The Squawfish 



body are covered with small tubercles, outgrowths from the epider- 

 mis; the fins and lower parts of the body are often charged with 

 bright pigment, the prevailing colour of which is red, although in 

 some genera it is satin-white, yellowish, or even black. 



Although nearly all the Cvpn'niJir are very small fishes, there 

 are a few species the individuals of which reach a large size. 



As so few* of the many genera of American Cypriniilce have 

 any commercial species, generic descriptions have been omitted in 

 the hope that the specific descriptions may suffice. 



Squawfish 

 Ptychocheilus oregonensis Richardson 



The squawfish is one of the largest of the minnows. It 

 reaches a length of 2 to 4 feet, a size which shows strikingly 

 that "minnows" are not necessarily little fish. 



Its geographic range is from British Columbia southward in 

 Pacific Coast drainage to central California. In the Columbia 

 River basin it ascends as far as Shoshone Falls in Snake River, 

 and at least to Flathead Lake in Clarks Fork. It is abun- 

 dant in the Fraser, and also in the Sacramento, San Joaquin, 

 Salinas, and other lowland streams of California. It is very 

 abundant in the Redfish Lakes, and other lakes of Idaho. Dur- 

 ing the fall and the latter part of summer large schools of this 

 species could be seen, particularly in the evening, swimming 

 about the mouths of the inlets, usually at a depth of <=> to 40 

 feet, but toward evening they would come to the surface and 



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