THE GEEMAISI CAT^P IN THE UNITED STATES. 559 



As to the niovomonts of the tlsli in the wintertime, v/hen the rivers 

 and bays are frozen over, I have no information. That they are in the 

 deei)er parts there is no doubt, and it seems likely from what 1 can 

 learn from the fishermen that they must move about more or less even 

 during the coldest weather. They are occasional!}' taken in numbers 

 at this season, I am told, by means of a seine hauled under the ice. 



It will be seen from what has been given above that, although they 

 apparently do not have any regular and definite migrations, carp do 

 make considerable movements dependent upon the conditions under 

 which they live. It was at one time thought there might be some evi- 

 dence to show that in Lake Erie the carp were coming to make a rather 

 reguj^r migration into the deeper parts of the lake with the approach 

 of cold weather. The lake grows deeper to the eastward, and this 

 would mean a general movement to the eastward in the fall and to the 

 westward again in the spring. This habit in time might become 

 established into a definite migration. But though the fish do undoubt- 

 edly'^ seek deeper water in the winter, they probably go only far 

 enough to escape freezing and the eiJ'ects of storms. So long as they 

 both feed and spawn in shallow water there is no other need for a 

 migrator}^ habit, unless perhaps the overpopulating of the more favor- 

 able waters may force some of the fish to seek new grounds. Reports 

 of large schools of carp at times seen toward the eastern end of the 

 lake seemed to lend some support to this view. Thus I was told bj" 

 Mr. Crangle, a fisherman in Cleveland, that some time in July, 1901, 

 large schools of carp were seen in the open lake. In near shore were 

 small fish, while farther out were schools of large ones, which were 

 noticeable from their swimming about with their dorsal fins out of 

 water. Mr. Crangle says this v/as the first time carp had been seen in 

 this part of the lake in such numbers; and he was certain of the iden- 

 tification, because his tug was run right in among them. Prince (1897) 

 maintains that the cai'p has an inherent nomadic tendenc}", and thinks 

 it is owing to this, in large part, that it has gained such a wide distri- 

 bution. He sa3^s (p. 33): 



German carp are nomadic in their habits, and wander apparently aimlessly into 

 all accessible waters, hence if introduced into any streams or ponds adjacent to and 

 connected with others, these fish will rapidly si^sread over the whole system. Sal- 

 mon, trout, white-fish, pickerel or dore, indeed all our native fish are more local in 

 their wanderings and as a rule have definite courses of migration, and confine them- 

 selves within recognized limits. The German carp has no such defined movements 

 or habitat, thus Lake Erie, the St. Clair waters of western Ontario, Lake Huron and 

 other Canadian areas are being overrun by these fish, whioii have wandered from 

 the more or less remote localities in United States territory where they were origi- 

 nally planted. Like undesirable weeds they spread everywhere and it is practically 

 impossible to limit their progress or to effect their extirpation. 



