The Horned Dace 



By G. C. Embody 



One of the numerous brook minnows is usually the first prize 

 of the youthful angler who happens to live in the eastern half of 

 the United States and ten chances to one the particular kind first 

 taken is the common chub or homed dace. Chub has always 

 seemed to me a better name than homed dace, because it has 

 reference to the general body form of the fish throughout life. 

 The term, "horned," probably has reference to the short spines 

 occurring on the head of the male alone and then only dtiring the 

 breeding season. 



One can find the chub in almost any brook in the United States 

 east of the Mississippi River. In the one which becomes dry in 

 summer leaving here and there rather deep isolated pools, the 

 chub is often the only fish to be found. In the cold spring trout 

 brook, the chub still persists even though many of them fall victims 

 to the trout. They may still remain common where the brook 

 has become a creek or even a small but swift river. But in the 

 larger sluggish streams they become rare for at least two reasons, 

 the presence of predaceous fishes like the pike and bass and the 

 absence of gravel beds for spawning purposes. 



They are most at home on the moderate sized brook which has 

 numerous deep, shady pools, and whose waters become too warm in 

 summer for trout. Here they have been known to grow to a length 

 of a foot but more often they are caught before the six inch mark 

 is passed. Those fishermen who have caught them for use as bait 

 for game fishes, no doubt have contributed largely to their decrease 

 both in size and numbers in the streams near our cities. 



There are certain characteristics by which the chub may be 

 known from other fishes. Firstly, there are no teeth in the mouth ; 

 secondly, all of the fins are supported by a soft frame work, there 

 being no sharp stout spines in any of them ; thirdly, the scales are 

 all smooth which can be appreciated by rubbing the finger from the 

 tail towards the head. The combination of these three characteris- 

 tics is found in all brook minnows but not in other brook fishes. 

 The form of the body is cylindrical, about as wide as deep; the 

 lower jaw is a trifle shorter than the upper; there is a longitudinal 

 black stripe in all except the males in breeding time which however 



