234 Fish Behavior and Angling 



in a stream showed tendencies to either "stay put" or move upstream.^" 

 Stocked northern pike moved to all parts of 3643-acre Clear Lake ( Iowa ) 

 within 6 months. ^^ 



Homing and Home Range 



In general terms, homing is the ability of an animal to return, when 

 displaced, to an area which may be considered its home range.^^' ^^ This 

 home range may or may not be the location where the fish was spawned. 

 The return of smallmouth bass to home pools in Jordan Creek ( Illinois ) 

 is an example of a generalized type of homing.*^^ Marked smallmouths 

 were moved by tank truck to locations upstream and downstream from 

 their home pools and many of them were able to find their way back to 

 the pool from which they were taken originally. Some bass were even 

 moved from their home stream into another tributary of the same river 

 system several miles distant. At least one fish found its way back to its 

 home pool although to do so required that it move down the stream in 

 which it was released until it reached the larger river, then up this river 

 to the mouth of the home creek, and finally up stream to its home pool. 

 Once the fish reached the larger river it might be possible for it to identify 

 the odor of water flowing from the home creek because the mouth of the 

 creek to which it was taken was down stream from the home stream. 



Displaced longear sunfish returned readily to home locations in an 

 Indiana stream.^^ They moved both upstream and downstream to return 

 to their home ranges, although those released in the stream below returned 

 more rapidly than those released upstream from their home ranges. As 

 mentioned previously, further tests demonstrated that olfactory organs 

 were more important than vision in the homing of longears released down- 

 stream from their home pools. 



Investigations of homing of fishes in streams have brought to light the 

 presence of a roving population that apparently does not show homing 

 tendencies.^^' ^"' ^^' ^^ These roving fish are important in repopulating 

 streams that have lost their fish populations through temporary but lethal 

 pollution, or through severe drought. There is also some evidence for the 

 presence of homing and roving populations in lakes. ''^"^ ''^ Parker "^^ found 

 that approximately 31 per cent of the smaller Centrarchids (sunfishes) 

 and 18 per cent of the largemouth bass in Flora Lake (Wisconsin) 

 "homed," as did 25 per cent of the bass in nearby Dadik Lake. 



Gerking •'^' compiled a table of the species of marine and freshwater 

 fishes that have shown homing capabilities. In the reproduction of this 

 table (Table 8.3) marine fishes have been omitted. 



There is a great deal of evidence that a fish which shows homing 

 tendencies recognizes the area in which it lives and orients itself accord- 

 ingly. Some fish also show territoriality, represented by an area which it 



