CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



23 



California. I have thrown mosquitoes into a pool of the Los Angeles 

 River, and scarcely would one of them drop below the surface before 

 one of these little fishes would dart from some hidden corner and 

 devour it. 



4. The habits of the sticklehack render it destructive to mosquitoes. 

 This little fish hangs at any level of the water, tail bent to one side or 

 the other, passively waiting for a stimulus to move. The wriggler is 

 spied, and the stickleback snaps it up with pike-like speed and voracity. 



5. Tkp. stirMehnr.k itself is larc/ehi immune to th.p. attacks of larger 

 fishes. This is a fact of much importance, giving the little spiny and 

 armored stickleback a distinct advantage in many waters over other 

 mosquito-eating fishes, as the topminnows. Sticklebacks live abundantly 

 with rainbow trout, as in the Ventura River ; and with black bass, as m 

 the San Luis Creek. In ponds and reservoirs the waters could thus be 

 stocked with both game fishes and sticklebacks, whereas the topminnows 

 would, under such circumstances, soon be devoured. 



6. The stickleback is a widely distributed fish. This little fish (Gas- 

 terosteus aculeatus), of several varieties, is found along the shores of 

 all northern regions in the brackish waters of the bays and estuaries, 

 and in the coastal streams. The stickleback in the streams of Califor- 

 nia extend their ranges from the estuaries as far up into the mountain 

 canyons as they can penetrate. At high water they spread out and 

 are trapped in many little pools from which mosquitoes are thus 

 eliminated. 



7. The stickleback lives and breeds in small pools. These pools include 

 not only those along stream sides, but also the little shallow ponds and 

 reservoirs about houses, which if not stocked with fishes, become breed- 

 ing grounds for mosquitoes. For this purpose the stickleback is emi- 

 nently fitted by its size, structure and habits. After planting once it 

 requires no further care. Observations in California have led to these 

 conclusions. 



8. The rise in temperature during the summer months seems not to 

 kill the sticklebacks. Where other fishes might be killed off in summer 

 in shallow ponds and reservoirs, the sticklebacks seem to live on. These 

 little fishes have even been found in the hot springs of Tia Juana, near 

 the Mexican boundary. 



9. The abundance of sticklebacks in the streams^ of Calif orma pro- 

 vides an ample supply of these fishes fo^' the stocking of artificial and 

 natural pools, ponds and reservoirs. A fine meshed minnoAV seine, or 

 one made of from four to six yards of cheap cloth, can be used to 

 obtain these fishes in the waters in which they live. 



10. The stickleback is a hardy little fish and will stand transportation 

 from its native streams to artificial ponds, in open buckets or in cans, 

 such as those used to transport fish fry for planting in streams distant 

 from the hatcheries. 



PRACTICAL USE OF THE STICKLEBACK IN THE CONTROL OF 



MOSQUITOES. 



No artificial cistern, pool, pond or reservoir should be left unstocked 

 with fishes, and for this purpose the stickleback is probably the most 

 practical fish in California, for the reasons which have already been 

 outlined. By its use the breeding of mosquitoes about houses Avould 



