FISHES AND FISHING IN SUNAPEE LAKE. 21 



The chub is very interesting in the curious habit of the male in 

 breeding season of hea])ing up pebbles, which it conveys in its mouth 

 to the spot chosen for the "nest'' in which the female deposits her 

 eggs. During the building usually no other fish is permitted to 

 approach the nest, although in occasional instances one or more 

 other males assist in the work of construction. The heap is often of 

 remarkabl(> size, especially in the waters of the far north, a cartload 

 of pebbles composing it. The nests observed at Sunapee Lake were 

 comparatively small, but the water having subsided they became 

 quite conspicuous. On August 9, 1910, in the north branch of 

 Blodgett Brook ("Big Brook") w^as found a chub's nest about 4 feet 

 in diameter, but only a few inches high. Some of the pebbles com- 

 posing it would weigh perhaps one-fourth of a pound, the coarser 

 ones being on the upstream side, o\ving, doubtless, to a strong current 

 when the nest was built or afterwards. In fact the current may have 

 (hunolished the nest, which hypothesis would account for the wide 

 area and lowness of the heap. There were other smaller and highef 

 nests farther down the brook, one of them under the bridge. They 

 were all dry at tliis time. On August 18 a chub's nest fully 5 feet in 

 diameter and 1 foot high was found at the upper end of Pike Brook 

 dead water. 



Blackspot Chub (Semotilus atroinaculatus) . 



This chub is known in the Connecticut Lakes region as "mud 

 chub." It does not reach the size of the common chub, seldom, if 

 ever, attaining more than 10 inches in length, and usually it is much 

 smaller. 



It is much darker in coloration than the chub and may otherwise 

 be distinguished from it by the black spot near the base of the front 

 of the doreal fin. Owing to its darker color it is not so useful as 

 bait as is the common chub. It subsists largely upon aquatic larvae 

 of insects, insects that have fallen upon the water, and occasionally 

 young fish. 



This chub is evidently not very common in Sunapee Lake or its 

 tributaries, at least near the lake. The only specimen observed by 

 the writer was collected in Pike Brook with smelts on the night of 

 April 23, 1910. It was about 6 inches long. 



The blackspot chub also builds "nests" of pebbles, but the heaps 

 are much smaller than those of the common chub. On August 18, 

 at the upper end of Pike Brook dead water, was found a small heap 

 of little pebbles, very probably the nest of this species. The heap 

 was about 8 inches in diameter. 



