of first 82 to 105 per cent, of
second); caudal lunate; anal I, 13 or 14; pectorals 1.1 to 1.3 in head; sepa-
*In a single specimen (Accessions No. 27670, 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist.).
Spring Cave-fish Chologaster papilliferus Forbes
Crystallaria asprclla (Jordan)
Common Sculpin Coitus ictaJops (Rafinesque)
AMMOCRYPTA — SAND DARTERS 301
ration of ventrals slightly less than their width at base. Scales 8-10, 89-97,
9-11 [12-16]; lateral line nearly straight, 2 to 12 pores usually lacking; cheeks
naked or with a trace of scales, or about half covered with very thin scattered
scales, a few of which may be pectinate ; opercles with a few pectinate scales
on upper portion; nape scaled; throat, breast, and belly naked excepting
(sometimes) a portion or all of the space in front of the ventral fins directly
under pelvic girdle.
A medium-sized and singularly interesting species, first
discovered in this state in a rocky creek of the Mississippi bluffs
in Hancock county, and since taken from the Rock River at
Cleveland, Erie, and Milan, from the Little Wabash at Effing-
ham, and from the Mississippi at East Dubuque, in the north-
western part of the state. Elsewhere it comes from Grosse
Isle, Mich., from the Detroit River, from the Ohio River at
Rising Sun, from the Wabash as far northward as Terre Haute,
and from a few points in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and
Arkansas. It is found chiefly in the swift currents of the larger,
clearer streams, but apparently is a rare fish everywhere, and
but little known.
AMMOCRYPTA JORDAN
SAND DARTERS
Body slender and elongate, subcylindrical; pellucid in life; mouth rather
wide, horizontal; premaxillaries protractile; teeth on vomer; vertebra (pel-
lucida) 44 (23 + 21), (vivax) 41 (21 + 20); pyloric caeca 4. Extremely
slender fishes, with the habit of burying themselves in the sand; size moderate,
about 3 inches in length; 2 species known.
AMMOCRYPTA PELLUCIDA (BAIRD)
SAND DARTER
(MAP XCII)
Agassiz, 1863, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., I, 5 (Pleurolepis).
J. & G., 489; M. V., 122 (Etheostoma) ; B., I, 102; J. & E., I, 1062; N., 35 (Pleuro-
lepis); J., 38 (Pleurolepis); F., 66; L., 28.
Slender, cylindrical, pellucid fishes, with the premaxillaries protractile
and the appearance of Boleosoma rather than Crystallaria and Hadropterus,
and probably more nearly related to that genus than to the others. Length
2i<£ inches; body subcylindrical, scarcely deeper than wide, the sides slightly
flattened along their median line; depth 8.2 to 10.1 in length; caudal peduncle
slender, its depth 3.4 to 4.2 in its length. Color "translucent; scales with
fine black dots; a series (14 or 15) of small, squarish olive or bluish blotches
along the back and another along each side; lateral spots connected by a gill-
302 PISHES OP ILLINOIS
band" (Jordan and Evermann). Head 4.1 to 4.4 in length, its width 2 to 2.5
in its length, interorbital space narrow, concave, 7.1 to 8.4 in head; eye 3.6
to 4.3; nose decurved, pointed, 3.1 to 3.8 in head; mouth moderate, maxillary
extending to front of orbit; cleft 3.1 to 4.4 in head; lower jaw slightly shorter
than upper; gill-membranes somewhat connected, but forming a sharp angle,
the distance from muzzle to angle about \y± times that to back of orbit.
Dorsal fin IX-XI, 9-11 (usually IX or X); spinous and soft portions widely
separated, the space greater than width of eye; height of first dorsal low, 2.2
to 3.5 (usually less than 3) in head, second 1.8 to 2.1 (height of first 56 to
80 per cent, of second); caudal fin lunate; anal I, 8 or 9 (occasionally 7);
pectorals 1'to 1.3 in head; separation of ventrals less than the width at base.
Scales 6 or 7, 67-78, 8 or 9+, the upper and lower rows (nearest back and
belly) sometimes lacking, body being naked except for a strip along the side
of varying width; lateral line usually complete; cheeks and opercles scaled;
nape scaled or naked; throat, breast, and belly entirely naked; all scales more
or less embedded and with edges little ctenoid.
FIG. 72
This extremely interesting fish, peculiar in its very slender
form, its semi transparent body, and its habit of living much of
the time in the sand, with only its eyes showing at the surface,
make it one of the most remarkable cases of special adaptation
in this highly adaptive little group. Situations favorable to its
habits are so rare in Illinois that its comparative scarcity here
was to be expected. It has been found by us twenty-nine times,
in localities well distributed — twelve of them from the Wabash
Valley, one from the lower Kaskaskia, six on streams of the
lower Illinois, one on a creek of the Mississippi bluffs, and three
on Rock River or its tributaries. It is reported by Jordan and
Evermann from Lake Erie to Minnesota, Kentucky, and Texas,
occurring usually in clear sandy streams.
An excellent account of its habits and peculiarities is given
in Bulletin 47 of the United States National Museum by Jordan
and Copeland. The fish has a very sharp nose with an exceed-
ingly slim and round body, as transparent as jelly but hard and
firm to the touch. Its belly and much -of its back are quite bare
of scales, and those along its sides are small and inconspicuous.
ETHEOSTOMA 303
In an aquarium with sand on the bottom, it was seen to bury
itself in a few seconds by first stirring up the sand with rapid
beats of its tail, as it stood literally upon its head, then lying
still as the sand settled again, and quietly putting out its nose
and eyes, leaving only these and the front of its head to be seen.
Notwithstanding its peculiar habits and its nice adaptation to
a special environment, it is among our group of most typical
darters, its most frequent associate in our collections being
Hadropterus phoxocephalus, and next to this, Hadropterus aspro.
Its food seems remarkably uniform, consisting, like that of
so many other darters, of dipterous larvae, mainly Chironomus,
and larvae of May-flies, the former largely preponderating in the
specimens we have studied.
GENUS ETHEOSTOMA RAPINESQUE
Body robust or rather elongate, considerably compressed, or greatly
so; mouth varying in size, terminal or subinferior; premaxillaries not pro-
tractile; teeth usually present on vomer and palatines; vertebrae 33 to 39,
usually 36 (15+21) ; pyloric cseca 3 or 4; belly with ordinary scales. Species
numerous, about 30; size small; coloration various, often brilliant.
A large group, difficult to characterize, including a wide
range of forms, which, however, agree in having the premaxil-
laries non-protractile, and differ from all the preceding genera
(except possibly Diplesion) in having the cranium more elevated
behind the eyes — f^-shaped.* These fishes are, as a rule, more
or less compressed, and deeper bodied than such forms as
Cottogaster, Boleosoma, and Hadropterus. In this group are
found our most brilliantly colored darters, bright red and blue
in gaudy display on both body and fins prevailing in the dress
of many species.
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF ETHEOSTOMA FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Lateral line usually complete, occasionally 2 to 6 pores lacking.
b. Gill-membranes joining broadly across the isthmus, distance from muzzle
to their angle 40 to 50 per cent, greater than from muzzle to back of
orbit zonale.
bb. Gill-membranes scarcely connected, distances to angle and to back of orbit
not far from equal camurum.
aa. Lateral line always more or less incomplete, the number of pores lacking
usually 10 to 30, rarely as low as 5.
* The forms (flabellare, obeyense, and squamiceps) with low dorsal fin and black" humeral
spot (see key) seem to agree in having the parietals less arched than is usual in Etheostoma,
and shaped in cross-section more nearly as in Boleosoma.
304: FISHES OF ILLINOIS
c. Spinous dorsal fin not exceptionally low, its height as a rule 75 to 90 per
cent, of height of soft dorsal; no enlarged dark humeral scale.
d. Cheeks and opercles scaled.
e. Rays of second dorsal 9 or 10; scales 55-60; rust-red spots on sides, no bars.
iowse.
ee. Rays of second dorsal 12 to 13; scales 49-57; brown bars on sides jessiae.
dd. Cheeks naked; opercles scaled; spring males with alternating red and blue
bars cceruleum.
cc. Spinous dorsal fin as a rule less than 60 per cent, height of soft dorsal; an
enlarged dark humeral scale more or less conspicuous.
f. Gill-membranes little connected, distances from muzzle to angle and to
back of orbit not far from equal.
g. Cheeks, opercles, nape, and breast naked; chin, cheeks, and opercles sprin-
kled with fine dark dots; a large black humeral scale, its depth % diameter
of eye obeyense.
gg. Cheeks, opercles, nape, and breast covered with embedded scales, chin and
cheeks with pronounced dark mottlings and vermiculations; humeral
scale rather small and not very black squamiceps.
ff. Gill-membranes broadly connected, distance from muzzle to their free mar-
gin 1% to 1% times that to back of orbit; dorsal spines each ending in a
fleshy knob in the male flabellare.
FIG. 73
ETHEOSTOMA ZONALE (COPE)
BANDED DARTER
(MAP XCIII)
Cope, 1868, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 212 (Poecilichthys).
J. & G., 510 (Nanostoma); M. V., 130; B., I, 83; J. & E., I, 1075; J., 41 (Nanostoma);
P., 65; L,., 28.
Banded darters which have a superficial resemblance to females of E.
C'jerulenm, and may even be confused (especially in preservative) with E.
jessice. From the first this species is easily distinguished by its closely and
finely scaled cheeks, and from both, as well as also from all other Illinois
species of the genus Etheostoma except flabellare, it may be readily separated
by the broad union of the gill-membranes. Length ordinarily a little less
than 2 inches; body moderately elongate, considerably compressed, the
depth 4.7 to 6 in length; greatest width of body about % its greatest depth;
depth of caudal peduncle 2.4 to 3.1 in its length. Colors in life "bright
olivaceous above, golden below; 6 dark brown quadrate dorsal spots, which
connect by alternating spots with a broad, brown lateral band, from which
ETHEOSTOMA 305
8 narrower dark bluish bands more or less completely encircle the belly;
paired, anal, and caudal fins golden, brown-spotted; middle half of the first
dorsal crimson; a series of round crimson spots near the base of the second
dorsal; occiput, a band on muzzle, and one below eye, black; a black spot on
operculum and one at base of pectoral; females duller and speckled, with
vcntrals barred and lateral bars feebler " (Jordan and Evermann) . Preserved
male specimens with whole body and fins more or less dusky, obscuring
color pattern; dorsal, anal, pectorals, and ventrals a dark smoky blue, densest
in the membranes: bars on body 11 or 12, only the last 7 or 8 (behind tips
of reflexed pectorals) distinct; second dorsal, anal, and pectorals (and ventrals
of females) barred in the rays; first dorsal with a row of large dark spots in
membranes near base, and barred in rays of upper half. Head rather small,
short, 4 to 4.9 in length; width of head 1.6 to 1.9 in its length; interorbital
space 5.3 to 6.9; eye small, round, not protruding, 2.9 to 3.7 in head; nose
short, blunt, and scarcely decurved, 3."2 to 4 in head; mouth small, subin-
ferior, maxillary scarcely past front of orbit; cleft 3.4 to 4.8 in head; jaws
nearly equal; gill-membranes connected across isthmus in a broad curve, dis-
tance from muzzle to their free margin about 1% to !}/£ times that from
muzzle to back of orbit. Dorsal fin X or XI, 10-12; spinous and soft por-
tions scarcely separated at base; height of first dorsal 1.7 to 2.1 in head,
second 1.4 to 1.7 (height of first 76 to 94 per cent. of second); caudal lunate;
anal II, 7 or 8; pectorals .9 to 1 in head; separation of ventrals less than
Yz their width at base. Scales 6, 46-53, 6 or 7 [8 or 9], weakly ctenoid;
lateral line nearly straight and usually complete, 2 to 6 pores occasionally
lacking; cheeks, opercles, and nape fully scaled; breast usually fully scaled,
sometimes partly naked; belly covered with ordinary scales.
The banded darter is one of the typical members of its sub-
family, but with an extraordinary distribution in Illinois. It is
limited, according to our experience, to the northern half of the
state, with the exception of a single collection from the Wabash,
and is distinguished also by its frequency in the smaller rivers
rather than in streams which could be classed as creeks. Our
thirty-five collections, from almost as many localities, give us a
frequency coefficient of 4.42 for small rivers, 1.37 for creeks, and
.2 for the larger rivers, the species not having occurred at all in
standing water of any description. In the streams which it
inhabits, it is found almost wholly in the swifter parts on a
bottom of rock or sand.
The general distribution of this darter extends from Lake
Erie westward through Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa to Mankato,
Mont., southward to the Saline and Washita rivers in Arkansas,
to the Black Warrior in Alabama, to the Holston in Virginia,
and to the French Broad in North Carolina. It is said by Jordan
and Evermann to occur commonly in small clear streams, and
to be locally abundant in weedy or gravelly places.
306 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Its food, so far as known, is similar to that of most of the
other members of the family, consisting mainly of larvae of
small Diptera, Chironomus larvae predominating.
Males and females in breeding colors, the latter greatly dis-
tended with eggs, have been taken by us in late May and early
June.
ETHEOSTOMA CAMURUM (COPE)
BLUE-BREASTED DARTER
Cope, 1870, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. Phila., 265 (Pcecilichthys).
J. & G., 506 (Nothonotus); M. V., 130; B., I, 69; J. & E., I, 1076; N., 34 (Pcecilich-
thys niger); J., 41 (Nothonotus); L., 28.
This darter has been takeri in the White River basin in
Indiana by Dr. Jordan. Although reported by Mr. Thomas
Large* from Peoria, from Union county, and from the Saline
and lower Wabash basins, it is not now represented in our collec-
tions. A single specimen thought to belong to this species was
presented to this Laboratory by Mr. J. P. Baur, of the United
States Fish Commission, who took it from a pond near Naples,
Illinois, but it was unfortunately lost before the preliminary
identification could be verified.
The species ranges, so far as known, from Lake Erie to
Tennessee in clear swift water.
ETHEOSTOMA lOW^E JORDAN & MEEK
Jordan & Meek, 1885, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 10.
M. V., 133; B., I, 72 (ioae); J. & E., I, 1083; L., 28.
Length 2 inches; body rather long, more slender than other Illinois
species of Etheostoma; depth 5.4 to 6.8, usually not over 6, greatest width of
body about % its greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 2.3 to 2.8 in its
length. Color of sides and upper parts light green, finely blotched with
darker; back with 8 or 9 small and rather obscure quadrate blotches of clove-
brown color; sides with 9 to 11 clove-brown bars, short and somewhat broken,
extending above lateral line half way to back and below it half way to belly
(the bars are greenish in pale specimens), squarish blotches of rusty red
alternating with the bars; belly greenish yellow to almost white, overlaid
between base of pectoral and anal fin with an orange band or a row of blotches
of same color; sides and top of head with dark brown vermiculations and
bands of brown; a band of brown before eye and one below it; upper half of
spinous dorsal, except margin, a brilliant orange, above and below which is
clove-brown to light green; pectorals, soft dorsal, and caudal fins barred brown
in the rays; ventrals and anal almost plain white. Females and males in
* "A List of the Native Fishes of Illinois, with Keys," by Thomas Large. Rep. 111. State
Fish Comm., Sept. 30, 1900, to Oct. 1, 1902.
ETHEOSTOMA 307
late-summer color much lighter, fall specimens often suggesting Boleosoma
nigrum. The large size and peculiar shade of the rusty-brown to rusty-red
blotches will usually serve for the recognition of this species. Head 3.7 to
4, less pointed than E. jessice, the muzzle rather blunt, scarcely decurved;
width of head 1.8 to 2.1 in its length; interorbital space not much wider than
half of eye, 6 to 8 in head; eye nearly round, 3.3 to 4.4 in head; mouth rather
small, nearly horizontal, subterminal, maxillary reaching to front of orbit;
cleft 3.6 to 4; lower jaw included; gill-membranes scarcely connected, dis-
tance from muzzle to angle usually less than 1.1 times that to back of orbit.
Dorsal fin VIII-XI, 9 or 11; spinous and soft portions separated by a space
somewhat greater than diameter of eye; height of first dorsal 2.1 to 2.7 in
head, second 1.8 to 2 (height of first 68 to 94 per cent, of second); caudal
truncate or very faintly lunate; anal II (occasionally I), 6 to 8 (usually 7);
pectorals 1.2 to 1.4 in head; separation of ventrals always less than half,
sometimes only %, their width at base. Scales 5 or 6 (occasionally 7),
55-60, 7-9 [10-12], lateral line somewhat flexed upward anteriorly*, as in
E. jessice; about 25 pores usually lacking; cheeks, opereles, and nape fully
scaled; breast naked; belly covered with ordinary scales.
A rare species in Illinois, taken by us from eight localities,
all in northern Illinois except one from Johnson county. The
following are the recorded places: Pistakee Lake, in McHenry
county; Wolf Lake, South Chicago; Senachwine Lake, Henry
county; Rock River at Milan, Rock Island county; Green
River, near Geneseo, in Henry county; Pecunsagan creek, near
Utica, La Salle county; Illinois River, at Ottawa; and Dutch-
man's creek, near Vienna, Johnson county.
Its known general range is northward at least as far as
Qu'Appelle River in Assiniboia, westward to Valentine, Neb.,
and southward to Arkansas.
ETHEOSTOMA JESSME (JORDAN & BRAYTON)
(PL., P. 306; MAP XCIV)
Jordan & Brayton, 1877, Jordan's Man. Vert., 227 (Poecilichthys).
J. & G., 518 (Poecilichthys); M. V., 133; B., I 72; J. & E., I, 1084; Forbes, in J.,
41 (Poecilichthys asprigenis); F., 64 (asprigene); L/., 29.
Length ordinarily a little less than two inches, though specimens are
occasionally found 2^ inches; depth 4.8 to 5.4 in length; body as a rule con-
siderably compressed, its greatest width about % of its greatest depth; dor-
sal and ventral outlines usually about equally arched giving the fish a
symmetrical, bass-like Jorm, which appearance is aided by its rather large
and oblique mouth; depth of caudal peduncle 2.1 to 2.6 in its length. Color
brownish olive, the back with 5 or 6 quadrate saddle-like blotches of blackish
* In E. jessice and iowae the lateral line is nearly parallel with the line of the back. The
difference between these species and Boleichthys fusiformis in this feature seems to be in the
closeness of lateral line to the back at its highest point rather than in the matter of parallelism.
•
308 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
to greenish brown; 8 or 9 greenish brown bars on sides, becoming obscure in
front of caudal peduncle; interspaces between bars rust-red to orange; belly
orange; head slaty olive, with dark streak in front of eye and below; cheeks
olivaceous, tending to bluish brown or chestnut; opercle olivaceous with
sprinklings of iridescent golden green; eye dull, the pupil dull black and iris
chestnut; spinous dorsal tipped with a narrow edge of pale blue, under which
is a narrow band-like row of orange-red spots; lower half of fin chiefly pale
blue; soft dorsal irregularly spotted with rusty orange; pectorals transparent;
ventrals dusky at base; anal pale; one of the most elegantly colored of our
darters. Females somewhat duller in color, examples in preservative show-
ing less prominently than males the dark bar-like blotch near base of spinous
dorsal. Head 3.7 to 4.2, rather large, uniformly tapered above and below
to the end of the bluntly pointed muzzle; width of head 1.7 to 2.3; interorbital
space about half of eye, 5.4 to 7.4 in head; eye round, 3.3 to 4; nose slightly
less than eye, 3.5 to 4.3; mouth rather large, terminal, oblique, upper lip
above level of lower margin of orbit; maxillary past front of orbit; cleft 2.8
to 3.3 in head; jaws subequal; gill-membranes narrowly connected, distances
from muzzle to angle and to back of orbit about equal. Dorsal fin X-XI
(occasionally IX), 12 or 13, the spinous and soft portions scarcely separated;
height of first dorsal 1.9 to 2.2 in head, second 1.5 to 2 (height of first 74 to 98
per cent, of second); caudal rounded or slightly emarginate; anal II, 7 or 8;
pectorals 1.1 to 1.3 in head; separation of ventrals scarcely more than y$ their
width at base. Scales 6 (occasionally 5), 49-57, 7-9 [9-11]; lateral line some-
what flexed upward anteriorly, about parallel* with line of back; 3 to 15 pores
usually lacking; cheeks, opercles, and nape closely scaled; breast naked;
belly covered with ordinary scales.
This little species, very abundant in Illinois, and represented
by 161 collections, differs from the remainder of its subfamily
in its average distribution. It is consequently among those
darters least frequently found in company with others, and our
associative coefficient for the species is but 1.47, the general
average for the subfamily being 2.02. It seems to prefer the
stagnant water of lowland lakes and sloughs, and occurs other-
wise most frequently in rivers, large and small, and somewhat
less frequently in creeks. Our coefficients for these various
waters are 2.02 for bottom-land lakes and ponds, 1.23 for the
larger rivers, 1.13 for the smaller rivers, and .99 for the creeks.
Its preference for the larger streams and the waters of their
neighborhood is indeed plainly evident from the map of its dis-
tribution. It is wanting in all our collections from the up-
land glacial lakes.
Its ecological separateness from its nearest allies, notwith-
standing its close resemblance to them, is shown by our coeffi-
cients of association of this species with the banded, the rainbow,
* Least distance between lateral line and middle of back equal to % depth of body. Com-
pare with Boleichthys fusiformis.
ETHEOSTOMA 309
and the fan-tailed darters, the other relatively abundant species
of its genus. These are .37 for the first of the above-named
species, .77 for the second, and 1.27 for the third, an average of
.8, to be compared with the general subfamily average of 2.02,
and with one of 5.54, which is the mutual associative coefficient
of the three other species of the group. It has, in short, been
found by us in company with the three other common species
only about one seventh as frequently as they have been found
with each other.
The species has occurred nearly three times as frequently in
central, and nearly twice as frequently in southern, as in north-
ern Illinois. Notwithstanding this indifferent distribution as
to the kinds of waters it inhabits, our data of situation indicate
a decided preference for a strong current and a bottom of rock
or sand. It is a very common species in the Illinois at Havana
and Meredosia, 88 of our collections having come from that
situation, usually conspicuous by the absence of other darters.
It is reported outside Illinois from Devil Lake and Tiffin
River, Michigan, through Indiana and Iowa to Mississippi,,
Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and the Rio Grande, and also from
the Etowah River in Georgia.
Its food consists of larvae of May-flies and Chironomus
larvse, taken by the specimens studied in about equal quantity.
Females with large eggs were caught in the middle of March,
but others captured May 12 had not yet spawned. Craig,,
however, reports it spawning at Havana in April and May, 1898.
Males still retained their breeding colors in August, 1903.
ETHEOSTOMA CCERULEUM STOREE
RAINBOW DARTER; SOLDIER-FISH
(MAP XCV)
Storer, 1845, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 47.
J. & G., 517 (Poecilichthys); M. V., 133; B., I, 71; J. & E., I, 1088; N., 34 (Pceci-
lichthys coeruleus and spectabilis) ; J., 41 (Poecilichthys variatus and spectab-
ilis); F., 64; I*. 29.
Length 2 inches; robust, rather deep and compressed, and back, es-
pecially in males, more or less elevated; depth 4.7 to 5; greatest width about
% greatest depth; depth of caudal peduncle 2.1 to 2.5 in its length. Color
dark olive, overlaid with dusky to bluish (or brilliant indigo-blue) bars and
blotches; scales of sides each with a dark central spot, these forming more
or less longitudinal rows most distinct in females and in the so-called variety
spectabile* ; back with 7 or 8 rather obscure quadrate blotches; sides of males
* E. cceruleum spectabile (Agassiz), Jordan & Evermann, 1896, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus ,No.
47, Pt. I., p. 1089.
310 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
with 11 or 12 bars of dark indigo-blue color, the interspaces between the
bars blood-orange, brightest backward, as are also the indigo-bars; head
flesh-color, with lavender on chin and yellow to orange on opercles; forehead
and top of snout dull bluish black; a blue splash below eye and a dark spot
behind it; spinous dorsal crossed at its middle by a row of orange-red spots
in an orange band; above and below this a pale to deep indigo-blue band;
at base of fin a narrow band of orange with a central row of orange-red spots.
Females duller in color than the males, the bars dusky and interspaces olive;
spinous dorsal with a narrow outer edging of pale blue, next to which is a
straw-colored band with a row of rust-colored spots, in place of the orange
of male. Head large, 3.6 to 4 in length, the profile in males a broad and
practically continuous curve from front of dorsal to tip of snout; females with
nape angled; width of head 1.7 to 2.1 in its length; interorbital space flat,
about % of eye, 5.8 to 7.2 in head; eye nearly round, 3.7 to 4.1; mouth
moderate, terminal, somewhat oblique, tip of upper lip nearer to floor of orbit
than base of chin; lips rather large, upper with great lateral depth when
closed; maxillary reaching to front of orbit; cleft 3 to 3.5; jaws subequal;
gill-membranes scarcely connected, distances to angle and to back of orbit
about equal. Dorsal fin X (or XI), 12-14; spinous and soft portions scarcely
separated, or slightly connected at base; height of first dorsal 2.1 to 2.7 in
head, second 1.5 to 1.9 (height of first 67 to 83 per cent, of second); caudal
truncate; anal II, 7 or 8 (occasionally 6) ; pectorals 1 to 1.2 in head; separation
of ventrals usually about \i their width at base. Scales 6, 44-51, 7 or 8,
occasionally 6 [9 or 10]; lateral line flexed slightly upward anteriorly, 15 to
20 pores usually lacking; cheeks naked; opercles scaled; nape scaled poste-
riorly, usually naked in a small patch next to occiput; breast naked; belly
covered with ordinary scales.
FIG. 74
The rainbow darter, one of the most brilliant of its group
and closely allied to Etheostoma jessice, is less abundant in this
state than that species— occurring in 99 of our collections to
161 of the other — and differs widely from it in local distribution
also, especially in an avoidance of stagnant waters and the
larger streams. Indeed, we have taken it but three times from
ETHEOSTOMA 311
first-class rivers, and but twice from lakes or sloughs, while the
coefficients of frequency for creeks and the smaller rivers are
2.72 and 2.66 respectively. It is also differently distributed
throughout the state, being more abundant northward in our
collections than jessice, much less so in the central part of the
state, and somewhat more abundant, again, in extreme southern
Illinois.* While it occurred three times in the waters of the
lower Wabash within the lower Illinoisan glaciation, a compari-
son of the map of its distribution with that of jessice indicates
unmistakably an avoidance of this area by the present species.
It is distinctly a swift-water and clean-bottom species — 83 per
cent, of our collections bearing ecological data having come from
the former and 92 per cent, from the latter situations.
In general distribution it ranges from Lake Superior to Lake
Ontario, New Jersey, and western Pennsylvania, and thence
throughout the Ohio and the Missouri basins to Missouri and
Kansas, and southwest to Texas.
It is a thick-bodied fish, without much grace of appearance
or movement, but is very active and alert and always watchful
of its surroundings. When alarmed it darts swiftly to the right
and left, with confusing rapidity. It is fond of creeping into
crevices in the aquarium, and is quite skilful at hiding itself in
the sand or gravel by a headlong dive and one or two vigorous
flirts of the tail.
We have taken females filled with large eggs and males in
breeding color in early June. Their spawning habits are de-
scribed by Mr. W. P. Seal, who observed them in the aquarium.
The eggs were deposited among the pebbles at the bottom of
the tank, the female drawing herself along with a quivering
motion, and the male pushing up close beside her.
ETHEOSTOMA OBEYENSE KIESCH
Kirsch, 1890 (1892), Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., X, 292.
B., I, 78; J. & E., I, 1092; L., <29.
Length 2 inches; body long and low, depth 5.6 to 6; greatest width about
% greatest depth of body; depth caudal peduncle 2.2 to 2.4 in its length.
Color (in preservative) light brownish olive, much and rather finely blotched
with darker; back with 6 or 7 ill-defined cross-blotches; sides with 10 or 11
irregularly shaped dark spots along lateral line, often obscure; a dark spot on
cheek behind eye; suborbital streak faint or wanting; cheeks, opercles, and
* The frequency ratios for the three sections are, for E. jessice .53, 1.46, and 1.02 for north-
ern, central, and southern Illinois, and for E. cceruleum, 1.30, .42, and 1.28, respectively.
312 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
chin rather densely sprinkled with fine dark dots; black humeral scale very
large and usually distinct, its depth nearly equal to diameter of eye; spinous
dorsal pale below, with a broad outer margin of dusky; soft dorsal faintly
barred; caudal with 6 or 7 wavy bars which are continuous for most part on
both rays and membranes, as in E. squamiceps and E. flabellare: pectorals
faintly barred ; other fins plain. Head 3.36 to 3.46, rather slender and pointed;
width of head 2 to 2.3; interorbital space about half of eye, 7.1 to 8.1; eye
roundish, somewhat protruding above cranium, 3.2 to 3.7; mouth rather
large, subterminal, oblique, tip of upper lip above level of lower margin of
orbit; maxillary reaching past front of orbit; cleft 2.9 to 3.2 in head; jaws
subequal; gill-membranes scarcely connected, distances to angle and to back
of orbit equal. Dorsal fin VI or VIII, 11-12; two fins scarcely separated;
first dorsal low, 50 to 59 per cent, of height of second (first 2.7 to 3.8 in head,
second 1.6 to 1.9); caudal subtruncate; anal II, 7; pectorals 1.2 in head;
separation of ventrals less than half their width at base. Scales 6, 42-45, 6
or 7 [10]; lateral line always incomplete, the pores developed on 15 to 20
scales only; cheeks naked; opercles usually naked, sometimes with a trace
of scales; nape and breast naked; belly covered with ordinary scales.
This rare little fish has beejfi taken in this state in only four
collections, all from rocky and gravelly creeks in Pope and
Hardin counties. It was originally described in 1890 from the
tributaries of the Cumberland River in Clinton county, Ken-
tucky, and seems not to have been since reported from any
other place.
ETHEOSTOMA SQUAMICEPS JORDAN
(MAP XCVI)
Jordan, 1877, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 10, 11.
J. & G., 514; M. V., 131; B., I,_85; J. & E., I, 1096; L,., 29.
Length 2J^ to 3 inches; body robust, back low, and caudal peduncle
stout; depth 4.9 to 6; greatest width of body about % its greatest depth;
depth caudal peduncle 1.6 to 2.3 (usually less than 2) in its length. Color
dusky olive, finely and densely mottled and specked with dark brown, lower
part of sides and belly scarcely lighter than upper parts; no lateral spots or
blotches and no evident cross-bars*; a more or less distinct dark humeral
scale, a bar before eye, and a very distinct suborbital streak; chin and cheeks
conspicuously vermiculated with dark brown; second dorsal, caudal, and
pectorals finely barred, latter faintly. Head 3.7 to 4 in length, nape angled
and profile noticeably decurved to end of bluntly pointed snout; interorbital
space almost equal to eye, 6 to 7.2 in head; eye round, 3.7 to 4.4; mouth
largef, terminal, oblique, the jaws subequal; maxillary reaching past front of
pupil; cleft 2.8 to 3.3; gill-membranes scarcely connected:}:, distances to angle
* Compare with Jordan and Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., Pt. I., p. 1096.
f "Small" (Jordan and Evermann, 1. c.).
\ "Rather broadly connected" (Jordan and Evermann, 1. c.).
ETHEOSTOMA 313
and to back of orbit equal. Dorsal fin usually VIII or IX, 12-14 (sometimes
VII or X) ; two portions as a rule scarcely separated at base, sometimes apart
a distance equal to about % of eye; first dorsal very low, its height 48 to 64
per cent, of second; (first 2.6 to 3.7 in head, second 1.8 to 2.1) ; caudal rounded;
anal II, 6 or 7; pectorals 1.15 to 1.27 in head; separation of ventrals about
half their width at base. Scales 6-8, 44-57; 7-8 [10-13]; lateral line nearly
straight, from 5 to 15 pores usually lacking; cheeks and opercles with more or
less closely embedded scales; nape as a rule scaled; breast naked or wholly or
partly covered with embedded scales; belly covered with ordinary scales.
Taken by us in ten collections, from eight localities, all but
two from southern Illinois, south of the Saline River, the excep-
tions coming from Robinson creek a branch of the Kaskaskia in
Shelby county, and from the Little Wabash River near Carmi, in
White county. It is distinctly a southern species, reported from
Georgia and Florida to southern Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee,
and the Black Warrior River in Alabama. It is, like obeyense, a
species of swift clear creeks with a bottom of rock or gravel.
ETHEOSTOMA FLABELLARE RAFINESQUE
FAN-TAILED DARTER
(PL., P. 292; MAP XCVII)
Rafinesque, 1819, Journ. de Physique, 419.
J. & G., 513; M. V., 131; B., I, 86; J. & E., I, 1097; N., 34 (Poecilichthys flabellatus
and P. lineolatus); J., 42; F., 64; F. F., I. 3, 24; K, 29.
Length 2 to 2% inches; body rather slender, compressed, back low, caudal
peduncle deep; depth 4.6 to 6.8 in length; greatest width of body about % its
greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 1.8 to 2.4, usually less than 2, in its
length. Color (in preservative) rather dark, with small dark specks and faint
cross-bars; each scale of back and sides with a central dark spot, the longi-
tudinal rows formed by these most prominent in females and in the so-called
variety lineolatum* ; a rather large and very black humeral spot; a dark streak
across opercles and through eye to end of snout; suborbital streak faint or
wanting; cheeks and opercles dusted with minute brown specks; males with
head and upper parts dark bluish black and with 10 or 12 cross-bars of same
color on sides, traces of these bars in females; second dorsal and caudal fins
finely barred; pectorals faintly barred, other fins plain; spines of first dorsal
in breeding males ending in fleshy pads or knobs of rust-red color, and body
and fins all more or less dusky. Head rather long, slender, depressed, 3.6 to
4.2 in length; a distinct but not deep angle at nape, from which profile is al-
most straight to tip of snout, which is somewhat upturned, especially in males;
interorbital space flat, 6.2 to 8.3; eye round, 3.8 to 5; mouth rather large,
terminal, oblique, tip of upper lip almost on level with upper margin of pupil;
* E. flabellare lineolatum (Agassiz), Jordan and Evermann,' 1896, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus.,
No. 47, Pt. I., p. 1098.
— 29 P
314 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
maxillary past front of orbit; cleft 2.9 to 3.3 in head; lower jaw as long as
upper or slightly projecting; gill-membranes broadly connected, the distance
from muzzle to their free margin as a rule over 1% times that to back of
orbit. Dorsal fin VII or VIII, 12-14; the two portions very closely approx-
imated or united at base; first dorsal very low, its height 42 to 68 per cent, of
height of second (height of first 3.2 to 5.1 in head, second 1.8 to 2.3); caudal
rounded; anal II, 7 or 8 (or 9); pectorals 1.2 to 1.3 in head; separation of
ventrals about half their width at base. Scales 8 or 9, 51-63, 8-10 [12-16];
lateral line straight, 15 to 25 pores lacking; cheeks and opercles usually naked,
the latter with sometimes a trace of scales; nape naked or with very deeply
embedded scales; breast naked; belly covered with ordinary scales.
The fan-tailed darter has a distribution in this state very
like that of the rainbow darter, although it is a less common
inhabitant of our streams. Of the thirty-five localities from
which we have taken it, but one falls within the lower Illinoisan
glaciation, while two are in Union county in extreme southern
Illinois, and the remainder are in the northern two thirds of the
state, mostly in northern Illinois proper, for which section the
frequency coefficient is 1.92. This is mainly a darter of the
smaller streams, usually inhabiting the swifter creeks and brooks,
although occasionally taken in rivers and lowland lakes.
It is widely distributed, from Quebec and New England
down the Atlantic coast to the Catawba River in South Carolina,
westward by way of the Great Lakes and the Ohio basin to
Missouri and northeastern Iowa, and southward to northern
Alabama.
It stands high on our list of typical darters, and Jordan and
Copeland say of it: "The Darter of Darters is the fan-tail,
Etheostoma fldbellare. Hardiest, wiriest, wariest of them all, it
is the one which is most expert in catching other creatures, and
the one which most surely evades your clutch. * * * It is a
slim, narrow, black, pirate-rigged little fish, with a long pointed
head, and a projecting, prow-like lower jaw. It carries no
flag, but is colored like the rocks among which it lives. * * *
The Fan-tailed Darter chooses the coldest and swiftest waters,
and in these, as befits his form, he leads an active, predatory
life. He is the terror of water-snails and caddis-worms, and
the larvae of mosquitoes. "
Six specimens were found by us to have made nearly two
thirds of their food from Chironomus larvae, about a fourth from
small May-fly larvae, and the rest from copepod crustaceans.
Females apparently nearly ready to spawn are in our collec-
tions obtained the last of May.
BOLEICHTHY8 315
GENUS BOLEICHTHYS GIEAED ,
Darters separated doubtfully from Etheostoma, from which genus they
differ alone in the more noticeable upward flexure* of the lateral line an-
teriorly; premaxillaries non-protractile, as in Etheostoma, and cranium
H-shaped, as in that genus; vertebrae (B. fusiformis) 36 (16 + 20); pyloric
caeca 4f. Species few and variable; size small; colors not brilliant.
FIG. 75
BOLEICHTHYS FUSIFORMIS
(MAP XCVIII)
Girard, 1854, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist, 41 (Boleosoma).
J. & G., 519 (Poecilichthys barratti), 520 (P. fusiformis, P. erochrous and P. eos),
521 (P. gracilis); M. V., 134 (Etheostoma); B., I, 75 (Etheostoma); J. & E., I,
1101; N., 34 (exilis, eos, etc.); J., 42 (eos), 43 (elegans); F., 64 (Etheostoma eos
and fusiforme); L., 29.
Length 2 to 2^ inches; body moderately elongate, compressed, the back
more or less elevated; depth 5.8 to 7.1 in length; greatest width of body about
3/5" its greatest depth; caudal peduncle rather slender, its depth 2.9 to 3.3 (3.8)
in its length. Color (in preservative) olivaceous, much blotched and dotted
with brown, the dark color often in more or less definite W- and X-shaped
markings, though more often in vaguely defined zigzag streaks and rusty
splotches; a black band in front of eye on snout and a dark blotch behind
eye; suborbital streak faint; spinous faintly dusky in membranes near base;
soft dorsal and caudal faintly barred. Males are in general darker, with
usually 9 or 10 transverse bars of dusky on sides in breeding season; basal
third of membranes of spinous dorsal jet-black, and the fin edged with dusky;
between these bands on spinous dorsal a row of elongate-roundish pale
blotches (crimsont in life). Head 3.5 to 4.1 in length, bluntly pointed, the
muzzle somewhat decurved; nape scarcely angled, if at all; interorbital space
5.5 to 6.9 in head; eye round, 3.5 to 4; nose 4.3 to 5.2; mouth subterminal,
slightly oblique, tip of upper lip scarcely to lower margin of orbit; maxillary
past front of orbit; cleft 3.1 to 3.8 in head; jaws subequal; gill-membranes
scarcely connected, distances to angle and to back of orbit about equal.
* See preceding description of Etheostoma jessice; also description of B. fusiformis.
f In 3 specimens (Accessions No. 28075, 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist.).
t" Spinous dorsal in life usually bright blue, with a median crimson band" (Jordan and
Evermann).
316 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
Dorsal fin IX or X, 10-12; the two portions as a rule hardly separated, some-
times apart a distance almost equal to width of orbit; height of first dorsal
1.6 to 2.6 in head, second 1.3 to 1.9 (height of first 71 to 86 per cent, of second) ;
caudal faintly lunate; anal II (or I), 6 or 7; pectorals 1 to 1.3 in head; sepa-
ration of ventrals about half their width at base. Scales 3 or 4, 48-54, 7-8
[10-12]; lateral line with a marked upward curve anteriorly, where it is
parallel with line of back, the least distance between here and middle of back
about J4 depth of body at same point; 25 to 35 lateral pores usually lacking;
cheeks and opercles fully scaled; nape usually scaled: breast naked in most
of our specimens; belly covered with ordinary scales.
This rather insignificant little fish, with but few of the more
characteristic feature of the highly differentiated darters,
departs most widely from the rest in ecological situation also. It
has consequently the smallest coefficient of subfamily associa-
tion (1.22) among all our darters — the general average coefficient
for the subfamily being 2.02, and the highest general coefficient
of any species 2.69 (Hadropterus phoxocephalus) . It has been
obtained by us sixty times, most of our collections coming from
the southeastern part of the state, but a few coming from the
upland lakes of Lake and McHenry counties and from the upper
branches of the Illinois. Several of our localities are on the
middle course of the Kaskaskia, and one is on a branch of the
Sangamon in Christian county. This is one of the very few
species of the subfamily which shows a preference for sluggish or
stagnant water and for a mud bottom — 78 per cent, of our collec-
tions with data coming from the former and 66 per cent, from the
latter situation. Next to the glacial lakes we have found it most
abundant in creeks, and then in the smaller rivers. It seems to
be rare in the larger rivers and in lowland lakes and sloughs.
In general distribution, it is reported from Massachusetts
and thence through Lakes Erie and Ontario to Minnesota and
Montana, southward to Indian River in Florida, and through
the Ohio basin to Mississippi and the Rio Grande. It is every-
where commonest in ponds and lowland streams. Dr. C. C.
Abbott, of New Jersey, found it in shallow weedy streams, in
water scarcely two inches deep, and caught examples with a
baited hook, which, in spite of their small size, they seized with
the quickness and voracity of a pike.
Three specimens of this species from southern Illinois had
fed, like the darters generally, on larvae of gnats and May-flies,
about two thirds of the latter to one third of the former.
Females containing full-sized eggs were taken by us April 28.
MICROPERCA 317
GENUS MICROPERCA PUTNAM
Body short and stout; mouth small, slightly oblique; premaxillaries not
protractile; vertebrae (M. punctulata) 30 (16 + 20); differing from Etheostoma
only in the almost or complete absence of the lateral line; the vertebrae and
fin rays fewer than in other darters, and the scales larger than in most species.
Sine extremely small — the smallest of the darters; coloration plain; species
few, or perhaps not more than one.
FIG. 76
MICROPERCA PUNCTULATA PUTNAM
LEAST DARTER
(MAP XCIX)
Putnam, 1863, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., I, 4.
J. & G., 523; M. V., 134 (Etheostomla microperca) ; B., I, 87 (Etheostoma micro-
perca); J. & E., I, 1104; N., 34; J., 43; F., 64; F. F., I. 3, 24; L., 29.
Length 1 to 1J/2 inches; body not much elongate, compressed, the back
moderately arched; depth 4.6 to 5.2; greatest width about 5/7 of greatest
depth; depth caudal peduncle 2.6 to 3.1. "Coloration olivaceous, the sides
closely speckled and with vague bars and zigzag markings; second dorsal and
caudal barred; dark streaks radiating from eye; a dark humeral spot" (Jordan
and Evermann). Head bluntly rounded, 3.6 to 4; width of head 1.9 to 2.2
in its length; interorbital space 6.7; eye 3.7 to 4.1; nose 4.8 to 5.5; mouth
terminal, oblique, maxillary to middle of orbit, cleft 3.5 to 4 in head; jaws
equal; gill-membranes scarcely connected. Dorsal VI, 9; spinous and soft
dorsals separated by a space about equal to pupil; anal II, 5 or 6; separation
of ventral less than half width of base; pectorals equaling head. Scales large
and strongly ctenoid; 33-36, oblique series 9 or 10; lateral line absent; cheeks
naked; opercles with a few scales; breast and neck naked.
This, the smallest of the darters and the smallest, indeed, of
our spiny-finned fishes, is very rare in our collections outside
those from the upland lakes of northeastern Illinois. We have
taken it, in fact, but twice south of Joliet, in Will county, the
exceptional instances coming from Skillet fork in Wayne county,
and from Drury creek in Union county, in the southern part of
the state. It has been wanting, it will be seen, in all our central
Illinois collections.
318 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
This little darter inhabits generally small streams and ponds
of the Great Lake region, and ranges thence southwest to
Arkansas.
Nine specimens from four localities in northern Illinois had
made two thirds of their food from Crustacea, mostly Entomos-
traca, but with young specimens of amphipod crustaceans also.
The remaining two thirds was essentially all Chironomus larvae,
with only a trace of small larvse of May-flies.
FAMILY SERRANID/E
THE SEA BASS
Body oblong, more or less compressed; dorsal and ventral outlines usually
not perfectly corresponding; scales adherent, usually but not always ctenoid;
lateral line present, not extending on caudal fin; skeleton osseous; vertebrae
typically 10 + 14 = 24, never more than 35; anterior vertebrae without
transverse processes; ventrals thoracic, usually I, 5; dorsals confluent or not,
the spines 2 to 15 in number; anal spines, if present, always 3; caudal variously
formed; no mesocoracoid; gill-membranes separate, free from isthmus;
branchiostegels normally 7, occasionally 6; pseudobranchise present, large;
gill-rakers long or short, usually stiff and armed with teeth; preopercle usually
more or less serrate; opercles usually ending in 1 or 2 flat spine-like points;
mouth not much oblique; premaxillary protractile; supplemental maxillary
present or absent; teeth conical or pointed, in bands on jaws, vomer, and
palatines; no canines; lower pharyngeals separate (except rarely), with pointed
teeth; intestine short; stomach caecal, with few or many pyloric appendages;
air-bladder present, usually small and adherent to wall of abdomen.
Carnivorous fishes, chiefly marine, found in all warm seas;
a few genera found in fresh water, 2 in the Mississippi Valley;
genera known about 60 to 70, species about 400. Many of the
species are of great value for food and game qualities.
KEY TO ILLINOIS GENERA OF SERRANID/E
Dorsal fins separate; anal fin III, 11 to 13, the spines graduated, the first
about half length of second, and second distinctly shorter than third;
lower jaw projecting; base of tongue with teeth Roccus.
Dorsal fins joined; anal fin III, 10, the spines not graduated, first scarcely
% of second, second and third subequal; jaws almost equal; base of tongue
toothless Morone.
ROCCUS — STEIPED BASS 319
GENUS ROCCUS MITCHILL
STRIPED BASS
Body deep and compressed; lower jaw projecting; no supplemental
maxillary; lower margin of preopercle simply (not antrorsely) serrate or entire;
base of tongue with 1 pr 2 patches of teeth; dorsal fins entirely separate; anal
spines 3, graduated in size; scales ctenoid. Species 2, American, one in-
habiting fresh waters of the Mississippi Valley, the other being the striped
bass of the Atlantic (R. lineatus).
ROCCUS CHRYSOPS (EAFINESQUE)
WHITE BASS
(MAP C)
Rafinesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 22 (Perca).
G., I, 67 (Labrax multilineatus and notatus); J. & G., 529; M. V., 137; B., I, 128
(Morone multilineata); J. & E., I, 1132; N. 36; J., J., 44; F., 63; F. F., I. 3, 37;
L., 29.
Length 12 to 18 inches; body rather deep and compressed and back
elevated; profile angled at nape; depth 2.6 to 2.9; greatest width about ^
greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 1.2 to 1.3 in its length. "Color silvery,
tinged with golden below; sides with narrow dusky lines, about 5 above the
lateral line, 1 along it, and a variable number below it, these sometimes more
or less interrupted or transposed" (Jordan and Evermann). Head subconic,
flattened at sides, 3.1 to 3.4; width of head 1.8 to 2.1; interorbital little con-
vex, 3.4 to 4.1; nose longer than eye, 3.4 to 3.8; mouth terminal, oblique,
maxillary to middle of orbit, 2.2 to 2.4 in head; lower jaw strongly projecting;
gill-rakers long as gill-filaments, X + 14. Dorsal IX-I, 13 or 14; longest
spine about 2 in head; base of soft dorsal 1.25 in base of spinous; caudal
forked; anal III, 11 to 13, the spines graduated, first about half as long as
second, and second distinctly longer than third; ventrals % to vent; pectorals
1.6 to 1.9 in head. Scales 8 or 9, 52-57, 13 or 14, very strongly ctenoid; lateral
line usually complete and nearly straight; cheeks and opercles fully scaled,
rows 10 to 12.
A species, in Illinois, of the larger rivers and bottom-land
lakes, but found also in Lake Michigan. It has come to us in
fifty-six collections (mainly from seine hauls of the fishermen),
made throughout the state from the Mississippi near Cairo to
extreme northwest Illinois, and thence to the Calumet River.
We have not obtained it, however, in the Wabash or Kaskaskia
drainage; and it has been absent also from all our collections in
the glacial lakes of northeastern Illinois. It appears to be
primarily a lake fish, and secondarily one of the larger rivers,
our coefficients for these waters being, respectively, 2.8 and 1.7,
and the collections from the smaller streams of insignificant
number. It has been much the most abundant with us in the
320 FISHES OP ILLINOIS
central part of the state (1.7), about half as common in the
northern part as in the central, and a fourth as common in
southern Illinois.
It is a fish of the lakes and deeper rivers from New Bruns-
wick, the St. Lawrence River, and the Great Lakes through the
Ohio basin to Minnesota, Kansas, and Iowa. Its center of
abundance is in the Great Lake region, but it is also distributed
widely over the Ohio basin and the northern part of the Missis-
sippi Valley.
It ranks well as a food fish, some regarding it as scarcely
inferior to the black bass — and it is a game fish of some im-
portance, to be caught with live minnows or even with grubs
and angleworms. It will also rise to the fly.
It was formerly much more common than now. We are
informed by Mr. H. L. Ashlock that a dozen years ago one could
easily get a hundred pounds of it in an afternoon at Alton with
a hundred-yard trammel-net, but that it has now almost dis-
appeared. It reaches a weight of one to three pounds and a
length of more than a foot.
The little that is known of its food indicates that it is mainly
insectivorous, feeding especially upon the large May-fly larvse to
be found in immense numbers at the bottoms of our streams
and lakes, but taking also medium-sized crustaceans (Asellus),
and occasional fishes, among which sunfishes (Centrarchidce)
have been recognized.
Its range, local preferences, feeding habits, and food are so
similar to those of the brassy bass (Morone interrupta) that the
two species have been taken together with uncommon frequency
in our collections, giving us the unusually high associative coeffi-
cient of 5.21. The occurrence of both these species in our terri-
tory is, in fact, due to an overlapping of the edges of the areas of
their distribution. One being a northern species and the other a
southern one, competition is mainly evaded, notwithstanding
their like ecological relationships, by their occupancy of different
territory. Within this state, however, they are apparently close
competitors, with the advantage, in point of numbers at least,
in favor of the yellow bass.
GENUS MORONE MITCHILL
Body rather short and deep, compressed; lower jaw scarcely projecting;
no supplemental maxillary; lower margin of preopercle simply serrate or
entire; base of tongue without teeth; dorsal fins more or less connected by
MOKONB 321
membrane; anal spines 3, not graduated; scales ctenoid. Two species, both
American, one inhabiting fresh waters of the Mississippi Valley and the other
brackish waters and the mouths of rivers of the Atlantic coast.
MORONE INTERRUPTA GILL
YELLOW BASS
(MAP CI)
Gill, 1860, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 118.
J. & G.( 530; M. V.,137; B., I, 127 (mississipiensis); J. & E., I, 1134; N., 36; J., 44;
F., 63 (Roccus); F. F., I. 3, 37; L., 29.
Length 12 to 18 inches; body rather deep and compressed and back
elevated; profile angled at nape; depth 2.7 to 2.9; greatest width about 2 in
greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 1.4 to 1.6 in its length. Ground color
olive-buff, with many small indistinct punctulations of emerald; alternate
rows of scales on sides with dark greenish to blackish central bands, these
adjoining to form prominent longitudinal stripes, 3 above lateral line, one
(which is more or less moniliform) coincident with it, and 3 or 4 below lateral
line; stripes below lateral line interrupted on posterior part of body, the
breaking point sometimes indicated by irregularly disposed black spots;
ventral region lighter than sides but of similar colors; vertical fins with
considerable bluish tinge; cheeks and opercles with bluish and emerald
iridescence; pupil pale dark blue; iris light greenish above pupil, darker out-
ward. Head subconic, pointed, 3 to 3.2 in length; width of head 2 to 2.1 in
its length; interorbital space little convex, 4 to 4.7; nose 3.1 to 3.7; mouth
terminal, slightly less oblique than in last species; maxillary barely to middle
of orbit, 2.6 to 2.8 in head; lower jaw not sensibly projecting; gill-rakers
longer than branchial filaments, X + 13 to 16. Dorsal IX-I, 12; longest
spine 1.6 in head; base of soft dorsal about 1.4 in base of spinous; caudal
forked; anal III, 10,' the spines not graduated, the first usually less than }/%
of second, the second and third of about equal length; ventrals % to vent;
pectorals 1.5 to 1.6. Scales 7, 51-55, 10-12, strongly ctenoid; lateral line
complete or nearly so, scarcely arched anteriorly, somewhat flexuose; cheeks
and opercles fully scaled, rows 12.
This species is distributed in Illinois much like the white
bass, and although nearly twice as abundant in our collections as
that species, it comes everywhere from similar waters — that is,
from the large rivers and adjacent lakes. It is primarily a lake
species, our one hundred and two collections giving us a fre-
quency coefficient of 3.16 for bottom-land lakes and sloughs, and
of 1.82 for rivers of the largest size. But two of these collections
were from creeks or the smaller rivers. We have found it,
like the preceding species, much more abundant in central Illi-
322 FISHES OP ILLINOIS
nois than in either of the other sections, and about equally
frequent in the Illinois River and in the Mississippi.
In its general distribution it contrasts strongly with its com-
panion species, the white bass, the latter being northern in its
range and the present species southern. It occurs throughout
the Mississippi Valley northward to the latitude of Cincinnati
and St. Louis, southward to New Orleans, and westward to the
Kansas River. Its most northerly localities in this state are
Green River in Henry county and the Illinois River at Ottawa,
in La Salle county.
This fish reaches a length of twelve to eighteen inches and a
weight of one to five pounds, although it does not ordinarily
exceed a pound or two. It is common in the market catches at
Havana, Meredosia, and Peoria, but hardly ever of a weight of
more than half a pound. The catch of the yellow and the white
bass together from the Illinois River in 1899, made up, no doubt,
mainly of the present species, amounted to 92,931 pounds. It
takes live bait readily, and will rise to the fly, and is considered
by some anglers as scarcely inferior to the black bass as a game
fish. It has been introduced by the State Fish Commission of
Pennsylvania into several of the rivers of that state.
What little is known of its food indicates an insectivorous
habit, adults feeding on a^-iatic larvae, especially those of May-
flies, together with smrii crustaceans and terrestrial insects.
The yellow bass spawned in May at Havana in 1899.
FAMILY SCUENID^E
THE DRUMS
Body compressed, more or less elongate; scales thin, usually ctenoid;
head scaled; lateral line continuous, extending on caudal fin; skeleton osseous;
vertebrae 22 to 32 (about); ventrals thoracic, I, 5; dorsals confluent or sep-
arate, the spines depressible into a more or less perfect groove; anal spines
1 or 2; caudal usually not forked; no mesocoracoid; gill-membranes separate,
free from isthmus; branchiostegals 7; pseudobranchiae usually large, present
in most genera; gill-rakers present; preopercle serrate or not; opercle usually
ending in 2 flat points; mouth small or large; premaxillary protractile; no
supplemental maxillary; chin usually with pores, sometimes with barbels;
no teeth on vomer, palatines, pterygoids, or tongue; no incisors; lower pha-
ryngeals separate or united, the teeth conic or molar; ear-bones or otoliths
very large; pyloric caeca usually rather few; air-bladder usually large and
complicated (occasionally wanting) ; special drumming muscles developed in
abdominal wall of many species, their function being to produce sounds by
the impact of their vibrations on the air-bladder.
APLODINOTUS — RIVER DRUMS 323
Found near sandy shores of all warm seas, none occurring in
deep water; a few species confined to fresh water; genera 30;
species about 150. Many of them reach a large size and most
are valued as food; all are carnivorous.
GENUS APLODINOTUS RAPINESQUE
RIVER DRUMS
Body oblong, compressed, back elevated; mouth low, horizontal, the
lower jaw included; no barbels; preopercle slightly serrate; teeth in villiform
bands; lower pharyngeals very large, fully united, with coarse, blunt, paved
teeth; dorsals somewhat connected, the spinous with a scaly sheath at base;
second anal spine very strong; caudal double-truncate; air-bladder very large,
simple, with no appendages. Fresh waters of the United States; a single
species.
APLODINOTUS GRUNNIENS RAPINESQUE
SHEEPSHEAD; FRESH- WATER DRUM; CROAKER; WHITE PERCH ,
(MAP CII)
Rafinesque, 1819, Journ. de Physique, 88.
G^ II. 297 and 298 (Corvina oscula and richardsoni); J. & G., 567 (Haploidonotus);
M. V., 144; J. & E., II, 1484; N., 40 (Haploidonotus); J., 50 (Haploidonotus);
F. F., I. 3, 64 (Haploidonotus); F., 62 (Haploidonotus); L., 30.
Length 2 to 4 feet; body moderately elongate, robust but considerably
compressed, the back strongly arched forward and the profile steep, with
almost no angle at nape; depth 2.7 to 3.1; greatest width almost 2 in greatest
depth; depth caudal peduncle 2.2 to 2.5 in its length. Color plain silvery gray
on sides and back, white on belly; the gray everywhere with a liberal sprin-
kling of fine black dots ;, the white iridescent with pearly luster and the gray
changeable from light greenish to coppery; lower part of nose white in a broad
band plainly marked off from the upper olivaceous portion; iris brownish
metallic; fins plain except for dark smoky gray on membranes. Head sub-
conic, with blunt muzzle, 3.3 to 3.6; width of head 1.6 to 1.8; interorbital
weakly convex, 3.2 to 3.7, nose 3.1 to 3.7, longer than eye and decurved;
mouth subinferior, tip of upper lip below orbit; maxillary past middle of eye,
2.6 to 2.9; lower jaw shorter than upper; opercle emarginate, not ending in
sharp points; preopercle serrate; gill-rakers short and stoutish, 6 + 14. Dor-
sal VIII or IX, I, 25 to 31, spinous continuous with soft portion, the notch
gradual and deep, shortest posterior spine ^ of longest of spinous dorsal,
longest spine a little more than 2 in head; base of soft dorsal 1.4 times base of
spinous; caudal rounded or double-truncate; ventrals % to vent; pectorals
rather long, pointed, 1.2 to 1.3 in head. Scales 9-10, 50-56, 11-13, strongly
ctenoid; lateral line complete, much arched forward and parallel with the
dorsal outline, its pores extending on caudal fin; cheeks and opercles scaled.
This remarkable species, particularly interesting because of
its food and feeding structures, and because also of the peculiar
324 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
grunting noise which it sometimes makes, is one of the more
abundant larger species of our principal rivers and lakes. It has
been taken by us in 72 collections, ranging from the Ohio at
Cairo to the Mississippi at the mouth of Rock River and the Illi-
nois at Ottawa. Two collections have come from the Saline
River and from a branch of the Big Muddy in southern Illinois.
Most of the others are from the Illinois or the lakes of its bottom-
lands. Like the two preceding species, this predominates in
central Illinois, our frequency coefficient for which is 2.05.
It is generally distributed throughout the Great Lake basin
and the Mississippi Valley between the Alleghanies and the
western plains, ranging from Lake Champlain to the Red River
of the North, and through the Ohio basin to Alabama, Louisiana,
Arkansas, Texas, and Mexico.
In the Ohio Valley, in the South, and to some extent on the
Illinois River, it is known and marketed as the white perch. In
the Great Lake region it is more commonly called the sheeps-
head, and this is perhaps the name by which it is best known
in Illinois. Gaspergou is a name used for it in the southern
territories formerty occupied by the French. Thirty years ago
the sheepshead was universally rejected by Illinois fishermen as
worthless, but at the present time all except the largest are com-
monly dressed and sold. It reaches a large size, specimens of
fifty to sixty pounds' weight being not uncommon. It becomes
tough and strong with age, but is at its best when weighing from
three quarters of a pound to three pounds. The market catch
of sheepshead from the Illinois River in 1899 was 459,580
pounds. This fish is of a sluggish habit, living on the bottom of
muddy waters, where it feeds especially on mollusks, the shells
first being crushed by the powerful, paved, millstone-like,
pharyngeal jaws. Often the stomach contains only the soft
bodies and opercula of gastropod mollusks, the crushed shells
evidently having been thrown out. Crawfishes are also some-
times found in the food. Half-grown specimens feed largely on
aquatic insects, especially the larvae of May-flies, mingling larger
and larger proportions of mollusks with this food as they increase
in size, until they come finally to depend almost wholly upon
water-snails and the relatively thin-shelled clams.
The peculiar grunting sound made by this fish when caught,
and also often heard as it moves about under the water, is
probably due to vibrations of the wall of the air-bladder caused
by the contraction of special " grunting muscles" — an apparatus
COTTUXZE-^THE SOULPINS 325
demonstrated by Prof. R. W. Tower for the squeteague, a
related marine species of drum.*
Judging from the condition of specimens obtained, our
sheepshead probably spawns in the latter part of May or the
first of June. This is not an angler's fish, but it is sometimes
caught with crawfish bait.
The fact that the sheepshead and the white and the yellow
bass inhabit the same waters and frequent similar situations,
the two bass living on a similar food and the sheepshead on a
widely different one, gives to the local distribution of this group
of three associate species especial interest as illustrating the com-
petitive relationship among fishes. Comparing our 55 collec-
tions of the white bass and our 96 collections of the yellow bass
with our 64 collections of the sheepshead, we find that the first
two species have been taken together in 20 collections, that the
white bass and the sheepshead have also occurred in the same
collections 20 times, and that the yellow bass and the sheeps-
head have been taken together 31 times. The corresponding
ratios of associative occurrence are 5.21 for the two species of
bass, 7.95 for the white bass and the sheepshead, and 11.91 for
the sheepshead and the yellow bass. That is, the species which
compete directly for the same food are found far less frequently
together in the same situations, proportionately to the abun-
dance of each, than are those which depend on different foods.
FAMILY COTTID^E
THE SCULPINS
Body moderately elongate, fusiform or compressed, tapering backward
from the head, which is broad and depressed; body naked or variously armed
with scales, prickles, or bony plates, never uniformly scaled; lateral line
present; skeleton osseous; vertebra? 30 to 50; ventrals thoracic, rarely wanting,
I, 3 to I, 5; dorsals separate or somewhat connected, the spines 6 to 18, usually
slender and sometimes concealed in skin; anal fin without spines; caudal
rounded; no mesocoracoid ; gills 3l/± or 4, the slit behind the last small or
obsolete; gill-membranes broadly connected, often joined to the isthmus;
pseudobranchise present; gill-rakers short, tubercle-like or obsolete; pre-
opercle usually with 1 or more spinous processes at its upper angle; third sub-
orbital connected with preopercle by a bony backward extension or stay; pre-
maxillary protractile; no supplemental maxillary; teeth in villiform or cardi-
form bands on jaws, and often on vomer and palatines; pyloric caeca usually
4 to 8; air-bladder commonly wanting.
* Science, Vol. XXII., p. 376.
326 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
The sculpins chiefly inhabit rocky pools and shores of
northern regions; many species found in inland waters; genera
about 60; species 250. None are valued as food.
KEY TO GENERA AND SPECIES OF COTTHWE FOUND IN ILLINOIS
a. Ventrals with a concealed spine and four soft rays Cottus.
b. Preopercular spine short, usually inconspicuous, usually less than % eye;
interorbital space nearly as wide as or wider than eye, 3.8 to 5.6 in head;
depth of caudal peduncle 1.5 to 2 in its length; maxillary to middle of
eye; dark cross-bars usually present ictalops.
bb. Preopercular spine long1, % to as long as* eye, strongly curved upward, back-
ward, and inward, the skin of the head carried upward by the spine on
each side in an ear-like manner; top of head flat, the interorbital space
very narrow, little more than half of eye and contained 8 times in head,
the eyes directed nearly upward; caudal peduncle very slender, its depth
about 3.3 in its length; maxillary scarcely past front of orbit; color
spotted or mottled, without distinct cross-bars ricei.
aa. Ventrals with a concealed spine and three soft rays Uranidea,
c. Preopercular spine less than % eye; interorbital space about half of eye, 7.5
to 8.5 in head; caudal peduncle moderately slender, its depth 2.2 to 2.4
in its length; maxillary to middle of orbit; sides irregularly spotted, with-
out bars kumlienii.
GENUS COTTUS (ARTEDI) LINNAEUS
MILLER'S THUMBS
Body fusiform, skin smooth or more or less velvety, prickles, if present,
not bony or scale-like; preopercle with a simple spine at its angle, which is
usually curved upward, its base more or less covered with skin, rarely obsolete;
gill-membranes separated by a wide isthmus, over which the membranes do
not form a fold; no slit behind fourth gill; villiform teeth on jaws and vomer,
and sometimes on palatines; dorsals nearly or quite separate; ventrals each
with a concealed spine and 4 soft rays; lateral line present. These are sculpins
of small size, inhabiting clear waters of the northern portions of Europe, Asia,
and America; species numerous.
COTTUS ICTALOPS (EAFINESQUE)
COMMON SCULPIN; MILLER'S THUMB
(PL. P. 300)
Rafinesque, 1820, Ichth. Oh., 85 (Pegedictis).
Q.f H. 158 (richardsoni); J. & G., 696 (richardsoni) ; M. V., 149 (richardsoni); J.
& E., II, 1950; N., 41 (Pegedichthys alvordi); J., 50 (Potamocottus alvordi,
wilsoni, and meridionalis) ; F. F., I. 6, 68 (Potamocottus meridionalis) ; F., 62
(Uranidea richardsoni); L., 30.
Length 3 to 7 inches; body robust forward, subcylindrical, tapering
rapidly back of spinous dorsal; depth 3.7 to 4.3; width about ^ depth; depth
caudal peduncle 1.5 to 2 in its length. Color "olivaceous, more or less barred
* According to Jordan and Evermann; our single specimen with spine % of eye.
COTTUS — MILLER'S THUMBS 327
and specked with darker; fins mostly barred or mottled" (Jordan and Ever-
mann). All our specimens have evident oblique dusky bars on posterior half
of body. Head 3 to 3.5, convex above, the eyes directed outward as much
as upward; width of head almost as great as its length; interorbital space 3.8
to 5.5; nose 2.8 to 3.4; mouth wide and lips very thick, maxillary 1.7 to 2.1
in head, to middle of orbit; upper preopercular spine short, usually less than
half eye and rather inconspicuous; lower spines concealed in skin; isthmus
1.3 to" 1.5 times eye; palatines with teeth. Dorsal VII to IX, 16 to 18; first
dorsal scarcely % height of second; caudal spatulate; anal 13 to 15; pectorals
to vent. Body entirely destitute of scales; a few prickles, often indistinct,
behind pectorals; top of head warty; lateral line continuous or interrupted
posteriorly.
This species inhabits clear, rocky brooks and lakes of the
middle and northern United States, ranging from Kansas and
the Dakotas to New York and Virginia. In our collections,
which number 10 in all, it has been taken only in northern and
southern Illinois: once in McHenry county; once from the
Du Page near Joliet; six times from rocky spring branches in
Union county; and once each in springs in Calhoun and Jersey
counties.
About 25 per cent, of the food of six specimens taken in
southern Illinois consisted of small fishes. Aquatic larvae
formed about 40 per cent, of the food, and the rest was mostly
Crustacea (Asellus). In the clear streams and lakes of the north
this fish has been found to be extremely destructive to the eggs
and fry of trout.
COTTUS RICEI NELSON
Nelson, 1876, Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist., I. 1, 40.
J. & G., 694 (Urlanidea spilota) and 935 (U. ricei); M. V., 148; J. & E., II, 1952; J.,
50 (Tauridea spilota); L., 30.
Length (of our single specimen) 2J4 inches; body rather slender, regu-
larly tapered to the very slender caudal peduncle; depth 4.9; width about
same as depth; depth caudal peduncle 3.3 in its length. Color (in spirits)
brownish olive, sides irregularly and faintly mottled; faint traces of 2 dusky
bars on caudal peduncle; last membranes of second dorsal dusky. Head very
flat above, the eyes directed nearly upward; width of head equal to its length;
interorbital space flat, very narrow, 8.2 in head; nose 3.6 the posterior nostril
with conspicuous raised edges, tube-like; mouth narrow, smaller than in last
species, and lips thinner, the maxillary scarcely past front of orbit, 2.9 in
head; preopercular spine long, % of eye*; lower preopercular spines short
and mostly concealed; the upper spine hooked backward and upward, carry-
ing with it the skin of the head in an auricular flap-like appendage, giving
* Equal to eye, according to Nelson.
328 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
the fish a buffalo-like appearance; isthmus twice eye; palatine teeth obscure
(present in Nelson's type). Dorsal VII, 16, the first % height of second;
caudal spatulate; anal rays 13; pectorals to front of anal. Body scaleless,
axils and top of head with prominent spinules: lateral line continuous.
Here described from a single specimen taken by the senior
author in 1881, from a depth of 600 feet in Grand Traverse Bay,
off Old Mission, Mich. Lacking access to Mr. Nelson's type,
we refer the present specimen to C. ricei, notwithstanding
disagreement with Nelson's description in one or two particu-
lars, our specimen lacking the dorsal carination described by
Nelson, and having the head smooth.
GENUS URANIDEA DE KAY
Preopercular spines small; usually no trace of teeth on palatines; ven-
trals reduced to a concealed spine and 3 soft rays; otherwise as in Coitus.
Cold streams and springs of the United States; species 9 or 10; size small.
URANIDEA KUMLIENII HOY
Hoy, 1876, in Nelson, Bull. Hi. State Lab. Nat. Hist., I. 1, 41.
J. & E., II, 1967; J., 50; L,, 30.
Length 2}/£ inches; body slender, gradually tapering to the rather
slender caudal peduncle; depth 5 to 5.2; width slightly less than depth; depth
caudal peduncle 2S2 to 2.4 in its length. Color brownish olive, faintly
mottled (in preserved specimens); spinous dorsal with a prominent dusky
blotch on anterior and posterior two or three membranes; membranes of
soft dorsal dusky toward base; pectorals reticulated with dusky. Head
rather flattish above, but more convex than in Coitus ricei, 3.1 to 3.4; as wide
as long; interorbital space 7.5 to 8.6; nose 3.3 to 3.6; mouth rather narrow,
but large, maxillary to middle of orbit, 2.2 to 2.4 in head; preopercular spine
about half of eye; lower spines not prominent; isthmus not greater than eye;
palatines without exposed teeth. Dorsal VII or VIII, 15-17; first dorsal
Y± height of second; caudal narrow, spatulate; anal 12; pectorals to front of
anal. Body nearly smooth; top of head and axils with some prickles; lateral
line usually interrupted posteriorly (in one specimen continuous, but the
pores on caudal peduncle sunken and inconspicuous).
Described from 3 specimens, taken in deep water in Traverse
Bay, off Old Mission, Mich., by the senior author in 1881.
Our specimens have not the lower jaw projecting, as called for
in original description. Careful comparison with examples of
U. gradlis from McLean, New York,* has been made, showing
* Courtesy of T. L. Hankinson.
URANIDEA 329
that our specimens differ from that species chiefly in the pres-
ence of prickles in the axils — evidently a variable character as
shown by our collections — and in the height of the first dorsal,
which is 54 the length of the head (^2 the head in specimens of
U. gracilis examined) . It appears not impossible that the pres-
ent form should be regarded as a variety of gracilis.
—30 F
380 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
ORDER ANACANTHINI
THE COD-LIKE FISHES
Skeleton bony; vertebrae numerous, the anterior simple; no spines in
any of the fins; ventrals jugular, below or in front of the pectorals; tail
isocercal (i. e., the vertebras in a right line and becoming progressively smaller
backward) ; pectoral arch suspended from the skull; no mesocoracoid; scapular
foramen nearly always between the hypercoracoid and the hypocoracoid,
and not in the hypercoracoid as typical in Acanthopteri; air-bladder without
open duct.
A large group, confined mostly to the cold depths of the
ocean and to the northern seas; a few fresh water representa-
tives. Many of the marine species are among our most im-
portant food fishes.
FAMILY GADIDJE
THE CODFISHES
Body more or less elongate; tail tapering, coniform; scales small, cycloid;
skeleton osseous; vertebrae numerous; ventrals jugular, the pelvic bones
loosely attached to the clavicular symphysis by ligament; dorsal fin extending
almost length of back, forming 1, 2, or 3 fins; anal long, single or divided;
caudal distinct or confluent with dorsal and anal; no spines in any of the fins,
all the rays being articulated; no mesocoracoid; hypercoracoid without
foramen; gills 4, a slit behind the fourth; gill-membranes separated or some-
what united, commonly free from the isthmus; no pseudobranchia; posterior
edge of preopercle usually covered by skin; mouth large, terminal; chin
with a barbel; pyloric caeca usually numerous, sometimes few or none; vent
submedian; air-bladder generally well developed.
The cods inhabit chiefly the seas of northern regions; a
single genus confined to fresh waters. Genera about 25; species
about 140. Many of the species are of great value as food
fishes.
GENUS LOTA (CUVIER) OKEN
BURBOTS
Body long and low, compressed behind; head depressed; anterior nostrils
each with a small barbel; chin with a long barbel; gill-openings wide, the
membranes free from the isthmus; each jaw with broad bands of equal villi-
LOTA — BURBOTS 331
form teeth; vomer with a broad crescentic band of villiform teeth; no teeth
on palatines; dorsal fins 2, the first short, the second long and similar to the
anal; caudal rounded, its outer rays procurrent; scales very small, embedded;
vertical fins scaly. One or two species; confined to the fresh waters of
northern regions.
LOTA MACULOSA (LE SUETJB)
BURBOT; LING; EEL-POUT
Le Sueur, 1817, J. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., I, 83 (Gadus).
G., IV, 359 (vulgaris, part);,J. & G., 802; M. V., 162 (lota); J. & E.( III, 2550; N.,
42 (lacustris); J., 51 (lacustris); F., 62; F. F., II. 7, 433; L., 30.
Length 2 feet; body extremely elongate, not much compressed, except
posteriorly, the back low and the profile long and straight; depth 7.6; greatest
width of body about .7 to .9 greatest depth. Color "dark olive, thickly
marbled and reticulated with blackish, yellowish or dusky beneath; young
often sharply marked, the adult becoming dull grayish; vertical fins with
dusky margins" (Jordan and Evermann). Head broad and depressed, 4.7
to 5 in length; width head 1.6 in its length; interorbital space flat, 3.4 to 3.6;
nose 23/2 times eye, 3.4 to 3.5, each nostril with a short barbel (^2 eye);
mouth horizontal, rather large, maxillary past back of pupil, 2.5 to 2.6;
chin with a single median barbel \Yi times length of eye; gill-rakers short,
about 3+6. Dorsal 12 or 13, 70 to 75, the second very long and low, its
longest rays less than half head; caudal rounded, its outer rays procurrent,
the separation between caudal, dorsal, and anal slight; anal rays about 65;
ventrals inserted before pectorals; pectorals 1^ in head. Scales very small,
embedded, 27 to 30 in an oblique series from front of second dorsal to lateral
line; cheeks and opercles with very small embedded scales; all fins more or
less scaly.
The range of this species is throughout New England and
the Great Lake region and northward to the Arctic zone, in
lakes and sluggish streams; occasionally taken in the Ohio and
the upper Mississippi. Additional to its occurrence in Lake
Michigan, we have specimens on record also from the Illinois
River at Peoria, Havana, Meredosia, and Naples, from the
Rock River at Milan, and from the Mississippi at Rock Island.
These are all cases of the occurrence of a single fish in a place,
and there is nothing to indicate any permanent invasion of our
rivers by this species.
The burbot lives in deep water, where it lies during the day
under the shelter of stones (Brehm). It is exceedingly vora-
cious, not even sparing its own kind. Zadock Thompson* says
that he has taken specimens with the abdomen so much dis-
tended with food as to give the fish the appearance of a globe-
* Evermann and Kendall, Rep. U. S. Fish Comm., 1894, p. 603.
332 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
fish or toadfish. One specimen sixteen inches long, examined
by him, contained ten dace, none of which was less than four
inches long. Fishes constituted about 80 per cent, of the food
of specimens studied by the senior author in 1888, the remainder
being crawfishes. Among the fishes recognized was a single
whitefish, the remainder being the common yellow perch
(Perca flavescens) .
The flesh of the burbot is coarse and tasteless, and is seldom
used for food. It is, in fact, of less value than any other Ameri-
can fresh- water fish of its size unless it be the gar, which it doubt-
less equals in destructiveness where it is abundant. Its interest
to the scientist lies in its being the single fresh-water representa-
tive of the cod family in our waters. It is unknown by name to
most of our river fishermen. It has been described to us by
one of them as a fish "with a skin like a bullhead and a head
like a dogfish, with a chin bristle." If the exception be made
that very small scales are present, this brief description will
suffice very well for the recognition of the species if found astray
in our rivers or bottom-land lakes.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 333
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
GENERAL WORKS ON FISHES
Boulenger, G. A.
1895. Catalogue of the fishes in the British Museum. Ed. 2. Vol. 1.
Lond., Taylor & Francis.
Brice, J. J.
1898. A manual of fish culture based on the methods of the U. S.
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1-261, pi.
Bridge, T. W., and Boulenger, G. A.
1904. Fishes. Cambridge natural history, vol. 7, pp. 139-727, illus.
Dean, Bashford.
1895. Fishes, living and fossil. 300 pp. illus. N. Y., Macmillan.
(Columbia univ. Biol. ser. 3.)
Goode, G. B.
1888. American fishes; a popular treatise upon the game and food
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1903. American fishes; a popular treatise upon the game and food
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Goode, G. B., and associates.
1884-1887. The fisheries and fishery industries of the United States.
7 vols. text and atlas. Washington, Government.
Gunther, A. C. L. G.
1859-1870. Catalogue of the fishes in the collection of the British
Museum. 8 vols. Lond., Taylor & Francis.
1880. An introduction to the study of fishes. 720 pp. illus. Edin.,
Black.
Jordan, D. S.
1888. Manual of the vertebrates of the northern United States. Ed. 5.
375 pp. Chicago, McClurg.
1905. A guide to the study of fishes. 2 vols. illus. N. Y., Holt.
334 FISHES or ILLINOIS
Jordan, D. S., and Evermann, B. W.
1896-1900. The fishes of North and Middle America. Bull. U. S.
national museum, no. 47, pts. 1-4, 3313 pp. pi.
1902. American food and game fishes. 573 pp. illus. col. pi. N. Y.,
Doubleday.
Jordan, D. S., and Gilbert, C. H.
1882. Synopsis of the fishes of North America. Bull. U. S. national
museum, no. 16, 1018 pp.
Stevenson, C. H.
1898. The preservation of fishery products for food. Bull. U. S.
fish comm., vol. 18, pp. 335-563, pi.
1904. Utilization of the skins of aquatic animals. Rep. U. S. fish
comm., 1902, pp. 283-352, pi.
Pearse, A. S.
1915. On the food of the small shore fishes in the waters near Madison,
Wisconsin. Bull. Wis. nat. hist, soc., vol. 13, pp. 7-22.
1918. The food of the shore fishes of certain Wisconsin lakes. Bull.
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PAPERS ON ILLINOIS FISHES
Kennicott, Robert.
1855. Catalogue of animals observed in Cook county, Illinois. Trans-
actions 111. agricultural society, vol. 1, pp. 577-595.
Nelson, E. W.
1876. A partial catalogue of the fishes of Illinois. Bull. 111. state
lab. nat. hist., vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 33-52.
1878. Fisheries of Chicago and vicinity. Rep. U. S. fish comm.,
1875-76, pp. 783-800.
Jordan, D. S.
1878. A catalogue of the fishes of Illinois. Bull. 111. state lab. nat.
hist., vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 37-70.
Forbes, S. A.
1878. The food of Illinois fishes. Bull. 111. state lab. nat. hist., vol.
1, no. 2, pp. 71-89.
1879. On some sensory structures of young dog-fishes. Amer. quar-
terly microscopical journal, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 257-260, pi.
1880. On the food of young fishes. Bull. 111. state lab. nat. hist.,
vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 66-79.
1880. The food of fishes. Bull. 111. state lab. nat. hist., vol. 1, no. 3,
pp. 18-65. Also in Rep. 111. state fish comm., 1884, pp. 90-127.
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Forbes, S. A. — continued.
1880. The food of the darters. Amer. naturalist, vol. 14, pp. 697-703.
1881. A rare fish in Illinois [Chologaster]. Amer. naturalist, vol. 15,
pp. 232-233.
1881. Food of young whitefish — Coregonus clupeiformis. 'Bull. U. S.
fish comm., vol. 1, pp. 19-20, 269-270.
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nat. hist., vol. 1, no. 6, pp. 65-94.
1883. The first food of the common whitefish (Coregonus clupeiformis
Mitch.). Bull. 111. state lab. nat. hist., vol. 1, no. 6, pp. 95-109.
Also in Rep. U. S. fish comm., 1881, pp. 771-782.
— . A catalogue of the native fishes of Illinois. Rep. 111. state fish
comm., 1884, pp. 60-89.
1885. Description of new Illinois fishes. Bull. 111. state lab. nat.
hist., vol. 2, pp. 135-139.
1888. Studies of the food of fresh-water fishes. Bull. 111. state lab.
nat,, hist,, vol. 2, pp. 443-473.
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cussion. Bull. 111. state lab. nat. hist., vol. 2, pp. 475-538.
1888. The food of the fishes of the Mississippi Valley. Transactions
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Garman, H.
1890. A preliminary report on the animals of the Mississippi bottoms
near Quincy, Illinois, in August, 1888. Part 1. Bull. 111. state lab.
nat. hist., vol. 3, art. 9, fishes, pp. 134-148.
Illinois fishermen's association.
1899 — — . Annual reports giving the estimated amount and lands
of fish caught, and value of same. Rep. 111. state fish comm., Oct.
1, 1896, to Sept. 30, 1898, pp. 5-7; Oct. 1, 1898, to Sept. 30, 1900,
pp. 20-21; Sept. 30, 1900, to Oct. 1, 1902, pp. 30-31.
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— . A list of the native fishes of Illinois, with keys. Rep. 111. state
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1904. A review of the sunfishes of the current genera Apomotis, Lepo-
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1905. On a new shovelnose sturgeon from the Mississippi river. Bull.
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336 FISHES OF ILLINOIS
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS
Abbott, C. C.
1861. Notes on the habits of Aphredoderus sayanus. Proc. Academy
nat. sci. Phil., 1861, pp. 95-96.
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vol. 4, pp. 99-117.
1870. Further notes on New Jersey fishes. Amer. naturalist, vol. 4,
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1874. Notes on the cyprinoids of central New Jersey. Amer. natu-
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comm., 1875-76, pp. 825-845.
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1878. The development of Lepidosteus. Proc. Amer. academy arts
and sciences, vol. 14, pp. 65-76, pi. 1 col. pi.
Agassiz, Louis.
1854. Notice of a collection of fishes from the southern bend of the
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1905. Culture of the fallfish or chub. Amer. fish culturist, vol. 2, p.
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Clark, F. N. _
1893. History and methods of whitefish culture. Bull. U. S. fish
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Cole, L. J.
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1885. On the presence of scales on the integument of Polyodon folium.
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1904. Note on the breeding habits of the common or white sucker.
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1905. Breathing and feeding mechanism of the lampreys. Biol. bull.,
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1895. Early development of gar-pike and sturgeon. Journal mor-
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Dean, Bashford, and Sumner, F. B.
1897. Notes on the spawning habits of the brook lamprey (Petro-
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Eigenmanh, C. H.
1896. Fishes, spawning seasons. Proc. Indiana academy sci., 1895,
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1899. The eyes of the blind vertebrates of North America. 1. The
eyes of the Amblyopsidce. Archiv fur Entwicklungsmechanik der
Organismen, vol. 8, pp. 545-617, pi.
Evermann, B. W.
1891. A report upon investigations made in Texas in 1891. Bull. U.
S. fish comm., vol. 11, pp. 61-90, pi.
1899. Report on investigations by the U. S. fish commission in Mis-
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ERRATA
Page cxxv, line 10 from bottom, for anguilla read Ictalurus anguilla.
Page 9, delete platB reference under heading.
Page 34, plate facing, as authority for Lampetra wilderi, read Gage.
Page 85, line 22, for fin-scaled read fine-scaled.
Page 94, line 5, for Hydrophillidae read Hydrophilidae.
Page 99, line 3 of table, for Pimpephales read Pimephales.
Page 145, line 2 of synonymy, for analostoma read analostana.
Page 160, line 1, for Phyrganeidae read Phryganeidae.
Page 220, line 8 from bottom, for Centrachidae read Centrarchidae.
Page 298, last line, for recognization read recognition.
Page 317, line 3, for 30 (16+20) read 30 (14+16).
Insert also the following missing letters, dropped out in printing: —
Page xliv, line 10 from bottom, i in is.
Page Ixviii, line 10, i in Pulaski.
Page Ixxii, line 13 from bottom, i in insensible.
Page Ixxiii, line 19, i in relations; line 8 from bottom, 1 in called.
Page Ixxxiii, under heading, line 4, 1 in conveniently.
Page xc, sixth-column heading, k in Kaskaskia.
Page xcvii, line 1, d in distinguished; line 2 from bottom, (first column,)
r in ricei.
Page cvi, middle heading, n in glaciation.
Page cvii, line 7, t in turbid.
Page cviii, line 1, i in times.
Page ex, line 10 from bottom, s in Wabash.
Page cxi, line 1, 1 in miles.
Page cxxvii, line 17 from bottom, i in legislation.
Page cxxx, legend, line 2 from bottom, a in maxillary.
Page cxxxii, first legend, a semicolon at end of first line; line 2, s in spl.
Page 23, line 14 from bottom (not including foot-note), i in interest.
Page 35, line 10 from bottom, 1 in less.
Page 49, line 3 under first headings, 1 in dorsal.
Page 58, line 8 from bottom, 1 in lateral.
Page 61, line 11 from bottom, 1 in single.
Page 78, line 11 from bottom, a in almost.
Page 231, line 7 above last heading, h in toothless.
INDEX
Abramis, 103, 125
crysoleucas, 95, 99, 100, 101,
126-128
Acanthini, 330
Acanthopteri, 14, 220-329
Acipenser, 21, 24
huso, 22
rubicundus, 22, 24-26
ruthenus, 22
sturio, 21
Acipenseridse, 1, 21-29
affinis, Gambusia, 210, 215
albus, Parascaphirhynchus, xcvii,
28
Alewives, 48
Alligator-gar, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xciv,
cii, ciii, 35-36
Alosa, 48, 49
ohiensis, 49
alosoides, Hiodon, 43
Ambloplites, 235, 242
rupestris, 234, 243-244
amblops, Hybopsis, 99, 100, 101,
165
Amblyopsicte, 2, 202, 217-219
Amblyopsis, 219
Ameiurus, 176, 183, 184, 195
lacustris, 183, 184-185
melas, 184, 185, 188, 190-192
natalis, 183, 185-186, 191
nebulosus, 184, 186, 187-190,
191, 192
as prey of lampreys, 7
nigricans, 179, 184
ponderosus, 179, 184
American Carp, 74
or Fresh-water Eel, 59-60
Perch, 276-278
pike-perches, 271-275
Amia, 38
calva, 38-41
—31 F
Arniida?, 1, 37-41
Ammocrypta, 271, 301
pellucida, cxii, 280, 301-303
Anacanthini, 14, 330-332
Anguilla, 59
chrysypa, 59-60
anguilla, Ictalurus, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii,
xciv, cii, ciii, cxxv, 177, 179
Anguillida3, 2, 58-60
anisurum, Moxostoma, 89, 93
annularis, Pomoxis, 237, 238, 240
anogenus, Notropis, Ixxvii, Ixxxvi,
xciv, xcvi, ci, ciii, 131, 132
anomalum, Campostoma, cv, cxiii,
99, 100, 101, 110
Aphredoderidffi, 2, 218, 220, 228-231
Aphredoderus, 229
sayanus, cvii-cviii, 229-231
Aplodinotus, cxii, 323
as food for fishes, 275
grunniens, 323-325
Apodes, 14, 58-60
Apomotis, 247
Argyrosomus, 50, 53-54
artedi, 54-55
hoyi, 54, 55
nigripinnis, 54, 55
prognathus, 54, 55
tullibee, 54, 55
artedi, Argyrosomus, 54
asprella, Crystallaria, Ixxx, xc, xcv,
xcvi, xcvii, 300
Aspro, 278
aspro, Hadropterus, cxii, 280, 283,
284, 286, 303
Atherinidse, 2, 220, 226-228
atherinoides, Notropis, 99, 100, 101,
131, 151
atromaculatus, Semotilus, 99, 100,
121
atronasus, Rhinichthys, 160, 162
343
344
INDEX
aureolum, Moxostoma. cxii, cxiii,
89, 90, 93
Banded Darter, Ixxxi, xc, xciii, cvi,
ex, cxix, 304-306
Bass, Black, cxxiv, cxxvi, 7, 108,
109, 233, 238, 247, 262
as food for fishes, 208, 275
fishes eaten by, 97, 175, 270
Calico, 240-241
Large-mouthed Black, Ixxx, xc,
xcii, cvi, cxiii, cxviii, cxxv,
264, 267-269
Prairie, 39
Rock, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xciii, ex,
cxii, cxviii, cxxiv, cxxv, 233,
234, 235, 242, 243-244, 247, 250
Sea, 318-322
Small-mouthed Black, Ixxx,
Ixxxix, xcii, cv, cxii, cxiii,
cxviii, cxxv, 108, 243, 263-266,
267, 268, 269
Strawberry, 241
Striped, cxxvi, cxxvii, 319-320
Warmouth, 245-247
White, Ixxxi, xci, xciii, cvi, ex,
cxiii, cxix, cxxiv, cxxv, 319-
320, 322, 325
Yellow, Ixxxi, xci, xciii, cvi, ex,
cxiii, cxix, cxxiv, cxxv, 321-
322, 325
Big-eyed Chub, 165-166
Big-mouth Buffalo, 68-70
Billfish, 31-34
Black Bass, cxxiv, cxxvi, 7, 108,
109, 233, 238, 247, 262
as food for fishes, 208, 275
fishes eaten by, 97, 175, 270
Large-mouthed, Ixxx, xc, xcii,
cvi, cxiii, cxviii, cxxv, 267-
269
Small-mouthed, Ixxx, Ixxxix,
xcii, cv, cxii, cxiii, cxviii,
cxxv, 108, 244, 263-266, 267,
268, 269
Bullhead, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xcii,
cvi, cxiii, cxv, cxxv, 176, 185,
188, 190-192
Crappie, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xcii,
cxviii, cxxv, 238, 240-241
Black — continued
-head Minnow, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xcii,
ex, cxvi, 117-119
-horse, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xciv, cii, 65-66
-nosed Dace, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xciii,
162-163
-sided Darter, Ixxx, xc, xcii, cvi,
cxviii, 286-288
darters, 283-290
Sucker, 66
Blackfin, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xcii, cvi,
cxvii, 154-156
blennioides, Diplesion, cxii, 280, 292
blennius, Notropis, cxii, cxiii, 99,
100, 101, 131, 137
Blindfishes, 217-219
Bloodsucker, 6
Blue-breasted Darter, Ixxxi, xc,
xciii, 306
Blue Cat, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii, xciv, cii,
ciii, cxxv, 178-179
Fulton, 179, 181
Herring, 48-49
-spotted Sunfish, cxxv, 248-250
Sunfish, 257-259
Bluefin, 55
Bluegill, Ixxx, Ixxxix, xcii, cxiii,
cxviii, cxxv, 234, 235. 237, 257-
259
Blunt-nosed Carp, Ixxvi, Ixxxv,
xciii, cxv
Minnow, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xcii, cvi,
cxvi, 119-121, 127
River Carp, 77-88
Boleichthys, 271, 315
fusiformis, Ixxxi, xci, xciii, cvi,
ex, cxiii, cxix, 280, 281, 315-316
Boleosoma, 271, 281, 294, 303
camurum, Ixxx, xc, xciii, cvi,
cxiii, cxix, 280, 294, 298-300
nigrum, 294-298
Bowfin, 38-41
Bowfins, 37-41
Bream, 126-128
Breams, 125-128
breviceps, Moxostoma, cv, 89, 91
Brindled Stonecat, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii,
xciv, xcv, cii, cvi, ex, cxiii, cxv,
200-201
INDEX
345
Brook Lamprey, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xcv,
xcvi, xcvii, xcviii, 11-12
lampreys, 7
Silverside, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xcii,
cxiii, cxvii, 227-228
Stickleback, Ixxix, Ixxxviii, xciv,
ci, ciii, 222-223
Trout, 263
Brown Bullhead, 176, 185, 186,
187-190, 192
as prey of lampreys, 7
bubalus, Ictiobus, 67, 68, 71, 72
buccata, Ericymba, .Ixxvii, Ixxxvii,
xciii, cii, cvi, ex, cxiii, cxvii, 99,
100, 101, 156
Buffalo, Big-mouth, 68-70
-fish, 62, 63, 67, 109
as food for fishes, 39, 63
as prey of lampreys, 7, 10
-fishes, cxiii, cxxiv, cxxvi, 62, 63,
75
Mongrel, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xciv, ex,
cxv, cxxv, 70-72
Quillback, 72-73
Razor-backed, 72-73
Red-mouth, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xciii,
cxv, cxxv, 68-70
Round, 70-72
Small-mouth, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xciii,
cxv, cxxv, 72-73
Bullhead, Black, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii,
xcii, cvi, cxiii, cxv, cxxv, 176,
185, 188, 190-192
Brown, 176, 185, 186, 187-190,
192
as prey of lampreys, 7
Common, Ixxvii, Ixxxviii, xciii,
cv, ex, cxiii, cxv, cxxv, 187-190
Minnow, Ixxvii, Ixxxvi, xcii, cvi,
cxvi, 128-130
Slick, 186
Speckled, 187-190
Yellow, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xcii, cvi,
cxiii, cxv, cxxv, 176, 185-186,
191, 192
fishes eaten by, 175
Bullheads, cxii, cxxiv, 173, 176, 183-
192, 195
as food for fishes, 194, 275
fishes eaten by, 63, 97, 270
Bull-pouts, cxxvi, 188
Burbot, Ixxxi, xci, xciv, cii, cxxv,
331-332
as food for fishes, 57
fishes eaten by, 270
Burbots, 330-332
Calico Bass, 240-241
calva, Amia, 38
Campostoma, 96, 103, 110
anomalum, cv, cxiii, 99, 100, 101,
110-112
camurum, Boleosoma, Ixxx, xc,
xciii, cvi, cxiii, cxix, 281, 294,
298
Etheostoma, 303, 306
canadense griseum, Stizostedion,
272, 274-275
Stizostedion, civ, cv, 175, 272
caprodes, Percina, 280, 281, 285
Carp, cxxvi, 67, 104-110
American, 74
and minnows, 94-171
as prey of lampreys, 10
Blunt-nosed, Ixxvi, Ixxxv, xciii,
cxv
River, 77-78
Common River, 76-77
European, cxxiv, cxxv, 103, 104-
110
Lake, Ixxvi, Ixxxv, xciii, ciii,
cv, ex, cxxv, 78-80
-like fishes, 61-171
Quillback, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xciii, cv,
cxv, 78-79
River, Ixxvi, Ixxxv, xciii, cxii, cxv,
cxxv, 77-78
Silver, 78-79
-suckers, 74-80
carpio, Carpiodes, cxii, 75, 76
Cyprinus, 104
Carpiodes, 64, 74-75
carpio, cxii, 75, 76-77
difformis, cxii, 75, 77-78
thompsoni, civ, 75, 77, 79-80
velifer, cxii, cxiii, 75, 77, 78-79
castaneus, Ichthyomyzon, 10
Cat, Blue, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii, xciv, cii,
ciii, cxxv, 178-179
Chuckle-headed, 178-179
346
IXDEX
Cat — continued
Duck-bill, 18
Fulton, 178-179
Mississippi, 179
Morgan, 193-194
Tadpole, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xcii, cvi,
cxv, 197-198
Spoonbill, 16-20
Yellow, 193-194
cataractae, Rhinichthys, xcvii, 160
Catfish, 109
Great Lake, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xcvi,
xcvii, ci, ciii
Lake, cxxv
of the lakes, 184-185
Catfishes, cxii, cxxiv, cxxvi, 172-
201
as food for fishes, 268, 275
as prey of lampreys, 7, 10
Catostomidae, 2, 61-94
Catostomus, 64, 84
catostomus, 84
commersonii, 7, 84, 85-86
nigricans, cv, 62, 64, 84, 86-88
Cave-fish, Spring, xcvii, ci, 218-219
cayuga atrocaudalis, Notropis,
Ixxvii, 134
Notropis, Ixxvii, Ixxxvi, xciii, cii,
civ, cvi, ex, cxiii, cxvi, 99, 101,
130 133
Centrarchidae, 2, 63, 221, 232-269,
320
Centrarchus, 235, 241
macropterus, 234, 241-242
cepedianum, Dorosoma, 45
Chaenobryttus, 236, 245
gulosus, 234, 245-247
Channel-cat, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xcii,
cvi, cxiv, cxxv, 180^183, 266
Channel-cats, 175, 177-183
chlora, Cliola, 139
Chologaster, 218
papilliferus, Ixxix, Ixxxviii, xcv,
xcviii, ci, 218-219
Chondrostei, 13, 21-29
Chrosomus, 103, 112
erythrogaster, 101, 112-113
chrysochloris, Pomolobus, 48
chrysops, Roccus, civ, 319
chrysypa, Anguilla, 59
Chub, Big-eyed, 165-166
Creek, 121-123
Flat-headed, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xciv,
xcviii, ci, 170-171
Greased, 110-112
River, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii, xciii, cv,
cxvii, 167-170
Silver, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii, xciv, cii,
cvi, cxvii, 165-166
Storer's, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii, xciii, cv,
cxvii, 166-167
Chub-sucker, Ixxvi, Ixxxv, xciii, cvi,
ex, cxiii, cxv, 62, 81-82
Chub-suckers, 80-82
Chuckle-headed Cat, 178-179
Cisco, 54-55
Mooneye, 55
Ciscoes, 53-55
Cliola, 103, 128
chlora, 139
vigilax, 99, 100, 101, 119, 128-
130
Clupeidae, 1, 42, 47-50
clupeiformis, Coregonus, 51
Cod-like fishes, 330-332
codfishes, 330-332
cceruleum, Etheostoma, cxii, cxiii,
280, 304, 309
commersonii, Catostomus, 7, 84, 85
Common Bullhead, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii,
xciii, cv, ex, cxiii, cxv, cxxv,
187-190
Pike, cxxv, 207-209
Red-horse, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xcii,
cxii, cxiii, cxv, cxxv, 90-91
River Carp, 76-77
Sculpin, 326-327
Shiner, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xcii, cvi,
cxiii, cxvi, 147-149
Stonecat, Ixxviii
Sucker, Ixxvi, Ixxxv, xcii, cv,
cxiii, cxv, cxxv, 62, 85-86
Top-minnow, Ixxix, Ixxxviii, xcii,
cvi, cxvii
Whitefish, 51-53
concolor, Ichthyomyzon, 9
Coregonus, 50, 51
clupeiformis, 51-53
quadrilateralis, 51, 53
347
cornutus, Notropis, cv, cxii, cxiii,
99, 100, 131, 147
corporalis, Semotilus, 123
Cottidse, 3, 221, 325-329
Cottogaster, 271, 290, 303
shumardi, Ixxx, xc, xciii, cii, cxii,
cxviii, 279, 290-291
Cottus, 326
ictalops, 326-327
ricei, Ixxxi, xci, xcvi, xcvii, ci,
ciii, 326, 327-328
Crappie, cxxiv, cxxvi, cxxvii, 109
Black, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xcii, cxviii,
cxxv, 238, 240-241
Pale, 235, 239, 256
Ringed, 239
White, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xcii, cvi,
cxvii, cxxv, 238-239
Crappies, cxiii, 233, 235, 247-256
fishes eaten by, 97, 270
Creek Chub, 121-123
Cristivomer, 51, 55
namaycush, 56-57
Croaker, 323-325
crysoleucas, Abramis, 95, 99, 100,
101, 126
Crystallaria, 271, 300
asprella, Ixxx, xc, xcvi, xcvii, 300-
301
Cushawn, 194
cyanellus, Lepomis, 235, 248
Cycleptus, 64, 65
elongatus, 65-66
Cycloganoidea, 13, 37-41
cyprinella, Ictiobus, 67, 68, 71
Cyprinidae, 2, 61, 62, 94-171
Cyprinus, 104
carpio, 104-110
Dace as food for fishes, 332
Black-nosed, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xciii,
162-163
Horned, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xcii, cxvi,
121-123
fishes eaten by, 97
Long-nosed, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xcv,
xcviii, ci, 160-161
Red-bellied, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xciii,
cv, ex, cxvi, 112-113
Darter, Banded, Ixxxi, xc, xciii, cvi,
ex, cxix, 304-306
Black-sided, Ixxx, xc, xcii, cvi,
cxviii, 286, 288
Blue-breasted, Ixxxi, xc, xciii, 306
Fan-tailed, Ixxxi, xci, xciii, cvi,
cxix, 313-314
Green-sided, Ixxx, xc, xciv, cii,
ex, cxviii, 292-294
Johnny, Ixxx, xc, xcii, cxix, 294-
298
Least, Ixxxi, xci, xciii, cxix, 317-
318
Rainbow, Ixxxi, xci, xciii, cvi,
cxix, 309-311
Sand, Ixxxi, xc, xciii, cvi, cxix,
279,301-303
Darters, cxii, cxiii, 63, 270, 278-318
Black-sided, 283-290
Sand, 301
diaphanus, Fundulus, civ, 210, 212
menona, Fundulus, 211
difformis, Carpiodes, cxii, 75, 77
Diplesion, 271, 291-292, 303
blennioides, cxii, 280, 292-294
dispar, Fundulus, cxiii, 210, 212,
216, 217
dissimilis, Hybopsis, civ, cv, cxii,
164
Dogfish, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xciii, cvi, ex,
cxix, cxxv, cxxvii, 38-41, 203
Dogfishes eaten by, 63, 97
dolomieu, Micropterus, 262, 263
Dorosoma, 45
cepedianum, 45-47
as food for fishes, 273
Dorosomidse, 1, 42, 45^7
Dough-belly, 110-112
Drum, cxxiv, 109
Fresh-water, cxxvi, 323-325
Drums, 322-325
river, 323
Duck-bill Cat, 18
duquesnei, Plaeopharynx, Ixxvi,
Ixxxvi, xciv, 93
Eel, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xciv, cxxv
American, 59-60
-cat, cxxv
Fresh-water, 59-60
-pout, 331-332
348
INDEX
Eels, 6, 58
true, 58
Elassoma, 231
zonatum, 232
Elassomidse, 2, 221, 231-232
elongatus, Cycleptus, 65
emilise, Opsopceodus, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi,
xciii, cvi, cxvi, 99, 101, 124
Ericymba, 104, 156
buccata, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xciii, cii,
cvi, ex, cxiii, cxvii, 99, 100, 101,
156-158
Erimyzon, 64, 80
sucetta oblongus, 81-82
erythrogaster, Chrosomus, 101, 112
Esocidse, 2, 202, 205-209
Esox, 205
lucius, 205, 207-209
masquinongy, 205, 209
ohiensis, 209
vermiculatus, 205, 206-207
Etheostoma, 271, 303-304
camurum, 303, 306
cceruleum, cxii, cxiii, 280, 304,
309-311
flabellare, 280, 303, 304, 313-314
iowae, Ixxxi, xc, 304, 306-307
jessise, cxxxi, xc, xcii, cvi, cxix,
280, 304, 307-309, 310, 311
obeyense, Ixxxi, xci, xcv, xcvii,
ci, ciii, 303, 304, 311-312
squamiceps, Ixxxi, xci, xcv, xcvii,
xcviii, cii, ciii, cxix, 303, 304,
312-313
zonale, civ, cxii, 280, 303, 304-306
Etheostominse, 270, 278-318
Eucalia, 222
inconstans, 222-223
Eupomotis, 236, 247, 259
gibbosus, civ, 234, 247, 259, 260-
262
heros, Ixxx, Ixxxix, xcv, xcvii,
xcviii, ci, ciii, 259-260
European Carp, cxxiv, cxxv, 103,
104-110
euryorus, Lepomis, Ixxix, Ixxxix,
xcvi, 248, 252
Eventognathi, 61-171
evermanni, Hadropterus, Ixxx, xc,
xciv, xcvi, 283, 284
evides, Hadropterus, Ixxx, xc, xcv,
xcvi, xcvii, ci, 284, 288
exilis, Schilbeodes, 196, 199
Fallfishes, 121
Fan-tailed Darter, Ixxxi, xci, xciii,
cvi, cxix, 313-314
Fathead, 117-119, 128-130
Fatheads, 117
Fiddler, 180-183
Fine-scaled Sucker, 85-86
as prey of lampreys, 7
suckers, 83-88
Fishes, carp-like, 61-171
cod-like, 330-332
herring-like, 42
limophagous, cxiii
pike-like, 202
salmon-like, 42
shad-like, 42
spiny-rayed, 220-329
Five-spined sticklebacks, 222
flabellare, Etheostoma, 280, 303,
304, 313
Flat-belly, 194
Flat-headed Chub, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii,
xciv, xcviii, ci, 170-171
flavescens, Perca, civ, 276, 332
flavus, Noturus, civ, cv, cxii, 194,
200, 201
Flier, 241-242
Freckled Stonecat, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii,
xciii, cii, ciii, 198-199
Fresh-water Drum, cxxvi, 323-325
Fulton, Blue, 179, 181
Cat, 178-179
White, 179
Fundulus, 210, 211
diaphanus, civ, 210, 212
menona, 211-212
dispar, cxiii, 210, 212-213, 216,
217
notatus, 210, 213-215, 216, 217
furcatus, Ictalurus, 177, 178, 184
fusiformis, Boleichthys, Ixxxi, xci,
xciii, cvi, ex, cxiii, cxix, 280, 281,
315
Gadidse, 3, 330-332
Gambusia, 207, 210, 215
affinis, 210, 215-217
INDEX
349
Gar, Long-nosed, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xciii,
ex, cxiv, 31-34
Short-nosed, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xciii,
cv, ex, cxiv, 34-35
garmani, Lepomis, 253
Garpikes, 30-36
Gars, fishes eaten by, 97
Gaspergou, 324
Gasterosteidae, 1, 2, 220, 221-224
gibbosus, Eupomotis, civ, 234, 247,
259, 260
gilberti, Notropis, Ixxvii, Ixxxvi,
xciii, cvi, ex, cxii, cxvi, 99, 101, 139
Gizzard-shad, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xcii,
cxvii, cxxv, 45-47, 63
as food for fishes, 63, 175, 268, 275
gladius, Psephurus, 15
Goggle-eye, 243-244
Golden Shad, cxxv, 48-49
Shiner, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xcii, cvi,
cxiii, cxvi, 126-128
Goujon, 193-194
gracilis, Platygobio, 170
Uranidea, 328, 329
Grass Pike, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xciii,
cvi, cxvii, 206-207
Gray Pike, 274-275
Greased Chub, 110-112
Greaser, 186
Great Lake Catfish, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii,
xcvi, xcvii, ci, ciii
Trout, cxxv, 55, 56
Mississippi Catfish, 184
Green-sided Darter, Ixxx, xc, xciv,
cii, ex, cxviii, 292-294
Green Sunfish, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xcii,
cvi, cxiii, cxviii, 235, 246,
248-250, 256
fishes eaten by, 97
Grindle, 38-41
Grinnel, 39
grunniens, Aplodinotus, 323
gulosus, Chaenobryttus, 234, 245
guttatus, Percopsis, civ, cxii, 225
gyrinus, Schilbeodes, 176, 196, 197,
200, 201
Hadropterus, 271, 283-284, 303
aspro, cxii, 280, 283, 284, 286-
288, 303
Hadropterus — continued
evermanni, Ixxx, xc, xciv, xcvi,
284-285
evides, Ixxx, xc, xcv, xcvi, xcvii,
ci, 284, 288-289
ouachitse, Ixxx, xc, xcv, xcvii, ci,
ciii, 284, 288
phoxocephalus, Ixxx, xc, xciii, cxii,
cxiii, cxviii, 280, 284, 285-286,
287, 303, 316, 284
scierus, Ixxx, xc, xciv, 284, 289-
290
Hagfishes and lampreys, 5
Haplomi, 14, 202-219
Hare-lipped Sucker, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi,
xcv, xcvii, ci, ciii
Hemibranchii, 14, 220
heros, Eupomotis, Ixxx, Ixxxix, xcv,
xcvii, xcviii, ci, ciii, 259
Herring, Blue, 48-49
Lake, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xcv, xcvi,
xcvii, ci, ciii, cxxv, 54-55
as food for fishes, 56, 57
-like fishes, 42
Toothed, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xciii, cxii,
cxvii, 44-45
Herrings, 47-50
heterodon, Notropis, Ixxvii, Ixxxvi,
xcii, cvi, cxiii, cxvi, 95, 99
Hickory-shad, 45-47
as food for fishes, 273. See also
Gizzard-shad
Hiodon, 43
alosoides, 43-44
tergisus, cxii, 43, 44-45
Hiodontidae, 1, 42^5
Hogmolly, 86-88
Hogsucker, Ixxvi, Ixxxv, xcii, cv,
cxii, cxv, 62, 86-88
Horned Dace, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xcii,
cxvi, 121-123
fishes eaten by, 97
Pout, 183-192
Horny-head, 167-170
hoyi, Argyrosomus, 54, 55
hudsonius, Notropis, civ, 99, 100,
101, 131, 141
humilis, Lepomis, 235, 248, 255
Huro nigricans, 268
huso, Acipenser, 22
350
Hybognathus, 103, 114
nubila, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xciv, xcvi,
xcvii, xcviii, ex, 101, 114, 116-
117
nuchalis, 99, 100, 101, 114-115
Hybopsis, 104, 163
amblops, 99, 100, 101, 165-166
dissimilis, civ, cv, cxii, 164-165
hyostomus, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii, xciv,
cii, 163-164
kentuckiensis, civ, cv, cxii, cxiii,
99, 100, 101, 167-170
storerianus, 99, 100, 166-167
hyostomus, Hybopsis, Ixxviii,
Ixxxvii, xciv, cii, 163
Hyperoartii, 5-12
Ichthyomyzon, 6. 9
castaneus, 10
concolor, 9-10
ictalops, Cottus, 326
Ictalurus, 174, 176, 177
anguilla, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii, xciv, cii,
ciii, cxxv, 177, 179-180
furcatus, 177, 178-179, 184
punctatus, 177, 180-183
Ictiobus, 64, 66
bubalus, 67, 68, 71, 72-73
cyprinella, 67, 68-70, 71
urus, 68, 70^72
illecebrosus, Notropis, Ixxvii, Ixxxvi,
xciv, ex, cxvi, 101, 131, 140
inconstans, Eucalia, 222
interrupta, Morone, civ, 320, 321
iowse, Etheostoma, Ixxxi, xc, 304,
306
ischyrus, Lepomis, Ixxix, Ixxxix,
xciv, cii, 248, 250
Isospondyli, 14, 42-57
Jack-salmon, 272-274
jejunus, Notropis, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii,
xciii, cvi, cxvi, 99, 100, 131, 150
jessiae, Etheostoma, Ixxxi, xc, xcii,
cvi, cxix, 280, 304, 307, 310, 311
Johnny Darter, Ixxv, xc, xcii, cxix,
294-298
Jumper, 268
kentuckiensis, Hybopsis, civ, cv, cxii
cxiii, 99, 100, 101, 167
Killifishes, cxiii, 210-217
kumlienii, Uranidea, Ixxxi, xci, xcv,
xcvi, xcvii, ci, ciii, 326, 328
Labidesthes, 227
sicculus, cxiii, 227-228
Labrus salmoides, 268
lacustris, Ameiurus, 183, 184
Lagochila, 64, 94
Lake Carp, Ixxvi, Ixxxv, xciii, ciii,
cv, ex, cxxv, 79-80
Catfish, cxxv
Herring, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xcv, xcvi,
xcvii, ci, ciii, cxxv, 54-5£
Sturgeon, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xciv, cxxiv,
cxxv, 24-26
Trout, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xcv, xcvi,
xcvii, ci, ciii, 263
Lamper eels, 6
Lamperns, 6
Lampers, 6
Lampetra, 6, 9, 11
planeri, 7, 8
wilderi, xcvii, 7, 8, 11-12
Lamprey, Brook, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xcv,
xcvi, xcvii, xcviii, 11-12
Sea, 6
Silvery, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xciii, 9-10
Small Black, 11-12
Lampreys, 5-12, 25
brook, 7, 11
river, 9
Large-mouthed Black Bass, Ixxx,
xc, xcii, cvi, cxiii, cxviii, cxxv,
264, 267-269
Least Darter, Ixxxi, xci, xciii, cxix,
317-318
Leeches as food of Brown Bullhead,
188
Lemon-fin, 145-147
Lepisosteidae, 1, 30-36
Lepisosteus, 31
osseus, 31-34
platostomus, 31, 34-35
tristcechus, 31, 35-36
INDEX
351
Lepomis, 234, 236, 247-248
cyanellus, 235, 248-250
euryoms, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xciv, xcvi,
248, 252- 253
garmani, 253
humilis, 235, 248, 255-257
ischyrus, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xciv, cii,
248, 250-251
- megalotis, 234, 248, 254-255
miniatus, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xciii,
cxviii, 234, 248, 253
pallida, 268
pallidus, 234, 237, 248, 257-259
symmetricus, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xciv,
cii, ciii, 248, 251-252
Leptops, 176, 193
olivaris, cxii, 193-194
limi, Umbra, 203
Ling, 331-332
Little Pickerel, cxxv, 206-207
Log-perch, Ixxx, xc, xciii, cxviii,
282-283
Log-perches, 281-283
Long-eared Sunfish, Ixxx, Ixxxix,
xciii, cvi, ex, cxiii, cxviii, cxxv,
234, 235, 254-255
Long-nosed Dace, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii,
xcv, xcviii, ci, 160-161
Gar, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xciii, ex, cxiv,
31-34
Sucker, Ixxxv, xciv, xcvi, xcvii,
ci, ciii, 84
Longjaw, 55
Loricati, 221
Lota, 330
maculosa, 331-332
lucius, Esox, 205, 207
lutrensis, Notropis, 99, 100, 101,
131, 143
lythrochloris, Xenotis, 255
Mackinaw Trout, 56
macropterus, Centrarchus, 234, 241
maculosa, Lota, 331
marinus, Petromyzon, 6
unicolor, Petromyzon, 7
Marsipobranchii, 5-12
masquinongy, Esox, 205, 209
ohiensis, Esox, 209
megalotis, Lepomis, 234, 248, 254
melanops, Minytrema, 83
melas, Ameiurus, 184, 185, 188, 190
menona diaphanus, Fundulus, 211
Menona Top-minnow, Ixxix,
Ixxxviii, xciii, cii, ciii, cv, ex,
cxvii, 211-212
Microperca, 271, 317
punctulata, cxiii, 280, 317-318
Micropterus, 236, 262
dolomieu, 262, 263-266
salmoides, 262, 267-269
Miller's Thumb, Ixxxi, xci, xciii,
xcvi, cvi, 326-327
thumbs, 326-328
miniatus, Lepomis, Ixxix, Ixxxix,
xciii, cxviii, 234, 248, 253
Minnow, Black-head, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi,
xcii, ex, cxvi, 117-119
Blunt-nosed, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xcii,
cvi, cxvi, 119-121, 127
Bullhead, Ixxvii, Ixxxvi, xcii, cvi,
cxvi, 128-130
Perch, 281
Rosy-faced, 153-154
Silver-mouthed, 156-158
Silvery, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xcii, cvi,
cxvi, 114-115
Spot-tailed, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xcii,
cvi, ex, cxvi, 141-143
Steel-colored, 145-147
Straw-colored, Ixxvii, Ixxxvi, xcii,
cvi, cxvi, 137-138
Sucker-mouthed, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii,
xcii, cxvii, 158-160
Minnows, cxii, cxiii
and carp, 94-171
as food for fishes, 33, 34, 39, 44,
194, 207, 228, 230, 268, 273
sucker-mouthed, 158
Minytrema, 64, 82
melanops, 83
mirabilis, Phenacobius, 99, 100, 158
Mississippi Cat, 179
Catfish, Great, 184
Missouri Sucker, cxxv, 65-66
miurus, Schilbeodes, 176, 196, 200
Mongrel Buffalo, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xciv,
ex, cxv, cxxv, 70-72
352
IXDEX
Mooneye, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xciv, cii,
ciii, 44
Cisco, 55
"Northern, cxxv, 43-44
Mooneyes, 42-45
Morgan Cat, 193-194
Morone, 318, 320
interrupta, civ, 320, 321-322
Moxostoma, 64, 88, 89, 93
anisurum, 89-90, 93
aureolum, cxii, cxiii, 89, 90-91, 93
breviceps, cv, 89, 91-92
Mud-cat, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xciii, cvi,
cxii, cxv, cxxv, 193-194
fishes eaten by, 97, 175
Mud-jack, 39
Mud-minnow, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xciv,
cxiii, cxvii, 203-205
Mudfish, 39, 203-205
Mudfishes, 202-205
Muskallunge, Ixxix, cxxxviii, xciv,
ci, ciii, 209
Namaycush, 56
namaycush, Cristivomer, 56
natalis, Ameiurus, 183, 185, 191
nebulosus, Ameiurus, 7, 184, 186,
187, 191, 192
Nematognathi, 14, 172-201
Nigger-belly, 194
Nigger-lips, 180
nigricans, Ameiurus, 179, 184
Catostomus, cv, 62, 64, 84, 86
Huro, 268
nigripinnis, Argyrosomus, 54, 55
nigrum, Boleosoma, 294
Nine-spined Stickleback, Ixxix,
Ixxxix, xciv, xcvi, xcvii, ci,
ciii, 224
sticklebacks, 224
nocturnus, Schilbeodes, 196, 198
Northern Mooneye, cxxv, 43-44
Sucker, 84
notatus, Fundulus, 210, 213, 216,
217
Pimephales, cvii, 99, 100, 101,
117, 119, 127
Notropis, 96, 103, 130-131
anogenus, Ixxvii, Ixxxvi, xciv,
xcvi, ci, ciii, 131, 132-133
Notropis — continued
atherinoides, 99, 100, 101, 131,
151-153
blennius, cxii, cxiii, 99, 100, 101,
131, 137-138
cayuga, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xciii, cii,
civ, cvi, ex, cxiii, cxvi, 99,
101, 130, 133
atrocaudalis, Ixxvii, 134
cornutus, cv, cxii, cxiii, 99, 100,
101, 131, 147-148
gilberti, Ixxvii, Ixxxvi, xciii, cvi,
ex, cxii, cxvi, 99, 101, 131, 139-
140
heterodon, Ixxvii, Ixxxvi, xcii, cvi,
cxiii, cxvi, 95, 99, 100, 101, 130,
131, 134-136
hudsonius, civ, 99, 100, 101, 131,
141-143
illecebrosus, Ixxvii, Ixxxvi, xciv,
ex, cxvi, 101, 131, 140-141
jejunus, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xciii, cvi,
cxvi, 99, 100, 131, 150-151
lutrensis, 99, 100, 101, 131, 143-
145
phenacobius, Ixxvii, Ixxxvi, xciv,
xcvi, ci, 131, 138-139
pilsbryi, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xciv, xcvi,
ci, ciii, 131, 149
rubrifrons, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xci,
xciii, cii, civ, cv, ex, cxii,
cxiii, cxvii, 131, 153-154
scylla, 139
umbratilis, 99, 100, 131
atripes, 154-156
whipplii, 99, 100, 101, 131, 145-
147
Noturus, 176, 194
flavus, civ, cv, cxii, 176, 194-
196, 200, 201
nubila, Hybognathus, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi,
xciv, xcvi, xcvii, xcviii, ex, 101,
114, 116
nuchalis, Hybognathus, 99, 100,
101, 114
obeyense, Etheostoma, Ixxxi, xci,
xcv, xcvii, ci, ciii, 303, 304, 311
ohiensis, Alosa, 49
Ohio Shad, 49-50
INDEX
353
olivaris, Leptops, cxii, 193 .
Opsopceodus, 103, 124
emiliae, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xciii, cvi,
cxvi, 99, 101, 124-125
Orange-spotted Sunfish, Ixxx, Ixxxix,
xcii, cvi, cxviii, 255-257
osseus, Lepisosteus, 31
ouachitse, Hadropterus, Ixxx, xc,
xcv, xcvii, ci, ciii, 284, 288
Paddle-fish, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xciii, cii,
cxxiv, cxxv, 16-20
Paddle-fishes, 15-20
Pale Crappie, 235, 237, 256
pallida, Lepomis, 268
pallidus, Lepomis, 234, 237, 248,
257
Platygobio, 171
papilliferus, Chologaster, Ixxix,
Ixxxviii, xcv, xcviii, ci, 218
Parascaphirhynchus, 24, 28
albus, xcvii, 28-29
Pavement-toothed Red-horse, 92
pellucida, Ammocrypta, cxii, 280,
301
Perca, 248, 270, 275-276
flavescens, civ, 276-278, 332
Percesoces, 14, 220
Perch, American, 276-278
as food for fishes, 192, 332
Minnow, 281
Ringed, 276-278
River, 275-276, 277
White, cxxvi, 323-325
Yellow, Ixxx, xc, xcii, cii, cvi, ex,
cxiii, cxviii, cxxvi, cxxvii, 248,
270, 276-278, 332
as food for fishes, 332
fishes eaten by, 97, 270
Perches, 269-318
Percida;, 3, 221, 269-318
Percina, 271, 281
caprodes, 280, 282-283, 285
Percoidei, 220
Percopsida?, 1, 2, 220, 225-226
Percopsis, 225
guttatus, civ, cxii, 225-226
Petromyzon, 6
marinus, 6
unicolor, 7
Petromyzonidse, 1, 5-12
Phenacobius, 104, 158
mirabilis, 99, 100, 158-160
phenacobius, Notropis, Ixxvii,
Ixxxvi, xciv, xcvi, ci, 131, 138
phoxocephalus, Hadropterus, Ixxx,
xc, xciii, cxii, cxiii, cxviii, 280,
284, 285, 287, 303, 316
Pickerel, 207-209
fishes eaten by, 97
Little, cxxv, 206-207
Pigmy Sunfish, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xcv,
xcvii, xcviii, ci, ciii, 232
sunfishes, 231-232
Pike, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xciii, cii, ciii,
cv, ex, 266
Common, cxxv, 207-209
fishes eaten by, 63
Grass, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xciii, cvi,
cxvii, 206-207
Gray, 274-275
-like fishes, 202
-perch, Ixxx, xc, xciii, cxviii, 272-
274
-perches, American, 271-275
Wall-eyed, cxxiv, cxxv, 270, 272-
274
fishes eaten by, 97, 273
Pikes, 205-209
pilsbryi, Notropis, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii,
xciv, xcvi, ci, eiii, 131, 149
Pimephales, 103, 117
notatus, cvii, 99, 100, 101, 117,
119-121, 127
promelas, 99, 100, 101, 117-119
Pirate-perch, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xciii, cvi,
ex, cxiii, cxvii, 229-231
Pirate-perches, 228-231
Pisces, 13-332
Placopharynx, 64, 92
duquesnei, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xciv, 93-
94
planeri, Lampetra, 7, 8
platorhynchus, Scaphirhynchus, 27
platostomus, Lepisosteus, 31, 34
Platygobio, 104, 170
gracilis, 170-171
pallidus, 171
Plectospondyli, 14
Pceciliidse, 1, 2, 202, 210-217
354
INDEX
Polyodon, 16
spathula, 15, 16-20
Polyodontidse, 1, 15-20
Pomolobus, 48
chrysochloris, 48-49
Pomoxis, 235, 237-238
annularis, 237, 238-240
sparoides, 235, 237, 238, 240-241
ponderosus, Ameiurus, 179, 184
Pout, Horned, 183-192
Prairie Bass, 39
prognathus, Argyrosomus, 54, 55
promelas, Pimephales, 99, 100, 101,
117
Psephurus gladius, 15
Pseudoscaphirhynchus, 22
Pumpkinseed, or Pumpkinseed Sun-
fish, Ixxx, Ixxxix, xcii, cv, ex, cxiii,
cxviii, cxxv, 234, 259, 260-262
punctatus, Ictalurus, 177, 180
punctulata, Microperca, cxiii, 280,
317
pungitius, Pygosteus, xcvi, 224
Pygosteus, 222, 224
pungitius, xcvi, 224
quadrilateralis, Coregonus, 51, 53
Quillback Buffalo, 72-73
Carp, or Quillback, Ixxvi, Ixxxv,
xciii, cv, cxv, 78-79
Rabbit-mouth Sucker, 94
Rainbow Darter, Ixxxi, xci, xciii,
cvi, cxix, 309-311
Razor-backed Buffalo, 72-73
Red-bellied Dace, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi,
xciii, cv, ex, cxvi, 112-113
Red-horse, cxxiv, 88-92
Common, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xcii, cxii,
cxiii, cxv, cxxv, 90-91
Pavement-toothed, 92
Short-headed, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xciii,
cv, ex, cxv, cxxv, 91-92
Red-mouth Buffalo, Ixxv, Ixxxv,
xciii, cxv, cxxv, 68-70
Red Sturgeon, 24-26
Sucker, 84
Redeye, 243-244
Redfin, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xcii, ex, cxvi,
143-145
Rhinichthys, 104, 160
atronasus, 160, 162-163
cataractse, xcvii, 160-161
Rhomboganoidea, 13, 30-36
ricei, Cottus, Ixxxi, xci, xcvi, xcvii,
ci, ciii, 326, 327
Ringed Crappie, 239
Perch, 276-278
River Carp, Ixxvi, Ixxxv, xciii, cxv,
cxxv, 76-77
Chub, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii, xciii, cv,
cxvii, 167-170
drums, 323
lampreys, 9
Perch, 275-276, 277
Roach, 126-128
Roccus, 318, 319
chrysops, civ, 319-320
Rock Bass, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xciii, ex,
cxii, cxviii, cxxiv, cxxv, 233,
234, 235, 242, 243-244, 246,
247, 250
Sturgeon, 24-26
Rosy-faced Minnow, 153-154
Round Buffalo, 70-72
Sunfish, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xciv, xcv,
ci, ciii, cvi, cxiii, cxviii, 234,
237, 241-242
rubicundus, Acipenser, 22, 24
rubrifrons, Notropis, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii,
xciii, cii, civ, cv, ex, cxii, cxiii,
cxvii, 101, 131, 153
rupestris, Ambloplites, 234, 243
ruthenus, Acipenser, 22
salmoides, Labrus, 268
Micropterus, 262, 267
Salmon-like fishes, 42
Salmon-trout, 56
Salmonida3, 2, 42, 50-57
SalmopercsB, 14, 22
Salvelinus, 51
Sand Darter, Ixxxi, xc, xciii, cvi,
cxix, 279, 301-303
darters, 301
-pike, cxxv, 274-275
fishes eaten by, 17
Sauger, Ixxx, xc, xciii, cii, cv, ex,
cxviii, 270, 274-275
sayanus, Aphredoderus, cvii, 229
INDEX
355
Scaphirhynchus, 24, 26
platorhynchus, 27-28
Schilbeodes, 176, 196
exilis, 196, 199-200
gyrinus, 176, 196, 197-198, 200,
201
miurus, 176, 196, 200-201
nocturnus, 196, 198-199
Scigenidae, 3, 221, 322-325
scierus, Hadropterus, Ixxx, xc, xciv,
284; 289
Sculpin, Common, 326-327
Sculpins, 325-329
scylla, Notropis, 139
Sea Bass, 318-322
Lamprey, 6
Selachostomi, 13, 15-20
Semotilus, 104, 121
atromaculatus, 99, 100, 121-123
corporalis, 123
Serranidse, 2, 221, 318-322
Shad, 49
as food for fishes, 60, 173
Golden, cxxv, 48-49
-like fishes, 42
Ohio, 49-50
Sheatfish, 173
Sheepshead, Ixxxi, xci, xciii, cxii,
cxix, cxxiv, cxxv, cxxvi, 323-
325
as food for fishes, 275
' fishes eaten by, 63
Shiner, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xcii, cvi, cxvi,
151-153
Common, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xcii, cvi,
cxiii, cxvi, 147-149
Golden, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xcii, cvi,
cxiii, cxvi, 126-128
Spotted, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii, xciv, cv,
ex, cxvii, 164-165
Short-headed Red-horse, Ixxvi,
Ixxxvi, xciii, cv, ex, cxv, cxxv,
91-92
Short-nosed Gar, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xciii,
cv, ex, cxiv, 34-35
Shovel-cat, 18
Shovel-fish, 18
Shovel-nosed Sturgeon, Ixxv, Ixxxiv,
xciv, cii, cxxiv, cxxv, 27-28
sturgeons, 22, 26
shumardi, Cottogaster, Ixxx, xc,
xciii, cii, cxii, cxviii, 279, 290
sicculus, Labidesthes, cxiii, 227
Silurida, 2, 172-201
Silver Carp, 78^79
Chub, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii, xciv, cii,
cvi, cxvii, 165-166
-mouthed Minnow, 156-158
Silverfin, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii, xcii, cvi,
cxvi, 145-147
Silverside, Brook, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xcii,
cxiii, cxvii, 227-228
Silversides, 226-228
Silvery Lamprey, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xciii,
9-10
Minnow, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xcii, cvi,
cxvi, 114-115
Skipjack, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xciii, 48-49
Slender Stonecat, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii,
xciv, 199-200
Slick Bullhead, 1861
Small-mouth Buffalo,. Ixxv, Ixxxv,
xciii, cxv, cxxv, 72-73
Black Bass, Ixxx, Ixxxix, xcii, cv,
cxii, cxiii, cxviii, cxxv, 108, 243,
263-266, 267, 268, 269
Soldier-fish, 309-311
Spade-fish, 18
sparoides,Pomoxis, 235, 237, 238, 240
spathula, Polyodon, 15, 16
Speckled Bullhead, 187-190
Spiny-rayed, fishes, 220-329
Spoonbill, cxxvi, 17
Cat, 16-20
Spoonbills as prey of lampreys, 7, 10
Spot-tailed Minnow, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii,
xcii, cvi, ex, cxvi, 141-143
Spotted Shiner, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii, xciv,
cv, ex, cxvii, 164-165
Sucker, cxxv, 83
Spring Cave-fish, 218-219
squamiceps, Etheostoma, Ixxxi, xci,
xcv, xcvii, xcviii, cii, ciii, cxix,
303, 304, 312
Steel-colored Minnow, 145-147
Sterlet, 22
Stickleback, Brook, Ixxix, Ixxxviii,
xciv, ci, ciii, 222-223
Nine-spined, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xciv,
xcvi, xcvii, ci, ciii, 224
356
INDEX
Sticklebacks, 221-224
five-spined, 222
nine-spined, 224
Stizostedion, 270, 271-272
canadense, civ, cv, 175, 272
griseum, 272, 274-275
vitreum, 272-274
Stonecat, Ixxxviii, xciii, cii, cv, ex,
cxii, cxv, 194-196
Brindled, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xciv,
xcv, cii, cvi, ex, cxiii, cxv, 200-
201
Common, Ixxviii
Freckled, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xciii,
cii, ciii, 198-199
Slender, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xciv,
199-200
Stonecats, cxiii, 173, 175, 176
Stone-roller, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xcii, cv,
cxvi, 62, 86-88, 110-112
Stone-rollers, 110-112
storerianus, Hybopsis, 99, 100, 166
Storer's Chub, Ixxviii, Ixxxvii, xciii,
cv, cxvii, 166-167
Straw-colored Minnow, Ixxvii,
Ixxxvi, xcii, cvi, cxvi, 137-138
Strawberry Bass, 241
Striped Bass, cxxvi, cxxvii, 319-321
Sucker, Ixxvi, Ixxxv, xciii, cvi,
cxiii, cxv, 62, 83
Top-minnow, Ixxix, Ixxxviii, xcii,
cxvii
Sturgeon, Lake, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xciv,
cxxiv, cxxv, 24-26
Red, 24-26
Rock, 24-26
Shovel-nosed, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xciv,
cii, cxxiv, cxxv, 27-28
White, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xcv, xcvii,
28-29
Sturgeons, 21-29
shovel-nosed, 22, 26
sturio, Acipenser, 21
sucetta oblongus, Erimyzon, 81
Sucker, Common, Ixxvi, Ixxxv, xcii,
cv, cxiii, cxv, cxxv, 62, 85-86
Black, 66
Fine-scaled, 85-86
as prey of lampreys, 7
Sucker — continued
Hare-lipped, Ixxvi, Ixxxvi, xcv,
xcvii, ci, ciii
Long-nosed, Ixxxv, xciv, xcvi,
xcvii, ci, ciii, 84
Missouri, cxxv, 65-66
-mouthed Minnow, Ixxvii, Ixxxvii,
xcii, cxvii, 158-160
Northern, 84
Rabbit-mouth, 94
Red, 84
Spotted, cxxv, 83
Striped, Ixxvi, Ixxxv, xciii, cvi,
cxiii, cxv, 62, 83
Sweet, 81
White-nosed, Ixxvi, Ixxxv, xciii,
cv, cxxv, 89-90
Suckers, cxi, cxxiv, 61-94, 109
as food for fishes, 63
fine-scaled, 84-88
Sunfish, 63, 108, 109
Blue, 257-259
Blue-spotted, cxxv, 248-250
Green, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xcii, cvi,
cxiii, cxviii, 235, 246, 248-250
fishes eaten by, 97
Long-eared, Ixxx, Ixxxix, xciii, cvi,
ex, cxiii, cxviii, cxxv, 234, 235,
254-255
Orange-spotted, Ixxx, Ixxxix, xcii,
cvi, cxviii, 255-257
Pigmy, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xcv, xcvii,
xcviii, ci, ciii, 232
Pumpkinseed, 259, 260-262
Round, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xciv, xcv,
ci, ciii, cvi, cxiii, cxviii, 234,
237, 241-242
Sunfishes, cxii, cxiii, cxxiv, cxxvi,
cxxvii, 232-269
as food for fishes, 192, 194, 207,
208, 273, 275, 320
fishes eaten by, 63, 270
Pigmy, 231-232
Sweet Sucker, 81
symmetricus, Lepomis, Ixxix, Ixxxix,
xciv, cii, ciii, 248, 251
Tadpole Cat, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xcii,
cvi, cxv, 197-198
Teleostomi, 13
357
tergisus, Hiodon, cxii, 43, 44
thompsoni, Carpiodes, civ, 75, 77,
79
Toothed Herring, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xciii,
cxii, cxvii, 44-45
lop-minnow, 213-215 9
, as food for fishes, 207
Common, Ixxix, Ixxxviii, xcii, cvi,
cxvii
Menona, Ixxix, Ixxxviii, xciii, cii,
ciii, cv, ex, cxvii, 211-212
Striped, Ixxix, Ixxxviii, xcii, cxvii
Viviparous, Ixxix, Ixxxviii, xciv,
cii, ciii, cvi, cxvii, 215-217
Top-minnows, cxii, 210, 211
tristcechus, Lepisosteus, 31, 35
Trout, 108, 266, 269
as food for fishes, 327
Brook, 263
Great Lake, cxxv, 55, 56
Lake, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xcv, xcvi,
xcvii, ci, ciii, 263
Mackinaw, 56
-perch, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xciii, cii,
ciii, cv, ex, cxii, cxvii, 225-226
-perches, 225-226
Tullibee, 55
tullibee, Argyrosomus, 54, 55
Typhlichthys, 219
Umbra, 203
limi, 203-205
umbratilis atripes, Notropis, 154
Notropis, 99, 100, 131
Umbridffi, 2, 202-205
Uranidea, 326, 328
gracilis, 328, 329
kumlienii, Ixxxi, xci, xcv, xcvi,
xcvii, ci, ciii, 326, 328-329
urus, Ictiobus, 68, 70
velifer, Carpiodes, cxii, cxiii, 75, 77,
78
vermiculatus, Esox, 205, 206
vigilax, Ciiola, 99, 100, 101, 119, 128
vitreum, Stizostedion, 272
Viviparous Top-minnow, Ixxix,
Ixxxviii, xciv, cii, ciii, cvi, cxvii,
215-217
Wall-eyed Pike, cxxiv, cxxv, 270,
272-274
fishes eaten by, 97, 273
Warmouth, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xcii, cvi,
cxiii, cxviii, cxxv, 234, 235, 245-
247, 250, 261
Wels, 173
whipplii, Notropis, 99, 100, 101, 131,
145
White Bass, Ixxxi, xci, xciii, cvi,
ex, cxiii, cxix, cxxiv, cxxv, 319-
320, 322, 325
Crappie, Ixxix, Ixxxix, xcii, cvi,
cxiii, cxvii, cxxv, 238-239
Fulton, 179
-nosed Sucker, Ixxvi, Ixxxv, xciii,
cxv, cxxv, 89-90
Perch, cxxvi, 323-325
Sturgeon, Ixxv, Ixxxiv, xcv, xcvii,
28-29
Whitefish, Ixxv, Ixxxv, xcv, xcvi,
xcvii, ci, ciii, cxxv, 54, 55
as food for fishes, 56, 57, 332
Common, 51-53
Whitefishes, 51, 266
wilderi, Lampetra, xcvii, 7, 8, 11
Xenotis lythrochloris, 255
Yellow Bass, Ixxxi, xci, xciii, cvi,
ex, cxiii, cxix, cxxiv, cxxv, 321-
322, 325
Bullhead, Ixxviii, Ixxxviii, xcii,
cvi, cxiii, cv, cxxv, 176, 185-
186, 191, 192
fishes eaten by, 175
Cat, 193-194
Perch, Ixxx, xc, xcii, cii, cvi, ex,
cxiii, cxviii, cxxv, cxxvi,
cxxvii, 248, 270, 276-278, 332
as food for fishes, 332
fishes eaten by, 97, 270
zonale, Etheostoma, civ, cxii, 280,
303, 304
zonatum, Elassoma, 232
DATE DUE
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Forbes, Stephen Alfred
The fishes of Illinois,
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