Oneida Luke l-islics 35- 



Oiir Ijcst lake collections were made in July, iyi6. near Sylvan Hcach (No. 

 591. 13 fish) and Lewis l\iint ( Xo. 501, 7 fish). Hoth these places had similar 

 conditions — hard, sandy bottom alonj,' an open, exi>osed shore, with little vejjetation 

 txcejit marginal zones or patches of rushes or setlges. Small collections of these 

 Shiners were taken at or near the mouths of creeks tributary to Giittenango Creek 

 < Xo. 546); Dakin Bay ( Xo. 4J5 ) ; Cleveland Hay (Xo. 4(0 ); and Kast Potter 

 liay ( Xos. 447, 45S. 463). Eleven were caught in the swift turbid waters of 

 Douglas Creek ( Xo. 413). 



ForlK-s and Richardson (tx). ]>. 14S1 consider it .1 minnow of streams and 

 smaller rivers, preferring clear water and a dean bottom. Fowler ( "cxj. p. 541 ) 

 .says it is fre(|uently found in rock pools about cascades, and seems ])erfectly at 

 honie in turbulent foamy water. Reighard ("15, p. 228) found it abundant aiul 

 widely distributed in Oouglas Lake, Michigan, and considers this distribution 

 unusual. Cope ('69, ]). ^yi) says that it i)refers clear waters and does not haunt 

 rapids. 



Pood. Twenty-one sj)ecimens examined by Forbes ( Forbes and Richardson, 

 '09, p. 148; and Forbes, '83, p. I2<j) had eaten vegetable matter, chiefly algae, 

 which constituted about a third of the food: the rest was chiefly insects, Iwth 

 terrestrial and acpiatic, the latter largely ])redominant, and among these were 

 g>rinid larvae and corixid nymphs. .\ single aipiatic worm, I.uinbriculus. and a 

 few crustaceans were taken by them. < )ne .Shiner had eaten only fishes. Reighard 

 ("15, p. 22~) found one specimen containing alxnit two-thirds Cladocera. and 

 one-third insects, a()parently larval. Two others had eaten some material similar 

 to this, alr)ng with bryozoans, (Ghitrieliia). leaves, and some undeterminable 

 material. Ellis ("14. p. 53) says its ffwid consists of surface and other aquatic 

 insects an<l some plain materials, other types of ftMxl Ix-ing utilized occasionally. 

 SmallwiMid ('iS, |). jiT^^^) found llapliiiui and insects including honey bees in the 

 stomachs of this shiner taken in the .\dirondacks. 



Ix'onard ('2~, p. 41) concludes from the examination of the foinl «if six 

 Conmion Shiners that insects form the most important item of the f(«Kl of this 

 fish. IFe found immature stages of May-flies, chironomids (in important 

 amounts), entomostracans, hydrachni<ls, |)rotozoans. filamentous algae, diatoms, 

 and small terrestrial insects (aphids and i)socids). Hreder and Crawford ("jj, 

 p|>. 3o_', 303) give the results of studies of the fcMMl of .'(13 Common Shiners 

 taken from Oxon Creek of the Potomac System. Important fixnl materials were 

 as follows: insects 57^^?, largely indeterminable, but nymphs or larvae t»f 

 Ephenuri<Ia, Oilonatn, Plecoptera, Coleoptera, and Hiptera were ri-cogni/etl, and 

 there were adults of Hymenoptera and (."oleoiJtera. Xo correlation l>et\veen size 

 of fish ami nature of the fiKxl was fomul in stmlies of f<»<Kl of fish titat were from 

 .[ 5 of an inch to 4 inches in length. .\(|uarium observation sho\ve«l that these 

 shiners fed rather promiscuously at all levels aUive the iMittom, as well as on the 

 bottom, and took f(M«l from the surface "with IhiIIi the force ami grace of a tnnil." 

 CIreeley I '.^7. p. 5<>) foimd one fish .\i^ inches long, from Fulmer X'alley. .Mlegany 

 County, X. Y., to have eaten algae and thatoms (Ss'"; ). and insects iiiclii<ling 

 caddice worms ( 1 -■,''■ 1 



