Part III.] Pond Fish Culture. 115 



Spawning Habits of the Green Sunfish. 



In their spawning habits, in a general way, they resemble 

 the Black bass. Here at the Hatchery they begin to spawn 

 about the first day of May. However, the spawning season 

 for sunfishes is a long one. Yesterday, July 23, we found a 

 few sunfishes on their spawning beds. Like the bass, they 

 usually seek locations in water from one to three feet deep and 

 near the shore for their spawning beds. Their nests are 

 usually about twice the length of the fish in diameter and vary 

 from one to four inches in depth. The fish, by a vigorous use 

 of its fins, especially the tail fin, fans away the soft material, 

 leaving the harder earth, sand and gravel for the nest bed. 

 More or less roots and stems of water plants usually line the 

 bottom of the nests, the same as found in the nests of the bass. 

 In streams we have seen the nests in gravel beds. 



So far as our observations go, it seems to be the male fish 

 that builds the nest. Frequently there are many nests in the 

 same locality, and these nests are quite near each other, and 

 there are so many fish present that it is not easy to make out 

 just where each individual belongs and what it does. We feel 

 quite sure that we have seen two females spawn in a nest that 

 was being guarded by a single male fish. The females also 

 work at the nest-building business, especially when the nests 

 are being finished. 



Spawning Habits of the Bluegill Sunfish. 



The Bluegill sunfish (Lepomis pallidus) , which is the one 

 we propagate most extensively at the State Fish Hatchery, 

 also has a long spawning season. However, this variety of 

 sunfish does not begin to spawn as early as the Green sunfish. 

 We seldom see a nest of the Bluegill before sometime in June. 

 Last year there were hundreds of nests to be found in July 

 and August. 



On favorite spawning grounds in shallow water, near the 

 shores of some of the ponds, from a few to as many as fifty 

 nests might be counted in an area embraced by a few square 

 yards. These nests were in water from about eight' inches to 

 two feet in depth, and were about the size of dinner plates and 

 almost as close together on the bottom of the pond as dinner 

 plates could be placed. In other words, the nests touched each 

 other. It was possible to observe the fish in their various 

 movements while building these nests. The work of building 

 the nests seemed to be carried on principally by the male 

 fishes, though females were seen working on the nests. The 

 fish were chasing each other around more or less, and they 

 especially chased any intruder of their own kind or any other 

 kind that came near them. However, the fish that were ac- 

 tually at work building nests seemed to know one another and 

 did not interfere with each other. In fanning away the soft 

 material in the bottom of the nest the fish would frequently 



