COMMON FISHES OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER 
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(1908) say that the stubnose is the largest buffalo fish of the Illinois River, but con- 
ditions in that relatively sluggish stream are very different from those in the Missis- 
sippi. In the upper river, generally, the stubnose is thought to be less abundant 
than the roachbacks, but this may be partly because it is less sought after. It is said 
that in recent years the stubnose has come to supersede the other species in the river 
just below Iveokuk, where it is taken mostly in the slack waters below the Govern- 
ment-built wing dams. It is the common buffalo fish of the Illinois River. (Forbes 
and Richardson, 1908.) 
The roachback is a more migratory fish, in the opinion of fishermen. At any 
rate, it fives more in the current of the river and is lither in form and swifter in action. 
Fishermen in the region of Lake City, Minn., and Lynxville, Wis., complain of the 
great diminution of “humpbacks” since the dam was built. On the other hand, at all 
points from Fairport, Iowa, to Keokuk, this was said to be easily the most abundant 
species of buffalo fish; the only report to the contrary was heard at Oquakwa, where 
buglers were said to be equally abundant with roachbacks and at New Boston, where 
comment was made on an unusual predominance of the “roundheads” in that year. 
The bugler is chiefly southern in distribution. It is never abundant now in the 
river above Muscatine but appears rather prominently in the region of New Boston 
and southward and just below Keokuk seems to take rank with the roachback. Mr. 
Canfield says that this species is much more abundant in Arkansas, where it attains a 
very large size. 
There are several points upon which nearly all fishermen of the Mississippi River 
above Keokuk are in agreement. One is that buffalo fishes of very large size, 20 to 
40 pounds, once common in the upper Mississippi as they are now in Arkansas 
(Canfield), are now very infrequent. This would be attributed more plausibly to the 
results of continued intensive fishery or to conditions affecting food supply (such as 
pollution) than to the dam. Another point of agreement is that the years 1925 and 
1926 were poor years for buffalo fishes, due to stages of low water at the wrong seasons, 
but there was a relatively heavy catch of buffalo fishes about 1924. 
The buffalo fishes and carp from Lake Keokuk command a much higher price in 
the large markets than do those of any other portion of the upper river. The higher 
value is due to the form and fatness of the lake fish. 
There is in print little definite information regarding the spawning habits of the 
buffalo fishes. For a long time reference could be made only to a letter of A. A. 
Mosher to Commissioner Baird, written from Spirit Lake, Iowa, on April 24, 1885, 
and published in the Bulletin of the United States Fish Commision for 1S85, p. 190. 
His vivid account is worth quoting, although the species is uncertain (it was probably 
cyprinella ) : 
When the water begins to grow warm after the ice goes out, these fish are around the shores in 
immense quantities; they are in bunches of from 3 to 7 or 8; the female is in the center, and when she 
sinks to the bottom to deposit her eggs, the males crowd around and under her, pushing her to the 
top of the water, until their tails and fins are out; then they make a tremendous rush, causing the 
water to foam, and with a noise which can be heard on a still evening a mile they go ahead for a few 
rods, then sink, and the same performance is done over. The people call it “tumbling”; in fact, it 
is a sight which once seen will never be forgotten. 
Mosher conducted an experiment in propagation by placing the mature fish in a 
small basin grown over with cane grass, about 15 feet square and 18 or 20 inches deep. 
He removed the adult fisji after spawning and recovered a large number of small fish 
in the fall. Nothing further seems to have been done along this line until the fish- 
