472 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



ensnarled in the netting. Numbers of bloaters are taken in the same manner in the 

 43^-inch whitefish nets, and all the specimens listed in Table 62 probably were caught 

 in gear of these types. Through the use of these nets alone nothing definite can be 

 ascertained about the depth range of the species, as the capture of individuals is 

 accidental; and, moreover, it is very likely that they also took bloaters, when set at 

 other depths, of which no record was made. The records, however, show no speci- 

 mens in less than 15 fathoms, from which nets were lifted on August 1, 1922, in 

 Ombabika Bay and on July 29, 1924, in Orient Bay (records 9 and 4). The set 

 lifted on September 3, 1923, in Humboldt Bay, which took a number of bloaters, 

 extended from 6 to 35 fathoms and obviously was set on a bank (record 7), but it is 

 not known that any fish were caught at the shallow end of the gang. The deepest 

 record is the capture of specimens on July 25, 1924, off Blackwater River in 54 

 fathoms (record 6). Present data, therefore, indicate that the bloater ranges 

 between the depths of 15 and 54 fathoms, but these data do not fix the limits of 

 the zone of distribution. 



RELATIVE ABUNDANCE 



The only criterion of the abundance of the species is the frequency of the acci- 

 dental captures of specimens in the nets set for other species. Od July 26, 1922, 

 off Macdiarmid in 30 fathoms (record 1) bloaters were common. In another lift 

 of the same kind and quantity of netting made by me on July 25, 1922, off the source 

 of the Nipigon River in 10 to 15 fathoms, and in a lift made with half the quantity 

 of netting on July 28, 1922, 2}/2 miles south of Livingston Point in 56 fathoms, no 

 specimens were taken. No statements of frequency of occurrence accompany the 

 records in Table 62, and in the absence of more information on this point no con- 

 clusions can be drawn, but it is interesting that the one observation suggests that the 

 depth preference may be as in Lake Michigan. 



BREEDING HABITS 



Nothing is known about the time or place of spawning of the species. Speci- 

 mens were taken only between July 25 and October 26. Those on the earliest date 

 had not spawned recently, and those on the latest were not yet ripe. Two females 

 had ova in a considerably more advanced state of development than the rest and 

 apparently were nearly ripe, but the 15 other specimens showed no indications that 

 they would spawn soon. Occasional females with ova larger than those of the bulk 

 of the race were found among the specimens collected during the summer, and a 

 similar condition has been reported for the species in Lake Superior. (See p. 469.) 



Leucichthys hoyi of Lake Ontario 



The bloater of Lake Ontario is like that of Lake Michigan in respect to general 

 appearance and to the size commonly attained. The largest example collected 

 measured 277 millimeters, as compared with 265 millimeters, which is the largest 

 specimen from Lake Michigan; but as in Lake Michigan, very few fish over 250 milli- 

 meters were collected. The important systematic characters of the two forms are 

 compared below: 



