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 fisher}^ 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 



