RIVER FISH AND FISHING. 



369 



to all the lakes and fresh rivers of the Eastern, Middle, 

 and North-western States. It is closely allied to the 

 English pike, and is a very ugly-looking fish, the head 

 being large, the jaws long and savage-looking, and armed 

 with several hundred teeth ; the tail is lunated ; the color 

 is a pale olive-gray, becoming deeper on the back, and 

 marked on the sides with several yellowish spots or 

 patches. Sometimes the pickerel reaches an enormous size, 

 instances having been known in which it was taken more 

 than three feet in length. The food of the pickerel con- 

 sists of fish, frogs, rats, the young of water-fowl, or, in 

 fact, any thing in the shape of animal food. They spawn 

 in March and April, among the weeds of their favorite 

 haunts. 



The CHUB, ROACH and DACE are common in all Amer- 

 ican streams, but are little fished for except by boys, and 

 are worthless on the table. 



The COMMON CARP, Cyprinus Carpio, is the type of 

 a family which have all a small mouth without teeth, but 

 possessing a bony apparatus in the throat as a substitute. 

 They have only one dorsal fin. The common carp is not 

 a native of Great Britain, but was introduced by the 

 monks to serve the purposes of the table during their 

 fasts. In length it is usually from one foot to one foot 

 six inches. The back is arched and thick ; color yellow- 

 ish, approaching to brown over the back, and to white 

 under the belly. The mouth has a short beard on each 

 side, both above and below ; on the sides are some black- 

 ish specks ; fins, brown ; tail, brown, and forked. Carp 

 feed on worms and insects, and are very prolific, living 

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