SOME OBSERVATIONS ON SUNFISH CULTURE 



By J. J. Stranahan 



The bluegill sunfish of the north, erroneously known as 

 the bream in the south, is, in the opinion of the writer, the 

 fish par excellence for pond culture, particularly for the pond 

 of the farmer or planter. In fact, in the light of recent de- 

 velopments, it might he predicted with a reasonable assur- 

 ance of fulfillment, that even the urban resident with a fish 

 pond in his door yard co-extensive with his dining-room 

 may have a mess of fresh fish of his own raising, now and 

 then, at the same time lending beauty and interest to his 

 surroundings with less expense than would be incurred in 

 keeping up the same area in lawn — water, fertilizer and 

 muscle considered. I believe that I am not very far ahead 

 of my time in respect to reducing the high cost of living 

 when I say that for a given amount of protein or real food 

 value fish flesh is ahead of fowl or mammal, everything con- 

 sidered, including, of course, cost of production. 



The sunfish, Lepomis pallidas, lends himself to domesti- 

 cation most graciously. In fact he seems and acts as if he 

 wanted to be civilized whether we like it or not. He is com- 

 paratively free from disease, makes rapid growth when 

 given a little care and proper food and, best of all, is of 

 most excellent flavor and quality with only just bones 

 enough to make us relish the two sides of delicious food that 

 his anatomy carries with a minimum of waste. His rapid 

 growth in popularity, taxing the fish-cultural stations to 

 their utmost limit, attests the truth of this seemingly rather 

 enthusiastic statement. 



It has for years been considered settled that the sunfish 

 is not cannibalistic or predaceous on its kind even to a small 

 degree. This is a mistake, especially as applied to the young 

 of the species. They will eat their little brothers with a 

 relish that would indicate a highball before breakfast. 



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