600 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



was trav^ersed daily by the carp in theii* search for food. Moreover, 

 in the shore zone of the bay where the black bass were studied I 

 found nests of an unidentified species of sun-fish or bluegill, and this 

 was in the regular beat of the carp. The owners of these nests always 

 left them upon my approach before I could get a good view of them, 

 and immediately after their departure a number of small fish which 

 had been swimming about in the neighborhood pounced in and began 

 devouring the eggs. 1 succeeded in securing a few of these while 

 the}^ were committing their depredations. Those I captured were 

 a small perch {Perca flavescens)^ a related form sometimes known as 

 log-perch or hog-perch {Percina caprodes), and a small minnow 

 {A'otropis loMpplei "). All had their mouths and gullets crammed with 

 eggs from the temporarily deserted nest. Here we have a suggestion 

 as to one of the important factors that may tend to reduce the number 

 of bass. At the St. Clair Flats, owing to the cold water brought down 

 from Lake Huron, the bass usually spawn considerably later than they 

 do in the interior waters of the state, w hich become warm more quickly. 

 This is so late, in fact, that the close season prescribed by the law does 

 not protect them at the time the}^ are spawning, and as a consequence 

 great numbers of them are taken by the bass fishermen directly off 

 their nests. In addition, many are also speared, contrary to law, by 

 certain lawless residents of the region. The poacher approaches as 

 close as possible in a duck boat to the bass as it guards its nest, and 

 when w^ithin long range throws his long-handled grain. Undoubtedly 

 more bass are hit in this way than are actually secured, for I have 

 seen numbers of them dead along the shore Avhich showed the marks 

 of the spear upon them. What the consequence is as soon as the 

 parent fish is removed it is easy to see. Good food does not lie 

 around unprotected long when there are hungry fish in the vicinity, 

 and it is very probable that if a carp happened along at this time he 

 would not hesitate to avail himself of the opportunity, for a familiar 

 proverb might well be perverted to apply — all is food that comes to 

 the carp's mouth. 



In summing up with regard to the damage done by the carp to the 

 spawn of other fish, especially the black bass, we find that there is lit- 

 tle in the nature of direct observation, l)ut what there is seems to 

 point to the conclusion that there is little danger to the eggs of these 

 other species so long as they are being guarded by the parent fish. 

 That the carp does eat spawn when occasion presents is not denied 

 even by Doctor Bartlett, the carp's greatest friend. He says, in the 

 Transactions of the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the American Fish- 

 eries Society, 1901 (p. 120): 



In order that I might know positively what amount of injury had been done by 

 the introduction of the carp into the waters of the Illinois, I took occasion when 



a This minnow was kindly identified by Mr. T. L. Hankinson. 



I 



