SOME FISH OF THE MIDDLE WEST 



By Dwight Franklin 



THREE months in the field in Wis- 

 consin were necessary for col- 

 lecting material for the new 

 fish groups — the bowfin, gar pike and 

 shovel-nosed sturgeon. Oconomowoc, 

 Wisconsin, was chosen as the best place 

 to observe both bowfin and gar pike. 

 Professor Dean of the American Mu- 

 seum had suggested the locality, and it 

 was he who brought me in touch with 

 Dr. George Meyer, through whose kind- 

 ness I was enabled to study both fishes 

 at close range. With an old boathouse 

 for a laboratory, I mounted and colored 

 the fishes on the spot, working from live 

 specimens. I also made many studies 

 and sketches, including a number of 

 color photographs taken on autochrome 

 plates. 



The male bowfin is about twenty 

 inches in length, the female being a 

 trifle larger. In their spawning it is an 

 interesting fact that the male assumes 

 nearly all the responsibilities which we 

 generally associate with the female. 

 During the fall and winter months he is 

 •dull in color like the female, but with 

 the arrival of spring he appears in 

 gorgeous colors : bronze back with black 

 markings, vivid green fins and underside, 

 and with a jet black spot ringed with 

 orange near his tail-fin. He first builds 

 a nest bj^ clearing a space among the 

 reeds in the shallows near the shores of 

 the lake. The reeds are bitten off close 

 to the mud, and the bottom is cleared 

 until the depression is about six inches 

 deep and two feet- across. Sometimes 

 the nest is built in the shelter of a half- 

 sunken log, and not infrequently within 

 a few feet of another nest. When it is 

 ■completed the female enters and, with 

 the male, swims around inside, laying 



the thousands of eggs, no larger than 

 bird shot, which attach themselves to 

 the rootlets lining the bottom and sides 

 of the hollow. Then she forsakes the 

 nest, leaving it in charge of the male, 

 who stands guard over the eggs, keeping 

 off hungry intruders. After nine days 

 the eggs have hatched into tiny black 

 creatures much resembling frog tadpoles. 

 They lie quietly in the nest for a few 

 days more and then leave in a closely 

 massed swarm, the size of a football, 

 accompanied by the watchful male, who 

 remains with them until midsummer 

 when they are fingerlings and able to 

 shift for themselves. 



The gar pike's breeding habits are in 

 striking contrast with those of the bow- 

 fin. In early June spawning parties of 

 gar, composed of a large female and 

 several small males, may be seen moving 

 along through the open water near the 

 lake shore. They swim in close forma- 

 tion, and wheel with soldierly precision. 

 The eggs are dropped among the low 

 weeds and the gars swim on, paying no 

 further attention to them. Sometimes 

 the eggs are devoured by other fishes, 

 but the numbers of gars do not seem to 

 diminish. In fact both bowfins and 

 gars are so numerous in certain parts of 

 the country that they are hated by the 

 sportsman, both because they have the 

 reputation of eating young game fish and 

 because they are often hooked when the 

 fisherman is after bass or pickerel. 

 Neither seems to be used for food, as the 

 gar's flesh is coarse and stringy, while 

 that of the bowfin is mushy and flavor- 

 less. Both however are valiant fighters 

 and are not readily landed. 



When the material for the bowfin and 

 gar groups was prepared, I visited 



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