at night. Spawning on sand or stones or vegetation on lake shores or 

 on bars is also known from several localities, even though suitable tribu- 

 taries may be present and completely accessible. 



Larger members of a population spawn first with small smelts bring- 

 ing up the end of the spawning run. Spawners ascend the stream a short 

 distance and pick a spawning area in a brisk current over a shallow 

 riffle. In this current males and females come together in compact 

 groups of 6 or 8 individuals, all pressing and wriggling against each 

 other, the males covered with numerous horny breeding tubercles and 

 the females smooth skinned. As large numbers of these small breeding 

 groups cluster together on all suitable riffle areas the females extrude 

 small groups of eggs and the males extrude milt. Fertilization takes 

 place free in the water, and the adhesive eggs stick to anything they 

 touch. During the height of spawning egg deposition often becomes 

 so intense that eggs are deposited on everything in the brook, including 

 the spawning fish. Spawning usually begins immediately after nightfall 

 and continues all night unless interrupted by fishing or other disturbance. 

 The spawning run is usually confined to the lower 100 yards or so of 

 the flowing part of the stream since the spawning smelt is not a vigorous 

 swimmer and it takes very little in the way of falls or turbulence to con- 

 stitute a barrier to upstream movement. 



Development of eggs begins immediately and is completed in 1 5 to 

 30 or 40 days, depending on temperature. Upon hatching, the larvae, 

 transparent and about one-quarter inch in length, wiggle free of their 

 eggshell and swim free in the water, drifting downstream with the cur- 

 rent. Their first movements are controlled entirely by currents and it is 

 assumed that they are swept immediately into the deeper waters of the 

 lake. The young smelt is properly considered a member of the plankton 

 and his first food is plankton. 



Smelt populations that inhabit Maine lakes have long been known 

 to exhibit striking differences in maximum length attained. Smelts in 

 certain lakes may, as stated above, reach lengths of 12 to 14 inches 

 while smelts in other lakes may grow no longer than 4 or 5 inches. 

 These differences are thought to be the result of differences in growth 

 rate which are, in turn, the result of differences in temperature, food 

 supply, competition, etc. 



The importance of smelts in Maine inland waters lies chiefly in the 

 fact that they: 



a. Constitute the most important single food item of Maine's land- 

 locked salmon. 



b. Feed on insects and small fish and thus compete with game 

 fishes for food. 



c. Feed heavily on small fish when large and thus may be guilty 

 of preying on the young of game fishes. 



d. Constitute a game and food fish where they are taken by bait 

 fishing with hook and line and by dipnet fishing in the brooks 

 on the spawning run. 



e. Constitute a highly esteemed and highly valuable bait species. 



56 



