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sidered to be very poor. This may be due to ignorance of pre- 

 paring it for the table ; it is a fish which should be boiled or 

 stewed and served with a wine sauce. The carp is a sluggish, 

 bottom feeding fish, continually rooting about in the mud and 

 making muddy the water of streams which before its advent 

 ran clear. In captivity it is hardy and quick growing. It is 

 one of the few fishes which can live in the foul water of the 



lower Passaic River. 



Carassius auratus L. 



Goldfish. 



Body similar to the last, but deeper and shorter ; no barbels ; 

 dorsal and anal each with a serrate spine. Color originally 

 olivaceous with brassy lustre. The goldfish has been bred by 

 the East Asiatics for ages back, so that now there are innumer- 

 able varieties both of form and color, which if left to themselves 

 would soon be lost and the species revert to the original stock. 



In many of our streams and ponds, the goldfish has run wild 

 and hundreds of the olivaceous type will be secured to one of 

 a red color. In the fauna of .the moraine ponds and in quarry 

 holes, the goldfish stands first. 



It will breed in foul water where only catfish and dogfish 

 can be found. As an article of food it is nearly valueless. 

 The total length approximates one foot. 



Family Clupeidae. 



Herrings. 

 Body oblong, with generally large cycloid scales, head naked, 

 no barbels ; anterior vertebrae normal ; no auditory ossicle, 

 abdomen often sharp, serrate. Anal long, caudal forked. No 

 lateral line. Teeth weak or wanting. Stomach with a blind 

 sac ; pyloric appendages numerous ; air bladder simple. A 

 large family, having but few freshwater species. From the 

 economic standpoint one of the most important fish families 

 and one exceedingly numerous in the individuals of the various 

 species. 



Pomolobus pseudoharengus Wilson. 



Alewife; Branch or River Herring. 

 The body deep, compressed, shadlike ; head short, mouth 

 large, belly sharp, serrated ; scales large. Color bluish, sides 



