SPECIES OCCURRING IN LAKE ERIE AND ITS 

 DRAINAGE AREA 



Non -parasitic Copepods 



1. Canthocamptus illinoiensis Pearse. Present 

 in the plankton of two small ponds of the Cattaraugus 

 Creek drainage. Found in the stomach of small carp 

 suckers seined on the lake shore nearing Irving, New 

 York. 



2. C anthoc amptus northu mbricu s Brady. Pres- 

 ent in the plankton of Lackawanna Pond in the Hertel 

 suburb of Buffalo. It has not yet been found in the 

 lake nor in any of the lake fish. 



3. Canthocamptus staphy linoides Pearse. Pres- 

 ent with the preceding species in Lackawanna Pond 

 and also in the smaU pond of the Cayuga Creek 

 drainage. Found in the stomach of small carp seined 

 on the lake shore near Irving, New York. 



4. Canthocam ptus stap hylinus (Jurine). Pres- 

 ent in a small pond of the Canadaway Creek drain- 

 age, and in the mouth of Cedar Creek on the Can- 

 adian shore of the lake. Found in the stomach of 

 small carp seined in Canadaway Creek a short dis- 

 tance above its mouth. 



5. Canthoca mptus trispinosus Brady. Present in 

 the creek at Cedar Bay with the preceding species 

 and in Lackawanna Pond, Buffalo, Hertel suburb. 

 This copepod has never before been reported from 

 America, but is a common European species; it has 

 not yet been identified in the food of any lake fish. 



6. Cyclops albidus (Jurine): Macrocyclop s an- 

 nulicornis (Koch). Present in the plankton of 20 of 

 the marginal stations and abundant at Port Maitland, 

 Point Pelee, Sandusky Bay, and a pond of the Cat- 

 taraugus Creek drainage. Found in the stomach of 

 young bullheads caught along the shore of the east- 

 ern end of the lake. 



7. Cyclops bicuspidatus Claus. Found in all 

 three lake zones, especially the marginal and lit- 

 toral zones, appearing at 24 of the marginal stations, 

 and most of the Littoral stations. It reached its max- 

 imum percentage early in June along the American 

 shore, and diminished in abundance during the 3 

 following months. It also showed a decided prefer - 



ence for the bottom rather than the surface, and 

 3 times in June its percentage reached two figures. 

 Found in the stomach of the cisco, carp sucker, 

 Cayuga shiner, and a small unidentified fish. The 

 fact that it is eaten freely by these smaU fish com- 

 bined with its presence in large numbers at the prin- 

 cipal fish-breeding areas compensates for its small 

 size and gives it economic value. 



8. Cyclops (Paracyclops) fimbriatus (Fischer). 

 Found at 4 marginal stations and in a small pond of 

 the Cattaraugus Creek drainage, but always in small 

 numbers. It is common in the larger European lakes 

 where it is a bottom species and keeps close to the 

 bottom; it has been reported from Lake Michigan. 

 Eaten by the yellow perch and an unidentified shiner. 



9. CycIof)S fuscus Jurine: Macrocyclops sig- 

 natus (Koch). Found only once in a small pond of 

 the Catturaugus Creek drainage, but quite abundant 

 there. Taken from the stomach of small yellow 

 perch seined along the American shore of the lake. 



10. Cyclop s leuckart i Claus: Mesocyclo ps ob- 

 soletus (Koch). Found in aU three of the lake zones, 

 especially the lacustric zone, and forming with the 

 species C. bicuspidatus the bulk of the Cyclops 

 plankton in the lake. Its breeding season is later than 

 that of C. bicuspidatus so that although its largest 

 percentages of the macroplankton came in June, it 

 decreased but very little afterward. It was still pres- 

 ent in small numbers at every station in September 

 when the other species had practically disappeared. 

 The bottom net and the Helgoland trawl contained 

 the largest percentages except in August, so that it 

 seems to show vertical migration during most of the 



In Lake Mendota Birge ( 1897) found a steady and 

 rapid decline in the abundance of this species during 

 the summer, which he attributed to lack of food, in- 

 crease of water temperature, and competition. The 

 lack of any such decline in Lake Erie substantiates 

 Birge 's judgment for there is here no lack of food and 

 any increase of temperature is easily escaped by 

 vertical migration. It is eaten by the cisco, mud 

 minnow, and other small fishes, and it is present in 

 large numbers at the chief fish-breeding areas, so 

 that it thus acquires considerable economic value. 



( Paracyclops ) phaleratus (Koch). 



163 



