Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 349 

 22. CAYUGA MINNOW 



NOTROPIS CAYUGA Mek 



(Plate 14) 



The Cayuga Minnow is a rather common fish in lakes, ponds and 

 streams from Cayuga Lake and northern New York, westward to 

 Assiniboia, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Arkansas. It is 

 an insignificant little fish, usually too small to be used for bait, and 

 chiefly useful as food for other fishes. It is generally overlooked 

 by minnow seiners and anglers, and is usually known only from 

 regions where systematic collecting has been done; its small size 

 and modest colors enable it to elude common observation. 



It does not appear to be common in Lake Maxinkuckee proper ; 

 our only record is of 5 specimens taken July 7, 1900. It appears, 

 however, to be quite abundant in Lost Lake. On July 29, 1899, 

 19 specimens were obtained there, and the species appeared to be 

 exceedingly abundant at that place during the late autumn of 1907. 

 Late in October and during the first week of November of that 

 year, it swarmed in myriads in the shallow water along the shore. 

 On November 5, 1907, more than a bushel were taken in one haul 

 with a 12-foot seine dragged through a space not exceeding about 

 50 square feet of water, near the Bardsley cottage. Of these about 

 a gallon were saved and found to consist of 1,907 of this species, 

 48 Notropis heterodon, 25 Pimephales notatus, 7 Abramis cryso- 

 leucas and 4 Notropis blennius. The stomachs of a number of the 

 Cayuga minnows taken in this haul were examined and found 

 to contain various kinds of entomostraca and several different 

 sorts of diatoms; among the entomostraca were Diaptomus, Bos- 

 mina and Daphnia; among the diatoms were species of Navicula, 

 Pleurosigma and Cymatopleura. It was thought at first that these 

 came from the stomachs of the waterfleas, but these were quite 

 free from them. One filament of Spyrogyra and one of Lyngbya, 

 1 observed were probably taken by accident. At that time the entire 

 east shore of Lost Lake from the Bardsley cottage southward was 

 a mass of these small minnows, so uniformly abundant and 

 crowded that it was practically impossible to observe any segrega- 

 tion into schools. 



Our specimens differ somewhat from the descriptions of typical 

 N. cayuga in having the lower jaw subequal or included, and not 

 projecting. In this respect they resemble N. ano genus, from which 

 they differ, however, in having the lateral line incomplete. The 

 chin usually has a few minute punctulations, but would be called 



