BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES Eisil Commission. 321 



Vol. V, Ho. 31. Washington, D. C. Aug. 91, I ss.i. 



lOS.-lVATUKAI. AS COMPARED WITH ARTIFICIAL HATCHING OF 



WHITEFISH. 



By FRANK W. CLARK. 



[In reply to a Letter of Mr. E. Bell to Prof. S. F. Baird.*] 



The swarms of young fish referred to are iiot whitefish. They are a 

 species of small "shiner" or "chub" which congregate around docks, 

 wharves, and shoals in countless numbers at nearly all seasons of the 

 year in all of the great lakes. I have seen them so thick that a single 

 thrust of a dip-net would bring in several hundred. I have found a 

 few herring among them, but never any whitefish. The offal and re- 

 fuse from fisheries undoubtedly attracts large numbers to such places. 



The claim that whitefish and herring hatch in six days or less is 

 highly erroneous. It requires two and a half to six months, accord- 

 ing to temperature of water; and the time of incubation is neither 

 hastened nor retarded by " artificial " processes or treatment, provided 

 water of the same temperature is used. The claim that millions of fish 

 are hatched from the spawn discharged from the fishery is equally 

 erroneous. Mr. Bell can make some interesting tests and experiments 

 on these questions with very little trouble and expense. I would sug- 

 gest that boxes or tanks with wire bottoms and sides be provided, and 

 placed under the fish house, or anywhere else in the lake. Put into 

 one of them a quantity of spawn as discharged from the fishery, and 

 into the other a supply of eggs known to be fertilized; theu leave them 

 undisturbed and note the outcome. The fertilized eggs may batch a few 

 fish the following spring, although the chances are that fungoid and cou- 

 fervaceous growths will destroy every egg; the other box will hatch 

 nothing. Now, place some fertilized e*ggs in another box and give them 

 the same care they would receive in a hatchery ; that is, remove all dead 

 eggs as fast as they appearand keep them free from dirt and sediment. 

 The result will be, if'the eggs were ripe when taken and properly fer- 



*Under date of Port Clinton, Ohio, March 31, 1885, Mr. R. Bell, of the firm of R. 



Bell &. Co., dealers in fresh, salt, and frozen fish, wrote in substance as follows: " I think 

 there are millions of herring and whitefish hatched every fall under OUT fish-liou.se, 

 and that they hatch in less than six days after the eggs go into the water. No young 

 fish are to be seen here until about ten days before they commence spawning, when 

 the water becomes perfectly alive with young fish, resembling whitefish and lulling. 

 I cannot think it.possible for the eggs to lie in the lake three mouths before batching. 

 I think artificial hatching offish of all kinds is a good thing iu order to transfer them 

 from one place to another, but to take the Cgge from any water and put the fish hack 

 in the same water seems time and money lost. To transport the eggs will inciea.su 

 the fish a thousand times faster and with a cost of less than 1 per eenl of what hatch- 

 ing and transferring the young lisli costs." 

 Bull. U.S. V. 0., 85 21 



