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BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



compressed herring of Erie, the alius type, or the still more extreme tullibee 41 of 

 the western Canadian lakes represented by the dark-colored manitoulinus in the 

 North Channel of Lake Huron. While a school in a given locality usually presents 

 a uniform appearance, specimens that show an approach to the extremes often may 

 be found in it. 



In all the Great Lakes and Lake Nipigon and in many of the deeper inland 

 glacial lakes of the basin the species Leucichthys artedi occurs, and it is represented 

 by races that resemble more or less closely one of these types. This variability in 

 external appearance has confused systematists, and in the absence of information 

 on their natural history many of these races have been described as distinct species. 

 In the latest revision of the coregonids of the Great Lakes, Jordan and Evermann 

 (1911) accredit seven such species and one subspecies to the Great Lakes. They 

 are listed here under the synonomy of L. artedi, and the reasons therefor are given 

 under the various systematic accounts of that species. Two subspecies of artedi 

 are recognized — albus, typically of Lake Erie but occurring also in Lakes Superior and 

 Ontario, and manitoulinus of the North Channel of Lake Huron. Typical artedi 

 are found in all the lakes. 



Leucichthys artedi artedi and artedi albus of Lake Erie 



The lake herring, while probably the most important commercial species in 

 Lake Erie, does not attain great size as a rule. The specimens taken in the 3-inch 

 gill netting, which is legal now everywhere and is employed most generally in their 

 capture, do not average a pound in weight regularly. However, specimens weighing 

 l}/2 pounds are not rare, expecially in the western sector, and individuals weighing 

 5 or 6 pounds have been reported. The shape of the body is usually decidedly fusi- 

 form, elongate, and subterete in specimens of little depth and shortened and more 

 or less compressed in deeper individuals. In side view the shape usually is decidedly 

 elliptical. The dorsal profile in that case rises gradually and evenly from the tip 

 of the premaxiliaries to the insertion of the dorsal and curves gently from the dorsal 

 to the caudal peduncle. The ventral profile is like the dorsal, except that from the 

 tip of the mandible to the ventrals and from the ventrals to the caudal peduncle 

 the lines are more curved than the opposite dorsal lines. Often in the case of speci- 

 mens from the western waters over 1 pound in weight, and sometimes in the case of 

 deep specimens not more than pound in weight, there is a sudden rise from the 

 occiput for one-fourth to one-third the distance to the dorsal insertion, so that 

 there is more or less of a hump in the occipital region of such individuals. In the 

 western sector the herring apparently grow larger (superficial examination of the 

 scales indicates that they also grow faster than those in the deeper waters of the 

 east), and jumbos (large individuals) are much more frequent than elsewhere in the 

 lake. Jordan and Evermann (1909), influenced by these characters, recognized 

 this form as a distinct species under the name eriensis. 



Rate of growth and body shape have been found to be so variable in the case 

 of the lake herring, and as this form differs in no way from other herrings in habit, 



41 Probably Salmo (Coregonus) tullibee of Richardson (1836), though it can not be stated so positively until material is known 

 for the type locality. Until this is available, the name may stand for the tullibee of Lake of the Woods and LakeWinnipeg, which 

 I consider members of the Leucichthys artedi species group. 



