THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 



O'O 



51. Common Whitefish (Cori-goniis clupciformis Mitchill). 



Coregoniis aU'iis Kirtland, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist., Ill, 477, pi. XXVIII, fig. 3, 1841 ; 



DeKay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 247, pi. 76, fig. 240, 1S42. 

 Coregoniis c/upeifonnis Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus., 299, 1883 ; Bean, 



Fishes Penna., 67, color pL 3, 1893 ; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. 



Mus., I, 465, 1896, pi. LXXVI, fig. 202, 1900. 



The name Whitefish is thoroughly identified with tliis species and is seldom 

 i'aried except by means of the prefi.K " common " or '"lake." A well-marked variety 

 in Otsego Lake, N. Y., has long been known as the Otsego Bass. 



The Common Whitefish occurs in the Great Lakes and northward into British 

 America; its northern limit is not definitely known. In Alaska, where the species 

 was formerly supposed to exist it is replaced by a similar, but well-marked form, 



COMMON WHITEFISH. 



the Coregoniis richardsoni of Gunther. The variety known as Otsego Bass is found 

 in Otsego Lake. If we may judge from the yield of the fisheries, Lake Michigan 

 has more W^hitefish than any of the other lakes; Superior ranks second ; Erie third ; 

 Huron fourth ; and Ontario is sadly in the rear. 



Tile largest individual on record was taken at Whitefish Point, Lake Superior ; 

 it weighed 23 pounds. A 17-pound specimen was caught at Vermilion, in Lake 

 Erie, in 1876. The size varies greatly with locality, ranging in general all the way 

 from 1 3/^ pounds to 14 pounds. In Lake Erie, in 1885, the average weight was 

 between 2 and 3 pounds. The length of adults will average 20 inches. 



There is a movement of the Whitefish in many lakes from the deep water early 

 in the summer into the shoal water near the' shore. In the mid-summer, however, 

 the usual retreat of this species is the deep and cold parts of the lakes which they 

 inhabit. Again as the spawning season approaches, in October, the Whitefish come 

 toward the shore to deposit their eggs. It i.s said that they do not spawn till, the 



