274 FISHES OF ILLINOIS 



water with a clean and hard bottom, and is not often found in 

 streams or lakes with a bottom of mud. In the Great Lakes it lives 

 in spring and summer in shallow water near the shore, seeking a 

 greater depth in fall. It is much the largest, and also commercially 

 the most important, of all the American perches, and has but few 

 rivals as a food fish among our fresh- water species. Its flesh is white 

 and firm, and of a flavor to satisfy the most fastidious. It is also a 

 game fish of the first quality, in the opinion of most anglers, and 

 but little inferior to the black bass. It is one of the most important 

 fishes propagated by the United States Fish Commission, and the 

 output in 1900 from a single station, that at Put-in-Bay, was 

 nearly ninety millions. 



The catch of this species in the Mississippi Valley has fallen off 

 greatly in recent years, amounting to only 210,000 pounds for seven- 

 teen states in 1899, whereas in 1894 Minnesota alone produced 

 651,000 pounds. The product of the Illinois River in 1899 was 

 11,000 pounds. 



The pike-perch is said to spawn in April in Lake Erie. In 1898 it 

 spawned at Havana, on the Illinois River, between April 1 and 15. 

 The eggs are small, only about half as large as those of the whitefish, 

 and the young begin to practice their carnivorous instincts upon 

 each other when only about ten days old. The species is hardy and 

 prolific, and it is a desirable fish for clean lakes and clear rivers, 

 provided these contain a continuous abundance of otherwise use- 

 less fish for its food. 



STIZOSTEDION CANADENSE GRISEUM (De Kay) 

 (gray pike; sauger; sand-pike) 



De Kay, 1842, Xew York Fauna: Fishes, 19 (Lucioperca grisea). 



J. & G., 526 (canadense, part); M. V., 135; B., I, 54 (Lucioperca canadensis, part); 

 J. & E., I, 1022; X., 36 (griseum) ; J., 43 (canadense); F. F., I. 3, 31, 33(Stizoste- 

 thium) ; F., 63 (canadense); L., 26 (canadense). 



Length 1 to 1^ feet; body slender, only moderately compressed, the 

 profile straight or weakly arched predorsally ; depth 5.2 to 5.5; greatest 

 width I of greatest depth; depth caudal peduncle 2.4 to 3 in its length. 

 Color olive-gray, the sides brassy to orange, mottled with darker; first 

 dorsal with two or three rows of large, round, inky-black spots as 

 large as pupil; no black blotch at back of spinous dorsal; soft dorsal 

 with 4 or 5 irregular rows of rather indistinct dusky blotches; a large 

 black blotch at base of pectorals; caudal yellowish, barred with dusky. 

 Head tapered and depressed more than in last species, 3.4 to 3.6; 

 width of head 1 . 9 to 2 ; interorbital space 4.6 to 5.1; eye 1 to 1.2; nose 



