82 iFISH CULTUEE 



3?here is some doubt also as to whetlier the eggs 

 are extruded while the fish is in motion, or, as 

 is the case with the shad, whether the function 

 takes place while the fish is not moving." In- 

 stances have been known, however, where sev- 

 eral thousand eggs were deposited at one time. 

 A female carp weighing 16 pounds, in the Fair- 

 mount Park Aquarium, Philadelphia, deposited 

 in a single night, on one occasion, eggs esti- 

 mated to number 20,000 or more. 



Mr. Cole, in writing of the spawning habits 

 of the carp, makes the following assertion: — 



"I was unable to tell at what moment the actual 

 spawning took place, though I observed at times that 

 one of the males would work forward near the female 

 until they were swimming nearly side by side, when 

 he would turn somewhat on his side, and bring his 

 ventral fin closer under the female. At such a time 

 the body of the male usually shook with a sort of quick 

 vibrating movement (though this was not always ob- 

 served to be the case) and it was then, too, that the 

 most violent splashing of water occurred. It is prob- 

 ably at this time that the eggs were laid and fertil- 

 ized." Fish-culturists agree that during the actual 

 spawning time the operation is accompanied by con- 

 siderable splashing. 



