1915] 
Pearse: Food of Small Shore Fishes 
21 
Nine of the species studied are not used for food by man because 
they never attain sufficient size. But this does not mean that 
such fish are of no economic importance. We are not yet in a 
position to say how the elimination of any one would affect the 
balance of fish life in a lake. Such a disturbance might react 
favorably or unfavorably for man. Many of these small fishes 
serve as food for larger species. 
The seven species used for food by man eat more insects and 
insect larvae than anything else, though entomostracans make 
up an important part of the daily food. Doubtless most of these 
species depend very largely on entomostracans for food just after 
they hatch from the eggs. Forbes (’80) has emphasized this 
dependence of small fishes upon entomostracans. He says, (p. 33), 
“It will thus be seen that the food of the common perch has a 
food history of three periods — the periods of infancy, youth, and 
mature age. In the first it lives wholly on Entomostraca and the 
minutest larvae of Diptera; in the second, commencing when the 
fish is about an inch and a half in length, it takes up first the 
smaller and then the larger kinds of aquatic insects in gradually 
increasing ratio, the entomostracan food at the same time dimin- 
ishing in importance; and in the third it appropriates, in addition, 
mollusks, crawfishes, and fishes — in the lake specimens depend- 
ing almost wholly on the last two elements.” 
In his excellent paper on the food of salmonoid fishes Atkins 
( 7 08) says, “it is to be borne in mind that fishes are by nature 
dependent for nourishment on living animals. Under these cir- 
cumstances it behooves us to look for food supplies as near nature 
as possible.” He has shown conclusively the superiority of liv- 
ing fly larvae as food for young salmon. There is no reason why 
his method should not only be used more widely but also ex- 
tended to other living fish foods. During most seasons it would 
be possible to collect great quantities of microscopic organisms 
from our inland lakes by means of pumps or fine meshed nets. 
Such plankton would furnish admirable food for the youngest 
fishes in hatcheries. 
Atkins, C. G. 
1908. Foods for Young Salmonoid Fishes. Bull. U. S. Bu. Fish., 28: 
839-851. 
