20 FISHES OF ILLINOIS 



common belief of the fishermen that these fishes spawn in deep 

 water, though the reasons for this view are not conclusive. 



Dr. Evermann has recorded the paddle-fish's habit of swimming 

 near the surface of the water during the spring run — a fact which is 

 known to some fishermen*, and is taken advantage of by them in 

 their fishing operations. At other seasons the paddle-fish is taken 

 occasionally with set-lines. 



Although long used and esteemed by the negroes of the South, it 

 has not had, until recently, any commercial value. Small speci- 

 mens weighing from 5 to 25 lb, are now regularly sold, without 

 head, fins, or tail, under the name of " boneless cat." It is said that 

 the flesh resembles that of the larger catfishes. though perhaps 

 inferior in quality. The fish is valued chiefly, how^ever, for the roe, 

 which is made into a good quality of caviar and sold for a high price. 

 The caviar industry is chiefly carried on along the lower ]\Iississippi 

 River, in ]\Iississippi and Tennessee. The paddle-fish catch of 

 Illinois was in 1894 reported at 135,756 lb, valued at $2,658; and 

 in 1899 at 195,174 lb, with a value of $6,210. The total production 

 of the Mississippi Valley varies annually from 1,000,000 to 2,500,000 

 tb, about 10,000 lb of this now being made each year into caviar. 



* Mr. H. L. Ashlock, of Alton, says that he always fishes the upper portion of 

 the water for spoonbills, and gets them when the other fishermen can get none, 

 since few of them seem to know of this peculiar habit of the species. 



