97 



Northern red-bellied dace 



Because they are so similar, no attempt is made to 

 separate by characters the northern and southern red- 

 bellied dace. Though their ranges slightly overlap, 

 the bait dealer can best distinguish them by location 

 of capture. The southern form is found in southeastern 

 Minnesota, southern half of Wisconsin, and southern 

 Michigan. The northern species is found throughout the 

 remaining parts of these States, commonly in bog ponds 

 and sluggish creeks. In Minnesota it seems to prefer 

 acid-bog lakes; in Michigan, in addition to its occur- 

 rences in bog lakes, it has been found in small ponds 

 showing a heavy growth of Chara and a rapid deposition 

 of marl. Its range includes all our northeastern and 

 north-central United States. 



In the spawning season the males are brilliantLy 

 colored. The abdomen is a beautiful red and the fins 

 are highly colored with red and yellow. The scales are 

 minute and this species, together with the fine-scaled 

 dace, has been called "leatherback" by sportsmen and 

 minnow dealers. 



The spawning habits, rate of growth, and age at 

 maturity have been carefully studied in Michigan. The 

 eggs are deposited entirely upon filamentous algae. 

 One female lays from 5 to 30 non-adhesive eggs scattered 

 through and entangled among the filaments. The female 

 darts from one algal mass to another, laying eggs in 

 each new mass. The eggs hatch in 8 to 10 days at water 

 temperatures of 70° to 80° F. Spawning takes place 

 from the latter part of May into August in southern 

 Mi ch i gan. 



Adult females revealed, when dissected, the 

 simultaneous maturity of several hundred eggs and the 

 presence of at least two size-groups of maturing eggs. 

 This suggests that one female has no fewer than two 

 distinct spawning periods during one season. The 

 young, hatching early in the summer, attain nearly 

 adult size by the end of the first growing season and 



