GREAT LAKES COREGONIDS 



341 



reighardi, and nigripinnis, and in some lakes the bloaters Qioyi) and the kiyi (fciyi), 

 all of which occur in deep water; (2) the lake herring artedi and possibly nipigon, 

 shallow-water forms feeding chiefly above the bottom; and (3) the whitefishes 

 clupeaformis and quadrilaterale, shallow-water forms feeding chiefly on the bottom. 

 The natural history of most of these forms is treated in connection with descriptions 

 that follow. The chubs and bloaters, however, are a commercial group, the mem- 

 bers of which are handled by the fishermen as a unit, as all are taken in gill nets 

 set in deep water. It is convenient, therefore, to analyze here the data concerning 

 them, obtained chiefly from fishermen's records, and to see what conclusions they 

 warrant. What follows in this section has reference chiefly to chubs but contains 

 incidental references to commercially valueless bloaters that are taken with them. 

 The reading of this section may be undertaken more profitably, perhaps, after 

 page 476. 



The term "chubs" is said first to have been applied to deep-water Leucichthys 

 by the Chicago markets. The fishermen also call them" longjaws," "bluefins" 

 (abbreviated to "jaws" and "fins"), "tullibees," "mooneyes," and "ciscoes." All 

 of these names are used locally in varying senses and are not applied to the same 

 fish by fishermen in different parts of the lakes; but wherever any of the above 

 colloquial names is current any one of them may be used to designate a catch con- 

 taining all the species. All are fat, herringlike fish, which inhabit the deeper waters. 



In the Federal statistics all species of Leucichthys have been grouped together 

 as "ciscoes," and the total of "ciscoes" has been from one-third to one-fourth of 

 the entire output of the Great Lakes. The chubs have made up a variable but 

 considerable part of this total. 



Chubs occur in all the lakes except Erie. In Lake Nipigon, though certain 

 species apparently are abundant, they have not yet become marketable. In Lake 

 Ontario there are now only three species that probably are'j abundant enough 

 to be taken in commercial quantities, but few examples of these species ever 

 attain sufficient size to be captured by the 3-inch gill net (which is the 

 minimum mesh allowed), so that these fish here have no economic significance .Qin 

 Lake Superior the bluefin (nigripinnis) was commercially very important for a 

 few years at the beginning of the century, but now it is commercially extinct. Of 

 the other species, zenithicus is the only large chub that is common enough to be 

 caught in commercial quantities. It has had little favor with the markets be- 

 cause of its thin body and only a few have ever been caught. The chub-fishing 

 industry for years has been important on Lake Michigan, where it is supported 

 by no less than seven species — -johannx, dlpense, zenithicus, reighardi, nigripinnis, 

 Iciyi, and hoyi. It is important on Lake Huron, also, where it is sustained by four 

 species only. Reighardi is not known to occur in the lake, and Iciyi and hoyi do not 

 grow large enough regularly to gill in chub nets. 



Chub fishing started on Lake Ontario as early as 1860. The fish taken at 

 this time were called ciscoes and bloaters instead of chubs. This fishery was carried 

 on chiefly off the western and southern shores of the lake and did not attain sufficient 

 proportions to affect more than the local fish trade. By 1900 the fishery was ex- 

 hausted, and one of the species that sustained it apparently was exterminated. On 

 Lake Michigan, so far as can be learned, chubs were being taken as early as 1869. 



