PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES, 1931 495 



the present will be devoted largely to trout, especially rainbow and 

 brown trout, which are not dealt Avith to any extent at the Pittsford 

 station. Arrangements have also been made to station an investi- 

 gator temporarily at the State hatchery, Hackettstown, N. J., where 

 a number of bass ponds have been made available for experimental 

 work. 



POND-FISH CULTURE 



FAIRPOET STATION 



The facilities of this station, which is operated under the direction 

 of Dr. A. H. Wiebe, have recently been increased by the construction 

 of a number of new ponds which were in use for the first time during 

 the summer of 1931. Several of the old ponds have also been rebuilt, 

 which has greatly increased their efficiency. The main water supply 

 is pumped from the Mississippi River into a reservoir, whence it is 

 carried by gravity to the ponds. There is also a limited supply of 

 well water which is available for use in several of the smaller ponds. 



Black hass. — The bass production was not as satisfactory as in 

 previous years, owing to exceptionally cold weather in the spring, 

 which interfered with spawning and caused the fish to leave the nests 

 shortly after the eggs were laid. The cold weather also delayed the 

 spawning of many of the fish, causing more variation than usual in 

 the size of the fry. As a result, there was an increase in cannibalism, 

 and the percentage of fingerlings which survived until fall was con- 

 siderably less than usual. The decreased jdeld in numbers was par- 

 tially offset by the better quality of the fingerlings, which averaged 

 larger than usual. There was an exceptionally large number of fin- 

 gerlings around 6 to 7 inches in length. 



One of the greatest problems in bass culture is to reduce the num- 

 ber of these large fingerlings. They are undoubtedly cannibals and 

 are probably responsible for a large part of the losses which nor- 

 mally occur during the summer. The use of forage minnows tends 

 to produce a more uniform growth in the fingerlings, and the per- 

 centage of exceptionally large fish is considerably less, but during 

 the past season this was in large part nullified by the abnormally 

 long spawning season, resulting in fry differing greatly in age which 

 afforded unusually favorable conditions for cannibalism. 



In spite of the unfavorable conditions the production of fry by 

 2-year-old bass was better than expected, the average number per 

 female being about 1,800. These fish averaged less than one-half 

 pound in weight in the spring, but more than doubled their weight 

 during the summer. 



A comparison of golden shiners and blackhead minnows as forage 

 for smallmouth bass showed that, as in the case of the largemouth, 

 the shiner is much superior for this purpose. In a pond stocked 

 with shiners the yield of smallmouth fingerlings was at the rate of 

 12,575 per acre, while in adjoining pond stocked with blackhead 

 minnows but in every other way treated the same the yield was only 

 7,215 per acre. 



Crappie and hluegill svmfish. — Several ponds were stocked with 

 crappie and bluegill sunfish, and the results agree with those of 

 previous years in indicating that this is an excellent combination 



