408 
ORDERS OF FISHES— TROUT AND SALMON 
the Common Whitefish 1 is an undisguised 
blessing. To them it is all that the shad is to the 
East, or the salmon to the Pacific coast. When- 
ever the traveller between Cleveland and Omaha 
discovers before him a large fish of excellent 
flavor, he may be sure that it is either a White- 
fish or a lake trout, from one of the great lakes, 
and worthy of profound respect. 
But for the fact that this fish is so well and so 
widely known, many pages might be written of 
it without exhausting the subject. Dr. Jordan 
considers the Whitefishes the most important 
group of fresh-water fishes of North America, 
and probably of the world. 
1 Co-re-go' mis clu-pe-i-for'mis. 
The home of this group extends from Niagara 
to Chicago and Duluth. The average weight of 
a typical fish is about 4 pounds, but specimens 
weighing 20 pounds have been taken. In 1899, 
the catch of Whitefish (all species) amounted to 
6,862,094 pounds, worth $345,640. In 1898 
the catch in Canadian waters, say Jordan and 
Evermann, amounted to about 18 million pounds, 
worth $877,000. 
In winter, the Whitefish retires to the deepest 
portions of the great lakes, and is beyond the 
reach of fishermen. In the spring, it frequents 
the shallower waters, near shore, where it spawns, 
and lingers to fall a prey to the gill-net fishermen, 
even until late in the autumn. 
