THE GERMAN CARP IN THE UNITED STATES. 559 
As to the movements of the fish in the wintertime, when the rivers 
and bays are frozen over, I have no information. That they are in the 
deeper parts there is no doubt, and it seems likely from what I can 
learn from the fishermen that they must move about more or less even 
during the coldest weather. They are occasionally taken in numbers 
at this season, I am told, by means of a seine hauled under the ice. 
Tt will be seen from what has been given above that, although they 
apparently do not have any regular and definite migrations, carp do 
make considerable movements dependent upon the conditions under 
which they live. It was at one time thought there might be some evi- 
dence to show that in Lake Erie the carp were coming to make a rather 
regular migration into the deeper parts of the lake with the approach 
of cold weather. The lake grows deeper to the eastward, and this 
would mean a general movement to the eastward in the fall and to the 
westward again in the spring. This habit in time might become 
established into a definite migration. But though the fish do undoubt- 
edly seek deeper water in the winter, they probably go only far 
enough to escape freezing and the effects of storms. So long as they 
‘both feed and spawn in shallow water there is no other need for a 
migratory habit, unless perhaps the overpopulating of the more favor- 
able waters may force some of the fish to seek new grounds. Reports 
of large schools of carp at times seen toward the eastern end of the 
Jake seemed to lend some support to this view. Thus I was told by 
Mr. Crangle, a fisherman in Cleveland, that some time in July, 1901, 
large schools of carp were seen in the open lake. In near shore were 
small fish, while farther out were schools of large ones, which were 
noticeable from their swimming about with their dorsal fins out of 
water. Mr. Crangle says this was the first time carp had been seen in 
this part of the lake in such numbers; and he was certain of the iden- 
tification, because his tug was run right in among them. Prince (1897) 
maintains that the carp has an inherent nomadic tendency, and thinks 
it is owing to this, in large part, that it has gained such a wide distri- 
bution. He says (p. 33): 
German carp are nomadic in their habits, and wander apparently aimlessly into 
all accessible waters, hence if introduced into any streams or ponds adjacent to and 
connected with others, these fish will rapidly spread over the whole system. Sal- 
mon, trout, white-fish, pickerel or doré, indeed all our native fish are more local in 
their wanderings and as a rule have definite courses of migration, and confine them- 
selves within recognized limits. The German carp has no such defined movemenis 
or habitat, thus Lake Erie, the St. Clair waters of western Ontario, Lake Huron and 
other Canadian areas are being overrun by these fish, which have wandered from 
the more or less remote localities in United States territory where they were origi- 
nally planted. Like undesirable weeds they spread everywhere and it is practically 
impossible to limit their progress or to effect their extirpation. 
