104 
THE BOOK OF FISHES 
Photograph by E. R. Sanborn, New York Zoological Society 
TEN-YEAR-OLD WHITEFISH 
These specimens were hatched in the New York Aquarium. Being the only Whitefishes of known age 
available, scales from them are used by biologists in checking the results of studies of the ages of wild 
Whitefishes. 
when the cold Arctic streams are about as warm as 
they ever get, and the Pikes were probably spawn¬ 
ing. In our Northern States they spawn soon after 
the ice leaves, and the eggs hatch in about three 
weeks. 
The annual yield of Pike and Pickerel in the net 
fisheries of the Great Lakes exceeds 2,000,000 
pounds. The identity of the Pike is often lost in 
the name Pickerel, with which it is associated in 
much of its geographic range. 
An inhabitant of the shallower waters in summer, 
the Pike in winter seeks greater depths, doubtless 
following its food supply, and is taken on baited 
hooks set through the ice. In summer it is a 
solitary still hunter, lurking about the edges of 
weedy or brushy places. It is taken with all sorts 
of live and artificial baits, in trolling, casting, and 
skittering. 
Many anglers consider Pike and Pickerel fishing 
a high form of sport and value them also as food- 
fishes, but there are others who think differently. 
We have enjoyed them both on the line and in the 
pan. 
LAKE STURGEON 
(Acipenser rubicundus) 
{For illustration see Color Plate^ ^20) 
The Lake Sturgeon is the largest fish of the 
Great Lakes and, next to the Paddle-fish and the 
Giant Gar of the Mississippi River, our largest 
fresh-water fish. It never reaches the great size 
of the Sea Sturgeons ascending rivers of the Atlantic 
and Pacific coasts. Milner, who examined many in 
the early seventies, saw none longer than six feet, 
but found reports around the Lakes of larger 
Sturgeons. In 1922 a Sturgeon was taken in Lake 
Huron which measured seven feet three inches and 
weighed 225 pounds. 
The history of the Sturgeon is a story of wanton 
waste. In 1872 Milner reported a fishing firm at 
Sandusky, Ohio, engaged in preparing smoked 
Sturgeon and caviar, which used from 10,000 to 
18,000 Sturgeons a year. Before this firm began 
to utilize them the local catch of Sturgeons, which 
were always present in the nets, was destroyed as 
useless. This was also the practice elsewhere on 
the Lakes. 
When the value of the fish was finally recognized, 
its decimation proceeded so rapidly that it soon 
became scarce and has been so ever since. 
The difficulties encountered in the propagation 
of the Sturgeon by artificial methods have so far 
been only partially overcome. The breeding sizes 
available for experimental fish-culture are now so 
limited that extermination is feared. 
In 1880 the catch of Sturgeons in the Great 
Lakes exceeded 7,000,000 pounds. In 1917 it had 
fiillen to less than 100,000. In the upper Mis¬ 
sissippi River and its tributaries the catch has 
fallen in proportion. 
The Sea Sturgeons have also decreased at a 
rapid rate and fish-culture has made little prog¬ 
ress in propagating any of them. 
When we consider that the caviar alone 
from a single large female Atlantic Sturgeon is 
worth nearly |ioo, It is easy to realize what the 
passing of this fish means. Such is the rate at 
