RANGELEY LAKES, MAINE: FISHES, ANGLING, AND FISH CULTURE. 51I 



This sucker feeds upon small animal and vegetable objects that it sucks up from the 

 bottom, although occasionally it takes a baited hook, even rushing at it with the vigor 

 of a trout, and it has been seen taking insects at the surface and has been caught on 

 an artificial fly. It is a spawn eater, too, and is almost always present in large num- 

 bers upon the spawning beds of trout and salmon. 



This fish is very prolific. It ascends streams, even rivulets when possible, to 

 spawn. Its breeding season depends upon the latitude to some extent, but in Maine 

 it spawns usually in May and June. The exact breeding time of this fish in Umba- 

 gog Lake was not ascertained. 



Suckers, young or adult, were found almost everywhere throughout the season. 

 The following localities were noted: Umbagog Lake, at various places; Wildcat Brook; 

 Dead Cambridge; and Molnichwock Brook. It ranges in size from lyi to 16 inches. 



A few specimens, from about 5f to 6f inches long, taken in a miimow trap at 

 Rangeley, October 17, 1900, were of a beautiful bronze coloration with a series of indis- 

 tinct large blue-black spots along their sides. (See Table II, p. 591.) 



CHUB (Semoiilus hullaris). 



Other names by which this widely distributed fish is known are fallfish, windfish, 

 dace, silver dace, and chevin. It occurs commonly in eastern Canada and the United 

 States east of the Alleghenies as far south as Virginia. Its size varies greatly in different 



Fig. 4.— Chub (SemotUus hullaris), 



waters and becomes larger in the North than in the South. In small streams and ponds 

 it is correspondingly smaller, and in small brooks it reaches maturity when only a few 

 inches long. 



The variation in appearance of the chub at all seasons is almost as great as the 

 variation in size, and in breeding season the sexes differ much in color and somewhat in 

 other respects. Small adult fish resemble youngof the larger fish, being silvery and having 

 a dark stripe along the sides. Larger fish are silvery, with the stripe showing but faintly 

 or not at all, and still larger ones show no stripe and have dusky posterior exposed mar- 

 gins to the scales. The largest individuals have sexual and age variations, but in general 

 it may be said that in these the colors are more evident and pronounced, the head being 

 black, purple and blue, and yellow, with golden and bronze reflections; back, olive green; 

 sides, purplish or bronze; belly, yellowish silvery, or white; posterior margin on lateral 

 scales, black. The metallic luster and iridescence is beyond graphic description, and 

 the artist's brush can but inadequately represent the varpng hues and reflections. 



