214 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
CERTAIN FISHES OF MINOR IMPORTANCE 
We may insert here some records regarding species that were rarely found. 
Common pike. Esox lucius (Linn6) 
PICKEREL 
Keokuk is evidently south of the common range of the true pike in the Mississippi 
River. The so-called “pike” of the river is, of course, the pike perch or walleye, 
another kind of fish (p. 204). In 1916 pickerel were recorded four times, the dates and 
lengths (in centimeters over all) being as follows: April 18, 49; April 25, 18.5; May 14, 
29; June 19, 8.3. The last-mentioned example was brought as a curiosity to the Alex- 
andria market and the others were caught near Keokuk and Hamilton. The fish 
taken April 25 was destroyed in the burning of the Fairport laboratory, having been 
doubtfully identified as E. vermiculatus . While ordinarily pickerel seem to be nowhere 
abundant in the Mississippi River, they were being taken in Lake Pepin in 1926 in 
surprising numbers, as compared with other species of fish that were very scarce. 
Top minnow. Fundulus notatus (Rafinesque) 
The only record of this species is based on a specimen caught somewhere in the 
vicinity of Keokuk and brought to Stringham on July 20, 1915. 
Brook stickleback. Eucalia inconstans (Kirkland) 
One stickleback, measuring 2.77 centimeters over all, was caught near the ice 
boom above the lock on July 11, 1916. 
Brook silverside. Labidesthes sicculus (Cope) 
Two examples were seined in Larry Creek, August 12, 1915, and in the following 
year, on August 22 again on September 2, single examples weie taken in the river 
between Warsaw and Hamilton. 
Eelpout. Lota maculosa (Le Sueur) 
LAWYER 
The eelpout, though not seen by Stringham or by the author, has been recorded 
from the Mississippi River. (Wagner, 1908, Lake Pepin; Forbes and Richardson, 1908, 
“occasionally taken in the Ohio and the upper Mississippi.”) Luther MacAdams, 
at Keokuk, said that he has seen as many as a half dozen examples in the vicinity of 
Keokuk; the description of the fish that he offered gives credence to his statement. 
The species is not known to most of the fishermen of the river. Mr. Kayo, of Lynx- 
ville, Wis.,said in 1926 that eelpouts or “lawyers” had not been known in that region 
until within the past few years, but that now a good many were taken in bait nets 
fished in cool waters in the fall, and that they ranged in length up to 30 inches. 
THE LAMPREYS (Petromyzonidse) 
Silver lamprey. I chthyomyzon concolor (Kirtland) 
The lamprey, while not used as food, is of economic significance as an enemy of 
fishes. As matter of fact, lampreys are edible. The lampreys of Europe are esteemed 
as food, but those of America seem not to have come into the market in any signifi- 
cant way. They “attach themselves to the bodies of fishes by means of the sucking 
