FAMILY AMEIURIDAE 175 



weeks at a time without harm, and have even been found, according to 

 some (Dean) , in cocoon-hke clods of nearly dried mud, still alive." 

 They can live out of the water for many hours when on ice. 



Jordan (1904) described the horned pouts as dull and blundering 

 fellows, fond of the mud, and growing best in weedy ponds and rivers 

 without current. They stay near the bottom, moving slowly about with 

 their barbels widely spread, feeling for anything edible. Jordan further 

 stated that they will take any kind of bait, from an angleworm to a 

 piece of tin tomato can, without coquetry, and that they seldom fail 

 to swallow the hook. Bullheads are very tenacious of hfe, and open and 

 shut their mouths for half an hour after their heads have been cut off. 

 They spawn in spring. The old fishes lead the young in great schools 

 near the shore, seemingly caring for them as the hen for her chickens. 



Bullheads are naturally gregarious and usually go in schools. Some- 

 times two or three species congregate. The original range of the 

 different species of bullheads in Minnesota waters will always remain 

 a matter of conjecture. Many shallow lakes once frequented by them 

 have dried up completely. The Red River of the North from Lake 

 Traverse downstream nearly to the Canadian border has been almost 

 dry for considerable periods, and at least one species reported there 

 many years ago is now unknown. Over a period of years the United 

 States Bureau of Fisheries has transplanted hundreds of thousands of 

 these fishes from Mississippi River sloughs to waters in various sections 

 of the state. Consequently it is impossible to work out the original 

 dispersal of the various species. 



For stocking small, muddy ponds or even lakes so shallow and weedy 

 that there is a constant threat of severe losses through winter freezing 

 or summer evaporation, there is no better fish than one or another of 

 the three species of bullheads belonging to this genus. 



Bullheads are omnivorous and eat large quantities of both vegetable 

 and animal matter. When confined with other fishes they will eat many 

 of the small ones. However, studies made on the stomachs of several 

 hundred bullheads from various Minnesota lakes show that they eat 

 very few fishes. The stomachs of 80 per cent of the bullheads examined 

 were filled largely with vegetable matter. Insect remains occurred in 

 70 per cent of the stomachs. Entomostraca occurred in 43 per cent of 

 the stomachs and in several composed enough bulk to indicate that 

 they were not always incidental. Sunfishes were found in 4 per cent, 

 perch in 3 per cent, and minnows and unidentified fish remains in 5 

 per cent. Twelve per cent contained remains of small fishes. A very 

 small percentage contained remains of frogs, leeches, crayfishes, and 

 amphipods. Their feeding habits probably vary with the type of food 

 available. Cable (1928) made a study of the food of bullheads in 

 South Dakota and found that they ate vegetable matter and decayed 

 material only when forced to it. She concluded that bullheads prefer 



