The Great Lakes Catfish 



cc. Anal fin moderate, or short, of 15 to 22 rays, its base 4 to 5 



in body. 



d. Lower jaw projecting ; -vulgaris, 26 



dd. Lower jaw not projecting. 



<?. Body rather robust, the depth in adult 3^- to 4^ in length ; 



head not very flat. 

 /. Pectoral spine long, 2 to 2^- in head; anal rays more than 20; 



nebulosus, 26 



ff. Pectoral spine short, z\ to 3 in head; anal short, its rays only 



17 to 19, counting rudiments ; melas, 30 



ee. Body slender and low, varying with age, the depth 5^ to 8 in 



length; head in adult broad and very flat; platycephalus, 31 



Great Lakes Catfish 



Ameiurus lacustris (Walbaum) 



Arctic America and southward, in the Great Lakes and else- 

 where. The Southern habitat (Florida, Louisiana) currently assigned 

 to this species has resulted from a confusion of this species 

 with the blue cat (Ictalurus furcatus), and it is not certain just 

 what its range really is. It is probably chiefly or even entirely 

 confined to the Great Lakes and northward, including possibly 

 the upper Mississippi. 



Nor is it certain what size this species attains. Very 

 large individuals have been seen by the writers in Green Bay, 

 Wisconsin, weighing 20 to 35 pounds. The large ones noted 

 from the South doubtless belonged to the blue cat. 



At present the best that can be said is that this species is 

 apparently best represented in the Great Lakes and that it there 

 attains a weight of 15 to 35 pounds. It is a fish of considerable 

 commercial importance, and is usually taken on set lines. It is espe- 

 cially abundant in the northern part of Lake Michigan. In the lakes 

 of British America it is also abundant and its Indian names mean 

 "ugly-fish," while the trappers have called it the "land cod." 



Head 4 in length ; depth 5; D.I, 5; A. 25 to 32; P. [,9. Body 

 rather stout; head broad, - its length; interorbital width more 

 than half length of head; width of mouth 2 in head; eye moderate, 

 wholly in front of middle of head; top of head quite flat, so that 

 the eyes are much nearer the upper than the lower surface; bar- 

 bels long, the maxillary barbel reaching beyond head; humeral 

 process short and blunt, about \ length of pectoral spine; caudal 



24 



