OUR HERITAGE OF THE FRESH WATERS 
105 
which we are harvesting 
our wild crops. 
d'he Lake Sturgeon in¬ 
habits also the large interior 
lakes of British America, 
but statistics on the yield 
from those waters are not at 
hand. The small Shovel- 
nose Sturgeon of the Mis¬ 
sissippi River, belonging to 
a different genus, Is of much 
less value commercially. 
The Lake Sturgeon is in¬ 
offensive as far as other fishes 
are concerned, except as it 
may disturb their eggs, be¬ 
ing strictly a bottom feeder 
and living on mollusks, 
crustaceans, worms, and 
more or less small plant life. 
Its mouth, devoid of teeth 
and placed on the under 
surface ot the head, is sucker¬ 
like in form and can be 
protruded downward like 
those of Suckers. The 
heavy snout is used for 
stirring up the bottom. 
Sturgeons have lived only 
two or three years in the 
Aquarium, but doubtless 
would live longer in cap¬ 
tivity were it practicable to 
keep them in mud-bottomed 
pools and supplied with their 
natural foods. Unfortu¬ 
nately, aquatic animals 
confined under the con¬ 
ditions now practiced are 
compelled to subsist, es¬ 
pecially in winter, on such 
foods as the markets afford. 
'rhe Sturgeons are fishes 
of ancient lineage, the spe¬ 
cies having been more nu¬ 
merous in former ages, when 
they were more heavily ar¬ 
mored with bony scales 
than are those now exist¬ 
ing. All Sturgeons are at 
once distinguishable by 
their five longitudinal rows of heavy, bony scales. 
I'he Sturgeon is an active fish, often leaping clear 
out of the water. It lives chiefly in the shallower 
waters along shore, where It spawns in June. 
MUSKELLUNGE (Esox masquinongy) 
{For illustration see Color Plate^ page 121) 
There are so many ways of spelling the Indian 
name of this fish that we have adopted the one 
apparently most in use, only after an orthographical 
search which revealed 24 ways of spelling it. The 
Muskellunge is the largest of the Pike family, 
being known to exceed 80 pounds in weight, while 
40-pound specimens are fairly common. 
It is a northern fish, inhabiting mainly the Great 
Lakes, Lake Champlain, Lake Chautauqua, lakes 
of Canada, the St. Lawrence River, and the upper 
Mississippi and tributaries. 
It is celebrated as a game fish, having both size 
and strength. Unless equipped with a rod suitable 
Photograph by T. J. Golden 
A LAKE CHAUTAUQUA MUSKELLUNGE 
This specimen, which was 52^^ inches long, with a girth of 24^^ inches, 
weighed 42 pounds. 
for a large specimen, the angler may have to play 
the fish an hour before landing it. 
Live bait casting and spoon trolling are the usual 
ways of taking the Muskellunge. 
As a fish-eater the Muskellunge rivals the Bar¬ 
racuda of salt water, making the same fierce rushes 
and having a similarly large mouth set with danger¬ 
ous teeth. There is, in fact, a superficial resem¬ 
blance between these two widely separated fishes. 
With a long, narrow body, strong dorsal and 
anal fins placed far back on the body, and a power¬ 
ful tail, the Muskellunge is well equipped for 
speed. It has the look of a three-propeller craft, 
but the power is reserved for sudden bursts of 
speed, as it is not given to ranging far from its 
customary lair. The Muskellunge, like other fishes 
of the Pike family, is solitary in habit, lurking in 
sheltered spots, whence it darts upon Its prey. 
As food-fishes, neither the Muskellunge nor the 
other Pikes are usually rated as high as the Trouts 
and Basses. 
