872 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



During the spawning-season an appreciable change takes place in the 

 male, protuberances, like warts, appearing on the skin of the head 

 and back, and disappearing upon the expiration of that period. This is a 

 peculiarity with most of the cyprinoids. Some time before the spawning- 

 season sets in, the falling out of the pharyngeal teeth takes place ; these 

 grow anew every year. 



Some days before spawning, the fish show an increased vivacity ; 

 they rise more often from the depths below to the surface. Two or three 

 or more of the male fish keep near the female ; the latter swims more 

 swiftly on a warm, sunnj' morning, keeping mostly close to the surface, 

 followed by the males. This is called "s^reic/ien,"=running-spawuing, 

 and is more frequent in warm than in windy and rainy weather. The 

 female prefers spots which are overgrown with grasses and other kinds of 

 aquatic plants, such as Utricularia, Nymphea, and AUsma. The male 

 fishes follow close to the very water's edge, as far as the diminished 

 depth will allow them. They lose all their timidity and precaution, so 

 that they may be taken quite easily. They lash the water in a lively way, 

 twisting the posterior portion of the body energetically, and shooting 

 through the water near its surface with short, tremulous movements of 

 the fins. They do so in groups of two or three males to one female fish, 

 and forming an almost compact mass. This is the moment when the 

 female drops the eggs, which immediately are impregnated by the 

 milter. As this process is repeated several times, the female drops 

 probably only from 400 to 500 eggs at a time, in order to gain resting 

 time, so that it will require days and weeks before it has given up the 

 last egg. 



The eggs of the carp are adhesive, not detached, like those of the 

 Salmonidce, these latter lying loosely on the ground, while the former 

 adhere in lumps to the object upon which they have fallen. As soon as 

 the egg has left the body of the fish it swells up a little, the mucus, which 

 surrounds it, serving as a means to fasten itself upon some aquatic plant, 

 ^stoue, or brush-wood. Those eggs which have no such object to cling 

 to are lost. I found numerous eggs on the reverse sides of the leaves 

 of the Nympliacea and their stems, the Phellandrium and Utricularia, but 

 the greater number of them I discovered on the FestueaJluitanSj which 

 among fishermen is known generally by the name of "water-grass." Its 

 narrow, long, strap-shaped, thin leaves spread softly over the water's 

 surface, as also its numerous branches in the water afford to the fish the 

 sought-for opportunity to deposit its eggs upon its tender leaves. The 

 seeds of this grass are an excellent food for the carp. This may be 

 regarded as a useful indication to be acted upon in the construction of 

 ponds. 



The eggs will develop themselves quickly, if assisted by warm 

 weather. As early as the fifth or sixth day the first traces of dusky 

 spots, the eyes, will be visible, and toward the twelfth, or at the latest 

 the sixteenth, day the little embryo fish will break through its envelop. 



