FISHES OF THREE WISCONSIN LAKES 19 



first figure indicating the number of times each species was 

 caught and the second, the total number caught : Percaflavescens, 

 8-3155 j 1 Micropterus salmoides, 7-230; Micropterus dolomieu, 

 6-223; Lepomis incisor, 6-59; Notropis hudsonius, 4-30; Amblo- 

 plites rupestris, 3-17; Eupomotis gibbosus, 5-15; Catostomus com- 

 mersonii, 3-8. 



From all sources of information the following statements re- 

 garding the fish fauna of Lake Geneva appear to be justified. 

 There are fewer species of fishes than in any other lake studied. 

 This is probably due to the lack of variety in the shore habitats. 

 The dominant large fishes are yellow perch, smallmouth black 

 bass, rock bass, pickerel, suckers and wall-eyed pike. There 

 are a small number of bluegills, largemouth black bass, and 

 trout. Ciscoes are found at depths of 15 to 25 meters in sum- 

 mer above the region of stagnation and in fairly cool water. 

 Though there appear to be many young largemouth black bass 

 in the lake there are few adults. There are very few shiners. 

 No darters were caught, although special search was made for 

 them. Bullheads, gars, and carp are rare in the lake, and none 

 were caught by the writer. 



DISCUSSION or DISTRIBUTION OF FISHES IN ALL LAKES 



The six lakes studied rank in the following order (Table 

 VIII) according to the total catch per hour in gill nets: Wingra 

 7.703, Mendota 5.050, Green 3.677, Geneva 3.285, Michigan 

 3.280, Pepin 2.553. 



Lake Wingra is the smallest and shallowest of the lakes and 

 its shores are everywhere of soft mud. That it contains more 

 fish per unit area than any other lake, is due to the yellow perch, 

 which though small in size occurs in great numbers. Other 

 abundant species are the largemouth black bass, pumpkinseed, 

 bream, crappie, and bluegill. All these fishes, except the perch, 

 are seldom found except where there is aquatic vegetation. 



Lake Mendota is deep and has rather varied shores. A 

 couple of small rivers run into it. Its deeper water is stagnant 

 for about three months in summer. This lake is also dominated 

 by the yellow perch, which is abundant in deep water when it is 

 not stagnant and also very numerous inshore. Much less com- 



1 The number of individuals is very large because 2,800 were caught on one occasion from a 

 large school off the mouth of a little stream at Fontana. 



