CARP , DACE AND MINNOW . 
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fish in flesh than any other of its family. It is common in the Pittsburg 
market. 
The different species of the genus Carpiodes abound in all the larger 
bodies of water south and west of New York as far as the Rio Grande. 
They reach a weight of four or five pounds. In Virginia and elsewhere 
they go by the name of “ Carp,” as they have done from the earliest days 
of the English occupation. Though fairly eatable, they are not equal to 
the Carp, and are less prolific, less rapid in growth, and most of all, 
not accustomed to domestication. The term American Carp should be 
abandoned, and when characteristic local names are not in use, the 
name “Carp-sucker” is recommended for adoption. 
Carpiodes velifer , the “Spear-fish,” “Sail-fish,” “Quill-back” or 
“Skim-back” of the Ohio River, is a fish often seen in the markets. 
Carpiodes cyprinus , the “Carp” of the Susquehannah, is abundant 
east of the Alleghanies from New York to Alabama. It is a common and 
acceptable food-fish in Pennsylvania, attaining a weight of two or three 
pounds. It is the “ Carp ” that is abundant in the Mattapony and 
Pamunky Rivers in Virginia. 
The “ Red Horses ” belong to the genus Moxostoma and the related 
Minytrema and Placopharynx , and usually have their lower fins bright; 
red. They are useful and palatable food-fishes, although our writers have 
persistently underrated their value. 
They are spring spawners, and when dams and other obstructions do 
not forbid run up to the head-waters to breed. It is of the utmost im¬ 
portance that fish-ways should be built over every dam on the continent, 
for already the streams have been drained, not only of the game fishes, 
local and anadromous, but of most of the humbler forms, which supply 
food to the carnivorous water-aristocrats, and render trout and bass 
culture possible. 
The most familiar member of this group is the “Brook Mullet,” 
Moxostoma macrolepidotum , also called “Red Horse” in Pennsylvania, 
and elsewhere, and pretty generally distributed east of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains, except in Eastern New England. The form which occurs in the 
Ohio and Missouri has a larger head and larger mouth, and is generally 
catalogued as a variety or sub-species Ditquesnii. This form is shown in 
the cut, which represents a specimen from Ecorse, Michigan. 
The eastern form occurs in the Great Lakes, together with the allied 
