374 Rooscz'clt Wild Life Auiials 



I /'2-inch fish. This large catch was found near shore in a loose ball or school, 

 among rushes. Many escaped the net. We did not see attending adults. Lots 

 averaging larger fish were Nos. 8i, loo, 314, taken in September and October. In 

 Michigan, Hankinson ('08, p. 208) on June 28 found in shallow water a school of 

 these small Bullheads, about 13/2 inches long, attended by adults 12 to 14 inches 

 long. Weed and McAtee ('15, p. 9) note that both adults constantly guarded the 

 nest, as they also did the carefully herded young for a fortnight or more. Ever- 

 mann and Clark (20, Vol. i, p. 325) found the spawning time in the Lake ]\Iaxin- 

 kuckee region to be May and June. The eggs are relatively large and few in 

 number and are placed under chunks of wood or sticks, the edges of rocks, or about 

 the bases of water plants. Thev hatch in about five days, at a water temperature 

 of 77°. 



On June 19, 1921, Hankinson saw two compact schools of young Bullheads 

 over sandy bottoms in very shallow water (1-8 inches deep) in two places close to 

 the shore of Lower South Bay. An adult fish was seen attending one school. 

 It was not very bold but remained on the shoal for most of the time, not per- 

 mitting one to get nearer than ten feet or so. It moved about in a concerned 

 manner, its center of interest being very clearly the compact mass of a thousand 

 or more little Bullheads. 



Habitat. The Common Bullhead is one of the most hardy fishes in the lake. 

 belonging in this small group with the Eel, Mud Minnow and Carp. In a shallow, 

 weed margined lake like Oneida, it is very generally distrihut^d, as is indicated 

 by our records, and in the tributary streams as well. Dean ('t»i. p. 302) gives 

 a graphic account of its haliitat: "Every trait of our catfish bes[)eaks its stagnant. 



mud-loving nature; dusky in color, sluggish and blundering \ shallow. 



slowly drained pond, furnished with an occasional deep mud-hole, will suit 

 admirably the needs of the fish. If the water does become warm in the summer, 

 the catfish will survive; knowing how to survive is one of its special virtues. In 

 a three-foot aquarium at college about a dozen nine-inch catfish were kejit iluring 

 very warm weather, the room temperature often in the nineties, and the water 

 changed but once a day, with but few fatal results. Should the air sujiplx in the 

 water fail, trust the fish to care for itself. It will come to the surface, kisurely 

 renew the air in its swim-bladder, or even, frog-like or turtle-like, swallow air in 

 bulk, trusting to stomach respiration. Of undoubted respiratory value, ninrtnver. 

 niitst be the scaleless, highly vascular skin. . . . .Should the pond dry. and 

 the whole pond-basin be serried with mud-cracks, the catfish will lie dorniant fnr 

 days, even for weeks. It has been found in a clod of mud, which served as a 

 cocoon, as with the Lcpidosircn. until softened by the return of water. Tn winter 

 the catfish, like frogs, and inilike many of its neiL^hlmi-s, appears tn re.mihuly 

 hibernate. In Novenibrr it lieccmies sluggish and rcfiisrs fntid. and e:uiy in 

 December buries itself in the dee])est ooze of the ]ii)nil. It does not reappear till 

 the 'first sharp thunder-storm' in February (ir .March. Then they are seen thin 

 and ravenous, a])proaching the shore so closel\ tli.it tiieir heads ripple the surface." 

 Six young specimens (No. ^S) were taken in .i very shallow stagnant pond, over- 

 grown with water ])lants and with ;i liotloni of deep, black, foul-smelling mud, 

 where the water was \-er\- warm. Its sole lisli i-ompanion was the Mtid Minnow. 



