New York, August 24, 1916. No. 34 



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Published to advance the Science of cold-blooded vertebrates 



FISHES OF THE SALTON SEA. 



Recently (May 7-14) I visited Salton Sea in 

 southern California and, incidentally, obtained some 

 information regarding the fishes of that interesting 

 body of water. 



As is well known, the Salton Sea was formed 

 in 1905-6 by the breaking of a dike which permitted 

 the water of the Colorado River to rush through 

 into the Salton Sink, a vast area below sea- level. 

 Although the break was finally gotten under con- 

 trol, and the lake began to dry up, it has, neverthe- 

 less, remained an enormous expanse of water. The 

 depth varies considerably within the year, being 

 greatest in the winter and least in the fall. The 

 average depth for any one year is always somewhat 

 less than that of the previous year. Considerable 

 fresh water finds its way into the lake each year by 

 seepage from the irrigation operations in Imperial 

 Valley, so that the water is kept fresher than it other- 

 wise would be, 



When the water was flowing in through the 

 break in the dike, some fishes were carried with it. 

 At one time they were said to be very abundant. 

 Just how abundant they were can not now be deter- 

 mined, nor do we know all the species represented. 

 At the present time the following species are known 

 to be in the lake : 



