148 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
still in them. In such circumstances we would not venture a prediction that paddle- 
fish, however abundant in Lake Keokuk, will regain the former status in the upper 
river, either by local propagation or by invasion from below. 
From the figures brought together by Oscar E. Sette (1925, p. 209), it appears 
that the paddlefish, after a marked decline following the census year of 1899, has 
been holding its own as a commercial resource of the Mississippi Basin generally 
(not considering any particular part of the basin). 
Below is shown, in pounds, the product of the paddlefish fisheries of the Missis- 
sippi River and tributaries (not including the Atchafalay a) for various years : 
Pounds 
1894 1 , 028,445 
1899 2 , 473,250 
1903 1 , 421,086 
1908 1 , 439,000 
1922 1 , 328,991 
SUMMARY 
The paddlefish, though not looming relatively large in the product of the com- 
mercial fisheries of the basin, is, pound for pound, one of the most valuable fishes of 
the region. Formerly sold under a false name, it has now come to stand upon its 
own merits. Furthermore, its roe has a fancy value for the production of caviar. 
The breeding of paddlefish has never been observed but is presumed to occur in early 
spring. 
Soon after the construction of the dam there was evidence of a marked decline of 
the fishery above the dam, with later suggestion of partial recovery. The recovery, 
particularly notable in Lake Keokuk, has been more marked in recent years, and there 
is little doubt that paddlefish are now self-propagating in the lake and are finding 
there favorable conditions for growth. From the time of construction of the dam up 
to 1926 paddlefish with broken snouts have been seen not infrequently in the river 
just below the dam; the precise origin of the injuries can not now be fixed. It has 
been shown experimentally that paddlefish can pass through the turbines or over the 
spillways without suffering such injury, but this does not prove that injuries may not 
be incurred in such passages. 
THE STURGEONS (Acipenseridas) 
Among the most valuable of all fresh-water fishes are the representatives of the 
sturgeon family. These are esteemed for the staple food their bodies afford and for 
the high-priced delicacy prepared from their large eggs. The swim bladders of stur- 
geons are also useful for the preparation of fish isinglass. Like the paddlefish, the 
sturgeons are large in size but peculiarly inoffensive to other fishes. Their toothless 
jaws prohibit their deliberate preying upon their neighbors, and the only damage they 
can do is through participation in the general competition for small articles of food or 
the occasional sucking in of small fish and eggs along with the bottom material and 
organisms that seem to constitute their habitual diet. Again like the paddlefish, 
they have displayed wonderful abilities to survive through long ages the physical 
vicissitudes of the earth, while they have shown little power to resist the destructive 
activities of modern man in America. For we in America, it must be admitted, have 
been much more successful than the Russians and other Europeans in the destruction 
of the valuable sturgeon. Notwithstanding the long history of the sturgeon fishery 
