FISHES AND FISIIINC IX srNAlT.K I.AKR. 73 



in sliallowor poiuls unless tlic water is cool enough for them, but is 

 known to occur in jionds not over .'iO or 40 feet in depth. 



As has already heen stated, the food of tlie smelt varies according 

 to the size of the fish, and it may he added, according to age. Its 

 strong sharp teeth on the jaws anil tongue indicate its carnivorous 

 propensities, wliile its comparatively close-set gillrakers suggest 

 rather niinut;* ])lanktonic food at certahi stages of its growth at 

 least. 



The young subsist largely upon animalcules, such as minute 

 crustaceans wliich usually abound in most fresh waters. The larger 

 smelts appear to eat small fish and princii)ally their own young, 

 excepting in the smaller sizes of adults previously referred to. 



While the smelt inhabits the deeper, cooler waters most of the 

 year, it occasionally comes to the surface on calm cloudy days or 

 in the edge of the evening and moves about in various sized schools, 

 often with noses out of the water, frequently leaping from the 

 water or rolling out porpoise-like. So far as has been observed, 

 however, it is only the young and smaller sizes that do tliis. The 

 significance of this habit is not known. It may be, as suggested 

 by the size of the fish, for feeding, as it is under just such conditions 

 as exist when smelts school that minute Crustacea, etc., are par- 

 ticularly abundant at the surface. 



The vsriter never observed smelts in Sunapee Lake schooling at 

 the surface in this way and could not learn that others had observed 

 them. The fact that, as previously mentioned, Sunapee Lake 

 smelts, even the smallest adult sizes, take a baited hook, suggested 

 that adult smelts, altliough small, did not feed exclusively upon 

 such fine objects, but fish ranging from a little over 1 mcli to a little 

 over 5 inches in length, taken in Sunapee Lake, were found to subsist 

 largely upon Entomostraca, although some insects were found and 

 in two instances smelt eggs. The latter are referred to on another 

 page. As was to be expected, the fish taken at spawning time did 

 not contain-so much food as later in the season. 



Every spring after the ice leaves the lake and the freshets in the 

 brooks have subsided the smelts usually begin to ascend the streams 

 to spa\^^l, The "run" is as a rule by night, although on excep- 

 tionally dark days a "run" of smelts has been known to occur. 

 They ascend the streams to various distances from the mouth, and 

 the spawn is deposited upon and adheres to stones, sand, moss, 

 sticks or any other object with which it comes in contact. As 

 before stated, the large smelts, where the "two sizes" exist, run 

 first, and in lakes there the sizes vary, but have no distinct line of 

 demarcation, the larger ones are said to run first and usually the 

 majority of the first runs iiro iiuiles. 



