BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 287 

 14S.— THE FISH OF LAKE CHA]tIPL.AIIV. 



By C. HART MEKRIAM, M. I>. 



[From a letter to Forest and Stream, iiublished February 22, 1883.] 



The principal market fish of Lake Champlain are: 



Perch, Perca americana^ Schrauck. 



Wall-eyed i)ike, iStizostedium vitreum (Mitch.), J. & C. 



Black bass, Micropterus salmoides (Lac), Henshall. 



Pickerel, JEsox hicii(s, L. 



Lake shad, Coregonus clupeifonms (Mitch.), Milner. 



Midlet, Myxostoma macrolepidotum (Le S.), Jord. 



Bull-iiout, Amiurtts vulgaris (Thomp.), Nelson. 



Eel, AnguiUa rostrata (Le S.), DeKay. 



Sturgeon, Acipenser ruhicundiis, Le Sueur. 

 The above list is not supposed to include all the food-fishes of the 

 lake, but those that are couimonly sold in the markets. Of these, the 

 pike, black bass, pickerel, and "lake shad" are by far the most im- 

 portant, each averaging from 3 to pounds in weight, and retailing" at 

 Plattsburg for 12^ cents per pound. A few bass are taken with the 

 hook and line and some are speared; with this important exception all 

 the market fish are caught in nets. 



What is here known as "lake shad" is a true whitefish, equal in every 

 respect to the whitefish of the Great Lakes. How it came by its local 

 name I cannot imagine, unless, because of its superior flavor and the 

 absence of shad in Lake Champlain, the early inhabitants thought they 

 would do it honor by giving it the name of the most esteemed of the 

 food-fishes of the world. It frequently attains the weight of 8 pounds, 

 and individuals are sometimes taken that turn the scales at 10 and even 

 12 pounds. 



The perch are small and sell for 10 cents per dozen. The mullet 

 averages from 2 to 6 pounds in weight, though sometimes growing" to 

 be much larger, and retails for 6 cents per pound at Plattsburg. The 

 bull-pout weighs a pound or a little over, and sells for 8 cents per 

 pound, dressed, or 20 cents per dozen fish, undressed. The eels average 

 from 2 to 5 pounds, and sell for 20 to 50 cents a piece. 



The sturgeons weigh from 20 to 100 pounds each, and bring, at Platts- 

 burg, 10 cents per pound, dressed, and 8 cents undressed. Many are 

 speared every spring when they ascend the river to spawn. They run 

 up the Missisquoi with great regularity about the 24th of May, but the 

 dam at Swanton, Yt., prevents them from reaching their old spawning- 

 beds; hence, after remaining less than forty-eight hours, they return to 

 the lake. Whether the spawn is deposited on their way out I have been 

 unable to ascertain. On the 24th of IVlay last, a miller speared ojie from 

 the bridge at Swanton that weighed 88^ pounds, measured G feet 1 inch 

 in length, and contained a bucketful of spawn. Several others were 

 killed in the shallow rapids under the bridge at this time. The next 



