892 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



tDEO. 3, 1891. 



YELLOWSTONE PARK FISHES. 



THE Fish Commission has recently published in its 

 "Bulletin" some interesting and valuable reports of 

 explorations of waters in various regions of our country. 

 Among these the reconnoissance of 

 the streams and lakes of the Yel- 

 lowstone National Park by Dr. 

 David Starr Jordan, on account of 

 the popular sympathy with the 

 efforts of the Government to pro- 

 tect and improve this great "pleas- 

 uring grouQd" and the effective 

 manner in which the explorer has 

 handled his mission of inquiry, 

 is attracting well-merited praise. 

 This paper is rendered all the 

 more acceptable by the many 

 fine illustrations which enrich and 

 explain the text. 



Dr. Jordan's exploration was 

 made in the fall of 1889 at the 



request of Commissioner McDonald. Dr. Charles H. 

 Gilbert and Mr. W, W. Spangler assised in the investiga- 

 tion, and the most hearty and intelligent cooperation of 

 Capt. F. A. Boutelle, Lieut. W. 

 E. Craighill and Lieut. Edwards, 

 as well as the services as guide of 

 Mr. Elwood Hofer, contributed 

 greatly to the successful prosecu- 

 tion of the work. Numerous 

 streams of the Yellowstone, Mad- 

 ison and Snake River basins were 

 examined and trout were found 

 in the following: Yellowstone 

 River, Yellowstone Lake, Riddle 

 Lake, Solution Creek, Trout Creek, 

 Alum Creek, Antelope Creek, 

 Black-tail Deer Creek, Lava Creek, 

 Lupine Creek, Gardiner Elver, 

 Madison River, Gibbon River, 

 Canon Creek, Horse Thief Spring, 



Heart Lake and Witch Creek. In Riddle Lake trout live 

 at an altitude of 7,900ft. 



According to Dr. Jordan the Yellowstone Park is a 

 plateau with an elevation of 7,000 

 to 8,000ft. above the sea, and for 

 the most part covered with lava of 

 Pliocene age. The lava flow was 

 fatal to fish life. Since its surface 

 has become cold the waters flow- 

 ing over it have been inhabited by 

 plants, insects and crustaceaus 

 suitable for fish food, but not with 

 fishes, since the streams leave the 3 

 lava beds over falls having a 

 height of 50 to 308ft. "The water 



of the geysers and other calcareous and silicious springs 

 does not appear to he objectionable to fishes. la Yellow- 

 stone Lake trout are especially abundant about the hot 

 overflow from the Lake Geyser 

 Basin. The hot water flows for a 

 • time on the surfat'e, and trout may 

 be taken immediately under these 

 cui-rents. Trout have also been 

 known to rise to a fly through a 

 scalding hot surface current. 

 They linger in the neighborhood 

 of hot springs in the bottom of the 

 lake. This is TH'obably owing to 

 the abuudanoe' of food in these 

 warm waters, but the fact is evi- 

 dent that geyser water does not 

 kill trout. Tlie Hot River, which 

 drains the Mammoth Hot Springs, 

 flows into Gardiner River. Trout 

 abound about the mouth of this 

 stream, and here, as in numerous 

 other places in the Park, the con- 

 ventional trick of catching a trout 



in cold and scalding it in hot water is possible." The 

 number of fishes found in the Park was very small, in- 

 cluding only ten kinds, of which two are suckers, four 

 minnows and chubs, a grayling, 

 a whiteflsh, a red- throated trout, 

 and the inevitable scourge of all 

 trout waters, the blob or fresh- 

 water sculpin. The fish fauna . 

 was augmented in August and * 

 September, 1889, by the following 

 plants by the Fish Commission: 

 Five thousand trout (fontinalis) 

 in Glen Creek and in Gardiner 

 River above the falls; 1,000 rain- 

 bow trout {irideiis) in Gibbon 

 River; 1,000 Loch Leven trout in 



Firehole River, above Keppler's Cascades, and 1,000 

 "Williamson's whitefish in Twin Lakes, and the same 

 number in Yellowstone River below the lake. One of 

 the species of sucker was found to 

 be infested with a flat intestinal 

 worm, sometimes reaching a foot 

 in length, but apparently not af- 

 fecting the health of the fish. 

 The large chub of Heart Lake and 

 Witch Greek (Leuciscus atrarius) 

 was full of eggs at the end of 

 September, unusually late in the 

 yea:. About the whitefish Dr. 

 Jordan reports as follows: "The 

 moantain whitefish is abundant 

 in the Madison River below the 

 falls. It is said to be equally 

 common in the Yellowstone, but 

 none were obtained by us. It is a 

 slender and graceful fish, readily 

 taking the fly like a grayling or 

 trout. It is most abundant, so far 



as we have noticed, in the eddies or deeper places in 

 swift streams. It seems to be essentially a river_ fish, 

 rather than an inhabitant of lakes." "The grayling is 

 ve y abundant in the Madison River below the junction 

 of ihe Firehole and the Gibbon. Numerous specimens 

 were collected for us in Horse Thief Spring, a small 

 Bti- am just outside the limits of the Park, by Mr. Lucas. 

 Th3 grayliog is said to ascend the river in summer as far 

 {is the |i'irehole Falls ^nd (gibbon Falls. It is said also to 



be found in the Gallatin River, in the northwestern part 

 of the Park." 



Dr. Jordan refers all the trout of the Park to a single 

 species, represented by numerous color varieties, but all 

 black spotted and having a characteristic red dash across 



(tRay Sucker. 



BjEd HoasE Sucker. 



near the bridge below the mouth of the Hot River. Dr. 

 Jordan considers it identical with, or a slight variety of, 

 the gray sucker of the Platte "Valley. It is closely 

 similar to the common long-nosed sucker of the Eastern 

 States, and is believed to reach a length of IBin. The 

 color is "dark gray, irregularly 

 mottled and barred with black." 



2. The Red Hokse Suckee, {Ca- 

 tostomus ardens). — This is a large- 

 Ecaled species, represented by ex- 

 amples measuring from 6 to 16in., 

 occurring in Witch Creek and 

 Heart Lake. It was considered to 

 be identical with the common 

 sucker of Utah. "Tliis fact, to- 

 gether with the general afiinity of 

 the fishes of Heart Lake with those 

 of the Great Basin, suggests that 

 the faima of the Upper Snake 

 River, above the great Shoshone 

 Falls, may have been derived from 

 the Great Basin rather than from 



the throat. "The trout of the Yellowstone Lake and of 1 the Lower Columbia." Tape worms fiourisb in this fish, 

 many of its tributaries above the falls are infested by a sometimes occupying more space than all the abdominal 

 parasitic worm {Dibothrium cordiceps),'' which has been i viscera, yet the parasitized suckers appear to sufi'er no 



loss of flesh because of the inflic- 

 tion. 



3. The Dace {BMnichthys did- 

 cis). — Like the well-known black- 

 nosed dace of the East this little 

 fish inhabits cold and clear moun- 

 tain streams. It reaches a length 

 vf about oin., and is to be found 

 in cascades and swift brooks. The 

 fish is believed to be suitable for 

 introduction into trout streams as 

 food for trout. 



4. The Brook Minnow (Agos^ia 

 aubila). — This small dace-like fish 

 inhabits brooks and swift waters, 

 resembling the last species in ap - 

 pearance and habits, and was 



made the subject of a special report by Prof. Edwin i taken rather commcnly also in the warm waters of 

 Linton. "In the trout examined the presence of many Witch Creek. It belongs to the Columbia Basin, extend- 

 worms was accompanied by a shrunken or irregular | ing southward at least to Utah. 



5. The Utah Chdb (Leuciscus 

 atrarius). — The chub abounds in 

 Heart Lake and ascends its tribu- 

 tary, Witch Creek, into water 

 having a temperature of 88", The 

 Cemales were full of eggs in Oc- 

 tober. In Utah Lake the fish 

 reaches a length of 20in., and is 

 very destructive to young trout. 



Dace. 4. Brook Minnow. 6 The Banded Chub (iewciscMS 



hydropnlox). — A handsome species 

 growing to a length of 4ln. Dr. 



condition of the ovaries or testes. Perhaps spent fish i Jordan found it in Heart Lake and Witch Greek. The 

 are more likely to be wormy. According to Mr. Arnold fish has been taken in Blackfoot Creek, Idaho, a tribu- 

 i Hague, the best trout are in swift or deep waters; the | tary of Snake River. "Color silvery, a plumbeous lateral 



band, dusted with dark points: 

 traces of red coloration on belly in 

 largest specimen." 



7. The Moottain WniTEFX'-tJi 

 {CoregonuH iv-ilUaiUsoii i, var. (v'.s- 

 inontamis). — Found in the Madi- 

 son River below the falls, and 

 attributed also to the Yellowstone. 

 "It is a slender and graceful fish, 

 readily taking the fly like a gray- 

 ling or trout. It is most abund- 

 ant, so far as we have noticed, in 

 the eddies or deeper places in swift 

 streams. It seems to be essenti- 

 ally a river fish, rather than an 

 inhabitant of lakes." From the 

 typical Williamson's whitefish the 

 Park variety differs in its much 

 more slender body and shorter 

 fins. The Montana whitefish, de- 



wormy ones about eddies or among logs or masses of I scribed by Milner from Chief Mountain Lake, is con- 

 floating vegetation. The wormy trout takes the fly sidered by Dr. Jordan to be identical with Williamson's 

 freely, but is in general little gamy. In fact, all the I —a conclusion reached independently by the writer some 



years ago. 



"J. The Grayling {Thymallus 

 ontariemis). — This fine species 

 was found abundant in the Madi- 

 son below the junction of the Fire- 

 hole and the Gibbon. The supply 

 used in stocking the Yellowstone 

 was taken in Horse Thief Spring. 



In the Gallatin this grayling is 



^ --^ very common, as we have an- 



^ Dounced in Forest and Stream. 



b. Banded Chdb. -y^^ cannot admit the identity of 



the Michigan and Montana gray- 

 Yellowstone trout seem less active than is usual for the i ling with that of Alaska; signifer has a much higher 

 species." Dr. Jordan accounts for the presence of the dorsal fin besides good character about the skull, which 

 blob in Gibbon River above the falls by its probable trans- 1 make its sepai-ation easy. 



9. The Red-Throated Trout 

 (Sahno purx>uratus).—Di: Jordan 

 refers all the black-spotted trout 

 native to the Park waters to a 

 single species, the purpuratus of 

 Pallas, for which he uses the 

 doubtful name mykiss of Wal- 

 baum. Variations in the number 

 and size of the black spots are 

 conamon, but the essential char- 

 acters remain the same. Yellow- 

 stone Lake is believed to have 

 been stocked originally from Snake 

 River, through Pacific Creek, Two 

 Ocean Pass, and Atlantic Creek, 

 and an interchange of individuals 

 across the Continental Divide is 

 still a probable occurrence. The 

 existence of a tape worm in this 

 trout was discussed in our columns of Oct. 33. "The 

 wormy trout are leaner and more comi)ressed than others, 

 and the sides of the belly are likely to show ridges and 

 lumps. The flesh is said to be redder in the diseased fish, 

 and the external color is more likely to be dusky or 

 brassy." Spent fish are probably more likely to be wormy. 



10. The Miller's Thumb (Coitus hairdi, var. punctu- 

 latus), — This pest of salmon and trout waters abounds in 

 the grassy bottoms of Madison River, Gibbon River, and 



Utah Chub. 



Mountain Whitefish. 



portation from lower waters by the osprey or eome other 

 fish- eating bird. The article is accompanied by a map of 

 the Park, figures of all the fishes, and many plates show- 

 ing the obstructions limiting the natural distribution of 

 fishes. 



1. The Gray Sucker (Catostomus gi'isevs). — Small ex- 

 amples of this sucker were found abundant in the Yel- 

 lowstone and Gardiner rivers below the falls, and the 

 young were caught in large numbers in Gardiner River 



