100 



THE AQUAEIUM, APRIL, 1894. 



tributaries (creeks mostly) of the rivers 

 Rhine, Danube and Elbe. 



It is the smallest known representa- 

 tive of the Carp family, when fall 

 grown being not longer than two and 

 a half inches. The body is high and 

 much compressed on the sides; the dor- 

 sal fin is short. Its every-day dress is 

 an olive green on the back ; the sides 

 and belly silvery white, with a bright 

 green shining lateral band ; the fins are 

 pink. 



During the spawning season, which 

 is sometime along in April, the male 

 assumes a brilliancy indescribable, the 

 body presenting all the colors of the 

 rainbow, while the head and fins become 

 blood red. The female also undergoes 



minnow. The question is often asked, 

 " What kind of a fish will this minnow 

 be when in gets older ?" Well, a young 

 minnow, if it lives long enough, will 

 become an old minnow; that's all there's 

 of it. 



It is just as reasonable to suppose 

 that an English sparrow, no matter 

 how well fed, will become in time as 

 large and valuable a bird as the turkey 

 as it is to think that the minnow will 

 ever become a German carp or a salmon. 



Minnies, however, are not at all a. 

 worthless fish, as they constitute the 

 almost exclusive food of very many of 

 our table fish, thus fulfilling a funda- 

 mental law of nature. The bass and 

 many others prey upon them, and who 



The Mountain Minnow— (Natural Size.) 



some changes ; at the sexual parts a 

 little tube makes its appearance, which 

 serves the purpose of depositing the 

 eggs inside of the shells of river mus- 

 sels, where they remain until hatched. 



THE MINNOWS, 



although belonging to the carp-like 

 family of fishes, constitute a family of 

 their own. Minnows or minnies, as 

 they are most commonly called, are 

 usually very small fish of slender form, 

 inhabiting the waters of Europe and 

 North America. 



It is true that every minnow is a 

 small fish, but it does not follow by 

 any means that every small fish is a 



is to gainsay a law that all living 

 creatures are more or less obliged to re- 

 spect ? In this light, " plenty of min- 

 nows means plenty of food for man." 



Nearly a thousand different species 

 of minnows are known to science, but 

 following the rule adopted for this 

 book, it will be impossible to describe 

 more than a few of the most interest- 

 ing species. 



The spring or breeding dress of many 

 species is peculiar. Often the top of 

 the head, and sometimes the whole 

 dorsal region also, of the males, is cov- 

 ered with spinous tubercles. These are 

 outgrowths from the epidermis and are 

 usually charged with pigment, just 



