Our Fish Immigrants 



389 



introduction of the large-mouth black 

 bass into the Potomac basin was accom- 

 plished by the Bureau of Fisheries in 

 1889, the first plants being made in the 

 Shenandoah and later in the vicinity of 

 Washington. By 1896 the fish had be- 

 come remarkably abundant, and now it 

 is taken in large numbers by net fisher- 

 men and anglers in all the lower fresh- 

 water reaches of the river. 



The strawberry bass and the crappy 

 were established in the Potomac by the 

 Bureau of Fisheries in 1894, and both 

 are now common in a long stretch of the 

 stream from Alexandria upward. They 

 are excellent food and game fishes, and 

 many are caught by anglers and many are 

 sold in the Washington markets. Other 

 members of the bass family that have 

 been colonized in the Potomac are the 

 rock bass, the warmouth, and the blue- 

 gill. 



As a result of plants of fry between 

 Washington and the Great Falls, the 

 wall-eyed pike or pike perch, the largest 

 and most valuable member of the perch 

 family, has been acclimatized and for five 

 or six years has been attracting attention. 

 It is not yet very numerous, but ap- 

 parently is becoming more so each season 

 and in time should prove a valuable ad- 

 dition to the supply of fishes caught for 

 market and for sport. 



Not the least important of the additions 

 to the Potomac fauna are two catfishes 

 from the Mississippi basin. One of them, 

 the spotted or blue cat, is probably the 

 best of the tribe, inhabitating cold, run-, 

 ning water, having dainty feeding habits, 

 possessed of game qualities scarcely in- 

 ferior to those of the bass, and being ex- 

 cellent food. Small plants of adults and 

 yearlings were made at Ouantico, Vir- 

 ginia, and Woodmont and Hagerstown, 

 Maryland, in 1889, 1891, and 1892; and 

 since 1899 the fish have been taken in 

 increasing numbers each year, especially 

 between Washington and Little Falls, 

 many of them weighing 10 to 20 pounds. 

 Recently there have appeared in the river 

 considerable numbers of another species, 

 the great fork-tailed cat, of the introduc- 



tion of which there was no record ; so 

 it is evident that the young were mixed 

 with the spotted cats and were overlooked 

 when the plants were made. This fish 

 reaches a weight of more than 100 pounds 

 in its native waters, and examples taken 

 from the Potomac by line fishermen have 

 weighed upward of 30 pounds. 



CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE EAST TO THE WEST 



Probably the most noteworthy results 

 attending the introduction of aquatic ani- 

 mals into new regions have been seen in 

 the Pacific states, and represent contribu- 

 tions from the eastern seaboard. Among 

 the eastern fresh-water fishes that have 

 been firmly established and more or less 

 widely colonized in the Rocky Mountains 

 or in regions beyond the mountains are 

 the large-mouth black bass, the crappy, 

 the yellow perch, the pike, several cat- 

 fishes, various sun-fishes, the land-locked 

 salmon, and the brook trout. The sports- 

 men of all the western states are now af- 

 forded excellent black-bass and brook- 

 trout fishing. Migratory eastern river 

 fishes that have been permanently intro- 

 duced into the Pacific streams are the 

 striped bass and the shad, and the eco- 

 nomic results therefrom are without 

 parallel in the entire history of migratory 

 fishes. Chief among the marine inverte- 

 brates of the Atlantic coast that are now 

 found on the west coast are the oyster 

 and the soft-shell clam. 



A few years ago a fishery official of an 

 eastern state made the prediction that 

 the brook trout is doomed and will be 

 unknown, as a wild species, a few genera- 

 tions hence. This gloomy prognostica- 

 tion is perhaps justified if restricted to 

 certain streams of New England and 

 New York, where pollution, obstructions, 

 and deforestation have already destroyed 

 many fine waters and are ruining others ; 

 but in the eastern lakes the brook trout 

 is more than holding its own, while the 

 west is prepared to afford unsurpassed 

 trout fishing for the entire country. The 

 attention of anglers should be directed 

 to Colorado, which has known the brook 

 trout for only a few years, but is now 



