GREAT LAKES COREGONIDS 



513 



George Jones, a fisherman at Sodus, says that at one time the herring disappeared 

 entirely for a number of years from Sodus and returned later in abundance, and the 

 fishermen are now expecting them to disappear once more. 



LEUCICHTHYS NIPIGON Koelz 



Leucichthys nipigon, Koelz, 1925, pp. 1-3, Lake Nipigon; Dymond, 1926, pp. 61-62, PI. II, Lake 

 Nipigon. 



This species is not known to occur in any of the Great Lakes proper, but speci- 

 mens have been seen from Lake Winnipeg and from Black Sturgeon Lake near Lake 

 Nipigon. (Fig. 28.) 



The type is a male specimen (catalogue No. 87092, U. S. National Museum) 

 282 millimeters in length to the base of the caudal, collected in Lake Nipigon off 

 Macdiarmid at a depth of 30 fathoms on July 28, 1922. 



The fish grows to a larger size than any species of Leucichthys seen from the 

 Great Lakes, though it is possible that when these waters were virgin, as Lake Nipi- 

 gon now is, some individuals of the larger species in the Great Lakes equaled those 

 of this form in this respect. The largest specimen I have seen is from the University 

 of Toronto collection and measures 447 millimeters. Examples longer than 300 

 millimeters are common. The flesh appears to be dry, like that of lake herring 

 (artedi), and the shape of the body is very close to that of the deep-bodied, compressed, 

 tullibee type of this form; namely, it is elliptical in outline as seen from the side. 

 In the case of the largest examples, however, the anterior dorsal contour may rise 

 rather sharply at the occiput over two-thirds its course and then continue to the 

 dorsal insertion with little further elevation. The body is relatively very deep, 

 especially in the larger individuals, and is moderately compressed; the depth is 

 contained in the total length 3.5 [(3) 3.3-3.8 (4.1)] 63 times. The body width has 

 been so altered by artificial compression that in the preserved material at hand it 

 does not appear worth while to record the proportional relations of this character. 

 The head is moderately elongated and is contained 4 [(3.8) 3.9-4.1 (4.5)] times in 

 the total length. Its dorsal profile is nearly straight usually. The premaxillaries 

 are directed forward and make an angle of about 55° with the horizontal axis of the 

 head. The snout is contained 3.8 [(3.3) 3.5-3.8 (4)] times in the head length; the 

 eye 4.4 [(3.8) 4.4-4.6 (5.2)] times; and the maxillary 2.7 [(2.5-2.7 (3.1)] times. 

 The mandible in the type is equal in length to the upper jaw, but in the paratypes 

 it is often somewhat longer or shorter. The gill rakers on the first branchial arch 

 number 19 + 37 [19-21 (24)4-35-37 (43) = (54) 56-59 (66)]. The scales in the 

 lateral lines are 75 [(68) 72-77 (82)] in number. Scale rows 64 around the body just 

 in front of the dorsal and ventrals number 42 [(41) 43-45]; just in front of the adipose 

 and anus, 33 [(32) 33-34 (35)]; around the caudal peduncle at its commencement, 

 23 [(23) 24-25 (27)]. The pectorals are very long, being contained in the distance 

 from their insertion to the ventrals 1.8 [(1.4) 1.5-1.7 (1.9)] times. The ventrals also 

 are long. Their length divided into the distance from their origin to the insertion 

 of the anal equals 1.6 [(1.3) 1.4-1.5 (1.7)]. There are 10 [10-11] 61 dorsal rays, 



83 These and unmarked figures are based on measurements of 43 paratypes ranging in length from 220 to 447 millimeters. 



84 Ten specimens. 



