74 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



<?veuing in tliis river, leaping from the surface, throwing their balky 

 forms entirely out of the water. At Pier Cove, Mich,, on the 11th of 

 June, 1871, schools of sturgeons were at the edge of the shore in a few 

 feet of water, and men from the vicinity were in the habit of wading 

 out and drawing them ashore with gaff-hooks. Eighteen were taken in 

 this Avay the morning we visited the locality. They were said to be 

 found in the vicinity ever^- year about this season, remaining about a 

 fortuiglit. It is likely they were spawning at the time. Whether the 

 shore of the lakes, where the wav^es would disturb the eggs in every 

 storm, is a natural spawning-ground, is a question. They may have been 

 late arrivals seeking the mouth of the Kalamazoo Iviver, a few miles to 

 the north of which they are said to ascend to tlie first dam, many 

 miles iidand. 



Mr. J. G. Portman, of Benton Harbor, successful as a tish-culturist, 

 has seen the sturgeon at this season lying in numbers on a shallow clay 

 ledge at the edge of a stream, several of them lying Hat on their backs, 

 with their bellies upward, rolling and splashing in shallow water, with 

 apparent enjoyment. Two or three that were taken with spears were 

 opened, and the stomachs examined, and found to contain some of the 

 sturgeon-spawn. At the mouth of Calumet River, South Chicago, 111., 

 July 1, of the year just referred to, a large lift of sturgeon were brought 

 ashore, looking tiaccid and emaciated, and but one specimen out of 

 over twenty individuals contained spawn. In the vicinity of Bayfield ^ 

 Wis., Lake Superior, they were seen late in the month of July with 

 the ovaries full of spawn, and the milt of the male fishes large, making 

 it probable that the time of spawning was later in colder waters than in 

 warm. 



(21 /.) Enemies. — In Green Bay the fishermen set their pounds for fall- 

 fishing about the 10th of September. The sturgeon are in abundance 

 and the nets often contain a hundred or more. This is said to continue 

 until about the middle of October, when they diminish in numbers and 

 the white-fish become plentiful. As the latter are the fish sought for, the 

 sturgeon are considered a luiisance and annoyance. A few fishermen are 

 considerate enough to lower the corner of a net and allow them to escape, 

 but the commoner way is to draw them out of the net with a gaflf-hook 

 and let them go wounded, or to take them ashore and throw them on the 

 refuse-heap, asserting that there will be so many less to trouble them in 

 future. A very large number are destroyed in this way, probably equal- 

 ing or excelling the number taken in the vicinity of Sandusky. 



The spawn is probably subjected to the depredations of numerous 

 fishes. It is not likely that the young sturgeon, except in the earliest 

 stages of their growtu, suffer from the attacks of other fishes, as they 

 are too well defended with the sharp spine of their shields to make a 

 comfortable mouthful for any fish of the lakes, and after the spine dis- 

 appears have attained a size large enough to render them safe. 



A parasite that troubles the sturgeon is the lamprey-eel, rctronu/zun 



