OBSERVATIONS ON THE SMALL-MOUTH BLACK 



BASS IN PENNSYLVANIA DURING THE 



SPAWNING SEASON OF J9I0 



By W. E. Meehan 



All small-mouth bass distributed by Pennsylvania for 

 stocking purposes are obtained from two sources, to wit: 

 From fish reared in captivity in the state hatcheries and 

 from wild fish in some of the lakes in the northeastern part 

 of the state. The work of bass culture this year was very 

 discouraging in Pennsylvania both at the hatcheries and in 

 the field. From both sources less than 300,000 advanced 

 fry were secured while under normal conditions there should 

 have been 1,000,000. The results in the hatcheries were 

 better than those in the field proportionately as about 

 200,000 were reared of the 300,000 output. The cause of 

 the poor result was a very rapid fall in the water tempera- 

 ture before the eggs of the small-mouth bass were all 

 hatched. The unfavorable water conditions continued for 

 more than twelve days, during which some very interesting 

 observations were made with respect to the eggs, fry and 

 the actions of the parent fish. Some of the observations 

 merely confirmed things which we already knew, others 

 were novel to us. The ponds at the hatcheries being shallow 

 the temperature was neither as low nor as long continued 

 as in the lakes, and with the better protection that could be 

 given the fry in the former places there was naturally a 

 greater proportion of fish saved than from the natural lakes. 

 The 200,000 small-mouth bass distributed from the state 

 hatcheries were reared at two stations and the 100,000 from 

 the field were gathered from four lakes. The field work 

 was on eight natural ponds. In four of the eight lakes the 

 water temperature was so low throughout the entire season 

 that until June 18th when the field work ceased not a single 

 nest had been cleaned up or an tgg deposited. 



