542 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



The figures indicate no significant differences between the two forms, and such 

 inequalities as are apparent probably would be reduced by a study of more specimens. 



The color in life is not different, so far as has been observed, from that described 

 for Superior specimens, and alcoholics do not differ materially in color from the pre- 

 served Superior specimens, except possibly pigment is less abundant, on the average, 

 though it is distributed in the same areas. 



Pearl organs are developed in the breeding season by the adults of both sexes. 

 Only a few specimens ready to spawn were seen, and in these the development of 

 the pearls was like that described for the Huron form. 



VAK1ATI0NS 



Racial variations. — There are not enough collected specimens to analyze for the 

 purpose of ascertaining the existence of local races. What specimens have been 

 assembled do not indicate that these races, if they do exist, are marked by external 

 features. 



Size variations. — Most of the collected fish are approximately of the same size, 

 but in Table 95, 10 fish are compared extensively, among which are the largest and 

 the smallest specimens in the collection. The number of specimens is insufficient, of 

 course, but it is apparent from these figures that the usual changes with growth, 

 affecting at least the relative size of the head and the eye, are manifested by the 

 Ontario whitefish also. 



METHODS OF CAPTURE 



The commercial use of pound nets is prohibited on the shores of Lake Ontario, 

 and the trap and fyke nets are not particularly successful in taking whitefish, so that 

 virtually all the whitefish marketed are produced by gill nets, which are usually of 

 4^2 or 4% inch mesh. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



In Table 94 are given the data for the specimens I have collected. These are 

 platted on the chart of the lake in Figure 7. In addition to actual specimens, records 

 of the occurrence of the species are included in the account of the habits of the 

 species. From both sources it is apparent that the species is distributed along the 

 lake's shores, though it is by no means abundant enough everywhere to be of com- 

 mercial significance. 



SEASONAL MOVEMENTS 



Along the Canadian shore, where the whitefish is most abundant, the fishermen 

 say the fish are to be found on the shoals when the ice leaves in April (Brighton, Port 

 Hope, Bronte). In June they move into deeper water and are then fished for at about 

 8 to 12 fathoms. As the water becomes warmer they retreat still deeper and in 

 August may be caught down to depths of 25 fathoms. The best lifts are made when 

 the fish are in this deep water. A lift witnessed by me on August 27, 1923, off Sandy 

 Pond, N. Y., from 24 fathoms had from 35 to 62 fish per 20 rods of net of 4%-inch 

 mesh. The nets had been set three nights. In September the weather usually is 

 unsettled and the fish probably rise from the bottom; at least, not many are caught. 

 In October they move inshore again, and in November the schools are back on the 



