40 FISHES OF ILLINOIS 



Havana in 1898 between May 1 and 15, and in 1899 until July 31. 

 Dr. Kofoid took freshly spent females June 14, 1899. Its nests 

 were found by Dr. Reighard* in quiet bays or inlets, usually well 

 grown with vegetation, places with stumps, roots, and logs seeming 

 to be selected as a rule. The male builds the nest, usually at night, 

 and probably unassisted by the female. For this purpose the 

 vegetation is rubbed or bitten off and the loose rubbish brushed 

 away with the tail and fins, leaving a bed of soft rootlets or of sand 

 or gravel for the eggs. Spawning takes place more frequently at 

 night than by day, the male guarding the nest after the eggs are 

 laid. The eggs hatch in 8 to 10 days, according to temperature, and 

 the young remain in the nest about 9 days, attaching themselves to 

 rootlets by the adhesive organ on the snout, or lying on their sides 

 in the bottom of the nest. After they leave the nest the male 

 accompanies and defends the young, which move in a compact 

 school until they reach a length of about 4 inches. The young, 

 like those of the gar, have at first a lance-shaped temporary caudal 

 fin, beneath which the permanent caudal develops, at first as an 

 inferior lobe. 



This fish is very little esteemed as food, the flesh being soft and 

 pasty. It is said to vary in quality, how^ever, according to the 

 waters from which it is taken. The negroes of the South eat it with 

 great relish (Goode), and it is often eaten also in southern Indiana 

 and southern Illinois by the whites. It is thrown away as a rule at 

 Alton (Ashlock) , but is saved by practically all of the Illinois River 

 fishermen, by whom it is shipped to the cities, both east and west. 

 Some large shipments from Havana have been made to New 

 York City markets. The Illinois River furnishes very nearly the 

 total product marketed in the United States. In 1903 a catch 

 of 1,097,050 tb, valued at $10,972, was taken from this river and its 

 tributaries, the Mississippi and minor tributaries furnishing the 

 same year only 8,200 lb. 



This species is as gamy as voracious, and is extremely tenacious 

 of life, being "one of the hardest fighters that ever took the hook." 

 Charles Hallock, as quoted by Goode, says that it will take frogs, 

 minnows, and sometimes even the spoon, while Dr. Dean is authority 

 for the statement that trolling for bowfin is becoming a favorite 

 sport of some eastern anglers. The young, of about 6 inches 

 length, are said by Hallock to make excellent bait for pickerel and 



* The following account of breeding habits is mainlv taken from Reighard 

 ('00 and '01). 



