THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 313 



51. Common Whitefish (Coregoniis clupeiformis Mitchill). 



Coregonus albus KIRTLAND, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist., Ill, 477, pi. XXVIII, fig. 3, 1841 ; 



DEKAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 247, pi. 76, fig. 240, 1842. 

 Coregonus clupeiformis JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus., 299, 1883 ; BEAN, 



Fishes Penna., 67, color pi. 3, 1893 ; JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. 



Mus., I, 465, 1896, pi. LXXVI, fig. 202, 1900. 



The name Whitefish is thoroughly identified with this species and is seldom 

 varied except by means of the prefix " common " or (> lake." A well-marked variety 

 in Otsego Lake, N. Y., has long been known as the Otsego Bass. 



The Common Whitefish occurs in the Great Lakes and northward into British 

 America ; its northern limit is not definitely known. In Alaska, where the species 

 was formerly supposed to exist, it is replaced by a similar, but well-marked form, 



COMMON WHITEFISH. 



the Coregonus ricliardsoni of Giinther. The variety known as Otsego Bass is found 

 in Otsego Lake. If we may judge from the yield of the fisheries, Lake Michigan 

 has more Whitefish than any of the other- lakes; Superior ranks second ; Erie third; 

 Huron fourth ; and Ontario is sadly in the rear. 



The largest individual on record was taken at Whitefish Point, Lake Superior ; 

 it weighed 23 pounds. A I /-pound specimen was caught at Vermilion, in Lake 

 Erie, in 1876. The size varies greatly with locality, ranging in general all the way 

 from i3/^ pounds to 14 pounds. In Lake Erie, in 1885, the average weight was 

 between 2 and 3 pounds. The length of adults will average 20 inches. 



There is a movement of the Whitefish in many lakes from the deep water early 

 in the summer into the shoal water near the shore. In the mid-summer, however, 

 the usual retreat of this species is the deep and cold parts of the lakes which they 

 inhabit. Again as the spawning season approaches, in October, the Whitefish come 

 toward the shore to deposit their eggs. It is said that they do not spawn till the 



