CLASS FISHES. 



2 93 



Indeed a larger percentage of the well-known species of 

 fish are considered edible than of any other group of 

 animals. 



For a great many years little care has been taken of the 

 fish, and the result is that many of the most valuable fish 

 are being rapidly exterminated by the heavy drains made 

 upon them by fishermen. The national government and 

 many of the states are now taking steps to control the 

 fishing, to hatch and bring the young fish through the 



FIG. 116 Sheepshead. Greatly reduced. Photo from life by Shufeldt. 



dangerous stages artificially, and to maintain the food 

 supply of the fishes during the whole year. Intelligent 

 care should in time stock the fresh waters with edible fish, 

 and keep them so that a steady supply may be had from 

 them without reducing them. The hatcheries are even 

 hatching the ocean fish and trying in this way to increase 

 the cod and other marine types. This is of value because 

 it is in the egg and in the earliest stages that greatest 

 havoc is wrought by the enemies of the species, and if 

 they can be protected at this time, larger numbers will 

 come to maturity. 



