FISHES OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 5 
INTRODUCED FISHES. 
In immediate response to the outcome of investigations to deter- 
mine the suitability of fishless park waters for game fishes, the Bureau 
of Fisheries in 1889 inaugurated the planting of selected species in 
predetermined waters, and this work has been continued to the pres- 
ent time. The one species of native trout was soon supplemented 
by the very successful introduction of five other trouts, and in a short 
time the park became an angler’s paradise, affording better and more 
varied trout fishing than could be found anywhere else in the country, 
if not in the world. 
The nonindigenous trouts that have been introduced into park 
waters are the rainbow, Loch Leven, brown, lake, and eastern brook 
trouts, all of which have become firmly established. The distribu- 
tion of the native redthroat trout has been greatly extended into 
previously barren waters. The introduction of two other game 
fishes has been attempted, but apparently without positive results. 
One of these is the landlocked salmon (Salmo sebago), of which 7,000 
fry were planted in Yellowstone Lake and 2,000 in Duck Lake in 
1908, but not a vestige of these plants has ever been seen. The other 
species is the largemouth black bass (Micropterus salmoides), of 
which 500 fingerlings were planted in “lakes in Yellowstone National 
Park,” according to the indefinite official record. These lakes are 
thought to have been Feather Lake and Goose Lake, in the Lower 
Geyser Basin. An earlier plant of 250 black bass was made in the 
Gibbon River, in 1893, but it is not known which of the two species 
of black bass composed this plant. There is no evidence of the 
survival of black bass anywhere in the park, and this may be regarded 
as a fortunate circumstance. In our opinion, there should be no 
further attempts to establish black bass in the park, as they do not 
harmonize with the trouts, and their predatory habits make them 
unsafe species to introduce among the soft-finned fishes which, with 
two minor exceptions, constitute the local fauna. The only other 
species of fish that has been introduced into park waters is the yellow 
perch, whose planting was unofficial and is apparently to be ascribed 
to the unauthorized act of a private individual. This fish now 
abounds in certain lakes in the Lower Geyser Basin. 
FISH CULTURE IN THE PARK. 
The hundreds of thousands of visitors who have already been in 
the park and the millions of others who are destined to visit it owe 
to fish culture and fish acclimatization a debt whose value can hardly 
be estimated. Within a few years after experienced fish-culturists 
began to give attention to needs of the park the hitherto fishless 
waters began to produce desirable game fish in abundance, and this 
has continued up to the present time. The early work, as well as the 
efforts of the fish-culturists of late, has been directed mostly to 
maintaining the supply of fishes already established. 
For many years the Bureau of Fisheries has conducted fish- 
hatching operations in the park. The first hatchery was located at 
the Thumb of Yellowstone Lake; the principal hatchery now is on 
the lake shore near the Lake Hotel. In 1921 a permanent hatchery 
was erected on Soda Butte Creek, which had been the site of a field 
