PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 1926 369 



A brood stock of Loch Leven trout produced 47,000 eggs, and a consignment 

 of about 290,000 eggs of this species were received from the Bozeman (Mont.) 

 field, of which 150,000 were the property of the State' of West Virginia. The 

 State's share of the product of these eggs was turned over to the proper 

 authorities in the fingerling stage for distribution in West Virginia waters. 



Owing to the high altitude of this station its work with pond fishes is 

 curtailed quite frequently by sudden fluctuations in temperature. The work 

 of the past year along that line proved no exception to the general rule, and 

 the results of such efforts were small. 



Wytheville (Va.) Station 

 [C. B. Grater, Superintendent] 



The abnormally dry weather that prevailed in the fall of 1925 seriously 

 impaired the quality of rainbow-trout spawn and curtailed the egg-collecting 

 period, which was more than three weeks shorter than in any previous year in 

 the station's history. Eggs to the number of 427,000 were collected between 

 October 29 and January 20, this total being less than half the yield of the 

 preceding year. The unfavorable water conditions were clearly reflected in the 

 losses of eggs and fry, approximately 39 per cent of the stuck perishing before 

 reaching the fingerling stage. Hardening of the food sac occasioned consid- 

 erable loss, this abnormal condition persisting until long after all fry had begun 

 feeding; while popeye and Octomitiasis figured extensively in the heavy mor- 

 tality that occurred among the finger-ling fish. The fry hatched from a 

 consignment of 25,000 rainbow-trout eggs received from the Montana field were 

 healthy and vigorous. This lot will be held and reared as a future brood stock 

 for the station. 



The same diseases that were encountered in the propagation of the rainbow 

 trout virtually nullified the results of the work with the brown trout. Of the 

 76,000 fry of that species hatched from eggs taken in the fall of 1925 from the 

 station brood stock only about 3 per cent survived to the No. 2 fingerling stage. 

 Four hundred thousand brook-trout eggs received from a commercial dealer in 

 Pennsylvania in exchange for eggs of the Loch Leven trout furnished by the 

 Bozeman (Mont.) station were only of fair quality, and the distribution of the 

 resulting fingerlings was much smaller than that of the preceding year. 



Fairly successful results were attained in the work with the pond fishes, and 

 the total output of fish of that class exceeded that in 1925 by more than 65,000. 

 As in past years, considerable difficulty was experienced in obtaining a brood 

 stock of largemouth bass, and with the view of obviating difficulties along that 

 line during the coming season a number of yearling fish are being reserved to 

 supplement the brood stock. The yield from the 230 adults of this species 

 amounted to 265,000 fry and fingerlings. The distribution of this stock was 

 made during May and June. 



The results attained with 42 adult smallmouth black bass transferred from 

 the Lake Erie field in the fall of 1925 are considered encouraging, especially 

 in view of the uniform failures that attended all former efforts to propagate 

 that species. In advance of the spawning season 30 of these fish, equally 

 divided as to sex, were placed in a brood pond, and the remainder, which could 

 not be distinguished as to sex, were left in their winter quarters. This mode of 

 treatment proved successful, the yield of the two inclosures amounting to more 

 than 34,000 fry and fingerling fish. The station also produced for distribution 

 small numbers of rock bass and bream. 



PONDFLSH-CTJLTTJRAL STATIONS 



This group includes seven main stations and four substations, 

 whose work was concerned entirely with the so-called " pond " 

 fishes. Their aggregate output compares favorably with the average 

 of recent years, though it was considerably less than in 1925. Most 

 of this decrease occurred in the production of largemouth black bass, 

 the number of that species distributed being approximately 500,000 

 less than in the preceding year. The reduced yield is attributable 

 partly to the prevalence of unfavorable weather during the spawning 

 period and partly to inability to secure an adequate number of brood 

 fish. 



