11 



Table 2. - Returns of smallmouth bass transferred one, two, or three times in Jordan Creek Experi- 

 ments A, B, and C. 



*Fish was retaken later in home pool. 

 One of these fish was retaken later in home pool. 



How homing ability in the smallmouth bass 

 functions is at present unexplained. A response 

 to some taste-odor or physical condition of the 

 water would not direct return of the fish both up- 

 stream and downstream. It seems unlikely that a 

 transferred fish locates its home pool simply by 

 random movements along the stream, wandering 

 until it comes to its home territory and then in 

 some way recognizing this territory. Such a trial- 

 and-error behavior would cause more delay in 

 returning than was shown by most of the 

 transferred bass. 



One fish was moved three times and returned three 

 times to its home pool. 



4. Evidence indicated that certain smallmouths 

 in any pool were only temporary residents and that 

 those of 9.0 inches or less in total length tended to 

 wander more than larger ones. 



5. Smallmouth bass transferred during a period 

 of low water levels tended to remain at the place 

 of release, possibly because of the difficulties in 

 passing shallow riffles. 



6. Some evidence of homing behavior in long- 

 ear sunfish was obtained, although the responfie 

 was slower and less certain than for bass. 



Summary 



1. The possibility that smallmouth black bass, 

 Micropterus dolomieu , establish home pools was 

 investigated in Jordan Creek in east-central Illinois. 



2. Of the smallmouths that had been fin-clipped 

 during a preliminary census of Jordan Creek, 80 

 per cent of those retaken the same year and 67 per 

 cent of thoSe retaken the following year were in 

 the sections of the stream in which they had been 

 originally marked. Sixty per cent of the small- 

 mouth bass that were recaptured after having been 

 marked with numbered tags were in the identical 

 pools in which they had been tagged. 



3. Smallmouths transferred overland and 

 released in other parts of the stream showed an 

 ability to return to their home pools. They returned 

 from either upstream or downstream. Twenty-three 

 bass were involved in 31 transfers. Of these 31 

 transfers, 17 (55 per cent) were followed by homing 

 responses. Four of seven fish that were moved 

 twice returned a second time to their home pools. 



Acknowledgments 



This study is a contribution from a stream 

 research project supported jointly by the Illinois 

 Department of Conservation and the Illinois Natural 

 History Survey. Mr. Leonard Durham and Mr. 

 Quentin H. Pickering, employed by the Department 

 of Conservation, assisted in the field work. Dr. 

 George W. Bennett and Dr. Donald F. Hansen, both 

 of the Natural History Survey, made suggestions 

 for preparation of the manuscript. The manuscript 

 was edited by Mr. James S. Ayars, Technical 

 Editor of the Survey. 



Literature Cited 



Funk, John L. 



1949. Wider application of the electrical method 

 of collecting fish. Am. Fish. Soc. Trans. 

 for 1947, 77:49-60. 



