501 



THE AMEBIC Ay MUSEUM JOURNAL 



in that respect than any other shad. The 

 smoked fish, however, was generally acknowl- 

 edged to be delicious; bones are less 

 troublesome in smoked fish. Another reason 

 why the fish is neglected is that the fisher- 

 men confuse it with the river herring, which 

 is an excessively thin and tasteless fish, so 

 that anyone trying it would be likely to de- 

 nounce the whole tribe. 



During the course of an investigation of 

 the relation to the fisheries of the huge dam 

 and power plant at Keokuk, the opportunity 

 to examine specimens of Ohio shad presented 

 itself. They measured from 16 to almost 

 20 inches in length and weighed from 1 to 3 

 jjounds. The structure of the mouth parts 

 indicates that the food consists of buoyant 

 organisms strained from the water. Stomachs 

 of more than 150 were examined and most 

 of them were wholly empty, but about 50 

 contained remains of hard parts of insects, 

 or fragments of vegetation. A further indi- 

 cation that they do not feed regularly at 

 this stage of their life is furnished by the 

 fact that they are rarely, if ever, hooked by 

 anglers. Examples are occasionally found in 

 fyke nets, but the usual implement of cap- 

 ture is the drifted trammel net, which takes 

 these incidentally. It seems that they swim 

 near the surface although there is no quanti- 

 tative evidence on the point. 



It has been assumed that the fish is anad- 

 romous, spending part of its life in salt 

 water and part in fresh — principally because 

 of its close relationship to known anadro- 



mous species. The most serious objection to 

 this view is the fact that it is found so far 

 from salt water. Observations made during 

 1915 and 1916 tend, however, to confirm the 

 assumption that it passes down to the sea. 

 In the former year it was present at Keokuk, 

 about a thousand miles from the Gulf of 

 Mexico, from the first of May to the middle 

 of July, and at no other time. In 1916 it 

 was a much rarer fish and was taken from 

 the middle of May to the end of June. 

 Among all examples dissected no spawned- 

 out fish were found; the absence of spent 

 fish is not surprising as Keokuk is the upper 

 limit of migration since the building of the 

 dam. Somewhat farther down the river it 

 should be possible to get such fish. The 

 spawning period appears to be early summer. 



It is by no means certain that the Ohio 

 shad is abundant enough to sustain a con- 

 siderable fishery, but it is desirable that 

 those which are taken should be utilized. 

 The United States Bureau of Fisheries is 

 planning propagation on the Ohio Eiver 

 where they are now used. 



If a market of any extent develops, it is 

 to be expected that other fishes will be sold 

 as Ohio shad. The mooneyes are themselves 

 good eating; the other possible substitutes 

 should not be sold at shad prices. A reason- 

 ably safe rule for the inexperienced pur- 

 chaser is to accept only fish weighing one 

 and a half pounds or more, as the four other 

 kinds rarely attain this weight and the adult 

 shad nearly always exceeds it. 



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The river herring (left), a thin and tasteless fish, is caught in the nets with the Ohio shad 

 (right) and is confused with it in the market. The shad is quickly distinguished, however, by its short 

 lower jaw, as well as by the greater number of gill rakers. This confusion is probably one explana- 

 tion of neglect to utilize this excellent food fish of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers 



