The Buffalo Fishes 



Common Buffalo Fish 



Ictiobus cyprinella (Cuvier & Valenciennes) 



This species reaches a length of 3 feet, and a weight of 50 

 pounds or more. 



In certain lakes in the Mississippi Valley (notably Lake 

 Washington, Minnesota and the Okeboji lakes in northwestern 

 Iowa) extraordinary runs of very large buffalo fish occur occasion- 

 ally. These runs take place in the spring at the spawning time of 

 the fish, and usually at the time of a heavy rain when the tribu- 

 tary streams are full and the connecting marshes are flooded. 

 Then these fish come up from the lake, in great numbers, 

 crowding the inlets and spreading over the flooded marshes. They 

 remain only a few days, and soon disappear as suddenly and mysteri- 

 ously as they came; but their brief stay has been long enough 

 to permit great slaughter by the farmers of the surrounding 

 country, who kill great numbers with pitchforks, clubs and other 

 primitive weapons, and haul them away in wagon loads. After 

 returning to the lakes nothing more is seen of them until the 

 next spring, or possibly not for several years. 



In these northern lakes these fish rarely or never take the 

 hook, nor can they be successfully gilled, but in the lower 

 Mississippi Valley they are frequently taken on set-lines baited 

 with balls of dough. 



In Louisiana, where they are known as the gourdhead buffalo, 

 they are of considerable commercial interest. The flesh, though 



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