48 AMERICAN FISHES. 



ABDOMINAL 

 MALACOPTERrGII. SALMONIDjE. 



LAKE HURON HERRING SALMON. 



THE HERRING. 

 Coregonus Harengus ; Richardson. 



This fish is exceedingly abundant on the shores of Lake Huron, to 

 which it resorts in enormous shoals in the spring and autumn, and con- 

 stitutes a principal article of food to the Indians and white settlers. It 

 is rather a dry and tasteless fish. It occasionally rises at the fly, but 

 is rarely taken except by the seine. 



Richardson describes him thus. I have examined this and the last 

 species, and am satisfied that they are distinct : 



" This fish is plentiful at Penetanguishene, on Lake Huron ; but I 

 am unable to determine whether it be the same with the C Artedi of 

 Le Sueur, which we have already noticed as an inhabitant of Lake 

 Erie. Baron Cuvier's remark upon our specimen was, ' Espece nou- 

 velle voisine des Coregones.'' It resembles C. Lucidus very nearly ; its 

 larger head, smaller scales, and a slight difference in the position of 

 its ventrals being the principal distinctive characters I have been able 

 to detect in the dried specimens. Having lost my notes of the dissec- 

 tions which I made of C. Lucidus, and having examined the recent 

 specimens of C Harengus only cursorily, I can say nothing respect- 

 ing any differences that may exist in their viscera. An argument 

 against the identity of the species may be adduced from their habitats 

 being upwards of twenty degrees of latitude apart. 



" The Lake Huron Herring Salmon is gregarious, like the Bear 

 Lake one, and frequents sandy bays during the summer months. It 

 spawns in April and May, and at that time is occasionally seen in 

 rivers. According to Mr. Todd's observations, it is ' a timid fish, ap- 

 pears to be in constant rapid motion, and associates in shoals in pursuit 

 of the fry of the small fishes on which it feeds. As an article of diet, 

 it is well tasted and wholesome, though much less rich and agreeable 

 than the Attihawmeg. 



