LAKE MOON-EYE. 883 



Diagnosis. — From our other White fish this species may be known by 

 its slender, herring-like form and projecting lower jaw. 



Habits. — The Lake Herring is found throughout the lake region in 

 enormous numbers. It inhabits comparatively shoal waters and goes 

 about in vast schools, " crowding into the pound-nets in masses until the 

 cribs are filled to the surface of the water. In Lake Erie frequently a 

 corner of the net is lowered, and a large proportion of them allowed to 

 escape before the remainder are thrown into the boat. Although they 

 have been taken in this way for years, there is no apparent diminution 

 in their numbers. Perhaps the little disposition on the part of the fish- 

 ermen to catch them, in some measure accounts for this fact, though 

 there must be as well some natural advantages in their prolificity and 

 in the tenacity of life of the egg. They are little tought after, because 

 they are not a favorite fish in the market, being rather deficient in qual- 

 ities as a fresh or salt fish, though having no objectionable flavor. They 

 are small and thin when opened, and become shrunken when pickled, 

 * * * The profit on them to the fishermen is less than any 

 other fish handled from the lakes, because of the low price they com- 

 mand in the market, and the expense of dressing and packing is much 

 greater than in White-fish, Trout, or Pike, because of their smaller size, 

 Difiering from, the White-fish in the construction of the mouth, it being 

 terminal, they more readily take a bait, and may be fished for with hook 

 and line with a suitable bait. Insects are the best for this purpose, 

 though they are frequently taken with a minnow. The contents of the 

 stomach have been obtained in but a few instances, the fish being taken 

 almost exclusively in the pound nets, and in these they have generally 

 remained long enough to digest the stomach contents. A few specimens 

 from seines in the Detroit River were found to contain insects and a few 

 of the Oammaridx, but no remains of vertebrates, though the Herring are 

 frequently taken with a minnow bait. They are found, by examination 

 of their stomachs during the spawning season, to be spawn eaters of the 

 worst character, their stomachs being crammed with White-fish ova, and 

 considering the great numbers of the Herring and their vicinity to the . 

 spawning grounds, the destruction they effect must be very great." 

 (Milner.) 



The spawning season is about the last of November. It is thought 

 that this species does not migrate for the pUrpose of spawning, but re- 

 mains in the shoal waters, where it is commonly taken. 



In the deep lakes of Northern Indiana (Tippecanoe, Eagle, etc.), and 

 in similar lakes in Eastern Wisconsin^ (Geneva, the Oconomowoc Chain, 

 etc), a fish is found, known as the Cisco, which is generally thought to 



