82 liEPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



' The carp has been accused of many villauies, chief amongsit which 

 are that it drives the black ba.ss from its nest, that it is a spawn eater, 

 that it devours the young of other fishes, that by rooting in the mud it 

 renders the water so roily that the breeding ground® of other fishes are 

 spoiled and tiie fishes themselves forced to abandon the locality, and 

 lastly, but by no means least, that it destroys the beds of wild rice and 

 celery which in the past have been the favorite feeding grounds of the 

 wild ducks. To this latter charge, at least, it would appear that the 

 carp must be held guilty, although, perhaps, not quite to the extent to 

 which it is accused, for there are well-known instances, such as certain 

 portions of the St. Clair Flats and Lake Simcoe, where since the appear- 

 ance of this fish in numbers the wild rice and celery beds have rapidly 

 disappeared. The rooting habits of the fish, previously referred to, 

 would account for this, especially as it is particularly fond of weedy and 

 marshy places such as are afforded by beds of these descriptions. The 

 other charges, however, are not so easily established. The male black 

 bass on its nest is no despicable warrior, and it is more than doubtful 

 whether the sluggish and cowardly cai^p would not prefer to retreat than 

 to give battle to such an antagonist. Possibly schools of this fish passing 

 over the district in which the black bass were nesting might dislodge 

 the guardians of the nests, but there is no authentic proof of this as yi'^t, 

 while specific instances have, on the otlher hand, been adduced of an 

 improvement in the bass fishing coincident with the arrival of the carp. 

 Doubtless if the male bass were absent for any reason from the nest, 

 the carp would eat the spawn if it chanced that way, as it would other 

 spawn that it might come across in the course of its painstaking search 

 for food, for, as before stated, to the carp all food is desiiiable wliich will 

 pass into its mouth, but the carp has yet to be proved guilty of being a 

 regular and persistent spawn seeker and eater, investigations of the 

 stoinachs of many of them having faiUnl to establish any such proclivi- 

 ties. The feeding methods of the carp cannot fail to render the water 

 roily, and it is, therefore, well possible 'that when the carp t-akes possess- 

 ion of more or less restricted areas of water, such a clean w^ater loving 

 fish as the black bass will depart, but other deep water sporting fishes, 

 such as the pickerel and lake trout, would not be affected, nor does it 

 seem probable that the spawning beds of those fisilies which seek the 

 sandy or rocky reefs could be materially injured by the carp. As to the 

 charge of voraciousness in regard to the young of other fishes, the small, 

 sucker-like mouth and general sluggisli disposition of the carp are 

 against the supposition that it can be a persistent hunter of swimming 

 fishes, although undoubtedly it would gladly devour any small fishes 

 that it could easily secure, so that its depredations under this head are 

 assuredly insignificant. On the other hand it has been established that 

 young carp are very acceptable food to the black bass and other sporting 

 and predaceous fishes. 



The main objections to the carp would thus appear to be that it 



