176 NORTHERN FISHES 



animal food in the form of insect larvae, Crustacea, and molluscs, but 

 are able to use other food such as vegetable matter if necessary. 



NORTHERN BLACK BULLHEAD (Wah-wah-see-se of 

 the Red Lake Chippewas) 



Ameiurus tnelas melas (Rafinesque) 



Although it closely resembles the brown bullhead, A. nehulosus, the 

 black bullhead (Figure 27D) is smaller in size, usually reaching a length 

 of 6 to 10 inches, and never exceeding 15. It differs also in being of 

 stouter build. In well-nourished adults the body is very plump and the 

 head flat, and there are rather prominent shoulders on each side of a 

 median groove. The young are more slender. The pectoral spines are 

 relatively smooth and without strong barbs. The caudal fin is never 

 more than slightly emarginate. The anal fin is short and deep; its rays 

 number 17-22, usually 17-20; its base is nearly one-fifth of the body 

 length, the pale rays forming a sharp contrast to the black membranes. 

 The barbels under the jaw range from gray to black. The body is vari- 

 able in color, ranging from greenish brown to black above; the sides 

 vary in luster between green and gold; the under parts of the head and 

 body as far back as the anal fin are greenish, plumbeous, yellowish, or 

 bright yellow, but never satiny white. A light bar across the base of the 

 tail fin is a distinguishing character in adults. 



The northern black bullhead ranges from North Dakota to northern 

 New York and southward into Kentucky and Iowa, where it inter- 

 grades with another subspecies. This bullhead is quite common in 

 shallow lakes and muddy streams over most of southern and central 

 Minnesota. It is absent from the Lake of the Woods drainage and so 

 far has been found only in the St. Louis River system of the Lake 

 Superior drainage. Notwithstanding the adverse conditions prevailing 

 in the Red River Valley, it still persists in tributaries of the Red River, 

 ready to resume its former natural habitat when water conditions 

 permit its return to the main stream. Nor have the droughts entirely 

 eliminated it from the more or less intermittent waters tributary to 

 the Rock River of the Missouri drainage in the southwest counties 

 of Minnesota. Greene (1935) reported it as very common in Wisconsin 

 and gave one record for the Lake Superior drainage. It is very common 

 in Iowa and South Dakota. 



It differs very little, either in habits or habitat, from other members 

 of the genus. It bites readily, night and day, on worms, liver, or almost 

 any kind of meat. Its flesh is firm and well flavored when the fish has 

 been taken from clean water. Bullheads from muddy water sometimes 

 have a disagreeable, muddy flavor. The flavor can be improved by 

 keeping the bullhead alive in clean waters for a week. 



Its spawning habits are the same as those of the other bullheads. It 

 makes a nest on shallow sand or mud bottoms, often utilizing a natural 



