Tiffany. — The Gizaard Shad 385 



nishes excellent food for these fishes, which experience no dif- 

 ficulty in disposing of the too numerous bones. 



As noted above, the shad is almost wholly a vegetarian, and 

 thrives on plants so tiny and minute that sometimes 10,000 of 

 them laid side by side would not reach an inch. These minute 

 plants form a very important part of the flora of most unpol- 

 luted bodies of water and are present by the millions in nearly 

 every lake of the state. None of the other fishes seems to be 

 able to utilize this great source of food to any considerable 

 extent except when quite young. Thus the gizzard shad does 

 not interfere in the least with the food supply of the game 

 fishes, and is itself excellent food for the majority of our 

 game fishes. 



The gizzard shad offers for the game fishes one of the most 

 direct routes from "manufacturer to consumer" that is pos- 

 sible among fishes. Of course, plants ultimately form the basic 

 food for all living organisms, but the cycle is oftentimes a long 

 one. The Chinese proverb, "Big fish eat little fish; little fish 

 eat shrimp, and shrimp eat mud," gives a cycle that comes very 

 nearly standing the test of modern science, if we understand 

 the mud to be microscopic plants and animals. An ordinary 

 food cycle of a fish might be illustrated by a bass feeding on 

 smaller fish; these in turn on tiny animals which may eat the 

 larvse of still smaller animal organisms; and the latter living 

 on microscopic algse. But the cycle from the same bass through 

 the gizzard shad to microscopic algae is a much shorter and 

 more direct route. Thus the gizzard shad holds a rather unique 

 position in that it may completely bridge the gap between our 

 game fishes and the ultimate source of their food supply, the 

 microscopic plants. 



In 1888, Forbes wrote this very important paragraph about 

 the gizzard shad, but it is only recently that any practical ap- 

 plication is being made of such knowledge : 



Among the soft-finned fishes the most valuable as food for other 

 kinds is the gizzard shad (Dorosoma), this single fish being about twice 

 as common in adults as all the minnow family taken together. It made 

 forty per cent of the food of the wall-eyed pike; a third of that of the 



