Menominee Whitefish 



Menominee Whitefish 



i 



Coregonus quadrilateralis Richardson 



This species is known as menominee whitefish (Lakes Supe- 

 rior and Michigan), round whitefish (British America), frostfish 

 (Lake Champlain and Adirondack lakes), shad waiter (Lake 

 Winnepesaukee), pilotfish (Lake Champlain), chivey (Maine), 

 Chateaugay shad (Chateaugay Lake), and blackback (Lake Michi- 

 gan). 



The round whitefish is found in the lakes of New England, 

 westward through the Adirondacks and the Great Lakes, thence 

 northward into Alaska, from which it may be seen that this 

 species is the most widely distributed of the American white- 

 fishes. 



The menominee reaches a length of 12 to 15 inches, and a 

 weight of 2 pounds; the average weight of those taken to market, 

 however, does not exceed one pound. 



This species, like all others of its genus, spawns in the fall, 

 but nothing distinctive is known of its habits. It is ordinarily 

 found in rather deep water of the lakes, and does not often 

 enter streams. It is not regarded as a game-fish, but as an 

 article of food it ranks with the other smaller whitefishes. Con- 

 siderable quantities are taken each year in Lake Champlain and 

 the small Adirondack lakes, while in Lakes Huron, Michigan and 

 Superior still larger quantities are caught, gillnets being the gear 

 usually employed for the purpose. 



Head 5; depth 4f; eye 5^; D. n; A. 10; scales 9-80 to 90-8; 

 maxillary 5^; mandible 3^; gillrakers about 7+10, 4 to 5 in eye. 

 Body elongate, not elevated nor much compressed, the back 

 rather broad, the form more nearly round than in any other 

 species; mouth very small and narrow, inferior, the broad maxil- 

 lary not reaching to opposite the eye; head long, the snout com- 

 pressed and bluntly pointed, its tip below level of eye; profile 

 not strongly decurved; preorbital wider than pupil; mandible 

 originating under middle of eye; adipose fin small; gillrakers 

 short and stoutish. Colour, dark bluish above, silvery below. 



