COMMON FISHES OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER 
167 
the same date was recorded “possibly a spent female.” For July 1 and 2 occur the 
records “eggs flowed on pressure.” After the latter date no fish were found with 
well-developed reproductive organs. 
In 1916, 19 fish in all were examined on 12 dates between May 8 and August 30. 
The following records are of interest: May 23, “eggs flowed from dead fish”; June 3, 
“milt flowed slightly on pressure”; June 17, “eggs 0.8 millimeter”; July 14, “possibly 
spent female.” At practically all times fish of considerable size were found with 
reproductive organs in undeveloped condition. 
Many attempts made during several years to find a particular place and time 
where and when river herring were clearly spawning met with no success, although 
various methods of capture were tried. The problem proved unexpectedly baffling. 
Our data suggest only that the spawning season is prolonged, possibly beginning early 
in May; that the fish do not spawn in large aggregations; that during the spawning 
operations they are not readily captured by ordinary methods of fishery; and that 
spawning is ended soon after the first of July. 
The river herring is classed by local fishermen as an “early-run” fish — that is, 
one of those that appear in numbers at Keokuk on the Mississippi and at Ottumwa 
on the Des Moines at the beginning of the fishing season, or about April 15 to 30. 
Other fish of the same season are hickory shad, sturgeon, bass, pike, and pickerel, 
followed a little later by channel cat and then buffalo and carp. In 1914 they appeared 
at Keokuk about April 22 and were extremely abundant below the dam on April 
29. The first herring recorded by Stringham in 1915 was on April 19, and the first 
record of 1916 was for May 8, although they may have been present earlier. The 
fish were not so abundant in 1915 as in 1914 and were still less numerous below the 
dam in 1916. Whether this was due to actual diminution in the abundance of fish 
in the river, or whether the fish, having encountered the obstruction for one or two 
years, had been diverted to other waters can not be determined. In 1926 herring 
were reported to be abundant below the dam, some alleging that they were more 
abundant than before the dam. 
The aggregation of herring below the dam in 1914 was so striking that we may 
refer to the observations recorded by the author in another place (Coker, 1914, p. 
25) and quoted in part on page 94 of the companion report (Coker, 1929). No 
herring had been in evidence when the writer was at Keokuk on April 15, while the 
water was still cool. 
A local informant, Mr. Joe MacAdams, was requested to write me of the first appearance of 
the herring. After a card from him, I visited Keokuk again April 29. He stated that the herring 
first appeared April 20, and that they became enormously abundant within a few days; on the 27th 
according to several informants, during a warm day, one could at any moment see hundreds of them 
breaking the water in every part of the river below the plant. 
Then followed the personal observation of a remarkable assemblage of herring, 
which is described in the paragraphs quoted on page 94 of the companion report. 
(Coker, 1929.) The further observations not previously quoted are relevant. 
It was observed that the roe of the herring was large, and it was thought that they would ripen 
within a few weeks. A visit was made by Superintendent Canfield May 29, and a number of herring 
were examined, but they were found to be not quite ready for spawning. A later visit was made 
by Mr. W. B. Gorham, June 11 and 12, when it was found that the herring had disappeared. This 
disappearance had not been noted by the local fisherman for the reason that there were present in 
large numbers the Ohio shad, Alosa ohiensis, which is not generally, if ever, distinguished by fisher- 
men from the herring. There was no clew, therefore, as to what had become of the herring. 
