THE MUSKALONGE OF THE OHIO BASIN 



BY HOX. TAELETON II. BEAN^ OF ALBANY. X. Y. 



This species was first described in 1854 by Dr. Kirtland from 

 a specimen taken in the Mahoning river, Ohio; it was known, 

 however, much earlier (1818) to Rafinesqne, who stated that it 

 reaches a length of five feet. 



The barred muskalonge is found in Lakes Conneaut and Le 

 Boeuf, in Pennsvlvania. In August, 1902, Mr. F. J. King, of 

 Waterford, Pa., caught an individual measuring four feet seven 

 inches and weighing forty-four pounds two ounces. liake Le 

 Boeuf empties into French Creek, a tributary of the Alleghany 

 river. In this lake the muskalonge frequents weedy bars around 

 the entire lake and a smaller bar running through the middle. 



During the investigations conducted by Prof. W. P. Hay for 

 the United States Bureau of Fisheries in 1899 and 1900. a 

 muskalonge eight inches long was obtained from Deckers Creek, 

 above Morgantown, West Virginia. This is recorded in the 

 bulletin of the bureau. Vol. XXVII, 1907, p. 37. 



This muskalonge is a beautiful fish, and excellent for food. 

 Its color is olive green with golden tints, and with a wonderful 

 irridescense which the artist has expressed most happily in his 

 drawing. On the sides are from twenty to twenty-three in-egu- 

 lar, dark, crossbands, with some intervening partial bands and 

 blotches. The lower third of the breast fin is pink. The tail 

 fin and anal show dark blotches forming pseudo l^ands. The 

 iris is lemon yellow on a white silvery ground, or sometimes, in 

 smaller individuals, almost vermilion and orange. There is a 

 dark l)l()tch at the upper edge of the gill cover. There are no 

 roundish black spots, so characteristic of the St. Lawrence river 

 muskalonge. 



Those who may desire to compare measurements of the Chau- 

 tauqua form with those taken from muskalonge of the St. Law- 

 rence river or gi-eat lake region will find tables in bulletin 60 

 of the New York State Museum, Catalogue of the Fishes of 

 Xew York, page 305. It must be said, however, that the meas- 



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