188 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
The most thorough and scientific inquiry into the presence of the alewife in Lake 
Ontario has been made by Dr. T. H. Bean, whose studies were published under the title 
“ On the occurrence of the Branch Alewife in certain lakes of Hew York.’ 7 * It is 
unfortuuate that this valuable essay could not have received a more general distribu • 
tion, especially among the fishing interests of the lakes in question, and thus contrib- 
uted to a proper appreciation of the actual conditions and to a dissipation of some of 
the erroneous and even absurd views that have become current. Dr. Bean appears to 
have proved that the fish were first observed in Lake Ontario in 1873, and holds that 
prior to the introduction of shad fry by the late Mr. Seth Green, of the Hew York fish 
commission, they were unknown in those waters. He concludes that the fish owe their 
existence in Lake Ontario to their accidental introduction with shad, and thinks that 
the evidence is against their migration up the St. Lawrence Biver from the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, the presence of the fish in the lower river at Montreal being unusual and 
altogether subsequent to their appearance in large numbers in Lake Ontario and the 
upper river. He says : 
We are in possession of information which seems to establish conclusively that the alewife does 
not occur in the lower water of the St. Lawrence River, nor was there any evidence of its presence at 
Montreal until the past nine years. 
Mr. Seth Green, jr., who was associated with his father in fish-cultural work for 20 
years, in a conversation with the writer on Hovember 10, 1891, emphatically denied 
that his father put alewife fry in Lake Ontario and stated that he always disclaimed 
any responsibility for the presence of this fish in the lake. It seems but proper and 
just that this statement should be recorded. 
It is probably within bounds to say that The alewife is the most abundant fish 
occurring in Lake Ontario. Schools of great size are often observed at or near the 
surface; gill nets, pound nets, trap nets, and other forms of apparatus have been known 
to take large quantities ; and thousands of young are caught in small seines to serve as 
bait in angling for bass, pike, etc. But it is by noting the enormous mortality that 
the most accurate idea is gained as to the wonderful prolificness of the alewife, the firm 
hold it has taken in this lake, and the extent to which it has populated the waters. 
The alewives of Lake Ontario are remarkable for their small size. On the Atlantic 
coast the average length of this species is about 11 or 12 inches, but in Lake Ontario 
no individuals of such large size are seen and the average length is very much less. 
Among several thousand specimens examined by the writer none were found to be over 
7 inches long, and the average was less than 6 inches. This stunting of growth, which 
is said to be gradually becoming more marked, has no doubt been produced by the 
unnatural conditions to which the fish are subjected. The extent to which this dwarfing 
has gone may be readily judged when it is stated that fish only 4 or 5 inches long have 
been caught with ripe spawn. 
The few notes that can be offered concerning the habits and migrations of the 
alewife in Lake Ontario do not add much, if anything, to the present knowledge of the 
species. One interesting habit witnessed, which no doubt accounts for the origin of 
one of the popular names, was the schooling of the fish at the surface in considerable 
numbers and their ^flipping” after the manner of menhaden. 
* The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States. Section i, Natural History of Aquatic 
Animals. Washington, 1884. 
