REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 105 



meager fish fauna. Apparently the only species other than the common 

 trout and the above-mentioned peculiar trout, is a small minnow 

 {Rhinichthys atronasus). The two trouts attain only a small size, sel- 

 dom over a pound in S. fontinalis and still smaller in the saibling. 

 This is probably due to scarcity of food. 



Presumpscot and Royal River basins. — In these waters and the 

 brooks tributary to Casco Bay, special attention was given to smelts, 

 trout, and landlocked salmon. There are often found in June, in the 

 tidal portion of many of the brooks flowing directly into Casco Bay, 

 some silvery trout otherwise indistinguishable from S. fontinaUs, and 

 sometimes known as "salters." Some of these fish caught about the 

 middle of June were found to be gorged with young eels of the trans- 

 lucent stage. It was a mooted question among the trout fishermen of 

 the locality whether the fish came up from the sea or descended from 

 the fresh water. 



In June, 1904, an attempt was made to solve the question. Seines 

 were used in the pools frequented by the trout at different times of 

 tides, and trials were made with hook and line for a long distance 

 below the places usually fished. The fish were found only in those 

 pools a short distance below high tide limit. While the water is 

 rather salt at flood and high tide, it is practically fresh at low water; 

 the seines took alewives {Pomolohus pseudoharengus) and suckers {C. 

 commei'sonii) in the pools mentioned. These facts taken together 

 indicate that the trout have descended from the fresh water. 



Smelts begin to ascend the brooks, when the conditions are suitable, 

 in the last part of March or early April. The runs continue some- 

 times up to the 1st of May or later. After spawning, the fish linger 

 in the brooks for some time, gradually decreasing in numbers, and not 

 infrequently dead fish are found. All of the specimens collected were 

 spent males. While it was not positively decided whether the death 

 of these fish was due to natural causes or to injury received from 

 fishermen, the abundance of dead, d3dng, and fungus and copepod 

 infested smelts found in fresh water shortly after the breeding season 

 suggests that many smelts die naturally after spawning. 



During spawning, and afterwards while in fresh water, food is seldom 

 found in the smelts' stomachs, though an occasional minnow is met 

 with. In one brook sticklebacks and small trout were feeding upon 

 the eggs, and in the stomachs of the trout sand was mixed with the 

 eggs, probably scooped up with them. In another brook, after the 

 smelts had disappeared, four species of sticklebacks {Pygosteus pun- 

 gitius, Gasterosteus aculeattts, G. hispinosus^ and Apeltes quadracus) 

 were found filled with recently hatched smelts. Though the mummi- 

 chog {Fundidus heteroclitus) was numerous here, no young smelts 

 were found in the stomachs. 



