Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 567 



catch is much larger than anywhere in United States waters, about 95 "/o are taken in 

 winter through the ice, in trap nets of one kind or another. 



General Range. Western North Atlantic coast, from the outer coast of Labrador 

 at about 54° N, and northern Newfoundland, southward to the head of Delaware Bay ; 

 also (as dentex) in the White Sea, Arctic coasts of Europe and Asia at scattered localities, 

 northwestern Pacific south to northern Japan and northern China (type locality of 

 dentex)., Pacific Bering Sea and Arctic coasts of Alaska northward from Yakutat Bay, 

 northern British Columbia (j6: c^^ to Bering Strait, and eastward thence on the 

 Arctic coast of Canada to the delta of the Mackenzie River, where they are reported 

 to be plentiful at the mouth of the Arctic Red River. They are also landlocked in many 

 lakes and rivers. 



The European O. eperlanus eperlanus range from Vigo in northern Spain north- 

 ward to southeastern Norway, and up the Baltic to the Gulfs of Finland and Bothnia, 

 chiefly in the watersheds of the Baltic and North seas. They have not yet been reliably 

 reported for Iceland. Like some American Smelts, they are landlocked in many lakes 

 and river systems of foreign places. ^^ 



Occurrence in the Western North Atlantic. The most northerly locality of positive 

 record for American Smelts in eastern North America is the mouth of Northwest 

 River, tributary to Lake Melville at the head of Hamilton Inlet on the Atlantic coast of 

 Labrador (about 54° N), where Low described them as "abundantly taken" in Novem- 

 ber and early December (62: 329); and they have recently been recorded for various 

 places in the Hamilton Inlet-Lake Melville region (j: 295). The next most northerly 

 locality is the Newfoundland side of the Strait of Belle Isle, where, writes Jeffers, 

 "a few were generally observed each summer" (47: 207). We have found no proof 

 of their presence anywhere, passing westward, along the north shore of the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence until nearing the Bersimis River, whence small commercial catches are 

 reported. But they are plentiful near Quebec City, and at least one specimen has been 

 reported to be as far up the St. Lawrence River as Lake St. Pierre {18: 20). They 

 are caught all along the south shore of the St. Lawrence estuary. They have been 

 reported for Anticosti Island and are taken regularly in commercial quantities 

 around the Gaspe Peninsula and Magdalen Islands. In the shallow, semi-enclosed 

 bays of Prince Edward Island and on the north shore of New Brunswick Harbor there 

 occur what are probably the greatest concentrations of American Smelt in the western 

 side of the Atlantic. Many years ago they were described as ascending the smaller 

 streams of Newfoundland "in thousands as soon as the ice disappears" (Reeks, 82: 

 2556), and they have recently been reported by the Newfoundland Fishery and Research 

 Commission as plentiful there in the shallow bays and river mouths on both the 

 west coast at the mouth of the Humber River and Port-au-Port Bay and the east coast 

 in the rivers of Notre Dame Bay. They were also described long ago as common 

 around the wharves at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. 



American Smelt are familiar thence southward along the coasts of outer Nova 



15. For recent summary, see Jensen, ^9: 102. 



