70 HOME FISHING AND HOME WATERS. 



the fish and the consequent great difficulty in get- 

 ting a pair together at the same time which were 

 in a perfectly ripe or mature condition for casting 

 and fertilizing the ova. As I have said above, the 

 sturgeon yields large quantities of eggs, it not be- 

 ing an uncommon thing to obtain from a single 

 specimen as high as from fifty to sixty pounds of 

 solid eggs. The eggs are of a dark brown color, 

 and seven of them placed side by side will measure 

 an inch. They will hatch in from three to four 

 days, in water ranging in temperature from sixty- 

 seven to seventy-four degrees. 



The eggs when taken from the fish are very glu- 

 tinous, and adhere to each other, and to everything 

 they touch. The only way they can be kept sepa- 

 rate is, by constantly stirring them for from thirty 

 minutes to two hours, after which the gummy sub- 

 stance appears to dissolve. When the young break 

 through the shell, they are very helpless little crea- 

 tures. One peculiarity is noticeable on the part of 

 the fish in the egg, that it is able to move only the 

 middle part of the body, while with other fish the 

 tail is the principal part most moved. The yolk 

 sac, which is attached to the body is unusually 

 small for young fry, and is absorbed in about six 

 days, after which the fish seeks its own livelihood. 



There is no doubt that sturgeons can be largely 

 increased in the great lakes by artificial propagation, 

 provided they are kept in pens until they are in 

 proper condition to operate with. The great draw- 

 back to penning them in tide waters, is that the 

 small eels destroy the eggs, by entering the fish 

 through the vent. 



