FISHES OF GREEN LAKE, WIS. 



261 



Table 7. — Comparison Showing Relative Numbers of Fishes in Green Lake and Lake 

 Mendota, as Judged by Catches in Gill Nets. 



This table shows that Green Lake does not have as many fishes large enough to be 

 caught in gill nets as Lake Mendota. This is certainly true of the smaller fishes also, as 

 judged by catches with minnow seines alongshore. The bearing of this fact will be 

 discussed later. Table 7 also shows that there is an interesting compensatory relation 

 between the fishes of the two lakes. The deep-water, bottom-feeding fishes — the perch 

 in Mendota and the cisco in Green Lake — are much more abundant in both lakes than 

 all the shallow water species together. The perch is absent from the deeper waters 

 of Green Lake but in Mendota largely replaces the ciscoes in deep water and is 

 more abundant than the pickerel, which exceeds it in Green Lake. The carp, crappie, 

 largemouth black bass, wall-eyed pike, and white bass are more abundant in Lake 

 Mendota. The bluegill, cisco, pickerel, rock bass, smallmouth black bass, and sucker 

 are more abundant in Green Lake. It is interesting to note that the two fishes which 

 probably are most similar in habits (the smallmouth and largemouth black bass) 

 together have the same ratio of abundance in the two lakes. However, the smallmouth 

 was the only one caught in gill nets in Green Lake and the largemouth the only one 

 caught in Lake Mendota. These facts indicate that the two basses compete with each 

 other and that peculiarities in the two lakes make each best fitted to one of them. In 

 other words, there is room for a certain number of bass, and in Green Lake conditions 

 are best suited for the smallmouth, in Lake Mendota for the largemouth. 



The hauls for four days with the minnow seine are given in detail. These were 

 made on a sandy beach bearing a scanty growth of aquatic plants at the west end of 

 Green Lake from the shore line to a depth of 1% va.. 



August 16. — Eighteen blunt-nosed minnows, 2 perch, 6 smallmouth black bass. 



August 18. — Two largemouth black bass, 3 perch, 4 smallmouth black bass, 2 top minnows. 



August 20. — ^Three Johnny darters, 2 largemouth black bass, 3 perch, 4 pickerel, 10 shiners, 10 

 smallmouth black bass, 3 top minnows. 



August 29. — Four bluegills, 25 Johnny darters, 19 largemouth black bass, 17 perch, i pickerel, 

 I shiner, 51 smallmouth black bass, 10 top minnows. 



Summary. — Four bluegills, 18 blunt-nosed minnows, 28 Johnny darters, 23 largemouth black bass, 

 25 perch, 5 pickerel, ii shiners, 71 smallmouth black bass, 15 top minnows. 



Arranged in the order of their abundance, as judged by the catches in minnow 

 seines, the small shore fishes rank as follows: Smallmouth black bass, 18; Johnny darter, 

 7; perch, 6.2; largemouth black bass, 5.8; blunt-nosed minnow, 4.5; topminnow, 3.7; 

 shiner, 3; pickerel, 1.2; bluegill, i. 



These results again show the dominance of the smallmouth over the largemouth 

 black bass in Green Lake, and (although the writer has not kept statistical records of 



