FOOD OF BULLHEADS 41 



SUMMARY 



The bullhead is of greater economic importance than all other 

 South Dakota fish, both as a domestic food and a commercial prod- 

 uct. Efforts should be made, therefore, to provide this fish with 

 the optimum food supply. This can be accomplished to the best 

 advantage only when a full knowledge of the more essential foods 

 has been obtained. 



The present paper is based on data secured by the examination 

 of 106 specimens taken from 11 lakes of eastern South Dakota. 

 The facts learned are presented below: 



1. Bullheads prefer animal food in the form of insect larvae, pupa, 

 and nymphs, crustaceans, bivalve mollusks, and snails, but are 

 able to take other foods in the absence of these. 



2. There are strong indications that animal tissue is digested and 

 assimilated more readily by bullheads than plant tissue. 



3. Bullheads do not eat the eggs nor the young of other fish, except 

 occasionally in very small amounts. 



4. Juvenile bullheads eat virtually the same kinds of food as adults^ 

 very small bullheads taking only younger and much smaller animals. 



5. The food supply is limited by seasonal conditions. 



6. Bullheads select certain foods and reject others. 



7. There is insufficient food to support the present number of 

 bullheads, both at Lake Tetonkaha and at Lake Oakwood. Fish 

 here were below normal size, were starving, and should be moved 

 to other waters.* 



8. Bullheads are now scarce in Lake Andes, where there is abundant 

 food to support this species. 



9. Bullheads were found to be eating only clean food in all the 

 lakes. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



EvERMANN, Barton Warren, and H. Walton Clark. 



1920. Lake Maxinkuckee: A physical and biological survey. Depart- 

 ment of Conservation, State of Indiana. Vol. II, pp. 325-330. 

 Indianapolis. 

 Forbes, Stephen Alfred, and Robert Earl Richardson. 



1920. The fishes of Illinois. Second edition, pp. 185-192. State of Illi- 

 nois, Department of Registration and Education, Division of 

 Natural History Survey. Springfield. 

 Over, William H., and Edward P. Churchill. 



1927. A preliminarv report of a biological survey of the lakes of South 

 Dakota. Series XXVII, No. 6, March, 1927, South Dakota 

 Geological and Natural History Survey. Circular 29, pp. 1-18. 

 Vermilion, S. Dak. 

 Pearse, a. S. 



1918. The food of the shore fishes of certain Wisconsin lakes. Bulletin, 

 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Vol. XXXV, 1915-1916 (1918), pp. 

 253-254. Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 856. Washington. 

 Tracey, Henry C. 



1910. Annotated list of fishes known to inhabit the waters of Rhode 

 Island. Fortieth Annual Report, Commissioners of Inland 

 Fisheries, State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, 

 1910, pp. 35-182. Providence. 



* Such a procedure was followed in the ease of Lake Alice, mentioned on p. 30. See Seventh Annual 

 Report of the Department of Game and Fish of South Dakota. 



o 



