Oticida Lake fishes 3^9 



In dcstruyiiit,' vc-jjitatiuii Carj) may Ijc lieneficial and are suinitinicN iniroduced 

 into trout [mnds to tat up algae (Cole, '05, ]>. 609). Uyche ('14. j). 128) reports 

 finding 1000-5000 weed seeds in one Carp stoniacli : and there may be circum- 

 stances under which this fish, like our seed-eating birds, may be beneficial through 

 destroying weeds, for it is well known that running waters act as distributors of 

 plants through carrying seeds that later become straniled and germinate. 



The importance of Carp as food for the more desirable fish species has 

 apparently not been fully appreciated. The U. S. Bureau of Fisheries has raised 

 Carj) for feeding bass (Cole, '05, p. fio<;), and Dr. Hugh M. .Smith in an mi- 

 publishcil statement sent to us says: "It is probable that the commercial value 

 of car]> is insignificant compared with its importance as a food for other fishes. 

 It is extensively eaten by many of our most highly esteemed food fishes and is the 

 chief pabulum of some of them in some places. In a number of the best Black 

 Bass streams, like the Potomac and the Illinois, the Carp is very abundant and is a 

 favorite food of the young and adult bass, while in California the introduced 

 striped bass has from the outset subsisted largely on Carp and may owe its 

 remarkable increase to the presence of this food." 



The destructiveness of Carp to the spawn of other fish has been assumed to 

 be extensive, but Cole ('05, p. 595) shows that inferences have been made from 

 too few data. More information from direct observations and stomach examina- 

 tions is needed. Bass and sunfish may be interfered with to a certain extent, but 

 they probably are able to drive Carp away from their eggs (I.e., p. 600), and the 

 breeding periods and habitats of most of our other fish of commercial value, like 

 Pike Perch, Perch, Pickerel (Hsox), trout and whitefish, are such as to make it 

 unlikely that Carp destroy many of their eggs (I.e., p. 595). According to Embody 

 ( 'j2, p. 16), Carp destroy spawning grounds and cover eggs with mud by uprooting 

 vegetation and roiling the shallow water; but F"orbes and Richardson ('oc), p. 108) 

 consider the statistics showing the increase of food fishes as.sociated with Carp in 

 the Illinois River, to mean that Carp <Io not interfere with the breeding of tliesc 

 species in any important way. Furthermore, Dyche ('14, p. 126), in ojiening 

 more than a thousand Carp stomachs, founil no eggs of tnher fishes in the food 

 masses, although there were in a few instances small numbers of their own eggs. 

 Evermann and Clark ("jo. p. 342) also note the scarcity of fish eggs in Carj' 

 stomachs. 



Carp very prol)ably alTect other fi>lus in their habitat by convicting with 

 them for foo<l. The f(«Ml of the young Cari) is similar to that of the young of 

 our imjiortant f<x>d fishes. In-ing chiefly small crustaceans aiu! aquatic insects. 

 Greeley ('27, p. 56) considers that this competition gives "The most tenable 

 argument against Carji in relation to other fishes." I'.mlxHly {'jj, p. 16) likewise 

 notes that the feeding habits of Carp are such that its presence in our lakes is at 

 the expense of more highly esteemed fishes, but tines not give the cvi«lencc for 

 the f>pinif)n. 



By keeping water roily Carp destroy the beauty of small lakes (Cole. '05. 

 p. '>.V». and when in reservoirs — which are sources of water supply (or com- 

 munities- they may In-come a great iniisancc (I.e., p. 635). 



