FISHES OP THE MISSOURI RIVER BASIN. 429 



RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE FOOD-FISHES OF THE 



MISSOURI BASIN. 



Of the 113 species of fishes known from the Missouri Basin at least 42 

 may be regarded as food-fishes of more or less importance. They are 

 the following : 



Common Sturgeon. Common Redkorso. Warmouth Bass. 



Chuckle-head Cat. Big-jawed Sucker. Green Sunlish. 



Channel Cat. Creek Chub. Long-eared Sunlish. 



Common Bullhead. River Chub. Red-spotted Suulish. 



Black Bullhead. Toothed Herring. Blue-gill. 



Mud Cat. Moon-eye. Common Sunlish. 



Yellow Cat. Rocky Mountain Whitehall. Large-mouth Black Bass. 



Common Buffalo-fish. Yellowstone Trout. Small-mouth Black Bass. 



Small-mouth Buffalo. Platte River Trout. Wall-eyed Pike. 



Carp Sucker. Montana Grayling. Sanger. 



Gourd-seed Sucker. Northern Pickerel. Yellow Perch. 



Milk River Sucker. Crappie. AVhite Perch. 



Long-nosed Sucker. Calico Bass. Freshwater Drum. 



Common White Sucker. Rock Bass Ling. 



To these may be added the following species which have been intro- 

 duced into the waters of the Yellowstone National Park by the United 

 States Fish Commission : 



Rainbow Trout. Von Bohr Trout. Eastern Brook Trout. 



These three species and perhaps others, including the carp, have been 

 introduced by several of the State fish commissions and by the United 

 States Fish Commission in various places in these States. 



The trout, whitefish, and grayling are, of course, primarily game 

 fishes, and are of interest chiefly to the angler. Their abundance in 

 the upper waters of this basin attracts annually a large number of 

 anglers to that region. The supply, though yet large, is diminishing. 

 There is no reason, however, why the supply of these species can not be 

 greatly increased in the waters in which they are already found and 

 plants may very properly be made in a number of suitable streams in 

 which they are not indigenous; but the pond and river fishes are the 

 species whose cultivation will result in the greatest good to the Missouri 

 River States. 



The six species of catfishes named above are all well suited to the 

 lower and middle portions of the Missouri Basin. The same is true of 

 the suckers and the spiny-rayed fishes. Nearly all of these species are 

 found in abundance in the ponds and bayous along the Mississippi in 

 Illinois, where the Commission has for several years been collecting 

 them for distribution to various suitable waters. 



No better work can be done than to make liberal shipments of buffalo, 

 suckers, catfish, bullheads, black bass, sunlish, crappies, etc., to the 

 suitable waters in western Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and 

 Wyoming. The suckers, buffalo, and large catfish should be put in the 

 streams; the bullheads, sun fishes, bass, crappies, ete., will do well in 

 the numerous ponds and small lakes. 



