DISCUSSION OF FISH-CULTURAL CONDI- 

 TIONS AT FOREST PARK, ST. LOUIS, WITH 

 SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE PROPAGA- 

 TION OF BLACK BASS 



Mr. S. G. Worth, Mammoth Spring, Ark.: Air. President, if I am 

 in order, 1 would like to make an allusion or two to the visit of mem- 

 bers of this Society yesterday at Forest Park. I wish to say that I 

 found great pleasure in th;v visit, and I learned something. I was 

 really surprised to see so large a number of fish, and it is a confession, 

 not to my discredit I hope, although I am in the same line of business 

 for the Bureau of Fisheries at Mammoth Spring, to admit that if this 

 Society had visited that station yesterday in place of Forest Park, it 

 would not have seen such a display. I believe in the motto of giving 

 credit where credit is due. and I wish to say emphatically that I was 

 delighted and surprised at the great quantity of fish seen. 



These fish had an extraordinary amount of shore line, and in my 

 short experience with the black bass, I had already come to the conclu- 

 sion that to make black bass culture a success, that is, in rearing the 

 fish from fry up to fmgerlings of 2, 3 and 4 inches size, that which is 

 needed — an element that is essential — is a quantity or great amount of 

 shore line. The young appear to feed right around the shores, and at 

 Forest Park there seemed to be a very large percentage of shore line 

 in comparison with the pond area. I am referring now to the ability 

 of the young fish to find their food. They feed in the shallow water. 



When I made similar remarks yesterday at the park, some gentle- 

 man at my elbow said. "And it gives a tremendously increased spawning 

 area." So that there would seem to be an additional advantage. 



The presence of goldfish in the pond struck me as being a valuable 

 tiling. My observation of the goldfish at the Mammoth Spring station 

 is that they are propagating all through the summer and in great num- 

 bers. 1 believe that the bass at Forest Park are in such nice condition 

 and are so numerous, because they have quite an amount of food de- 

 rived from the young goldfish. It is very evident there is a large food 

 supply. 1 cannot guess what it is, but I think unquestionably that the 

 goldfish contribute largely to it. I believe it to be a good plan to put 

 goldfish in the rearing ponds to produce food for the young bass. 



Mr. W. O. Buck. N T eosho, Alo. : Let me add a word for the pur- 

 pose of getting on record something of what we saw at the fish pond 

 in the park, — and 1 wish much more in regard to it could be put in our 

 records. 



Our conductor told us that the brood fish were put into the pond 

 absolutely in pairs. \'<>w those of us who have handled bass know that 

 in that case they must have been put in very shortly before their spawn- 

 ing period, because it is practically impossible to distinguish the sexes 

 much earlier. Then he said that they were removed from the pond 



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