Alexander. — More About the Paddle-Fish 37 



The condition of these fish after so long a confinement 

 is, I think both interesting and significant, inasmuch as 

 it has been generally understood, I believe, that the pad- 

 dle-fish when empounded in an aquarium or artificial 

 pond usually lives only a week or ten days. We look upon 

 the results attained as favorable indications that it prob- 

 ably will be possible to hold immature female and male 

 paddle-fish until ripe, in properly constructed ponds, and 

 then strip, fertilize and hatch their eggs artificially. 



Judging from the experiments we made last year and 

 again this, it appears quite certain that paddle-fishes work 

 in schools when in the act of depositing and fertilizing 

 their eggs. During the middle of the spawning period, a 

 seine will invariably take a number of both mature and 

 immature females and males, as well as recently spent 

 ones, whenever any spawners are located by it. It has 

 further been definitely ascertained that in White Lake 

 during this period these fish are only to be found where 

 the bottoms are of a somewhat hard and sandy character. 

 Only an occasional fish could be taken when the seine was 

 being hauled in localities where the bottoms are of a soft- 

 er character. These are usually found in the bays and 

 along stretches of straight shore-line. 



The only fish we had to handle this year were those 

 caught by an outfit and crew hired especially to catch 

 paddle-fish for our operations. Therefore our studies 

 were conducted with a very limited number of fish as 

 compared to the number we secured last year when we 

 were supplied by the commercial fishermen. This was 

 caused by the fact that our close season on this species 

 now extends from January 1, to July 15, of each year, 

 therefore all commercial fishing is suspended. 



The condition existing this year made it a rather ex- 

 pensive proposition to our Commission, and this contrib- 

 uted to further curtail the scope of our experiments. 

 However, it is our intention to again conduct experiments 

 next year, and on a more extended scale. At that time, 

 we will probably also extend our field of operations so 

 as to take in additional territory. Lake St. John in Con- 



