Bulletin BULLETIN of the ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY HARLOW B. MILLS, Chitf Commercial and Sport Fishes of the Mississippi River Between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa PAUL G. BARNICKOL WILLIAM C. STARRETT Printed by Authority of the STATE OF ILLINOIS ADLAI E. STEVENSON, Gavermor DEPARTMENT OF REGISTRATION AND EDUCATION C. HOBART ENGLE, Direettr STATE OF ILLINOIS Adlai E. Stevenson, Governor DEPARTMENT OF REGISTRATION AND EDUCATION C. HoBART Exci.E, Director NATURAL HIS T O R \" S U R \' E ^' D I \- 1 S I O N Harlow B. Mills. Chief \olume r^ B V L L K T I N Article 5 Commercial and Sport Fishes of the Mississippi River Between Canithersville^ Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa PAUL G . B A R N I C K O L WILLIAM C. STAR RETT Printed by Authority of the State of Illinois U R B A X A , ILLINOIS September 1951 STATE OF ILLINOIS Adlai E. Stevenson, Governor DEPARTMENT OF REGISTRATION AND EDUCATION C. HoBART Engle, Director BOARD OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION C. HoBART Enci.e, Chairman A. E. Emerson, Ph.D., Biology Walter H. Newhouse, Ph.D., Geology L. H. Tiffany, Ph.D., Forestry L. R. Howson, B.S.C.E., C.E., Roger Adams, Ph.D., D.Sc, Chemistry Engineering George D. Stoddard, Ph.D., Litt.D., L.H.D., LL.D., President of the University of Illinois Delvte W. Morris, Ph.D., President of Southern Illinois University NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY DIVISION Urbana, Illinois Scientific and Technical Staff Harlow B. Mills, Ph.D., Chief Bessie B. East, M.S., Assistant to the Chief Section of Economic Entomology George C. Decker, Ph.D., Entomologist and Head J. H. Bigger, M.S., Entomologist L. L. English, Ph.D., Entomologist C. J. Weinman, Ph.D., Entomologist S. C. Chandler, B.S., Associate Entomologist Willis N. Bruce, M.A., Associate Entomologist John M. Wright, M.A., Assistant Entomologist W. H. Luckmann, M.S., Assistant Entomologist H. B. Petty, M.A., Associate in Ento?nohgy Extension James M. Bann, B.S., Research Assistant Paul Suranyi, Ph.D., Laboratory Assistant Sue E. Watkins, Technical Assistant .Section of Faunistic Surveys and Insect Identification H. H. Ross, Ph.D., Systematic Entomologist and Head Milton W. Sanderson, Ph.D., Associate Tax- onomist Lewis J. Stannard, Jr., M.S., Assistant Tax- onomist Leonora K. Gloyd, M.S., Laboratory Assistant Philip W. Smith, M.S., Laboratory Assistant William R. Richards, B.S., Laboratory Assistant Grace H. Hull, Technical Assistant Section of Publications and Public Rela- tions James S. Ayars, B.S., Technical Editor and Head Blanche P. Young, B.A., Assistant Technical Editor William E. Clark, Assistant Technical Pho- tographer James W. Curfman, B.S., Technical Assistant Section of Forestry WiLLET N. Wandell, M.F., Forester and Head Lawson B. Culver, B.S., Associate in Forestry Extension Ross J. Miller, M.S., Field EcologisI Charlotte .'\schbacher, B.,'\., Technical Assist- ant Section of Applied Botany and Plant Pa- „ thology I Leo R. Tehon, Ph.D., Botanist and Head J. Cedric Carter, Ph.D., Plant Pathologist J. L. FoRSBERG, M.S., Associate Plant Patholi. gist G. H. Boewe, M.S., Assistant Plant Pathologist G. J. Stessel, M.S., Assistant Plant Pathologist B. M. Zuckerman, M.S., Assistant Plant Pathol- ogist Robert A. Evers, M.S., Assistant Botanist E. A. Curl, M.S., Special Research Assistant Sylvia Wolcyrz, M.S., Special Research Assist- ant RovENiA F. Fitz-Gerai.d, B.A., Technical As- sistant Section of Aquatic Biology George W. Bennett, Ph.D., Aquatic Biologist and Head William C. Starrett, Ph.D., Associate Aquatic Biologist Donald F. Hansen, Ph.D., Assistant Aquatic Biologist R. W. Larimore, Ph.D., Assistant Aquatic Biol- ogist Walter H. Hart, Field Assistant Leonard Durham, M.S., Technical Assistant* P. L. McNeil, B.S., Technical Assistant* Section of Game Research and Manage- ment T. G. Scott, Ph.D., Game Specialist and Head . Ralph E. Yeatter, Ph.D., Gatne Specialist 5 F. C. Bellrose, B.S., Associate Game Specialist H. C. Hanson, M.S., Assistant Game Specialist J. S. Jordan, M.F., Assistant Game Technician William Nuess, Field Assistant George C. Arthur, B.S., Project Leader] Lysle R. Pietsch, M.F., Project Leader^ , John C. Calhoun, B.S., Assistant Project Leader]:', Technical Library Marguerite Simmons, M.A., M.S., Technical] Librarian t Ruth Warrick, B.S., Assistant Technical Libra- rian Consultant in Herpetology: Hobart M. Smith, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Zoology, University oj Illinois. •Employed by the Illinois Department of Conservation and assigned to the Natural History Survey for adminis- trative and technical supervision. tEmployed by the Illinois Department of Conservation under terms of the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act and assigned to the Natural History Survey for administrative and technical supervision. This paper is a contribution from I lie Section of Aquatic Biology. (3020S—3M— ri-.'il) a^^.^^ CONTENTS The Mississiri'i Rn i:r 268 Early Descriptions 269 Kloods and Levees 269 Improvements tor Navigation 271 Influence ot the Missouri 27,^ Pollution 274 M ATKRIAI.S AND METHODS 276 Netting Operations 276 Effectiveness of Gear 281 Classitication of Kishes 284 LTOMMERCIAL FlSllliS 284 Sturgeons 288 Paddletish 290 American Eel 291 Suckers and Redhurscs 292 Buffalorishes 29.^ Carp 298 Catfishes and Bullheads iOi Ereshwater Drum 311 SPORT Fishes i\2 Pike and Pickerel .514 Perches 314 Black Basses and Other Suntishcs 315 Sea Basses 319 Prcdatorv Fish es 320 Gars 320 Boutin 321 EoRACE Fishes 322 Discussion 323 SUMMARY 324 Appendix A 326 Appendix B 334 Literature Cited 348 5 Commercial and Sport Fishes of the Mississippi River Between Caruthersvilley Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa * IN December, l'^43, conservation rep- resentatives from the states of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, and Wis- consin, from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and from other inter- ested agencies met at Dubuque, Iowa, and formed the Upper Mississippi River Con- servation Committee (Smith 1'549). This f;roup was organized for the purpose of >ponsoring studies of the fishery and wild- life resources of the Mississippi River from Caruthersville, Missouri, to Hast- ings, Minnesota. The studies were de- signed to serve as a basis for making Ncienti/ically sound recommendations for the management of these resources. At that time the Hsh and game codes of the member states were at variance with one another in certain provisions, and some practices that were legal in the waters of the Mississippi bordering one state were illegal in the waters within the jurisdic- tion of another immediately across the river. To facilitate the actual projection of biological investigations, two technical committees were formed within the Con- servation Committee. These were the Technical Committee for Fisheries and the Technical Game Committee. To them were assigned the duties of planning research and reporting the progress of re- search to the Conservation Committee at its annual meetings. • This invcstiBation was conducted under the auspices o( the Technical Committee for Fisheries of the Upper Mississippi River Conserv.ition Committee. t Formerly Ichthyologist. Illinois \atur,il History Sur- vey-; now Chief Biologist of the Fisheries Section of the Missouri Conservation Commission. t Associate .\quatic Biologist. Illinois Natural History Sur\-ey. PAUL G . B A R NI C K O Lt WILLIAM C . S T A R R E 'V 'T:f Basic to a sound management pro- gram for the upper Mississippi fishery was a knowledge of the status of various species of fish present in the river. Com- mercial fishery statistics were not adetiviatc because they included sexeral species under single groupings, as bufhilofishes and cat- fishes, and because in recent \ears the\ failed to include sport fishes and other species closed to commercial fishing. Because state agencies were restricted in their research activities by state bound- aries (the United States Fish and Wild- life Service was the only agency in\()lved that was free to finance projects without regard to state boundaries), it became necessary to subdivide the upper Missis- sippi River fishery investigations into upper and lower co-operative units—the upper unit involving Wisconsin, Minne- sota, and northern Iowa, and the lower unit involving Missouri, smitheni Iowa, and Illinois. Actual field operations were begun in the Missouri-Illinois part of the southern unit in March, 1944, with the Conserva- tion Commission of Missouri, the Illinois Department of Conservation, and the Illi- nois Natural History Survey participating. Two years later, in March, 1946, field operations were begun in the Iowa-Illinois part of the river with the Iowa Conserva- tion Commission and the two Illinois agencies co-operating. The entire investigation reported here was conducted under the auspices of the Technical Committee for F"isheries. This paper is based on an analysis of the data relative to the species composition 267] 268 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art 1 of the Hshes appearing in test-net collec- tions taken in 1944 and 1946 with various t\pes of commercial gear at 31 sampling stations between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa. The gear included t>pes that could not be used legally by commercial fishermen in some or all of tiie CD-operating states. 'l"he discussion is limited largely to the commercial and sport fishes of the river. The smaller-sized fishes, such as the min- nows (Cyprinidae), seldom occurred in the test-net collections, as the minimum mesh used was 1 inch square. Minnow collections were made at many of the stations, and a list of the species appear- ing in these collections was recorded but is not presented here. The writers believe that, regardless of any shortcomings of the sampling methods employed in this study, the data are exten- sive enough to allow a rough estimate of the status of the various commercial and game fishes now occurring in the Caruth- ersville-Dubuque section of the Mississippi. Acknowledgment is made to the follow- ing persons for their various contributions to the progress of the researches reported in this paper: Mr. W. E. Albert, Mr. Daniel Avery, Mr. James S. Ayars, Dr. Reeve M. Bailey, Dr. George W. Bennett, Mr. Leonard Durham, Dr. T. H. Prison (now deceased). Dr. B. Vincent Hall, Dr. Don- ald F. Hansen, Dr. G. B. Herndon and associates, Mr. Don W. Kellev, Mr. Jacob H. Lemm, Dr. Harlow B. Mills, Mr. Sam A. Parr, Dr. Hurst H. Shoemaker, Mr. Everett B. Speaker and associates, and Dr. David H. Thompson. Financial support of this investigation was given by the conservation departments of the states of Illinois, Iowa, and Mis- souri, and by the Illinois Natural History Survey, all co-operating under the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Commit- tee program. THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER The length of the Mississippi River from its source at Lake Itasca to its moutli at Head of Passes is 2,470 miles (Missis- sippi River Commission 1940:1). This great river and its tributaries drain a total area of about 1,244,000 square miles, in- cluding all or parts of 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces : New York an( Pennsylvania farthest east, Wyoming anc Montana farthest west, Alberta and Sas katchewan farthest north. The investi gation reported here covers that part oi the Mississippi River between Caruthers MISSISSIPPI RIVER FIELD STATIONS LEGEND • 1944 ILLINOIS - MISSOURI STATIONS O 1946 ILLINOIS- IOWA STATIONS » 1946-47 POISON CENSUS OF BACKWATER A LOCK AND DAM CARUTHERSVILLE STA TIPTONVILLE SIA TENNESSEE Fig. 1.—The Mississippi River between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa; shown is the location of field sampling stations used during the fisheries survey of 1944 and 1946. The river distance between Caruthers- ville and Dubuque is 689 miles. i September, 1951 Fishes of thi- Mississiimm River 269 ville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa, a idistance of 689 miles or 28 per cent of the total length of the river, tig. 1. This sec- tion of the river includes 306 miles of the lower Mississippi, designated iiereafter as .\IR-C (month of the Missouri River to Caruthersville), and 383 miles of the upper Mississippi, designated as D-MR (Dubuque to the mouth of the Missouri River). Early Descriptions The Mississippi River was discovered ]in the sixteenth century by an e.xpedition 'headed by Hernando de Soto. Later ex- plorations were made on the Mississippi by such well-known historical personages as D'lber\ ille, Joliet. Marquette, and La Salle. The "Gentleman of Elvas," a Portu- guese member of the De Soto expedition, [stated that "The river was of great depth and of a strong current. The water was always muddy. There came down the river continually many trees and timber, !which the force of the water and stream |brought down. There was a great store of fish in it of sundry sorts, and most of it differing from the fresh water fish of Spain" (Saxon 1927:78). j Thomas Jefferson ( 1801 : 11 ) wrote the following description of the river in about 1780: "The Missisippi, below the mouth of the Missouri, is always muddy and abounding with sand bars, which fre- quently change their places. However, it carries 15 feet water to the mouth of the Ohio, to which place it is from one and a half to two miles wide, and thence to Kaskaskia from one mile to a mile and a quarter wide. Its current is so rapid, that lit never can be stemmed by the force of I the wind alone, acting on sails. Any ves- Isel, however, navigated with oars, may I come up at any time, and receive much aid from the wind." 1 Reclus (1859:262) in his paper on the I Mississippi mentioned the yellow water of the -Missouri Ri\er and the blue water of the Alississippi at the confluence of the two rivers. ] Prior to the construction of locks and I dams, two rapids were present in the i river between Dubuque and the mcuth of the Missouri Ri\cr. The upper were between Le Claire, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois, and the lower at Keokuk, Iowa. Cjlazier (1891:3141 in describing his trip down the Mississippi in 1881 stated that "We found the current of the Mis- sissippi below the mouth of the Missouri much stronger than we had observed it to be since passing the Keokuk Rapids. ' Floods and Levees Floods along the Mississippi have been reported since the river's discovery. A member of the De Soto expedition in 1543 wrote the first description known of a Mississippi Hood. The flood began about the tenth of March and reached its peak about 40 days later. "The inun- tlated areas are said to ha\e extended for twenty leagues on each side of the river" (Mississippi River Commission 1*^40:8). Jefferson (1801:11-2) wrote the fol- lowing regarding floods on the Missis- sippi : "These floods begin in .April, and the river returns into its banks early in -August. The inundation extends further on the western than eastern side, covering the lands in some places for 50 miles from its banks. .Above the mouth of the Mis- souri, it becomes much such a river as the Ohio, like it clear, and gentle in its cur- rent, not quite so wide, the period of its floods nearly the same, but not rising to so great a height. " The delta with its fertile land early at- tracted many settlers. This alluvial valley extends up the river as far as Cape Girar- deau, AL'ssouri. "In the Alluvial V'alley the .Mississippi River is an aggrading, or soil-building stream. In time of flood the river goes out of its banks, dropping its load of sediment as it goes. I'his action is due to the slowing up of the waters as they leave the river's channel ; and the largei share cf this material settles on or near the edges of the stream. For this reason the banks are generally from 10 to 1 5 feet above the lowlands away from the river. The slope auay from the river is usualh' steepest for the first mile away from the river banks" (.Mississippi River Commission 1940:9). For more than two centuries man has used levees in defense of his rich soil and cities against the flooding torrents of the -Mississippi. By 1727, a levee along the 270 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25. Art. Table 1.—Stations where fish collections were taken during 1944 and 1946 on the Mississippi Klver between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa, with inclusive dates, pool numbers number of net days at each station, and river stages in feet.* Station Caruthersville, Mo Tiptonville, Tenn Cairo, 111 Cape Girardeau, Mo.. . . Grand Tower, III Chester, 111 Sre. Genevieve, Mo Crvs'tal Citv, Mo Cliff Cave, Mo Mouth Mis.souri R., Mo. Grafton, III Grafton, III Grafton, III Winfield, Mo Hamburg, III Louisiana, Mo Cincinnati Landing, III.. Hannibal, Mo Quincy, 111 Canton, Mo Warsaw, III Burlington, Iowa Oquawka, 111 New Boston, III Muscatine, Iowa Fairport, Iowa Andalusia, III Andalusia, III Andalusia, 111 Pleasant Valley, Iowa. Cordova, III Fulton, III Sabula, Iowa Bellevue, Iowa Dubuque, Iowa iNCi.usivE Dates l'>44 April 6-12 .April 15-May 10. Mav 18-24 May 26-31 June 2-9 Tune 11-15 Tune 18-24 [une 25-30 July 2-8 Tulv 10-15 March 22-30 July 17-25 Sept. 22-27 July 27-Au?. 2. . . Aug. 3-9 Aug. 12-17 Aug. 19-23 Aug. 25-30 Sept. 2-6 Sept. 8-13 Sept. 14-19 1946 April 10-22 April 24-May 5 . May 7-18 May 19-30 June 2-13 April 1-7 Tune 18-26 Sept. 15-24 June28-Tu!y 9.. luly 11-22 July 24-Aug. 4.. Aug. 6-17 Aug. 19-30 Sept. 1-12 Mll.ES September. 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 271 Improvements for Navigation boats are beiny; replaced by diesel-pow- ered towboats capable of pushing huge The exciting days of stcamboating on barges loaded with coal, grain, oil, and :he Mississippi described by Mark Twain other commodities. During the period of md others are just about gone. Steam- World Wat II approximateh I ,')8() \\ar Fig. 2.—Lock ami IJam No. 25 ju>t above the Winfield, Missouri, 'ampiiiig; station. I'he swiftness of the current below the dam is quite perceptible. Photo by courtesy of the United States .Armv Corps of Engineers, Upper Mississippi Valley Division, St. Louis, Mis?ouri. Fiji. 3.—Lock and Dam No.. 24 just below the Louisiana, Missouri, sampling station on the Mississippi River. Photo by coiirtesv of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Upper Mississippi Valley Division, St. Louis, Missouri. 272 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 Fig. 4.—Lock and Dam No. 22 just below the Cincinnati Landing, Illinois, sampling station. Plioto by courtesy of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District. Fig. 5.—Lock and Dam No. 11, and Pool No. 12, from Eagle Point Park, near Dubuque, Iowa. Photo by courtesy of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District. vessels were passed through the lock at Alton, Illinois (War Department Corps of Engineers 1946:7). These vessels were constructed inland and outfitted for sea at New Orleans, Louisiana. The use of the river for navigation and the construction of levees for drainage districts and flood control have brought about many changes on the river. As early as 1824 an act was passed by Congress appropriating $75,000 for the improve- ment of the Mississippi by "snagging" from the mouth of the Missouri River to New Orleans. The first permanent im- provement on the river came in the build- ing of a pier at St. Louis, Missouri, to give direction of current. This construc- tion was authorized by acts passed in 1836 and 1837. Later, the Keokuk and Rock Island rapids were improved for naviga- September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 273 tion. An act in 1872 authorized improve- ment of the ri\er between Alton and the mouth of the Meramec River by obtaining channel depths through revetments, solid dikes, and dams. A comprehensive project was approved in 1881 for continuous im- provement of the river between the mouth of the Ohio River and St. Louis to secure a minimum depth of 8 feet by using revet- ments, permeable dikes, and contraction of the low water channels to an approxi- mately uniform width of 2,500 feet. This project was modified by acts passed in 1895 and 1896 providing for the maintenance of a channel 250 feet wide and 9 feet deep by regulating works and dredging. The project was again modified in 1905, providing that the use of regulating works be supplanted by e.\tensi\e dredging oper- ations. Later, dredging alone proved un- satisfactor>- ; in 1910 regulating works were again approved, and channel depths of 6 feet from the mouth of the Missouri to St. Louis and 8 feet from St. Louis to the mouth of the Ohio were authorized. In 1927 and 1930, acts of Congress au- thorized a channel depth of 9 feet between St. Louis and the mouth of the Ohio, with a channel \\idth of 300 feet, and a chan- nel depth of 9 feet from the mouth of the Illinois River to St. Louis, with a chan- nel width of 200 feet (War Depart- ment Corps of Engineers 1940:5-6). A project for the improvement of the Chain of Rocks Reach in the St. Louis area was approved in 1945. In this 7-mile reach, at low water the stream gradient averaged appro.ximately 1.5 feet per mile in contrast to 0.5 foot above the Chain of Rocks and 0.6 foot from St. Louis to Cairo, Illinois (Smyser 1947:5). General improvement of the upper Mis- sissippi for na\ igation between the mouth of the Missouri and St. Paul, Minnesota, was authorized by Congress in 1878. This was to be accomplished by the use of wing dams and closure of chutes to secure a depth of 4.5 feet, eventually to be in- creased to 6 feet. In the period 1888 to 1906 "the rock cut through Rock Island Rapids was improved to a width of 400 feet and a depth of 6 feet." In 19G5 an act was passed to replace the locks and lateral canal at Keokuk with a power dam and navigation locks ( War Department Corps of Engineers 1940:6). This project was practicalK completed in 1913 (Coker 1914:5). An act passed in 1907 provided for a 6-foot channel from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to the mouth of the Missouri River to be accom- plished by contraction works, as in the project of 1878, supplemented by dredg- ing and a lateral canal with a na\ igation lock around tlie upper portion of the Rock Island rapids at Le Claire (War Depart- ment Lorps of Engineers l'HO:0). The Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors concluded after an investigation that canalization of the Mississippi from the mouth of the Illinois to .Minneapolis was the most feasible and economical method of obtaining a dependable ''-foot channel for na\ igation ; plans included the construction of approxiniatelv 24 locks and dams (United States 72d Congress, 1st Session, 1932:2, 27). An act of 1930, as modified in 1935, authorized improvement of the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to the mouth of the Missouri River b\ means of locks and dams supplemented with dredging to provide a channel 9 feet in depth ( War Department Corps of Engi- neers 1940:6). The upper Mississippi from Alton north was canalized b\ the time the present investigation was started in 1944, figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5. In the Alton- Dubuque section there were 14 locks and dams ( Nos. 12-26, excluding 23). Influence of the Missouri In the abo\e discussion the descriptions of several early writers were quoted re- garding the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and the influence of the Missouri on the Mississippi. Prior to agricultural development of the prairies, the upper Mississippi was apparently a relatively clear river, and below the mouth of the Missouri it was always mudd\ . The D-MR section of the Mississippi was found by the survey party in 1944 and 1946 to be quite muddy; however, it ap- peared less muddv than the MR-C section. In 1944 Platner (1946:16) found that the turbidity of the Mississippi just above the mouth of the Missouri averaged 300 ppm, whereas, below the mouth of the Missouri it increased to an average read- ing of 1,880 ppm. At Canithersvillc, 306 miles below the mouth of the .Missouri 274 Illinois Natural History Surnkv Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 this high turliidit\ had diminished only slightly. The turbidity of the .Mississippi, according to Platner (1946:12), is caused largely bv erosion silt with some detritus. In 192rGaltsoff (1924:371) found the water in the upper Mississippi muddy even at low water stages and progressively more turbid as he moved downstream. The current of the Mississippi is swifter below the mouth of the Missouri than above. This difference in current was apparent before canalization, as evi- denced by Glazier (1891:314). According to the War Department Corps of Engineers (1940:3) the veloci- ties in the current of the Mississippi between the mouth of the Wisconsin River and Alton may vary from about 2 miles per hour at usual pool stages to about 4 miles per hour at high water. In the uncanalized or open-river section below Alton, the velocities range from 2.0 to 5.5 miles per hour, except through the Chain of Rocks near St. Louis. In this region velocities as high as 8 miles per hour may occur at both extreme high- and extreme low-water stages. In the pools formed by the locks and dams in the Alton- Dubuque section, the swiftest current appears in the upper parts of the pools. The bottom of the river proper in the MR-C section is largely sand with occa- sional silt or mud. The flooded areas in which netting operations were conducted had chiefly mud bottom. The bottom of the canalized D-MR section of the Mis- sissippi varies with location in the pools. In the upper parts of the pools where the current is swift, the bottoms are sand and gravel, whereas, in the middle and lower reaches of the pools, the bottoms are largely silt. The silting in the canal- ized section of the river is a result of re- duction in current caused by the dams. Ellis (1931:4—5) made oxygen determi- nations of the Mississippi River in the Keokuk area prior to the canalization of the river above the dam at Keokuk (Lock and Dam No. 19). He found that the water before reaching the Lake Keokuk basin was carrying o\er 20 per cent more oxygen than after it was impounded in the basin. Some 30 miles below Dam No. 19, at La Grange, Missouri, the oxygen content of the water was 10 to 15 per cent less than above the impoundment. Platner (1946:26) found that the river has a distinct seasonal oxygen pulse. In midwinter, when the river was frozen over with 4 to 8 inches of ice, the dis- solved oxygen ranged from 12.40 ppni to 14.95 ppm. During times of low water, in August and September, it ranged from 3.00 to 7.10 ppm. In periods of high water it ranged from 4.30 to 11.50 ppin. The flooded bottomlands in the canal- ized D-MR section of the river are less encroached upon by drainage districts, and they seem to provide more suitable back- water and sloughs for spawning, than the bottomlands in the extensive levee and drainage districts of the MR-C section. On the silt bottom of Lake Keokuk (Pool No. 19), Ellis (1931:8-9) found a few fresh-water mussels near shore; otherwise, on this bottom he found little besides sludge worms, bloodworms, Core- thra (Chaoborus) , a few snails of the pul- monate group, tiny bivalves of the genus Muscnliurn, and several species of leeches. In the area free of silt, such as on. cinders, stones, and water-logged portions of trees, he found large numbers of caddisfly and Neuroptera larvae, flatworms, beetle lar- vae, and occasionally a few specimens of crayfish, gomphids (dragonfly nymphs), and leeches. Pollution Erosion silt is a constant form of pol- lution in the Caruthersville-Dubuque sec- tion of the Mississippi River. Although this form of pollution has long been asso- ciated with that part of the Mississippi below the mouth of the Missouri, it was not generally noted in the upper part of the river until after the development of intensive farming in the Middle West. That silting tends to limit the repro- duction of aquatic life has been demon- strated previously. Silting was pointed out as having a detrimental effect on trout and salmon eggs (Smith 1940:229) and on aquatic insects and other invertebrates (Ellis 1931, 1936). In the Des Moines River, high water combined with the river's increased silt load in a period of flood was shown to be an important limit- ing factor in the spawning success of minnows and other kinds of fishes (Star- rett 1951:23). ieptember, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 275 The impounding of the upper Missis- .ippi with a series of dams created fa\or- ible conditions for silting in that section )f the river. This impounding was done argely during the thirties, and the pres- ent investigation was made perhaps too ;oon following this period to demonstrate the possible maximum effects that siltation nay have on the upper Mississippi fishery. Plainer (1946:71-2) found pollution in the Mississippi limited largely to local ireas below cities and industrialized sec- tions. "Even though the \()lume of water s large enough and the dilution is great ?nough to render these pollutants harm- less to the present fish fauna of the Mis- sissippi River, one must remember that ach small amount of material narrows the safety margin of the river." Platner con- :luded from his chemical studies that the river was not in a critical condition. He further concluded that in the upper sec- tion of the river, that is, north of the 420- •nile mark above the mouth of the Ohio River (about 4 miles above Oquawka, Illinois), a more "favorable position" ex- isted than in the lower section below mile +20. "Comparing the water quality of the Mississippi River with waters producing good fish fauna, it would be rated as good." Ellis (1943 1 conducted a pollution itudy on the Mississippi River between Chain of Rocks (St. Louis area) and Cairo. He made this study in relation to garbage introduced into the river at St. Louis. In September of 1931 and 1934, during periods of low water, he found that :he Alississippi lost a considerable portion jf its dissolved oxygen load in the imme- diate vicinity of St. Louis. Below the city t made a temporary recovery, and be- :ween Crystal City, Missouri, and Cape jirardeau it again lost a large amount of ts oxvgen load. Between Crvstal Citv md Ciaryville. Missouri, Ellis '( 1943 :8'l ecorded a maximum of 3.86 ppm of total immonia. He stated that "This total am- Tionia of approximately 4 p.p.m. represents I considerable nitrogenous load and shows lefinitely that the nitrogenous wastes from he St. Louis area are projected down- •tream 65 or 70 miles before the maximum immonia production is reached." Below he mouth of the Ohio River, at Wicklift'e, •Centuckv, the total ammonia content dropped to 1.28 ppm. In 1944 Platner (1946:39) determined that from mile 580 above the mouth of the Ohio to mile 1 70 above ( St. Louis area ) the am- monia value ranged from 0.0 to 0.1 ppm and averaged 0.06 ppm. Below St. Louis the ammonia value increased slightly to an average of 0.12 ppm. During the Caruthersv ille-Uubuque in- vestigation, notes were taken on obvious pollution conditions existing in this section of the river. The fishery studies in the MR-C section were carried out largelv during a period of high water, and in such a period the relative amount of pol- lutant other than silt is reduced. Com- mercial fishermen at Ste. Genevieve, Mis- souri, w-hich is about 55 miles below St. Louis, complained that fishes they catch during the summer low-water stage fre- quentlv have an oilv or gassy flavor. In the opinion of the fishermen this flavor is attributable to wastes discharged into the river at St. Louis. At Crystal City, also, fishermen registered complaints re- garding pollution. In the v icinitv of Cliff Cave (12 miles below St. Louis) test nets set in channels became clogged with masses of paper and partiallv disintegrated ground garbage discharged through the sewers of St. Louis. There, also, commercial fish- ermen reported that the fisli in the area have an oilv or gassy flavor; however, fish taken there in early July (Cape Girardeau gage 29.0 feet, table 1 ) which were served to members of the research party did not appear to have such a flavor. Perhaps this foreign taste is discernible only at low stages of the riv er when dilution is not suf- ficient to overcome the effect of the causal agent. In 1947 commercial fishermen in the vicinitv of \ almeyer, Illinois (28 miles below St. Louis), complained that often half of their catches were discarded be- cause of an unpleasant taste resulting from pollution. Recently Starrett c^ Harth (1950:8) reported that since 1948 a serious pollution problem has existed on the Mississippi from below Dam 26 to Cairo, and that commercial fishing is now almost nonex- istent from the St. Louis area to the mouth of the Kaskaskia River. Above the mouth of the Missouri River, pollution was observed in the vicinity of 276 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 two Illinois stations, \Varsa\v :ind Cor- dova. Warsaw is located about 1.5 miles below the mouth of the Ues Moines River. This river receives a rather heavy load of pollution from the city of Keokuk, as was evidenced by the accumulation of sewage and other debris on the test nets. A large portion of this pollution in the Des Moines evidently comes from packing plants. Across the Mississippi River from Keokuk and just below Hamilton, Illinois, the malt wastes from a brewery are discharged into the river. It was obvious from the poor catches of commercial fishes in the test nets that the fish population is ad- versely affected by the pollution for sev- eral miles below Keokuk. According to local reports, commercial fishermen avoid setting their nets within the first few miles downstream from Keokuk on the Iowa side because of the unhealthy appearance of fishes that have been taken at that loca- tion. Carp taken in the test nets there appeared to have a rather milky coloration, and many of them showed a form of pop- eye. It was reported locally that, during the winter season, fishermen operate their nets on the Illinois side of the river near Warsaw to catch carp that apparently feed upon brewery waste and become very fat. Commercial fishermen at Cordova com- plained that their hoop nets sometimes became clogged with a slimy substance that was later reported to be a filamentous organism attributed to conditions produced by wastes discharged from plants at Clin- ton, Iowa, 15 miles upstream. Seines be- came so loaded with this filamentous growth that they could not be hauled to shore and landed. No ill effect from the filamentous growth or the waste material supposedly responsible for it was observed on the fish at Cordova; in fact, the fish taken there appeared to be more plump than those in the usual catches taken else- where on the river. The local fishermen reported no mortality of fish or ill flavor of fish as a result of the waste material. MATERIALS AND METHODS In the 2 years of this investigation, col- lections were taken at 31 different field stations, fig. 1. One station in each year was designated as a kev station, Grafton in 1044 and Andalusia in 1946, table 1. Each of the key stations was sampled threes times during an 8-month period of fieldl operations as a means of obtaining data oni changes in a local fishery. Usually sampling at a station covered 5 days. However, at some stations more time was spent because of certain unfore- seen difficulties, such as those involving bad weather, poor catches, mechanical trouble, or the locating of fishing areas. Descriptions of the habitats at the field stations are given in Appendix A. Data on the catches made at these stations are presented in tables 2, 3, 4, and 5 and Appendi.x B, tables 1 and 2. Netting Operations The Illinois Natural History Survey's laboratory boat, the Anax, was used as field headquarters during this investigation. All fish caught were brought to the laboratory boat. Aboard the boat, technicians meas- ured and weighed each fish, removed scales or vertebrae for growth studies, and re- corded the se.x and gonad condition of the fish. The haul made with each type of gear, from each station, and in each fish- ing period was tabulated as an individual catch, and a record was made of specific information on habitat in which gear wa-i fished. The following types of fishing gear were used during the survey: 25-foot Common Sense minnow seine (mesh \/(x inch) 100-yard trammel nets (mesh IJ/j, 2, and 3 inches) 100-vard or 200-vard seine (mesh 1 inch ) ' I Hoop nets (mesh 1, 2 J/2, and 3 inches) Wing nets, with and without leads (mesh 1, l)/2, and 2i/4 inches) Trap net (mesh 1^4 inches) n? Basket trap Trotline The poundage and numbers of fishes caught by the various types of fishing i gear are summarized in tables 2, 3, 4, and' 5. Data on the fishes taken in the minnow seine hauls are not included in this paper. Selections of fishing sites were made by two field assistants of the Illinois Natural History Survey, Jacob H. Lemm andi Daniel Avery, who had previously been commercial fishermen. Conversation with September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi Rivkr 277 278 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 'a. •£_= 1^ m 2 > > " 1 September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 279 280 Illinois Natural History- Survey Bulletin 3 « E 9 Is > J i lofl 3 2"" m e ptembcr, 1951 I'iSllES OF THE MlSSlSSll'lM RlVKR 281 -^^¥3^1 ^tm Fig. 6.—Commercial fishermen setting a trammel net around a school of carp on the Mis- sippi River. This type of net was used at several test-net stations. cal commercial fishermen often proved value in locating a good Hshing ground id in selecting effective t.\ pes of fishing •ar. The best available fishing sites were lected, rather than particular types of ibitat at each station. Hoop nets and wing nets usually were fted after one overnight set. The num- •r of nets used \aried with fishing con- tions and season. Trammel-net sets were made at several ations primarily f(;r taking carp and iffalo, fig. 6. Trammel-net floats were made at sta- :)ns having smooth bottom and suffi- ent current to float the nets downstream, hese pro\ed to be effective for catching urgeon. Basket traps, usually baited with cheese rapings, were not ver\ satisfactory since was necessary to take the traps from le water when moving upstream to a new ation. The traps are considered b\ me fishermen to be effective for cat- ;h when left in the water o\er long •riods. Seines could be used onh at stations iving sufficient beach to permit efficient nding. The difficult) of obtaining bait discour- aged the use of trotlines. Two rowboats powered with outboard motors were used in carrying out fishing operations from the Anax. AV'hen the survey party was traveling between sta- tions these boats were loaded with fish- ing gear and towed astern of the /Iniix. Effectiveness of Gear Each of the various types of gear em- plo) ed by commercial fishermen is designed for use in a particular type of habitat and for catching a selected kind of fish. 'l"he effectiveness and selectivity of gear are mentioned here merely to manifest some of the difficulties encountered in deter- mining the species composition of the fishes in the ri\er, on the basis of catches taken with commercial gear. The efficiency of hoop nets and wing nets in catching fish decreases during the warm months of the year. The actual poundages and numbers of fish taken at the various stations in the Caruthersvillc- Dubuque investigation are therefore not indicative necessarily of the abundance of a species at a particular station. Perhaps 282 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 u * §2 II e . » u5 H. 11 " 3 8.2 H^ o . 3 :ptember, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 2S.^ o t S ^ ^ S •? = l-s ' .y *" r- i- _r ;• •J -a ^ -= < — — >:/: X I 'z: '^ S .5. -= III :^ -S- = :> c/; cA, ^ 3 i C — — 2 ^ ^ sc s « &- -c § '^ 5i- V. -ij Sac o c as :j ai U U c/3 t/j E -J B •-. i: ^^ _v £ ^ -a -c ^ i ^ = ~ s X — i :^ X o :: 5 i as 5 5 5-^ ;^ ^ \, .b ^ C ^ o 2: 5 ii ^ S: Q c: « _- 5 *^ -i S C j^ ^ >: >: c >> ^ ^ ? ? Pc *. ,— ^ -i :; 2 o aa a K N o cc o ^ Q ^ ^ 5. O » n a . 1 c w o o o - in < oa H^i^D 6681 JO JU33 J3J spunoj ui jqSpAV M3«3 6681 JO JU33 J3J spunoj UI 5l(3pA\ M3JO 6681 JO 1U93 J3d spunoj coo O — c^l so ^ r^ o o o I I I I I I o o o M33E3 6681 JO JU33 J^d spunoj ui iqSi3A\ M^WD 6681 JO JU33 J3J spunOjj UI JMSia^ M3H--0 668 1 JO 3U33 J3d spunoj UI 3qSi3,\\ I M="^0 6681 J0 3U33J3d spunoj UI jqgi3A\ M3JE3 6681 JO JU33 J3J spunoj UI jqSp,\\ U3 o o OO OS —— * — * o c xj- _. — cs -^ — (S o T-t O— CO m --< 5 W-, ri I .T so ^ GO O to OO o -^ — OO O OS f^ O O nC o = ^ " C wet;a ^ rj w t E u^ E H Ci g Sa .2 P a- c V *J "I £-5 — a-- o ,-^ = E '5 „ °-S -= t-,^"^ , W o - ;.= c ^ c > C 4J «* *" S S-° -§."5 --5 «^ S2 E g ^ S =«.i|i-E ™_ W C »i , _ • 286 Ir.i.iNOis Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 25^ September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 287 288 ixois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5^ section of the Mississippi has changed con- sidcrahly during the past 50 years. Com- mercial catch statistics relative to that section of the river bordering Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa are given in tables 7, 8, and 9. In 1894, carp {Cyprinus carpio) represented only 5.9 per cent by weight of the Mississippi River commercial catch by Illinois fishermen, table 9, whereas in 1946 carp amounted to 46.2 per cent of this catch. In 1894 the buffalofishes (Catostomidae) dominated the catch, as does the carp today. In table 7 the 1899 commercial report is used as a basis for interpreting trends in the catch of several commercial fishes. From these data it is apparent that the carp, buffalofishes, cat- fishes, and freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens) have not been so greatly af- fected by man's modification of the river as have the paddlefish {Polyodon spath- ula), lake sturgeon {Acipenser fulves- cens), and American eel {Aiiguilla bosto- niensis). The various species of bufifalofishes and catfishes are difficult to distinguish, and commercial fishermen usually refer to them by local names, which sometimes are meaningless to fish technicians. This prac- tice has necessitated that workers compiling statistics of commercial catches of Mis- sissippi River fishes rely on the inclusive groupings of these fishes rather than on individual species. These fishes are dis- cussed here on the basis of the inclusive groupings and their constituent species as determined during the survey. Sturgeons ACIPENSERIDAE This family of fishes has a wide distri- bution in the northern parts of Asia, Eu- rope, and North America. Some members are marine and ascend fresh-water rivers to spawn, whereas others are wholly con- fined to fresh water. Only three species of the seven known to occur in North American waters are found in the Caruthersville-Dubuque section of the Mississippi River. The shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhyn- chus platorynchus) is now the only stur- geon of an\' commercial importance in the river. In 1946 a total of 30,181 pounds of this fish were reported as taken com- mercially from the Mississippi by Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri fishermen. As shown in table 7, the Mississippi River commer- cial catch of this sturgeon reported for Illi- nois and Missouri in 1946 was only 11.9 and 5.8 per cent, respectively, of the amounts reported for these states in 1899. The 1946 catch reported for Iowa was 190.1 per cent of the amount of the 1899 catch; however, it will be noted in table 7 that the 1899 catch for Iowa was very low as compared with that for Illinois and Missouri. From these statistics it must be concluded that the shovelnose sturgeon is much less abundant than it was prior to 1900. It would be impossible to ascertain all of the contributing factors causing the de- cline of this fish. As determined by tram- mel netting, the shovelnose sturgeon is found most commonly over a sand or gravel bottom in the presence of some current. This type of habitat in the D-MR section of the Mississippi has been reduced by canalization and siltation. Several stomachs of the shovelnose stur- geon were examined from specimens taken at Andalusia and were found to contain mayfly nymphs of the genus Hexagenia. The siltation has reduced suitable habitats for many of the insect nymphs and larvae which form a part of the sturgeon diet. According to Coker (1930: 152), fish of this species were once considered a nui- sance in the Mississippi and many of them were destroyed by fishermen when taken in nets. Very little is known regarding the habits of the shovelnose sturgeon, and a lack of knowledge of this fish has been a handicap in formulating legislation to protect it. In the Caruthersville-Dubuque survey all of the catches of shovelnose sturgeon, with the exception of one, were taken by trammel-net floating. As tables 2 and 3 indicate, no trammel-net floating was done below the mouth of the Missouri River, which apparently explains the absence of the shovelnose sturgeon from catches in the MR-C section. That this sturgeon still is present in this section is evidenced by commercial reports and by specimens seen during the survey. At Hickman, Kentucky, in 1944, fishermen were seen catching shovelnose sturgeons on trotlines baited with worms. In the section of the September. 1951 P'lSHES OF THE MISSISSIPPI RiVER 289 Table 10.—Length-frequency distribution, average lengths.* and average weights of shovel- nose sturgeons taken from the Mississippi River at Burlington, Iowa, and Andalusia. Illinois in 1946. Stasd.^rd Le.vgth IN Inches 13 8 14 8 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 14.7. 15.7. 8-16.7. 8-17.7. 8-18-7. 8-19.7. 8-20.7. 8-21.7. 8-22.7. 8-23.7. 8-24. 8-25. 8-26. 8-28. 8-29. 8-30.7 8-31.7 8-32.7 8-33.7 Tola! number .Average length . . . .Aver.Tge weight in pounds Burlington, loWAt .April 12, 1946 JO 24.5 1.69 Andalusia, III. .April, 1946 1 1 S U 7 18 18 22 18 18 II 7 5 1 1 2 I 147 23.4 1.34 Andalusia, 111. June, 1946 1 3 8 6 7 U S 3 4 2 3 2 1 56 23.3 1.45 Andalusia, III. September, 1946 1 6 S 1 4 5 9 12 6 13 n I 3 I 3 77 22.2 1.07 TOTA I. I I 7 6 6 20 22 36 37 42 45 30 22 12 12 3 3 2 2 I 310 ZS.l 1..33 ' Length from tip of snout to base of caudal filament. '} The specimens were taken near Burlington by J. O. Kurrle. a commercial fisherman. river between Burlington and Dubuque the shovelnose sturgeon amounted to 2.6 per cent by weight of the total catch. This figure indicates that the species is not scarce in this section of the river and that it is able to maintain itself in spite of canal- ization. The commercial take of this spe- cies for intermittent rears. 1914 through 1946. at Lake Keokuk (Pool No. 19) and. 1932 through 194b. in that part of the river between Lake Keokuk and the north- ern border of Illinois is given in table 8. For the years included in this table the shovelnose sturgeon formed only a small portion of the commercial catch. Sex determinations were made of 307 of the 310 sho\elnose sturgeons caught in 19-16. In April the males predominated in the collections taken in the channel of the river by trammel-net floating. Dur- ing this month males made up 93 per cent of the catch of this species at Burlington and 99 per cent at .Andalusia. At Anda- lusia in June males represented only 41 per cent of the catch and in September 57 per cent. The prediiminaiice ut males in the channel in April indicates that the females seek another habitat during this season, returning to the channel by June. According to Harrv E. Finley, a commer- cial fisherman at Andalusia, female shov- elnose sturgeons are seldom taken by com- mercial fishermen during April and May. which he believes are the months of the spawning season. During this period, in his opinion, the females seek cover and consequently do not occur in the open water of the channel where trammel nets are normally drifted. Observations on size and condition of gonads of the shovelnose sturgeon indicate that the males reach maturit> at lengths of 19.5 to 22 inches (standard length, which is length from tip of snout to base of caudal filament) ; the smallest mature female examined was 25 inches in length. The length-frequency distribution of the fishes taken at Burlington and .Andalusia, table 10, indicates that trammel nets catch many sturgeons less than 25 inches in 290 Illinois Natural History Sur\ey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 length. The adoption of a legal minimuin length of 25 inches would afford some pro- tection to immature sho\elnose sturgeons. The average weight of shovelnose stur- geons taken during the survey was only 1.3 pounds (excluding the Burlington catch I. Fish of this .species are not known to attain such great weights as the lake sturgeon. The fishery statistics for 1894 and 1899, table 7, indicate that the lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) was once rather common in the Mississippi River. Forbes & Richardson ( 1920: 25), writing in 1908 or before, stated that this species was steadily decreasing and only rarely was taken in the Mississippi on the borders of Illinois. No lake sturgeon was caught in the test nets in 1944 or 1946. A lake sturgeon weighing 32 pounds was taken May 6, 1946, in a hoop net of a commer- cial fisherman at New Boston, Illinois. This was the only specimen of this species observed by the work party during the 2 years of the field investigation. The lake sturgeon is now taken only occasion- ally by commercial fishermen of the area. More than 45 years ago, Forbes & Rich- ardson (1905:38) described as Para- scaphirhynchus albus a species of sturgeon taken from the Mississippi River near Alton and Grafton. They gave it the common name white sturgeon, the term by which it was known to fishermen of the locality. Later, Forbes & Richardson (1920:29) stated that this sturgeon was known to them only from the Mississippi River at Grafton and Alton, where it was rare, but that it was said by a commer- cial fisherman to be somewhat commoner in the lower part of the Missouri. In 1944 one specimen of this species was procured from an angler fishing in the Mississippi River just above the mouth of the Missouri. It weighed only 0.12 pound. According to fishermen in the Alton area, fish of this species are taken occasionally by them along with the shov- elnose sturgeon. These fish are not known from the Mississippi other than near its confluence with the Missouri. The speci- men mentioned above was the only one of this species observed between Caruthers- \iile and Dubuque. This specimen was submitted for identi- fication to Dr. Reeve M. Bailey of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology who (personal communication) determined it as Scaphirhyiuhus album (Forbes & Richardson). The species is at present without a recognized common name. The term white sturgeon is recog- nized (American Fisheries Society 1948) as the common name for Acipenser traiis- montanus, with which the species of the • Mississippi River should not be confused. To Mississippi River fishermen S. album is known as the white hackleback and the white shovelnose, as well as the white sturgeon. Dr. Bailey (personal commu- nication) recently suggested the vernacu- lar name pallid sturgeon for 5. album. Paddlefish POLYODONTIDAE This interesting fish was recorded by the first white expedition that reached the Mississippi River. Nuttall (1821:254); mentioned that at Pacaha members of the De Soto expedition, fishing with nets, in- cluded in their catch "the Pele-fish, desti- tute of scales, and with the upper jaw extended in front a foot in length, in the form of a peel or spatula." Jefferson (1801:12) included in his list of Missis- sippi River fishes a spatula-fish of 50 pounds weight. The paddlefish, which is often referred to as the spoonbill cat by commercial fishermen, has long attracted the atten- tion of zoologists. The skeleton of this primitive fish is largely of cartilage, and the external appearance of the fish is quite sharklike. The paddlefish family (Poly- odontidae) is composed of only two genera, each containing a single species, one found in China, the other in North America (Forbes & Richardson 1920:15). The North American species is limited in dis- tribution to the Mississippi basin and other tributaries of the Gulf of Mexico (Coker 1930:142). According to Eddy & Sur- ber ( 1947 : 74) , the paddlefish once ranged in the quiet waters of the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to the Gulf; it is now much more abundant in the southern part of its range than farther north. In the Caruthersville-Dubuque survey the pad- dlefish was not taken above Canton ; how- ever, in 1946 a commercial catch of 1.204 pounds was taken in one seine haul near September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 291 New Boston. Many of these specimens were examined by the survey party and the data and gonad material were assigned to Dr. K. \Ve!don Larimore of the Illinois Natural History Survey for histological studv. Paddletish were caught at 40 per cent of the stations below the mouth of the Missouri River and 42 per cent of the stations between the mouth of the Missouri and Warsaw. Fish of this spe- cies were usually taken with a seine, and the average weight of specimens was 2.17 pounds. On August 19, 1^44, at the Cincinnati Landing station, a large school of pad- dlelish was sighted by the survey crew at about 5 P. M. These fish appeared to be large and apparently were feeding in the shallow water over sand bottom. They were swimming so near the surface that the tailtins of the larger ones extended sev- eral inches aboxe the water, and, as they swam about in what appeared to be an aimless manner, some of them frequently thrust their paddles above the surface. Plans were immediately made to seine the area ; however, before a seine could be obtained a half hour had elapsed and, much to the disappointment of the crew, the large school had completeh- vanished. At the Quincy and New Boston stations paddlefish were observed traveling in schools and feeding in shallow water over sand bottom. In the canalized section of the river this type of habitat is largely con- fined to the upper sections of the pools. In all catches and observations made dur- ing the survey the paddlefish was asso- ciated with sand bottom. At the Cape Girardeau station on May 29, 1944, four specimens of a post-larval stage of paddlefish were taken along the sandy shore of an island. The post-larval forms collected by Thompson (1933:31) near Grand Tower, Illinois, in May, 1932, also were taken over a hard sand bottom. In 1946 the commercial value of pad- dlefish in the round was 15 cents per pound. Ab(jut 20 years ago Coker (1930: 142) stated that the roe of the paddlefish was sometimes worth more than $2.00 a pound and that a large female might have considerable value, as its roe might weigh 10 to 15 pounds. Since 1899 the com- mercial take of paddlefish in the upper Mississippi has decreased considerably, as shown in tables 7, S, and 9. This species in the Caruthers\illc-Uubuque section is becoming relatively scarce. It has been placed on the protected list by the state of Iowa in the hope that its abundance will be increased. If full protection were rendered the paddletish, it probably would continue to be reduced in numbers by com- mercial fishermen since this fish often dies after being handled. American Eel Anguili.idae The American eel spawns in the sea. The young eels ascend rivers and streams where they remain for several years. Upon reaching mature size, they return to the sea where they spawn and die. According to Eddy 5: Surber (1947: 192) the American eel was at one time fairly common up the Mississippi River at least as far as St. Anthony Falls, Min- nesota, but it has now become almost ex- tinct in Minnesota and Wisconsin. These writers stated that the dams on the river are undoubtedly responsible for the scar- city of the eel in the upper Mississippi. The commercial reports show a decline in the eel fishery in the lllinois-Iowa-Mis- souri section of the Mississippi since 1894, table 7. Even in 1894 this fishery' was small, the recorded commercial catch amounting to only 43,272 pounds. In 1931 the catch was only 2,215 pounds. In 1946 very few eels were taken com- mercially in the section of the river ad- jacent to Missouri. In that year the largest recorded catch was in the canalized Iowa section; no catch data for Illinois were available. Coker (1930:173) concluded from his studies at Lake Keokuk that the eel must virtually disappear from the Mississippi River and tributaries above the Keokuk dam (Lock and Dam No. 19). He men- tioned that the eel had been decreasing steadily for 30 years in the Mississippi and he was unable to attribute the decline to a single cause, particularly since the decline started prior to the construction of the Keokuk Dam, practically com- pleted in 1913. In the Caruthersville-Dubuque survey, eels were taken at a larger percentage of 292 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. S tlie stations above the mouth of the Mis- souri River than below. In the canalized section of the river between Burlington and Dubuque, eels amounted to 0.1 per cent of the total number of fishes taken ; below the mouth of the Missouri, 0.2 per cent. At Dubuque, the uppermost station on the river, three eels were taken weigh- ing a total of 9.1 pounds. At the Hanni- bal station six eels were caught ; this was the largest number taken at a single sta- tion. This station was situated in Pool No. 22, which is above four locks and dams. The eel, as evidenced by these catches, moves upstream into the canalized section even though its passage is hindered by a series of locks and dams. On the basis of this investigation, the eel appears not to be common anywhere in the river, and its scarcit)' is such as to make it of little or no commercial importance. Suckers and Redhorses Catostomidae The fishes in this family, other than the carpsuckers, are too scarce to be of much commercial importance in the Caruthersville-Dubuque section of the Mississippi. The carpsuckers {Carpiodes spp.) constituted one of the more abun- dant groups of fishes taken during the survey. They were taken at all sta- tions, usually in considerable numbers. Because of the difficulties encountered in the separation of the species of carpsuck- ers, no attempt was made to distinguish the species afield. Names of the three species identified from the collections are listed in table 6. Carpsuckers amounted to 7.2 per cent of the total weight of the 1944 catch between Caruthersville and Warsaw and 14.2 per cent of the total weight of the 1946 catch between Burling- ton and Dubuque, Appendix B. At Keokuk, Coker (1930:184) found the river carpsucker {Carpiodes carpio) the only carpsucker constituting a notable fishery product. The commercial fishery statistics pertaining to the 1946 Missis- sippi River catch of Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri indicate that in total weight the carpsuckers ranked fifth. The catch of carpsuckers in the test-netting survey in- dicates that these fish form a larger per- centage of the catch than is shown by the commercial statistics. In the canalized sec- tion of the river between Burlington andi Dubuque, the three species of carpsuckers ranked second by weight in the test-net catches, and in the lower section of the river they ranked third. Appendix B. Dur- ing these 2 years the average weight of carpsuckers was 1.24 pounds. According to Coker (1930: 185) carpsuckers of sub- stantial size (above 4 pounds) are con- sidered of commercial value, "usually sell- ing as No. 1 fish, some others selling as No. 2 fish, and still others being thrown away." Because of this large size require- ment, and because the flesh of carpsuckers is favorless and soft (Forbes & Richard- son 1920: 77) and is said not to keep well in warm weather (Coker 1930: 184), many of the carpsuckers actually taken are not marketed and therefore do not appear in the commercial reports. Methods of processing for better utilization of the carp- suckers are sorely needed on the Mississippi as well as on other large rivers in the central states. Forbes & Richardson (1920:66), about 50 years ago, found that the blue sucker (Cycleptus elongatus) was confined to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and some of its tributaries. In the Mississippi they rarely found this sucker above Quincy at the time of their survey. However, sev- eral years later Greene (1935:57) men- tioned that the blue sucker was reported to be common in the river near Lansing, Iowa, which is about 337 miles above Quincy, and Coker (1930:182) cited "oral reports of fishermen at many points on the Mississippi, as far north as Wis- consin, that until 10 or 15 years ago there were important spring runs and lesser fall runs of blue suckers." In the spring, blue suckers formerly were caught quite easily by commercial fishermen. These catches were made in the swifter parts of the river. By 1926, however, according to Coker (1930:183), commercial fishermen held an almost unanimous opinion that the blue sucker had virtually disappeared from the upper river. That same year Coker en- countered practically no fishermen in the Keokuk area who had seen more than two or three blue suckers a year. In the Caruthersville-Dubuque survey the blue sucker was taken infrequently. No adult blue sucker was caught in the September. 1951 Fishes of the .Mississippi River 293 \IR-C section of the river, although at the Cairo station 28 small blue suckers were taken with a minnow seine. Forbes & Richardson (1^20:bbl noted in the early part of this century that the blue sucker frequently was taken in the Cairo area during the spring. This species was not abundant enough at the time of the survey to be of any commercial importance in the Cairo area, even though it still oc- curred there. On April 11, 1Q51, Herbert J. Fisher of the Missouri Conservation Commission and the junior author examined five blue suckers at Bennett Brothers' fish market at Ste. Genevieve. Missouri. The fisher- men had caught about 100 pounds of this species in hoop nets on April 10 and 11. All specimens of this sucker taken by the survey party in the D-MR section of the river were caught at or above the Cincinnati Landing station. At this sta- tion in August, 1944. an adult blue sucker weighing 2.8 pounds was caught in a test net set in a small slough. The flow into this slough passed over a rock wing-dam at the head of an island. The slough was ap- proximately 150 yards in width, and the current was moderately swift over a sand bottom. At the Canton station two blue suckers weighing in aggregate 3.62 pounds were taken in test nets. Only five blue suckers were taken in the lQ4b collections between Burlington and Dubuque, Ap- pendix B, table 2. The scarcity of the blue sucker in the Caruthers\ ille-Dubuque section of the river as shown by the test- net collections confirms the pessimistic opinions of commercial fishermen concern- ing the present status of this fish. The removal of the Le Claire and Keokuk rapids in the river and construc- tion of the Keokuk Dam have been con- sidered as factors contributing to the de- cline of the blue sucker population in the D-MR section of the river. According to Coker (1930: 184, 187), however, the blue sucker also declined in the MR-C sec- tion of the ri\er— indicating that some other factor or factors contributed to its dec'ine. The northern redhorse (Moxosloma aureolum) was netted more frequently than the silver redhorse (Moxostoma ani- suruvi) , the only other species of redhorse taken in the test-net survey. It appeared in the collection at only one station in the MR-C section of the river, whereas it was taken at all stations above Burlington in the D-.MR section. The largest catches of the northern redhorse were made at the Bellevue station, where they amounted to 15.9 per cent of the total weight of all fish taken there. In the Burlington-Dubuque section the total weight of the northern redhorse catch was 1.5 per cent of the total catch for the section. In the section between Burling- ton and the mouth of the Missouri, the northern redhorse amounted to only 0.27 per cent of the total weight of the catch there. These data indicate that the north- ern redhorse is more abundant in the river above Burlington than below. The commercial fishery statistics for suckers in the Mississippi basin show a sharp decline since 1899 (Coker 1930: 187 1. The various species of redhorses and suckers are now too scarce in the Carurhersx ille-Dubuque section of the river to be of commercial importance. BufFalofishes C.ATOSTOiMIDAF. Three species of buffalofishes occur in the Caruthersville-Dubuque section of the Mississippi River. In aggregate, these fishes now rank second to carp in the Mississippi River commercial fishery catch of Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. Prior to the appearance of the carp, the buffalo- fishes comprised the largest part of the commercial catch. In 1894 the buffalo- fishes constituted 48.7 per cent of the weight of the Illinois catch in the Mis- sissippi River and 50.9 per cent of the Missouri catch in the Mississippi, table 9. In 1899 the catch of buffalofishes still held a weight advantage over the catch of carp, which by that year were becoming verv abundant in the river. As shown in table 8, the catch of carp at Lake Keokuk (Pool .No. 19) in 1914 exceeded that of buftalofisiies b\' more than 50,000 pounds. -At Lake Keokuk the carp made its great- est gains over the buffalofishes between 1922 and 1927. By 1931 the buffalofishes represented only 19.8 per cent of the weight of the Mississippi River catch by Illinois commercial fishermen and 20.8 per 294 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 cent of that by Missouri fishermen, table 9. Commercial catches of buffalofishes in that part of the Mississippi bordering Illi- nois, Iowa, and Missouri have been much smaller in most recent years than in years previous to 1900; howexer, the decrease in catch, as shown by 1946 figures in table 7, has not been so great as to cause alarm. Commercial reports indicate that the buf- faloHsh catches in Iowa have remained high and have decreased only slightlv be- low the 1899 catch. In 1950 the M'issis- sippi River catch of buiialofishes by com- mercial fishermen of Illinois was larger than the catch of carp and amounted to 36.6 per cent of the total commercial catch from the Mississippi by these fishermen. During the past 50 years extensive levee and drainage districts have been developed in the MR-C section of the river—more extensive than in the D-MR section. The development in the lower section has re- sulted in a scarcity of backwaters and sloughs attached to this section. The buf- falofishes are known to use backwaters and sloughs for spawning grounds, and per- haps the reduction of such areas in the lower section accounts for much of the decrease in the buffalo fisher>' there during the past half century. At Lake Keokuk (Pool No. 19) Coker (1930:194) noted an upward trend in the commercial take of buffalofishes in 1917 and a discouraging decline in 1922. Between these years, Coker writes, extensive areas evidently suitable for spawning and nursery purposes were reclaimed for farming. In table 8 the commercial catches from Lake Keokuk are given for several years. The catches of buffalofishes from this impoundment have never recovered since connecting shallow waters were reclaimed for agri- cultural purposes. The buffalofishes ranked fourth in total weight among the commercial fishes taken in the test-net collections, fig. 7, rather than second as might be expected from the commercial fishery statistics. This dif- ference in rank was due probably to fish- ing effort and type of gear employed and to the inclusion in survey data of all carp- suckers taken during the survey; carpsuck- ers are a group of fishes not invariably reported by commercial fishermen. The average weight of buffalofishes taken between Caruthersville and Warsaw in 1944 was 1.65 pounds; between Burl- ington and Dubuque in 1946 it was 1.78 pounds. The over-all average was 1.72 pounds. On a numerical basis the buffalofishes ranked fifth among the commercial fishes taken in the test-net collections, fig. 7. In the commercial statistics, for reasons previously discussed, the catches of the three species of buffalofishes are presented in aggregate. An attempt has been made to appraise the relative abundance of the three species and their distribution in the MR-C and D-MR sections of the river, fig. 8. Such information should be of value in the management of the buffalo fishery. The meager information concerning these fishes indicates the existence of certain dif- ferences in the habits of the three species. The black buffalo [Ictiobus niger) was taken in greater numbers in the collections from the MR-C section than in those from the D-MR section of the river, fig. 8. Coker (1930:191) noted that the black buffalo (bugler) was chiefly southern in distribution and that at the time of his study it was not abundant in the river above Muscatine. He found that it ap- peared "rather prominently in the region of New Boston and southward," and just below Keokuk it seemed to rank in abun- dance with the smallmouth buffalo or roachback {Ictiobus bubalus). At the Warsaw station, which was be- low Keokuk, the buffalo test-net catch in 1944 was predominantly smallmouth, Ap- pendix B, table 1. Here 59 specimens of the smallmouth buffalo were taken in con- trast to 1 specimen of the black buffalo and 3 of the bigmouth buffalo {Megastomato- bus cyprinella). At Caruthersville no black buffaloes were taken in the survey nets; however, according to a Mr. Boyer, a local commercial fisherman, this species and the other buffalofishes usually are taken in catches in about equal numbers. One black buffalo weighing 19.5 pounds was examined from a commercial fisher- man's catch at Caruthersville. The aver- age weight of the black buffaloes taken in the survey was 4.06 pounds, an average much greater than that of the other spe- cies of buffalofishes. The bigmouth buffalo appeared to be more abundant than the black buffalo. However, the average weight of the big- September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississii'i-i Ri\kk 295 50 - I U 40 5 Ij. o UJ o UJ a. 30 - 20 - 10 - - 296 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 BUFFALOFISHES I MOUTH MO. R. TO CARUTHERSVILLE, 1944 \ ^ WARSAW TO MOUTH MO. RIVER, 1944 DUBUQUE TO BURLINGTON, 1946 Fig. 8.—The relative weight and the relative abundance of each of three species of buffalo- fishes taken in the test-net collections from three sections of the Mississippi River, 1944 and 1946. September. 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 297 mouth collected was 2.57 pounds, much less than that of the black huffalo. The sniallmouth buffalo was by far the most abundant buffalohsh taken in the survey ; however, the a\ erage weight of 1.17 pounds for this species was consider- ably less than that for the other species. From a study of fig. 8, it becomes quite evident that on a weight basis the small- mouth buffalo was dominant in the survey catches in the MR-C section and that part of the D-MR section investigated in 1Q44, and that the bigmouth buffalo dominated the 1*546 catches, which were in the Burl- ington-Dubuque section of the river. Nu- merically, the smallmouth buffalo domi- nated the collections in all three sections of the river referred to in fig. 8. The average lengths of the black buf- falo and the bigmouth buffalo in tlie test- net collections were greater than the aver- age length of the smallmouth buffalo, ta- ble 11. Examination of a large number of speci- mens indicated that the smallmouth buf- falo and the bigmouth buffalo become se.xuall.N- mature at about 15 inches in length. So few specimens of black buffalo were examined that maturity size for this species was not determined; the smallest ripe female noted was 18.5 inches long. In the test-net collections only 24 per cent of the smallmoutii buffaloes but 75 per cent of the other buffalofishes equaled or exceeded 15 inches in length. Commer- cial fishermen using nets of legal mesh Table 11.—Length-frequency distribution of buffalofishes (most of them in test-net collec- tions) from the Mississippi River between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa, in 1944 and 1946. Total Length in ischf.s 298 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 sizes catch a higher percentage of small- mouth buffaloes of 15 inches or more in length than was taken in this investiga- tion, in which some nets of smaller mesh sizes were used. Carp CVFRlNinAE The carp is a native of neither Europe nor America. According to Hessel (1878: 865-6), in all probability it was intro- duced into Europe from Central Asia many centuries ago. Europeans have reared and cultivated it at least since 1227, and they consider it as an excellent food fish. During the nineteenth century many of our forefathers, then recent immi- grants from Europe, clamored for the introduction of carp into North America. \^arious attempts evidently were made in carp plantings; in 1877 the United States Fish Commission was successful in import- ing a shipment of 345 carp, of which 227 were of the mirror and leather varieties. These carp were released in ponds at Washington, D. C, where they multiplied rapidly. In 1879, 12,000 young produced in the AVashington ponds were distributed among more than 300 persons in 25 states and territories (Forbes Si Richardson 1920:105). Carp apparently were not planted di- rectly by man into the Mississippi but escaped from nearby carp ponds during floods. Reports of carp in the Caruthers- ville-Dubuque section of the Mississippi came in 1883 from Hannibal, Missouri, and Quincy, Illinois (Cole 1905:549). Garman (1890:143) studied the fish fauna of the Mississippi bottoms near Quincy in August, 1888, and from his ob- servations there wrote the following re- garding the carp: "This hardy fish seems destined to become a permanent part of our fauna." In this 1888 investigation Gar- man found the carp widely distributed throughout the bottomland lakes. The carp did not increase in the com- mercial catch of the Mississippi as rapidly as in its more productive tributary, the Illinois River. In 1899 nearly six times as many pounds of carp were taken from the Illinois River as were taken by Illinois commercial fishermen from the Mississippi (Townsend 1902:681). The commercial statistics in tables 7 and 9 reveal the importance of the carp in the Mississippi River commercial fish- : ery. The carp is now the most important commercial fish in the river and it would i be only a matter of speculation as to what the size of the catch of the other fishes would be if carp were not in the present fauna. The survey catch of carp in 1944 and i 1946 was high at most of the stations, ranging from 12 to 70 per cent by weight of the catch of all the commercial fishes. Fig. 7, in which the catch of carp is pre- sented as a per cent of the total weight of the commercial fishes caught in the test nets, demonstrates the significance of the carp to the commercial fishery. The carp was by far the most important commercial species, as such groups as catfishes, carp- suckers, and buffalofishes are composed of more than one species. The position of the carp in relation to all fishes taken at the several survey stations is shown graphi- cally in fig. 9. In fishery management the size and age of the fishes comprising the catch are basic to an analysis of the condition of a fishery. The average lengths and weights of carp taken by test netting at the < various stations were recorded and are ( given in table 12. Carp have been reported from Europe as attaining weights of 42 to 67 pounds (Hessel 1878:874) and some of the scales from a 67-pound fish were said to measure 2.5 inches in diam- eter. Occasionally carp weighing 25 to 35 pounds are taken by commercial fisher- men from the Mississippi; however, the average weight of the carp appearing in the survey catch was 2.65 pounds. The difference between the average weights of the carp taken in 1944 and the average weights of those taken in 1946 appears by inspection of table 12 to be associated with the presence of relatively few small carp in the 1946 collections and relatively large numbers of small ones in 1944. A difference of this kind might be expected in any population after a lapse of 2 years and might be the result of differential survival of year classes. The diflSculties involved in attempting to determine by the scale method the age of summer-caught carp from a hetero- geneous carp population composed of a Fishes of the Miss ir lij m 3 lOOh I I I I I I I I I COMMERCIAL FISHES T l~r~l I I I I r-\—I—I—I—|—I—I— I I I I O t- 50 O z < C3 UJ 100 5 SPORT FISHES I I T I I r I \ \ BELOW MOUTH MISSOURI R. I I I I I I I I ABOVE MOUTH MISSOURI R. I I I I I I I I I I I PREDATOR FISHES o a: 100 - UJ Q. I I I I I I I I 300 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 > C ™ .2 * rvi — Hi U oj/^ 'ivaiNNVfj September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi Ri\er .^01 302 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 Table 13.—Ranges and averages of Indices of Condition (C) of two length-groups of carp in test-net collections from the Mississippi River between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa, in 1944 and 1946. Station 104-1 Caruthersville Tiptonville Cairo C.ipe Girardeau . . . Grand Tower Chester Stc. Genevieve .... Crystal City Cliff Cave .. Mouth Missouri. . . Grafton (March). . Grafton (July) .... Grafton (Sept.) . . . Winficld Hamburg Louisiana Cincinnati Landing Hannibal Quincy Canton Warsaw 1946 Burlington Oquawka New Boston Muscatine Fairport Andalusia (April). . Andalusia (June) . . Andalusia (Sept.) . . Pleasant Valley. . . Cordova Fulton Sabula Bellevue . Dubuque Carp With Total Length OF 14.6 Inches to 15.5 Inches Number Range of C 3 16 12 9 18 18 55 35 14 26 3 6 5 14 14 5 10 15 12 6 2 18 9 3 7 2 7 3 T 5.20 6.80 6.60 64 07 11 36 78 98 82 32 4.54- 3.24- 3.46- 4.18- 4.35- 4.05- 2.87- 4.56- 5.06 5,11 5.72 5.94 5.17 5.00 5.07 5.56 5.10 4.68-4.89 4.74-6.55 4.63-5.67 4.95-5.98 5.03-5.78 3.83-4.88 4.72-5.27 4.35-4.87 4.94-5.53 .Average C 96 43 83 22 46 83 51 33 5.37 5.16 5,19 4.85 4.79 4.76 4.65 4.61 4.63 4.68 4.65 4.81 4.79 5.59 5.20 46 30 4.36 4.99 4.57 5.24 4 93 Cari' With Total Length OF 16.6 Inches to 17.5 Inches Number 1 3 1 9 3 13 26 15 24 8 3 2 1 4 6 5 9 2 23 5 14 6 8 22 8 2 12 66 3 6 11 11 2 Range of C 4.83-6.30 4.68- 4.15- 3.38- 4 6.3- 4.23- 4.86- 4.55- 4.87- 4.26- 6.37 5-. 36 6.49 6.60 6.39 6.26 5.63 5.42 5.04 4.57-5.56 4.11-5.07 4.09^.70 3.51-5.13 4.56-5.09 4.21-5.52 4.44-5.20 4.29-5.92 2.63-5.84 6.11 6.38 5,54 5.43 5.68 6.23 4.50- 4.51- 4.22- 4.57- 4.32- 5.54 5.93 5.52 5,32 6.09 •5.18 .'\ver,age C 5.44 5.36 5.39 93 18 65 10 11 57 47 56 82 93 80 5.08 4.87 4.99 5.06 4.96 5.35 5.22 .09 .75 .94 .97 .73 5.33 4.75' number of year classes overlapping in length ranges have been discussed by Frey (1942:217). Because of these difficulties, it was necessary to rely on the length-fre- quency method of aging even though it, too, has limitations and is not well suited for use on carp populations. From the data given in table 12, it appears that the bulk of the carp catch was composed of 2- and 3-year-old fish. It was determined by examining the gonad condition of carp taken in the sur- vey that sexual maturity was reached in the females at lengths of 14 to 15 inches, in most males at lengths of 12.5 to 14.5 inches. However, some males as small as 8.5 inches were mature. The catches made by test-netting indicate that many carp below these lengths are taken in com- mercial type gear. The over-all average length of carp taken in both years of the survey was 16.5 inches, a figure a little over the minimum maturity length. The Index of Condition (C)* is often used as an indicator of the relative plump- ness of a fish. In table 13 the ranges and averages of Indices of Condition are given for two length groups of carp. At many ^ The formula C = W 10,000 suggested by Thompson & Bennett (1939:17) was used in computing the Index of Condition. September, 1951 KiSHES OF THE MlSSISSlPCI RlVER 30.? stations too few specimens of the selected length groups were taken to permit direct comparison; however, where 10 or more specimens were taken it seemed justifiable to make comparisons. The Inde.x of Con- dition, or C, ranged from 2.63 to 7.11. Carp having a C below 3.50 gave an out- ward appearance of being in poor condi- tion and most of them were emaciated. Inspection of table 13 indicates that the average C is a little less than 5.00. Alost of the carp taken in the spring and early summer (in tlie MR-C section) had a C above this value ; most of those taken later in the season of the same vear (in the D-MR section) had a C below 5.00. A similar seasonal difiterence was noted also at the two key stations. The upper C range at the key stations, as well as at the majority of the other stations, was above 5.00. The average C of carp taken in the polluted waters below St. Louis was much higher than that for carp taken above St. Louis. This difference may be attrib- uted parti) or entirely to seasonal changes. In the section of this paper on "Pollu- tion" mention is made that the carp on the Illinois side of the Mississippi near War- saw appeared \ery fat; their condition was attributed to tlieir feeding upon brewery waste. It is of interest to note in table 13 that the average Inde.x of Condition was higher at Warsaw than at the preceding stations below it sampled in late summer. CatBshes and Bullheads Ameiuridae The catfishes are considered b\' many to be the finest-tasting fresh-water fishes in North America. Their white, firm flesh has long made them leaders in demand at midwestern river commercial fish markets. Commercial fishermen frequently are un- able to meet the local public demand for these food fishes. The catfishes are pop- ular with anglers, also. It is often said that an angler who has iie\ er tried fishing with a light rod for the channel catfish (Ictalurus laruslris) has "just never Fig. 10.— .A Mississippi River commercial fisherman dressing a catfish. An experienced fisherman can dress a catfish in less than a minute. 304 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 Fig. 11.—Raising a sraall-mesh hoop net on the Mississippi River. The sraall-mesh nets are particularly effective for catfish. fished." The flathead catfish {Pilodictis olivaris) and the blue catfish {Ictalurus furcatus) are regularlj' taken by anglers either by trotline fishing or by jug fishing. In the Mississippi the three species of catfishes mentioned above form an impor- tant part of the commercial catch, figs. 10, 11, and 12. The species of catfishes and bullheads, like the species of buiifalofishes, are usually lumped together in commercial fisheries statistics. The commercial catch of Mississippi River catfishes and bull- heads reported for Illinois and Iowa in 1946 amounted to a little more than 50 per cent of the comparable catch reported in 1899, table 7. This table shows the September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississii-i-i River 305 Fig. 12.—Removing catfish from a basket trap. In ihe spring commercial fishermen often "bait" this type of trap with a ripe female catfish. large decline that occurred in the commer- cial take of these fishes between 18Q4 and 1899. The Illinois catch of catfishes and bullheads from the Mississippi, table 9, amounted to 20.3 per cent of the weight of the total commercial catch in 1894 and 15.1 per cent of that catch in 1946. These figures are hardh' comparable in view of the change in abundance of other commer- cial fishes. At Lake Keokuk the largest cominercial catch of catfishes and bull- heads since 1914 was taken in 1936, table 8. This table indicates that in 1936 a large increase in catch occurred on the Il- linois side of the Mississippi from Lake Keokuk to the northern boundar\ of tiie state. The following year the catch in that part of the river was reduced b\ almost one-half. The test-net data obtained between Caruthersville and Dubuque reveal that the relative abundance of t!ie catfish spe- cies is not constant in the three sections of the Mississippi indicated in fig. 13. H\ weight, the flatiicad was the most impor- tant catfish in all three sections, fig. 13. Numericalh, the fiathead was the most important catfish in the MR-C section and the channel catfish the most important in the other two sections. The blue cat- fish was more abundant in the MR-C sec- tion than in the D-MR section. No speci- men of this species was taken in test nets abo\ e Warsaw. About 20 \ ears ago Coker (1930:175) noted that Keokuk, which is 4 miles abine W'arsaw, was about the northern limit of the summer range of the blue catfish. The ciiannel catfisii \xas reported bv Forbes e^- Richardson (1920:181) as occa- sionally attaining a weight of 15 to 20 pounds. The largest specimen of this spe- cies observed during the 2 years of this investigation was taken at Burlington; it weighed 13.06 pounds. The average weight of the channel catfisii in the test- net catches was 0.45 pound. Appendix B. Ihe rtathead catfish was reported b\ Forbes & Richardson (1920:194) as fre- quently reaching a weight of 50 to 75 pounds and by Evermann (1899:293) as attaining a weight of 50 to 60 pounds and, rarel\, 100 pounds. At Cincinnati Landing a tlathead catfish weighing 42,56 liounds was taken by the l'H4 survc\ party in a w ing net. The average weight of the flathead in the test-net collections was 3.08 pounds. Appendix B. The average weight of the blue catfish in the test-net collections was surprisingly 306 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 lOOi- CATFISHES MOUTH MO. R. TO GARUTHERSVILLE, 1944 WARSAW TO MOUTH MO. RIVER, 1944 ^ DUBUQUE TO BURLINGTON, 1946 80 Hi CD < I- o 70 60 50 ^ 40 UJ O OC UJ 30 Q. 20- 10 September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississii'i'i Ri\er 307 low, only 0.57 pound, Appendix B. table 5 years old. The size at which they attain 1. This species is principally southern maturity was found to vary considerahlv . in distribution and evidently forms a sub- A few mature female flathead catfish less stantial part of the catch in the lower part than 15 inches total length were noted; of the Mississippi, particularly in Louisi- however, the majority of mature females ana. Evermann (1809:2^2) stated more were 18 inches or more in length. The cn UJ X o z- 30 O UJ 20- H ,0h - 308 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. to an insignificant 0.6 per cent and in that part sampled in 1946 to 0.5 per cent. Black bullheads were taken in numbers at only four of the stations in the MR-C sec- tion, Appendi.x B, table 1. The black bull- heads taken at these stations represented 82 per cent of the number of this species caught in 1944 and 68 per cent of all the black bullheads taken in the entire sur- vey. At the six stations immediately be- low the canalized section of the river (sta- tions south of Grafton 1 only five black bullheads were caught, numerically 1.6 per cent of the 1944 catch of black bullheads. Table 14.—Length-frequency distribution of the catfishes in test-net collections from the .Mississippi River between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa, in 1944 and 1946. The horizontal broken rule marks the approximate dividing line between immature and mature fish; the line for the blue catfish is based on little evidence and is therefore questionable. ,tember, 1931 Fishes of the Mississii'i-i Rivek 309 T»hl<. 15 -Species composition of Mississippi River fishes taken above and helow the mouth .jAlf.souriR.ver between Caruthersville. Missouri, and Dubuque. Iowa, 1944 and 1946. Mouth of Missouri UUBUHIF. TO RivFR TO I "•%%"" '" 'o , Blruxcton (AboveKUER lo ! „^ Missouri River, ^^^.^^ „^ Missouri River), 194A Species Caruthersvii.i.e, 1944 no Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. S In July, 1944, at the Grafton station, 14 specimens of black bullheads were taken. Appendix B, table 1. As mentioned in Appendix A, some of the sampling done at this station was in the lower part of the Illinois River and adjoining bottomland lakes, and the catch there may not have been typical of the fish population in the Mississippi. At the next station above Grafton on the Mississippi, five black bull- heads were taken, and at the next four sta- tions none was caught. In the aggregate only four specimens were taken at the remaining three uppermost stations used in 1944. The number of black bullheads was low throughout that part of the D-MR section investigated in 1946. The largest number caught at one station in 1946 was 16, at Andalusia in June. The data for the various stations are contained in Appendix B. The yellow bullhead {Ameiurus nata- lis ) was taken at less than half of the sta- tions and was plentiful at none, Appendix B. More specimens were taken at the upper than at the lower stations ; however, considerably more than half of the yellow bullheads taken in the survey were caught at the Grafton station, and, as suggested above, the sampling there was not confined to the Mississippi. Only six brown bullheads {Ameiurus nebulosus) were taken in 1944 and none in 1946, Appendix B. Of these only one was taken in the lower river and the re- mainder were caught at the Grafton sta- tion. The scarcity of bullheads in the D-MR section of the river is reflected by the Iowa commercial catch between 1944 and 1948, table 16. For a few years following canal- ization of the upper Mississippi the com- mercial catch of bullheads increased, and it did not show a severe decline until 1944— 45. The reason for the decline is not known. The test-net catch of bullheads in 1944 was low at the six sampling sta- tions below the canalized section of the river. According to E. B. Speaker of the Iowa Conservation Commission (let- ter, August 19, 1949) there again is ap- parently some increase in the bullhead population in the Iowa section of the Mississippi. Since so few bullheads were taken in 1946, the length-frequency data of only Table 16.—Commercial catch of bullheads from the Iowa section of the Mississippi River, 1938-1948.* Year September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississipim River 311 per cent equaled or exceeded 10 inches in length. The cattish and huUhead fishery he- tween Caruthersville and Dubuque as demonstrated by the 2 years of test netting is largel.N' a channel cat-flathead fishery. The only other important species of this group, the black bullhead and the blue catfish, are more numerous in the MR-C section than above. The great abundance of the channel catfish in the upper river perhaps compensates somewhat for the small numbers of bullheads in that section and the scarcity of the blue cattish in the river above \Varsa\v. ^ ellow bullheads and brown bullheads are too scarce in the river to be of any commercial importance. Freshwater Drum SCI.XENIDAE In the Midwest commercial market the freshwater drum is usualU' called white perch. In the Mississippi River this fish is of great importance commercially and of some value as a sport fish. According to Forbes iS: Richardson (1920:3241, weights of 50 to bO pounds were in their time not uncommon for this fish. In the opinion of these writers the freshwater drum "be- comes tough and strong «ith age, but is at its best when weighing from three-quar- ters of a pound to three pounds. . . . This fish is of a sluggish habit, living on the bottom of muddy waters, where it feeds especially on mollusks, the shells first being crushed by the powerful, paved, millstone- like, phar\ngeal jaws. Often the stomach contains only the soft bodies and opercula of gastropod mollusks, the crushed shells evidently having been thrown out. Craw- hshes are also sometimes found in the food. Half-grown specimens feed largely on aquatic insects, especially the larvae of May-flies, mingling larger and larger proportions of mollusks with this food as they increase in size, until they come hnally to depend almost wholh' upon wa- ter-snails and the relatively thin-shelled clams." Although the increased silt load and canalization have modified the Mississippi as an invertebrate habitat, the freshwater drum has evidently been able to withstand the changes and is still one of the most abundant fishes in the river. In the test- netting study the freshwater drum was found to be abundant at all the sampling stations between Caruthersville and Du- buque. In 104b the freshwater drum ranked fourth in weight of catch among Missis- sippi River fish groups reported by com- mercial fishermen of Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, table 7. It ranked second among species in the test-net sur\ey, as the buf- falorish, carpsucker, catfish, and bullhead groups were each composed of more than one species. Its relative abundance in the three sections of the river indicated in ta- ble 15 did not vary appreciable The average weight of the freshwater drum in the sur\ey catches was 0.b7 pound, Appendix B. As shown in table 18 the a\erage length for individuals of this species \aried somewhat in the three sec- tions indicated. Many more large indi- viduals, that is, fish 14 inches or more in length, were taken in l'^4b than in 1044. Table 18.— Length-frequency distribution of the freshwater drum in test-net collections from the Mississippi River between Caruthers- ville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa, in 1944 and 1946. The horizontal broken rule marks the approximate dividing line between imma- ture and mature fish. TOT.A I. 312 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 Studies made on the scales of the fresh- water drum from the Mississippi indicate that, on the average, the drum does not attain a length of 14 inches until it is 5 years of age in the lUinois-Wissouri sec- tion and 6 years of age in tlie Illinois-Iowa section. The minimum legal length limit of 10 inches, which has been in effect for some time in the state of Illinois, appears to have allowed a favorable take without seriously depleting the population. The length at which the freshwater drum matures was found to be variable. A female 10.5 inches in length was found spent, and individuals of 15.0 and 15.5 inches were determined as immature or de- veloping. Probably length variation within a group is associated with the age of that group, since a wide length range for each age group was common. In 1946 the freshwater drum com- manded a price along the Mississippi about equal to that of the buffalofishes, appro.xi- mately 10 cents a pound, undressed weight. In that year, undressed carp brought about 5 cents a pound and undressed catfish ap- pro.ximately 20 cents a pound. SPORT FISHES The sport fishery of the Mississippi River between Caruthersville and Du- buque is confined largely to the D-MR section. There sport fishing is, for the most part, conducted in the pools imme- diately below the dams and in backwaters and bottomland lakes adjoining the river. Bluegills {Leporiiis macrochints) and crappies were by far the most abundant species of sport fishes in the test-net col- lections. Black basses, pike, sauger, and \'ellow pikeperch (walleye) were taken in only limited numbers. Experience has demonstrated that the black basses are not so susceptible to being caught in nets and seines as are most of the other fishes. This possibly explains the scarcity of black basses in many of the collections. Fig. 9 portrays the abundance of sport fishes in the collections from test-net sta- tions in the Caruthersville-Dubuque sec- tion of the river. In this figure it may be clearly seen that the sport fishes made up a smaller part of the total catch in the MR-C section of the river than in the Table 19.—Relative abundance of individuals of the several groupings of Mississippi River fishes associated with upper, middle, and lower reaches of navigation pools between Burlington and Dubuque, Iowa, in 1946, expressed as per cents of total numbers and total weights of fishes. September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 313 D-MR section. Because of the scarcity of adjoining backwaters and bottomland lakes, together with a high degree of tur- bidity in the channel, the MR-C section is visibly less satisfactory as a habitat for most of the sport fishes than the D-MR section. A much more fa\orable habitat for these Hshes is provided by the D-MR section; however, the increased silt load of the river, silting above the dams, and the draining of adjoining bot- tomland lakes have contributed toward re- ducing the potentialities of this section of the river for sport fishes. Netting operations in the various parts of the pools formed by the dams in the D-MR section revealed that the game fishes were most abundant in the upper reaches. The catches of all fishes in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the pools are summarized in tables 19 and 20. A relative increase in the catch of commercial fishes occurred in the middle and lower reaches as the intensity of fish- ing was increased there, although the total catch (all species combined) per net-da\' actually dropped. The relative increase in the catch of commercial fishes as reflected b\ table 19 is due partly to the scarcity of sport fishes in catclies from the middle and lower reaches. Tlie upper reaches of the pools provide a more favorable liabi- tat for sport fishes than the middle and lower reaches in that the bottoms in the upper reaches are comparatively free of silt. Here probably more food is available in the form of aquatic insects and minnows than o\er the silt-co\ercd bottoms in the middle and lower reaches of the pools. Deep holes and shallow sand bars are rather numerous in the upper reaches of the pools, and this type of habitat is usual- ly considered favorable for sport fishes. Early in this century, and before, sport fishes were taken commercially from the Mississippi. During the \ear 1899, Town- send (1902:681) reports, 18,744 pounds of "black bass" were caught commercially by Illinois fishermen from tlie Mississippi and 102,579 pounds from the Illinois Table 20.—The 1946 hoop-net and wing-net catches expressed in average numbers and weight of fish per net-day in relation to location in navigation pools of the Mississippi River between Burlington and Dubuque, Iowa. 314 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 River; 33,641 pounds of "sunfish" were taken from the Mississippi and 507,680 pounds from the Illinois. These statis- tics indicate that the section of the Mis- sissippi bordering Illinois was not then a great producer of sport fishes, at least when compared with the Illinois River. Pike and Pickerel ESOCIDAE Pike are often referred to by Midwest fishermen as pickerel. In the Mississippi River a species of pickerel, as well as the pike (Esox lucius), was taken in the test nets. The grass pickerel {Esox verrnicu- latus) seldom attains a length over 15 inches. This little pickerel was taken in the test-net collections only at the Graf- ton station and it is of no importance as either a commercial or sport fish. Pike, popularly known as northern pike, did not appear in the test-net collections below the station at New Boston, where a single specimen weighing 3.49 pounds was taken. The absence of pike in the col- lections below this station substantiates the statement of Coker (1930:214) that Keokuk, which is 69 miles below New Boston, "is evidently south of the common range of the true pike in the Mississippi River." More than 91 per cent of the pike taken during the entire survey were caught at the four uppermost 1946 sam- pling stations. Commercial fishery statistics suggest that the pike has not been common in the Mis- souri section of the Mississippi River for at least a half century. In 1894 pike repre- sented 0.01 per cent of the total Missouri commercial catch from the Mississippi, and no pike was reported for the year 1899, table 8. In the Illinois section of the Mis- sissippi, the pike was rather common in the commercial catch for 1894 and 1899. In the Iowa section, the catch of pike by commercial fishermen amounted to 25,- 042 pounds in 1899. Forbes & Richard- son (1920:209), writing nearly a half century ago, stated that the number of pike had greatly decreased in Illinois waters during the previous 25 years. The taking of pike is now restricted in the Caruthersville-Dubuque section of the river to sport fishing, and the species is too scarce in this section, other than in the upper part, to be of much importance even as a sport fish. Perches Percidae Three species of sport fishes belonging to the perch family have been reported to occur in the Mississippi River. The yel- low perch, Perca flavescens (Mitchill), according to Forbes & Richardson (1920: 227), is essentially a lake fish but occurs also in running water, most abundantly in the larger rivers. Townsend (1902: 684, 721) gave the 1899 commercial take of the yellow perch from the Mississippi River by Illinois fishermen as 1,521 pounds and by Iowa fishermen as 9,665 pounds. He did not report a yield of perch for the Missouri section of the river. Coker (1930:204) wrote several years later that the yellow perch was apparently not com- mon in the vicinity of Keokuk, but sug- gested that it might become more abun- dant in the impoundment at Keokuk since it is "essentially a lake fish." He reported that the expected increase had not occurred up to 1926. In the Caruthersville-Dubuque survey not a single specimen of yellow perch was taken. This fish is usually not considered "net shy" and it appears that if the spe- cies occurred in numbers in the parts of the river investigated at least a few specimens would have been netted. Although the yel- low perch formerly occurred abundantly enough in the Iowa section of the Mis- sissippi to be of some value commercially, the draining of bottomland lakes and backwaters in the valley may have had the effect of reducing the population. These former lakes probably abounded in aquatic ( vegetation and, according to Greenei (1935: 162), one of the most potent tco- logical factors in the distribution of tjie'i yellow perch is aquatic vegetation, a usual necessity for successful spawning. Large perch populations frequently are associated with extensive sandy shoals, and silting of such areas may limit the numbers of perch. ; The pikeperches are of some importance] to the sport fishery of the Mississippi River, and large catches of these fishes are not un- common from the upper part of the D-MR section of the river. Experienced anglers usually make their catches in the fall. In September. 1951 Fishes of the Mississii-im Rivek 315 Table 21.—Length-frequency distribution of the sauger and the yellow pikeperch in test-net collections from the Mississippi River between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Dubuaue Iowa in 1944 and 1946. ^ ' 316 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 nated the sport fish catch. In the MR-C collections the hlack crappie appeared to be slightly more abundant than tlie white. In the 1944 D-MR collections, the black crappie was almost twice as abundant as the white; however, the dominant black crappie populations were confined to the station just above the mouth of the Mis- souri River, the next station upstream, which is Grafton, and Cincinnati Land- ing. At the last of these stations only 7 crappies were taken, a number too small to be of any significance. At Grafton the black crappie was extremely abundant as compared with the white. At Winfield, the next station upstream from Grafton, the crappie population was predominantly white. This dominance of white crappies continued at the remaining upper river sta- tions in 1944 and 1946 with the exception of Cincinnati Landing. Hansen ( 1951 : 224) , in his study of the biolog)' of the white crappie, observed that crappie samples taken in hoop nets did not necessarily indicate the relative abundance of the two species. At Lake Chautauqua, near Havana, Illinois, he found that a dominance of black crappies or white crap- pies shifted in an erratic manner from week to week. In view of Hansen's study, the actual status of the species of crappie that is dominant in the test nets of a given sec- tion of river becomes uncertain. However, the constant dominance of the black crap- pie in catches during the three sampling pe- riods at Grafton tends to substantiate the belief that it is more abundant there than the white. The dominance of the white crappie in most of the upper river collec- tions between Winfield and Dubuque (1944 and 1946) indicates that this spe- cies is probably more abundant than the i^^x^;?" ^^-c^^^' # i;^<;> .^o' y^- *?<'^^ 'I .'...I. .!..'. A. ]..!..' Fig. 15.—The relative abundance, as determined by test-netting, of the white crappie, blackl crappie, and other sport fishes at the various field stations on the Mississippi River betweel/ Caruthersville and Dubuque, 1944 and 1946. The percentages are based on the total number ol sport fishes taken at each station. No sport fishes were taken at Cape Girardeau nor at Cliffl Cave. The number taken at Ste. Genevieve, two, was considered too small to be significant! Septcmlicr. 19^1 Fishes ok the Mississii'i-i River 317 Table 22.—Length-frequency distribution of tlie black crappie and the white crappie in test- net collections from the Mississippi River between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Uubuoue Iowa in 1944 and 1946. ' Black Crappie ToTxi. Length i.n Inches 2.8- 3.7 3.8- 4 7 4.8- 5.7 5.8- 6.7 6.8- 7.7.. 7.8- 8.7 8.8- 9.7 9 8-10.7 10 8-11 7 11 8-12 7 12 8-LV7 13 8-14.7 Torit niimher Average length Per cent 8 inches or more MR C Section 1944 1 41 48 18 n 4 123 7.3 26.8 D-MR Section 1944 3 21 121 291 369 418 145 21 2 1 ,392 8.4 68.7 D-MR Section 1946 56 257 149 142 217 194 288 128 16 3 1 1 ; ,452 7.1 43.5 White Crappie MR-C Section 1944 21 37 34 17 4 3 2 IIQ 7.9 50.4 D-MR Section 1944 7 40 148 191 219 147 100 24 3 879 8.0 56.1 1)MR Section 1946* 32 463 394 212 239 392 446 358 152 33 4 2,725 l.S 50.8 • D-MR 1946 data include 51 white crappies from a catfli with a IJ^-inch hoop net by J. S. Barnett, a commercial fisherman at Oquawka. Illinois. black in the U-AIR section. Coker (1930: 202) found the white crappie was ap- parently about three times as abundant as the black at Keokuk. The length-frequency distributions of the black crappies and white crappies taken in the test nets are presented in table 22. Slightly more than 50 per cent of the white crappies taken were 8 inches or more in length ; with the exception of individuals taken in the 1944 D-AIR section, a smaller proportion of the black crappies were of these lengths. Age and growth studies made from the scales of these fishes showed that the white crappies grew faster than the blacks, which probably accounts for the greater percentages of large white crap- pies. It is difficult to determine the abundance of the largemouth black bass (Micropteriis salnwides) from net and seine collections. As anyone who has attempted the netting of this bass realizes, it is not easih' taken in numbers even where a large population may be present. Therefore, very little can be said regarding the status of the largemouth in the river. In the poisoning censuses of fish populations made in back- waters adjoining the Mississippi at Oquawka and Savanna, the largemouth population was rather low. Since these censuses pertain to only two localities, they do not necessarily indicate the over- all status of the bass population. The largemouth black bass formed only an in- significant part of the test-net collections in the AIR-C section in 1944 and of those in the D-MR section in 1946. In the D-.MR section ;n 1944 the largemouth amounted to 1.4 per cent of the total num- ber of fishes caught. Of these, 76.4 per cent were taken at Grafton. As was stated previously, some of the nets were set in bottomland lakes and sloughs of the Graf- ton area, long known as excellent for bass fishing. Anglers usually fish for bass in backwater lakes and sloughs of the Mis- sissippi rather than in the river proper. .'\s shown in table 2.5. the a\ erage length of largemouth black bass taken in the test-net collections was more than 10 inches. In each year of the survey, two spotted black bass (Microptcrus piiinlulntus) were taken in the collections. This species of bass is too scarce in the Caruthcrsville- Dubuque section of the river to be of any importance to the sport fishery. The 1944 specimens were taken at Caruthersville and the 1946 at Fulton, Illinois. No specimen of the smallmouth black bass (Microplerus dolumieu) was taken 318 Illinois N.atur.al History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 in the test-net collections ; however, one small specimen was taken with a minnow seine at Claryville, Missouri. The ab- sence of this species from the test-net col- lections indicates that it is probably scarce in the area investigated, and that the large- mouth is the only representative of the black basses that occurs in large enough numbers to be of any importance to the sport fishery. The green sunfish (Lepowis cyanellus) appeared to be quite scarce in the Mis- sissippi. In 1944, 18 fish of this species were taken in the test-net collections at Table 23.— Length-frequency distribution of the largemouth black bass in test-net col- lections from the Mississippi River between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa, in 1944 and 1946. TOTA I. September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 319 averajre, 6-inch tish were about 3 years of age, indicating rather slow growth. The warmouth {Chai'nobryttus coro- narius). according to Coker (1930:204), was never very abundant in the Keokuk area ot the Mississippi. This species was not taken abundantly anywhere during the Caruthersville-Dubuque survey. As in the case of the other sport fishes, the warmouth was taken more abundantly in the D-MR collections than in the collections farther ^outh. It was taken less abundantly in the Burlington-Dubuque section than in the lower part of the D-MR section, that part surveyed in 1944. Age and growth studies of specimens taken from the Illinois-Missouri section of the Mississippi in 1944 tended to show that growth of the warmouth, table 25, was a little slower than that of the bluegill. Bluegills 3 years of age averaged 6.64 inches, whereas warmouths of this age averaged 6.16 inches. The warmouth is probabl\ not abundant enough in the Caruthersville-Dubuque section of the river to be considered of much importance to the sport fishery. Sea Basses Serramdae The white bass (Lepihema chrysops) and the yellow bass (Morone interrupta) are the only members of this large family, principally composed of marine fishes, oc- curring in the Caruthersville-Dubuque section of the Mississippi River. The white bass, according to Greene (1935: 160), is more northern in range than the yellow bass. In this survey both species were taken at the lowermost station, Caruthersville, and only the white bass in the Dubuque collections; however, one specimen of yellow bass was taken at Belle- vue, 17 miles below Dubuque, indicating that the species probably occurs at the geographic extremes of this surve>'. The test-net collections indicate that the white bass is more widely distributed than the yellow bass in that part of the river sur- veyed. The white bass was taken in greater numbers than the yellow bass in the MR- C section of the river; however, neither species was common there. In the D-MR section both species were much more abundant than in the MR-C section, Ap- pendix B. The white bass accounted for 2.19 per cent of the total number of all fishes in the 1944 D-.MR collections, the \ellow bass for 0.05 per cent. In the total catch at the stations Hshed in 1946, the yellow bass was one and one-half times as abundant as the white bass. This re- versal in abundance was due to the large catch of yellow bass at New Boston, where 84.1 per cent of the 1946 catch of this fish was taken. One wing net (1-inch mesh) in a backwater area at New Boston pro- duced 198 yellow bass, amounting to 91.2 per cent of the 217 yellow bass caught at this station. Sex determinations made of these fish revealed that 96.5 per cent were ripe males. From this catch it appears that the males possibly are attracted dur- ing the spawning season by a few ripe females in the net. A more nearly accurate picture of abundance and distribution of white bass and yellow bass in the D-MR section can be obtained when the New Boston figures are omitted from the 1946 data for both species. When this is done the white bass appears to be three times as abundant as the yellow bass. The abundance of these fishes in the upper ri\ er has been discussed bv several investigators. In 1888 near Quincy, Garman (1890: 137) found the white bass more abundant than the yellow bass, and, man\' years later at Keokuk, Coker ( 1930:207) found the white bass more common than th? \ellow bass. The former status of these fishes in lll'nois is discussed by Forbes & Richard- son (1920:320). In discussing conditions of about 50 years ago these authors wrote the following regarding the white bass in the Mississippi: "It was formerly much more common than now. VVe are informed by Mr. H. L. Ashlock that a dozen years ago one could easily get a hundred pounds of it in an afternoon at Alton with a hun- dred-yard trammel-net, but that it has now almost disappeared." At the same time these authors (1920:321) found the yel- low bass about twice as abundant as the white bass in Illinois. The average sizes of the white bass and the \ellow bass in the test-net collec- tions differed only slightly, table 26. The white bass, however, attains greater sizes than the yellow bass. Both of these fishes i 320 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. Table 26.—Length-frequency distribution of the white bass and the yellow bass in test-ne collections from the Mississippi River between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa, ii 1944 and 1946. Total Length in Inches White Bass MR-C Section 1944 D-MR Section 1944 D-MR Section 1946 Yellow Bass MR-C Section 1944 D-MR Section 1944 D-MR Section 1946 3 8- 4.7.... 4.8- 5.7.... 5.8- 6.7..,. 6.8- 7.7.... 7.8- 8.7.... 8.8- 9.7.... 9.8-10,7.... 10,8-11,7,... 11,8-12,7,,,. 12.8-13,7,,,. 13.8-14.7.... 14,8-15,7,.,, 15,8-16,7.... Tola! number. . Average length S4 9.2 10 17 30 25 18 41 24 9 7 9 2 1 193 9,4 17 23 9 13 27 19 17 22 10 3 162 8.4 7.8 4 9.0 1 3 22 18 131 68 9 5 1 258 8.4 are considered as excellent sport fishes, and they often form an important part of the angler's catch. PREDATORY FISHES In the present report the gars and the bovvfin are grouped as predatory fishes. These fishes feed to a large extent upon other fishes and they have little commer- cial value. Many of the species designated in this report as commercial or sport fishes are also predatory in habits. The catfishes, black basses, and pikeperches are examples. .Gars Lepisosteidae The shortnose gar (Lepisosteus plato- slo/nus)' occurred much more frequently in the test-net collections than did the other species of gars. This gar was abun- dant in the MR-C and D-MR sections of the river. The longnose gar {Lepisosteus osseus) also was common in both sections of the river; however, it occurred much less frequently in the test-net collections than the shortnose gar. Eighty-five specimens of the alligator • In this investigation the spotted gar, Lepisosteus pro- ductus Cope, if present, was not separated (rom the shortnose gar. gar {Lepisosteus spatula) were taken duri ing the survey. Of these, 84 were from the MR-C section. The single specimen from the D-MR section was taken at Grafton, As shown in Appendix B, table 1, in thi MR-C section the alligator gar was netted at only four stations. Eighty of the 84 specimens were taken at Cairo. Forbes & Richardson (1920:35) state that: "The home of the alligator-gar is in the streams of the Gulf of Mexico, from Mexico to Cuba. It ascends the Mississippi above St. Louis, and has occasionally been taken in the lower Illinois River." The length-frequency distribution of the gars taken in the test-net collections is given in table 27. The largest gar taken during the sur- vey was an alligator gar measuring 5 feet 5 inches total length and weighing 54.81 pounds. This specimen was taken in a 1 -inch-mesh wing net at the Grand Tower station. The alligator gar, according to Dr. David Starr Jordan, reaches a length of 20 feet (Forbes & Richardson 1920: 35). The average length of the alligator gar in the MR-C collections was 23.5 inches, an average less than that determined for the longnose gar. The shortnose ear, as shown in table 27, averaged much less in length than the other gars. In some areas gars are sought by anglers merely for sport. The larger specimens, September. 1951 Fishes of the Mississipin River 321 particularly of alligator gars, provide a challenge to an angler using only mod- erately heavy tackle. Bovvfin AvniD.\E bowfin in the Midwest is con- by some anglers as an excellent sport tish. This fish will, on occasion, strike a spinner-bucktail combination or The sidered a plug. The vicious runs of the howfin after striking an artificial lure are some- thing to be remembered, even by the ex- perienced angler. The value of the bowfin as a food fish seems to be a debatable sub- ject ; however, the smoked flesh of a bow- fin is considered a delicacy by some. Fewer bowfins were taken in the col- lections from the MR-C section than in those from the D-MR section of the river. Catches of 41 bowfins at Winfield and 62 Table 27.—Length-frequency distribution of the gars and the bowfin in test-net collections from the Mississippi River between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa, in 1944 and 1946. 322 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. Table 28.—Length-frequency distribution of the goldeye, the mooneye, and the gizzard shad in test-net collections from the Mississippi River between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa, in 1944 and 1946. Total Length in Inches GoLDEYE D-MR Section 1946 Mooneye D-MR Section 1946 MR-C Section 1944* Gizzard Shad D-MR Section 1944 D-MR Section 1946 2.8- 3.7 3.8-4.7 4.8- 5.7 5.8- 6.7 6.8- 7.7 7.8- 8.7 8.8- 9.7 9.8-10.7 10.8-11.7 11.8-12.7 12.8-13.7 13.8-14.7 14.8-15.7 15.8-16.7 16.8-17.7 Total number . . Average length 2 18 12 8 7 7 12 2 2 5 6 3 84 9.7 31 22 52 38 19 9 2 1 174 1 A 1 3 24 21 31 32 43 28 28 23 18 6 5 1 264 10.3 7 9 35 12 27 50 35 86 146 184 126 62 22 4 SOS 11.2 1 26 72 13 7 26 28 22 10 4 6 237 8.0 • The goldeye was not separated from the mooneye at all of the 1944 stations and was included with the mooneye in the 1944 data. at Fulton were the largest taken at any of the stations. Both of these stations were in the D-MR section. The average lengths of the specimens taken in the test-net collections are shown in table 27. FORAGE FISHES The forage fishes are of little or no commercial value, but they serve as food for other fishes. They are usually very numerous as compared with the predatory fishes that feed upon them. Minnows (Cyprinidae) and the gizzard shad {Doro- soma cepedianum) are quite abundant in the Mississippi River and undoubtedly serve as food for many of the carnivorous fishes. The term forage fishes as applied here in not particularly satisfactory since the specimens caught in nets were too large to serve as prey for all but very large carnivorous fishes. The various species of minnows taken during the survey were caught in most cases with a minnow seine ; catches with this gear are not considered in this paper. The goldeye (Arnphiodon ahsoides) and the mooneye (Hiodon tergisus), in- cluded with the forage fishes in 1944 and with the commercial fishes in 1946, Ap- pendix B, lack commercial importance in the MR-C section and parts of the D-MR section. The goldeye was not separated from the mooneye at all the 1944 sta- tions and was included with the mooneye in the 1944 data. Appendix B, table 1. In the 1946 survey these two species were separated, table 15 and Appendix B, table 2. The mooneye was taken in much greater abundance than the goldeye in the 1946 collections. These two species formed a more important part of the catch in the Burlington-Dubuque section of the river than they did in the parts of the river fished in 1944. The length-fre- quency distribution of the goldeye and mooneye is given in table 28. As indicated by this table the goldeyes were of larger sizes than the mooneyes. Neither of these species was collected in sufficient num- bers to indicate that they are of potential i importance as commercial fishes in the Caruthersville-Dubuque section of the river. Only two specimens of the golden shiner {Notemigonus crysoleucas) were taken in the test-net collections. They^ were collected in 1944 at Grafton. i SeptembiT. 19^ 1 I'iSHKS OF THE MlSSlSSIPl'I RiVtR 323 The gizzard shad formed a mucli more important part of the test-net catch in 1944 than it did in 1946. Along with the drop in the 1^45 catch of gizzard shad, table 28, there was also a noticeable reduc- tion in size of these fish. In two back- water areas poisoned in 1946, near Sa- vanna, there were low populations of giz- zard shad; only 196 individuals per acre and an average of 4.69 pounds per acre were recovered. Two similar backwater areas poisoned in 1947, near Oquawka, contained a per acre average of 8,201 giz- zard shad that in the aggregate weighed 284.5 pounds. The gizzard shad is so bony that it is seldom used as a food tish by man ; how- ever, when small it is considered as an im- portant link in the food chain of other fishes. The skipjack (Pofiiolul/tis chrysrjchluris I was taken occasionally in the collections between Caruthers\ille and Warsaw. No specimen was collected abo\e \\ arsaw. Coker (1930:169) noted that during the first few years following construction of the power dam at Keokuk the abundance of the skipjack declined rapidly in the up- per part of the river. He presented evi- dence to show that the skipjack is migra- tory but does "not necessaril\ go to ex- treme northern or extreme southern wa- ters, and that the breeding places from which the upper river was formerly chieflx stocked are no longer accessible to a great number of herring (skipjack)." Eddy ik Surber (1947:91 I state that the skipjack is very rare, if not extinct, above the Keokuk dam. The scarcity of the skipjack in the collections of the 1944 survey tends to indicate that this fish may ha\e been affected by the locks and dams constructed below Keokuk since the time Coker made his studies on the river. The skipjack is too bony to be of much value as a food fish ; however, it is con- sidered by some anglers as a very gamy fish when taken on light tackle. The im- portance of the skipjack, according to Coker (1930:166), is as a host for the young (glochidia) of the niggerhead mus- sel. This mussel was formerly of great economic importance to the button indus- try, but appeared to decline in abundance with the decrease of the skipjack in the up- per river. DISCISSION Poor land management in the upper Mississippi drainage basin has changed the section of the river from Dubuque to the mouth of the Missouri from a clear to a coffee-colored stream in less than a cen- tury. With the promotion of drainage schemes under the guise of agricultural development, the Mississippi River was leveed out of most of its natural flood plain reservoirs, which were e\ identl\ once the spawning and rearing grounds of many fishes. This encroachment upon tile flood plain of the ri\er b) man, combined with intensive agricultural practices in the up- lands, has brought about many of the present flood control problems. The canal- ization of the upper river evidently is re- sponsible for the disappearance or reduc- tion in numbers of certain fishes and has produced lisheries problems associated with draw-downs and silt-laden na\igation pools. City and manufacturers' wastes also have contributed to the deterioration of the river as a fish habitat. Although commercial fishing may have contributed to the reduction of certain fishes, the decline in the fishery as a whole appears to have followed the change in habitat rather than any intensification of commercial fishing activities. Such find- ings gi\en in this paper as pertain to the abundance, size, and maturity age of the important commercial and sport fishes may be of some value in developing fishing reg- ulations that are biologically sound. How- ever, the problem of the Mississippi River fisher)' is more than one of legal restric- tions. Perhaps legal restrictions will aid some species, but, with an environment that is unfavorable, other species probably w ill continue to dwindle. The decline in the catch of the bufifalofishes, catfishes, pike, sturgeons, paddlefish, and others has been pointed out. The future of the pad- dlefish and the blue sucker appears in doubt. Tile status of the freshwater eel and the skipjack has been seriousl)' af- fected, probably b\ the installation of locks and dams in the upper ri\ er. Perhaps other fishes have been and will be affected by the dams. The dififerences in the abundance of fishes in the several parts of the pools, as evidenced bv the 1946 test-net collections, 324 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 clearly demonstrate the effect canaliza- tion lias on the habitat in the river. Evi- dently the silt-covered bottoms and re- duced currents observed in the lower and middle reaches of the pools are less fa- vorable for many species, particularly of the sport fishes, than conditions existing in the upper reaches. On the other hand, some of the impoundments have provided more bacicwater areas, which are usually considered favorable to fish production. The inundation of forest land has resulted in the formation of habitat containing hollow logs, suitable for catfish spawning. The MR-C section of the river appeared to be much less productive of fish than the D-MR section. Greater scarcity of spawn- ing grounds, turbidity of water, and swift- ness of current in the MR-C section, as compared with the D-MR section, appear to be factors accounting for some of the productivity differences of the two sections. These factors are reflected in the distribu- tion and abundance of sport fishes in the test-net collections. Since the end of the last century the catch of carp has annually compensated for some of the losses in poundage of declining species. Commercial values of carp, however, are not so high as those of some of the declining species. Some of these losses might be compensated for if proper utilization could be made of cer- tain abundant species in the river. Crap- pies, particularly the white, are quite abundant in the D-MR section of the river. Probably only a small portion of these fishes are taken annually by anglers. Crappies are not a long-lived fish, and as a result most of this resource is lost. The commercial fishery would benefit if crap- pies were placed on the commercial list, since these fishes are netted easily and would bring a good price. It is doubtful if commercial fishing would deplete the crappie population to such an extent that the sport fisher\- would suffer. Reduced crappie populations might permit better growth and furnish anglers with larger fish than are now being taken. Development of better methods for han- dling river carpsuckers in warm months would benefit commercial fishermen. The smoking of carp and bowfins has possibilities of further increasing values of these fishes. Poor fishing in some instances may be a result of the decrease in natural predators (Bennett 1947:278). In the Mississippi River gars may be important predators. These fishes are possibly filling a gap left by the decreases in populations of pike, yellow pikeperch, and fish-eating ducks. Further biological studies on gars might establish the possibility that gars are bene- ficial to the fishery rather than harmful, as is commonly believed by fishermen. SUMMARY I 1. A survey of the fishes occurring in the Mississippi River between Caruthers- ville, Missouri, and Dubuque, Iowa, was made in 1944 and 1946. Thirty-one sam- pling stations were used. The following types of commercial fishing gear were em- ployed : 25-foot Common Sense minnow seines, 100-yard trammel nets, 100-yard seines, hoop nets, wing nets, trap nets, basket traps, and trotlines. 2. The lengths and weights of fishes and the condition of their gonads were re- corded afield for all individuals captured in the test nets. The length-frequency dis- tribution of the more abundant fishes was recorded in tabular form. Altogether 26,- 037 fishes having a total weight of 28,- 294.25 pounds were taken in the 1944 and 1946 operations. 3. Observations on the various species of fishes taken by test netting were record- ed. The numbers and weights of fishes caught at each station were listed by species. Appendix B. 4. Characteristics of the Mississippi River and the sampling stations were stud- ied. Comparisons were made, in relation to the habitat and fishery, between two sections of the Mississippi River: one ex- tending from Dubuque to the mouth of the Missouri River (D-MR section) and the other from the mouth of the Missouri to Caruthersville (MR-C section). 5. The carp, freshwater drum, flat- head catfish, channel catfish, carpsuckers, smallmouth buffalo, shortnose gar, long- nose gar, and gizzard shad were taken abundanth- from both sections of the river. 6. The blue catfish, alligator gar, black bullhead, and black buffalo were collected principally in the MR-C section. .eptember, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 325 The alligator gar was taken onh once in the D-MR section. 7. Sport fishes, bigmouth buffalo, and channel cattish were taken more abundant- ly in the D-MR section than in the other section. 8. Carp, buffalofishes, catfishes, carp- suckers, and freshwater drum were the most abundant commercial fishes taken during the survey. The sho\elnose stur- geon was found to be the only sturgeon still abundant enough in the river to be of any commercial importance. The pad- dlefish was much less common than for- merly. 9. The blue sucker, skipjack, and American eel were not numerous at any of the sampling stations. The skipjack was not taken above Warsaw, Illinois. 10. The crappies were the most abun- dant game Hshes in the test-net collections. The black crappie was taken more abun- dantlv than the white between the mouths of the Illinois and Missouri rivers. Above the mouth of the Illinois the \vhite crap- pie was taken more abundantly than tiie black. The bluegill was second in abun- dance to the crappies among the game fishes. The sauger was collected in great- er abundance than the yellow pikeperch (walleye). The yellow pikeperch was not taken in the MR-C section. No speci- inen of yellow perch was taken, although old records list this species as once fairly common in the sections of the river sur- veyed. White bass were more abundant than yellow bass. 11. Fishes, particularl\ game fishes, were collected more abundantly in the upper reaches of the navigation pools than in the middle and lower reaches. 12. The principal factors limiting the Mississippi River fishery are related to soil erosion of the watershed, le\ee and drainage works, and industrial and munic- ipal pollution. APPENDIX A MISSISSIPPI RIVER FIELD STATIONS BELOW are descriptions of the Mis- sissippi River field stations at which test-net fishing was done in 1944 and 1946 between Caruthersville, Missouri, and Du- buque, Iowa. Following the name of each station is the designation of the section of the river in which the station was located and the dates on which test-net fishing was done at the station. MR-C designates that section of the Mississippi River between the mouth of the Missouri River and Caruthersville; D-MR designates that section between Du- buque and the mouth of the Missouri River. 1.—Caruthersville, Missouri (MR-C section, April 6-12, 1944). The river at this station was at flood stage and out of its banks. Nets were set along the Missouri bank of the river wherever possible. Also nets were set in a large levee borrow pit, the water of which, as a result of the flood, was continuous with the water in the main channel. To enter the borrow pits, the powered fishing boat passed over a barbed wire fence without difficulty. Toward the end of the sampling period the river receded, and two nets were set in small streams connecting the borrow pit with the river channel. The river dropped enough to allow making several minnow seine hauls on sand bars near the ferry landing on the Tennessee side of the river. At the time of departure of the fishing boat from Caruthersville the river had again begun to rise. 2.—Tiptonville, Tennessee (MR-C sec- tion, April 15-May 10, 1944). Here the river was at flood stage, and the flood was considered locally as of major proportions. A small fleet of United States Army Corps of Engineers boats and the Tiptonville ferry were moored in a slough close to the town of Tiptonville and approximately three- quarters of a mile from the river channel. Normally this slough is dry for part of each year. The current at this station was swift. Towboats carrying loaded barges upstream were unable to push their entire comple- ments of barges. Instead they pushed half their tows to points upstream, where th( barges were tied up to trees or other stal wart objects; then the towboats returnee downstream to pick up the remaining barges Because of mechanical difficulties the ex- pedition was delayed here for about 20 days It was impossible to set nets in or neai the river channel. All sets were made ir flooded cornfields or cotton fields or withir the margin of woody vegetation adjacent tc the river channel. Several of the net sets' were made in a flooded slough in which the Anax and other boats were moored, and in a temporarily inundated, shallow levee borrow pit. The disparities in habitats fished at this station were too great to make the data comparable to those of other stations. However, it appears logical to assume that fish normally confined to the river channel were distributed temporarily over a large e.xpanse of water. The river was reported unofficially to have been 3 miles wide at Tiptonville during the flood. 3.—Cairo, Illinois (MR-C section, May 18-24, 1944). At this station, the water was high but it fell more than 13 feet during 5 days of netting. On the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, levees have been built to protect the city of Cairo. The levees on the Missouri side are some distance backi from the river. Sampling was done on the Illinois side of' the Mississippi, 5 to 6 miles above the mouth of the Ohio River, just above Cairo, in shal- low water adjacent to and within 50 to 100 yards of the river channel, and in a levee borrow pit. The rapid fall in water level necessitated moving the nets to deeper water nearly every day. 4.—Cape Girardeau, Missouri (MR-C section. May 26-31, 1944). Netting was done along both banks of the river just south of Cape Girardeau in an area called Cape Bend. There were several sand islands here, covered mainly with willows, and a number of log jams. Several wing nets with leads were set at the mouth and several 100 yards up the Little River Diversion Canal. Th: [326] LUIS i September, 1951 FisiiKs OF THE Mississippi River 327 canal lies at the upper end of a huge drain- age system that covers the entire southeast section of Missouri, including the so-called "boot heel." 5.—Grand Tower, Illinois (MR-C sec- tion, June 2-9, 19+4). The river stage was high here, as at Cape Girardeau: however, it is believed that fishing at this station was not so greatly influenced by high water as at stations below Cape Girardeau. Nets were set along the Grand Toucr waterfront and in the chute around the east side of Grand Tower Island. The cur- rent in the chute around the island was strong. At normal river stage the flow in the chute around Grand Tower Island is supposed to be much reduced- and at times it is cut oflE entirely. Because of the narrow constriction in the river channel just above Grand Tower, the current in the main channel { and in the chute around the island during flood stage) is very swift. The Missouri bank of the river at this station is a precipitous rock blufl, and the low flood plain on the Illinois side is subject to flooding even at a moder- ately high stage of water. \'egetation along the Illinois shore and on the island consists principally of willow and Cottonwood. Dur- ing the work at this station, early in June, typical warm summer weather began. 6.—Chester, Illinois (MR-C section. June 11-15. 1944). The river was high dur- ing the sampling period at this station. Nets were set in the vicinity of Horse Island at the mouth of Old River and several miles up Old River in the vicinity of Kaskaskia Island. At these locations the current was swift. Some netting was done in quiet back- waters just above Chester and across the river from Menard. Illinois. The Missouri side and Kaskaskia Island are in levee dis- tricts. Minnow seining was done in the vicinity of Claryville. Missouri. 7.—Ste. Genevieve, Missouri (MR-C section, June 18-24, 1944). Netting was done on both sides of an island almost across the river from Ste. Genevieve. Minnow seining was done in shallow water along the shore line of two islands at Ste. Genevieve. (See section on "Pollution" regarding this station.) 8.—Cr>'stal City, Missouri (MR-C sec- tion. June 25-.?0, 1944). The river stage was higher at this station than at Ste. Gene- vieve. The river was backed up in Platin Creek enough to provide harbor for a fleet of large quarter boats operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Ushing operations were carried on in Platin Creek—from 200 to ,?00 yards from its mouth to about a mile from its mouth — and in the river between Platin Creek and Hug Landing. The mouth of Platin Creek is just below the city limits of Crystal City, and Hug Landing is a mile distant, just above Crystal City. Nets were set along the Missouri shore of the river. Here the bank is low, but steep, and bordered by a narrow margin of willows and Cottonwood trees. At the upper net sets in Platin Creek the water was clear, and aquatic vegetation was present. Because of the high river stage, there was virtually no flow in the creek here. The creek was about 100 feet wide at this upper point and it was nearly bank full. It was well shaded by overhanging trees. Minnow seine hauls were taken in Platin Creek. 9.—Cliff Cave, Missouri (MR-C sec- tion. July 2-8, 1944). The river stag? was high at this station. Netting was carried on between Cliff Cave and White House Creek on the Missouri side of the river and at the mouth of Columbia Creek on the Illinois side. This stretch covered about 4 miles by river channel. Most of the sets were made among small, partially submerged wil- lows. Minnow seining was done around sand bars formed in the river along the Illinois side just below the Jefferson Bar- racks Highway Bridge and in shallow water along the Missouri side just below the sub- marine cable crossing. 10.—Mouth of Missouri River, Mis- souri (MR-C and D-MR sections, July 10-15, 1944). The mixing of the waters of the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers pre- sents an impressive sight. As the water of the muddy Missouri billows into the Mis- sissippi it appears like rolling clouds of smoke against a clear sky. The water of the Mississippi is far from clear, but that of the Missouri is so much more turbid that the contrast is quite marked. Netting was divided into two units at this station. Equivalent numbers of wing nets and hoop nets were operated at two stations, one above and one below the mouth of the Missouri River. The nets operated below the Missouri River were set along the 328 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 .Missouri shore between the mouth of the Missouri and the Chain of Rocics Bridge. The nets operated in the upstream unit were set along the Missouri shore in the vicinity of Mobile Island. At the time netting oper- ations were begun here, the river was high, nearly bank full. While netting was being done at this station the water receded con- siderably. 11.—Grafton, Illinois (D-MR section, March 22-30, July 17-25, and September 22-27, 1944). Grafton was used as the key station during 1944. It was the lowermost station in the impounded section of the river. Obviously, certain physical character- istics of the river at Grafton vary consid- erably from those of the unimpounded river, which begins just below Lock and Dam No. 26 at Alton, Illinois. At the lower ends of navigation pools in the impounded section, the river assumes some of the characteristics of a lake. It is somewhat comparable in appearance to the MR-C section in flood stage, although it lacks the swift current that usually accom- panies flood waters. In the upper few miles of these pools the river appears to have more nearly the characteristics of a large river — somewhat swollen or slightly out of bank but with moderate current velocity. The velocity of the current in the pool is depend- ent upon the operation of the dam that creates this pool as well as the dam at its upstream reach. The, operation of each dam, that is, the position of the gates, depends upon the volume of water to be passed down the river or the amount required for the maintenance of a 9-foot channel for naviga- tion. Fishing operations at the Grafton station during March were carried on primarily in the sloughs and lakes adjoining the last few miles of the Illinois River. Since the fish habitat in these lakes and sloughs differed widely in appearance from that in the Mis- sissippi River, it is assumed for two reasons that the catch of fish in this area was not typical of that in the Mississippi. First, the water of this area was relatively clear as compared with that of the Mississippi, and, second, the lakes and sloughs had no current, although they were connected directly with the Illinois River channel. Most of these lakes and sloughs were marked by a tangle of fallen and decaying trees, some by the remaining stumps of a once dense river-bottom forest. Some were merely enlargements of water areas that were present before the Alton dam was built. Others were bodies of water created by the impoundment. In March, net sets were made on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River just below the mouth of the Illinois River along the waterfront at Grafton; sets were made on the Missouri side of the river off the northwest shore of Perry Island and in the lower end of the small chute between Perry i Island and the mainland. The water-level was at full-pool stage and the current! was slow as compared with that of the I unimpounded waters below Pool No. 26. Although a definite routine of lifting all the nets each day usually was followed, it be- came impossible on the Missouri side of the river when for 2 days e.xtremely high winds prevented the lifting of nets there. In the July sampling period at Grafton, most of the fishing effort was concentrated in the Mississippi River, although some test netting was done in the backwater sloughs and lakes between the Illinois and the Mis- sissippi, in which netting had been done in March. In July, sets were made on the Illinois side of the Mississippi along steep- sided earth banks between Squaw Island and Calhoun Point, and on the Missouri side of the river along the northwest shore of Perry Island and the gently sloping Mis- souri shore approximately a mile above. The water-level of the area was at full-pool stage. It appeared to be the policy of the Army Engineers to maintain Pool No. 26 at or near full level. The operations at this station in Septem- ber were similar to those in July. The net sets were made in approximately the same locations. 12.—Winiield, Missouri (D-MR section, July 27-August 2, 1944). Fishing opera- tions at this station were carried on prima- rily below Lock and Dam No. 25, although two or three nets were set for several days in the pool above the dam, fig. 2. The nets operated below the dam were set along the cast side of Maple Island, on the Illinois side near the Winfield ferry landing, and on the Missouri side in Cuivre Slough, at the upper end and channel side of Turkey Island, and at the mouth of Bobs Creek. Farm land on the Missouri side of the river in this section is low and is subject to September. 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 329 ' flooding. It is maintained in an arable con- dition through a series ot drainage districts and levees. 13.—Hamburg, Illinois (D-MR section, August .^-9, 19+4). A number of years ago, Hamburg was an important shipping center for Calhoun County apples. It and a great number of other small towns along the river were important during the days of packet steamers when river shipping was the main activity of many of these towns. Now there is virtually no shipping from any of these towns except those having grain elevators located to till barges. Outside of grain ship- ping, commercial fishing is probably the only industry associated with the river. Netting at the Hamburg station was in about the middle of Pool No. 25. Nets were set in Westport Chute, around Kelly Island, in Thomas Chute, and in the mouth of Bryants Creek. The main channel is divided at the head of \Vestport Island, and part of the flow is carried by the Westport Chute. Although the water is deflected away from Westport Chute by wing dams, it is rather deep there. It carries enough current to allow the operation of hoop nets. Wing nets were set along the west margin of the chute and near the head of \\'estport Island. The narrow strip of land between W'estport Chute and the Elsberry Drainage District Levee was low and swampy and was dis- sected by several sloughs; the entire area was covered by a dense growth of willow and Cottonwood trees. Other net sets were made on the east shore of Westport Island, where the current was moderately swift. The sets around Kelly Island were located over a sandy bottom. Several seine hauls were made on a long, wide sand bar extending in an upstream direction from the head of West- port Island. An extensive area along the river a few miles above Hamburg is wide river-bottom bordered on the Illinois side by high bluffs. The Illinois bottom area, which lies at the lower end of Sny Island Levee and Drainage District, is dissected by sloughs, backwater lakes, and the Sny. This area was once considered excellent for waterfowl. 14.—Louisiana, \Iissouri (D-MR sec- tion, August 12-17. 1944). This station was located in the middle section of Pool No. 24, fig. i. -Nets were .set on the Illinois side of the river below the Alton Railroad bridge md in a cove just above the highway bridge ; on the .Missouri side of Blackburn Island, in the mouth of Salt River, and at the lower end of Angle Island. The areas above the railroad and highway bridges were essen- tially identical. Both were shallow back- waters in the lowland between the Illinois levee and the river channel. Before the con- struction of Lock and Dam No. 24, the areas were in dense growth of small woody vege- tation, but at the time of the survey only stumps remained. In Salt River the nets were set about one-fourth to one-half mile above its mouth. There was very little flow in the stream in this area. 15.—Cincinnati Landing, Illinois ( D- .MR section, August 19-2,5, 1944). Netting operations were carried out here in the upper section of Pool No. 24, within an approximate radius of 2 miles below Lock and Dam No. 22, tig. 4. .Nets were set in a slough near Taylor Island. This slough, which carried a moderately swift current, produced the first adult blue sucker taken in 19-14. Sets were made also in the narrow neck of water between Cottel Island and the mainland just below the Saverton Dam. The navigation channel shores of these islands consist of heavy sand deposits, which are typical of the channel shores below the locks and dams. Between Cottel and Taylor islands was a broad expanse of water which covered a continuous sandy bottom to a depth ranging from 2 to 3 feet. 16.—Hannibal, Missouri (D-.MR sec- tion. August 25-50. 1944). Netting opera- tions were carried on here in the vicinity of Glaucous Island, which is about 2 miles above Hannibal. This area is in the middle section of Pool .No. 22, 13 miles below Lock and Dam .No. 21. Nets were set in the slough between (jlaucous Island and the .Missouri shore and on the channel side of Glaucous Island. The slough was ap- proximately 150 yards in width and in some places reached a depth of 10 feet or more. At other points it was quite shallow. Along most of the Missouri shore of the slough, the bottom sloped off abruptly into deep water. Some of the sets on the channel side of the island were made in deep water and others in relatively shallow bays. The cur- rent here was moderately swift. 17.—Quincy, Illinois (D-MR section, September 2-6, 1944). The Quincy station was located at the upper end of Pool No. 22, 330 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. about ,? miles below Lock and Dam No. 21. Nets were set in a slough between two islands (Ward Island and Island No. 432) and the Illinois shore. This slough was typical of river backwaters, having mud banks and shallow water. The river-channel shore, or the west shore, of Ward Island was covered by deposits of sand and pro- tected by a number of wing dams. The cur- rent in the river channel opposite Ward Island was quite swift. Minnow seining was done along the river- channel side of Ward Island, Island No. 432, and a small unnamed island just below 432. The main pumping station for the South Quincy Drainage and Levee District is located just outside of the levee at the head of Island No. 432. During high river stages, this station pumps water from a net- work of lakes and drainage ditches on the outside of the levee. It was reported locally that these ditches and lakes furnish good bass and crappie fishing at certain times of the year. During the stay of the survey party here in 1944, this area was fished by a large number of sport fishermen from Quincy. 18.—Canton, Missouri (D-MR section, September 8-13, 1944). This station was located in the upper end of Pool No. 21. Test-netting was done at the head of Canton Chute along the east shore of Island No. 416, in Smoots Chute, and along the west shore of Island No. 416. Several nets were set along the Missouri shore below the Canton waterfront. The water in Canton Chute was quite clear as compared with that of the river channel, and the current in the chute was relatively slow. Canton Chute carries drainage from the Lima Lake Drainage District through Bear Creek di- version channel. While the survey party was at this station, the upper part of Canton Chute was being dredged, apparently for the purpose of facilitating drainage of water from the lowland on the Illinois side. The upper end of Canton Chute is bor- dered by low but steep mud banks, which apparently are characteristic throughout its length. The connecting channel between the upper end of Canton Chute and the main stem of the river has a sandy bottom, and the shores of the upper end of Island No. 416 are covered with heavy deposits of sand. The channel into Canton Chute is flanked on its upstream side by a large, broad sane bar which obstructs the flow of water fron the river channel into Canton Chute. Th( upper end of Island No. 416 is only a litth more than a mile below Lock and Dam No 20, and, as with similar formations in thi upper reaches of other pools, the islands anc shore line are characterized by deep deposits of sand. In fact, some of the islands an nothing more than large sand bars. Th( wing dams opposite the west shore of Islanc No. 416 are permanent rock structures. Ii appears that, in the canalized section of tht river, the temporary wing dams constructec of piling are being replaced with permanent rock structures. Since it seems to be charac- teristic of the temporary wing dams in th( lower river to collect great piles of drift- wood that tend to create deep water holei just downstream from these dams, it niighl be that the temporary structures offer cover for fishes which the permanent ones do not Large deposits of sand were found near the permanent structures, but no driftwood The water flows between the piles of the temporary dams, while it is completely de- flected around the permanent ones. Conse- quently, driftwood is washed away fron the permanent dams but is pinned against and above the temporary ones by the force of the current. 19.—Warsaw, Illinois (D-MR section September 14-19, 1944). This was the up- permost point on the river studied in 1944 Here netting operations were conducted in the upper part of Pool No. 20: along thf Iowa border in the vicinity of the mouth of the Des Moines River and around Islaml No. 404 above the city of Warsaw; alonf! the Missouri border below Alexandria and in the upper end of the slough between Fox Island and the mainland. The current was quite sluggish near the mouth of the Des Moines River. The Mis- sissippi from just above the mouth of the Des Moines to the head of Fox Island is confined by steep mud banks, which are pro- tected from erosion by riprapping at several places. The shore line of Island No. 404 and the islands below Keokuk Dam (Lock and Dam No. 19) are covered with deep deposits of sand. The slough between Fox Island and the Missouri mainland carries a moderately swift current and is bordered on both sides by mud banks. The upper end of Pool No. 20 is subject September. 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 331 to daily fluctuations of approximately 12 inches resulting from the operation of the Keokuk Dam, which, with its hydroelectric plant, was constructed by the Union Power and Lijiht Corporation. Power produced at Keokuk is used to supplement production at other plants, and this plant is operated only during the day. Consequently, at the end of a day's operation, when the turbines are shut off, the flow of water through the dam is decreased, and the water level in the upper part of Pool No. 20 recedes. Operations at the dam are resumed daily, and by noon the water level in Pool No. 20 has again reached the maximum of the previous day. While this daily fluctuation may not affect the fish population, it does, however, affect the method of fishing. Coker (1914, 1929. 1930) made detailed studies of the effects this dam has had on the local fishery at Lake Keokuk, Pool No. 19. An earlier discussion of the Warsaw sta- tion is included under the section titled "Pollution." 20.—Burlington, Iowa (D-MR section. .April 10-22, 1946). This station was about 40 miles upstream from the uppermost area worked in 1944. It was located in the middle section of Pool No. 19, 9 to 15 miles below Lock and Dam No. 18 and 2 to 8 miles below the city of Burlington. The river stage at the time test netting was begun was lower than in the previous week and it continued to fall during the sampling period here. However, the water level was still quite high, and much of the netting was done in backwater lakes and sloughs that are normally dry later in the season. Netting operations were confined largely to an area just above the mouth of Skunk River in the vicinity of Sullivan Slough and the lower end of Burlington Island. The bottom here was mud, and the water, which had little or no current, varied in depth from 3.5 to 6.0 feet. Some sets were made in the river channel. Tram- mel netting was carried on by drifting the net in the channel downstream. This type of fishing was conducted at stations having clean sand bottoms and water with current and with depths of 5 to 15 feet. 21.—Oquavvka, Illinois (D-MR section, April 24-May 5, 1946). The river between Oquawka and Keithsburg, a distance of 12 miles, was dotted with many islands and sloughs. The west side of the river here was backed by an extensive levee system form- ing several drainage districts. The sloughs and backwaters on the Illinois side created good habitat for fish, particularly the sport species. This area was quite similar to the Grafton station described earlier. Above Keithsburg and below Oquawka both sides of the river were backed by levees. Accord- ing to a local commercial fisherman the current in the river here had been greatly reduced since the installation of Lock and Dam No. 18. Nets were set several miles above Oquawka, in a chute formed by Benton Island, and also below Oquawka, in a chute formed by Island No. 369. Beginning on September 8, 1947, two poison censuses of fish inhabiting two of the backwaters of this station were made. The backwaters poisoned were sloughs of 1.07 and 1.76 acres. 22.—New Boston, Illinois (D-MR sec- tion, May 7-18, 1946). This station was located in the upper section of Pool No. 18, just above New Boston. The mouth of the Iowa River is directly across the Mississippi River from New Boston. On the Iowa side of the Mississippi, netting was done in the chutes above and below the mouth of the Iowa River. Here the current was strong, the water varied in depth from 5 to 10 feet, and the bottom was of mud. On the Illinois side nets were set in the impounded back- waters in the Boston Bay area. A fairly swift current existed here from the dis- charge of the pumping station of the Bay Island Drainage and Levee District. 23.—Muscatine, Iowa (D-MR section, May 19-30, 1946). This station, located several miles below Muscatine, extended from the mouth of Copperas Creek Diver- sion channel to Bogus Island. The upper area in the chute by Blanchard Island had been highly recommended by local fisher- men for fishing; however, netting here was unsatisfactory. Nets were set at various locations in the steamboat channel in the Blanchard Island locality. The channel sets were made in water of 15-foot depth over sand bottom. There are extensive drainage districts on both sides of the river here, largely confining the river to its channel; however, in the area of Bogus Island on the Iowa side there are some stretches of backwater. The mussel fishery of the Mississippi River is not within the scope of this paper; 332 Illinois Natural History- Survey Bulletin \^ol. 25, Art. 5 liowever, it is ot interest in relation to fish habitat to mention that no activity in the shell or mussel fishery was observed below the Muscatine area. At Muscatine, on days when favorable weather prevailed, there were usually 12 to 15 shell-fishing boats in view from the Muscatine waterfront. Some activity of shell fishermen was noted up- stream as far as Clinton, Iowa. In this stretch of water there is some clean gravel bottom, which apparently furnishes a more suitable habitat for mussels of economic im- portance than does the lower section of the river visited durin;j; the fishery investigation. 24.—Fairport, Iowa (D-MR section, June 2-l.\ 1946). This station and the one at Hellevuc were the only sampling sites in the lower reaches of the pools. As discussed earlier the lower part of a navigation pool diiifers from the upper by having slower cur- rent and a more extensive silt bottom. The netting at the Fairport station was done in the region of Hershey Slough and Wyoming Slough near the mouth of Sweetheart Creek. This site was 2 to 3 miles above Lock and Dam No. 16 and 3 miles below Fairport. The nets were set in water ranging from 3 to 15 feet in depth. 25.—-Andalusia, Illinois (D-MR section, April 1-7, June 18-26, and September 15-24, 1946). The Andalusia area, in the middle part of Pool No. 16, was used as the key station in 1946. This station was centrally located in relation to the other stations, and the habitats of the Andalusia area were more like those of the other 1946 stations than the Grafton habitats were like the habitats of the other 1944 stations. The general conditions at Andalusia were typical of those of the canalized section of the river. River stages at Andalusia were high dur- ing April and June as compared with those during September. Netting during the three periods was done in the river channel, sloughs, and chutes near islands numbered 317, 318, and 319. The bottom in the sloughs and chutes was mud and the channel bottom was sand and sand-mud. The bottom of the channel and the current were satisfactory for trammel-net-float fishing. The sloughs here were confined to the Illinois side and the channel followed the Iowa side. 26.—Pleasant Valley, Iowa (D-MR section, June 28-July 9, 1946). This station, located in the upper part of Pool No. 15, was immediately below Pleasant Valley and 1 to 2 miles below Lock and Dam No. 14. Netting was done in the channel and chutes adjacent to Spencer Island and Campbell Island. The current in the channel was rather strong and the bottom was sand. In the chutes the bottom was of mud and some sand, and the depth of water there varied from 3.5 to 12.0 feet. Above Lock and Dam No. 14 is the location of the former Le Claire Rapids. The site of these once great rapids is noW'i merely a part of Pool No. 14. The elimina- j tion of the Le Claire and Keokuk rapids has greatly improved navigation on the river; however, its effect on spawning grounds for such fish as the blue sucker is not meas- urable. 27.—Cordova, Illinois (D-MR section, July 11-22, 1946). This station, in the middle reach of Pool No. 14, was located one-half mile to 2 miles above Cordova and 3 miles below the mouth of one of the noted smallmouth bass streams in Iowa, the Wap- sipinicon River. Here the Mississippi chan- nel hugged the Illinois shore. On the Iowa side were many bays and sloughs formed by the impoundment. These were dotted with dead trees killed by high water, 2 to 6 feet deep there, with no current; the bottoms were of mud. Netting opera- tions were carried on in an area back as far as 1 mile from the river channel and also in the river channel and sloughs above the mouth of Pinneo Creek. 28.—Fulton, Illinois (D-MR section, July 24-August 4, 1946). The netting at this station was carried on above Fulton and Clinton, on opposite banks of the Mississippi, and was confined within the upper 1.5 miles of Pool No. 14. The current in the channel was swift ; the bottom was principally sand but with some rock. The backwater areas were numerous and they were rather shal- low, varying in depth from 3 to 4 feet. Sam- pling was done in the backwaters, the chan- nel, and its adjoining sloughs and chutes. 29.—Sabula, Iowa (D-MR section, Au- gust 6-17, 1946). The Sabula station was located in the middle reach of Pool No. 13. The river here was too sluggish to float a trammel net efficiently. The bottom in the channel was mud and sand. Much of the netting at this station was done in the back- waters, a levee borrow pit, and chutes. Stumps, both submerged and protruding, September, 1931 Fishes ok thk Mississii'i-i Ri\tR Hi 'were numerous in the backwaters. Netting; I was done also in Savanna Slout;h. A period I of nettinjc was conducted near Savanna. above Sabula. in a levee borrow pit adja- cent to the river. Water in this pit was about 4 feet in depth and the bottom was mud. Width of the water area varied from I 50 to 75 feet. Following the nettinji period in this borrow pit a census was made of the fish population, August 13-17, bj- blocking i off the outlet to the river with a seine and introducing a fish poison. The area cov- ered in the poison census was 2.16 acres. Near this location, part of another levee borrow pit was treated with poison. This part was the blind end of the pit, 100 or more feet in width, and 0.964 acre in area. Fish had access to the river from this pit. 30.—Bellevue, Iowa (D-MR section, August 19-.?0, 1946). This station was lo- cated in the lower part of Pool No. 12. As at other stations in the lower parts of navigation pools, the current here was slug- gish and the bottom predominantly silt or mud. Netting in the channel was done in the vicinity of islands numbered 242 and 243. 3 to 4 miles above Bellevue and Lock and Dam No. 12. Some nets were set in the channel in water as deep as 15 feet. In the lower part of this pool, aquatic vegetation was quite abundant. Much of the shore line of the islands was covered with heavy growths of arrowhead. Snffil- taria sp. Some of the backwater areas had 1- to 2-acre beds of American lotus, N'<- lumbu iutta (\\"\\\i.) Pers. The numerous shallow sloughs and small lakes in the area were covered with abundant growths of rice cutgrass, Leirsia oryzo'ulis (L.) Sw. Some netting was done in the backwaters near the mouth of Small Pox Creek. 31.—Dubuque, Iowa (D-MR section, September 1-12, 1946). This was the up- permost station in that part of the Missis- sippi River studied in the Caruthersville- Dubuque survey. It was at the northern boundary of the state of Illinois. The river above this station up to Prescott. Wiscon- sin, was investigated by the states bordering the upper section of the upper .Mississippi River, namely, Iowa, .Minnesota, and Wis- consin. The Dubuque station was in the upper part of Pool No. 12, fig. 5, located I to 4 miles below the city of Dubuque. Netting was done in the backwaters adjoining Lake Frentress, in chutes, and in channels in the area. The netting sites in backwaters and lakes were in shallow water ranging from 3.5 to 5.0 feet in depth and having mud bottoms. The chutes sampled had sand and mud bottoms, and the channel had a sand bottom. The current in the channel was only moderately swift. Above the sampling area to Lock and Dam No. 11 the river is rather closely confined. The bluffs on both sides of the river in this region are quite high and steep. This section of Illinois and Iowa is referred to by geologists as un- glaciatcd or driftless area. 334 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. Appendix B, Table 1.—Number, weight, and per cent of total weight by station of variou River survey in 1944 between Caruthers Species Caruthersville, Mo. April 6-12, 1944 ^d; Cn o TiPTONVILLE, TeNN. April 15-May 10, 1944 s 3 -c-a bD c 53 3 Commercial Fishes Scaphirhynchus album* . . Shovelnose sturgeon .... Paddlefish American eel Blue sucker Bigmouth buffalo Black buffalo Smallmouth buffalo Carpsuckerst Northern redhorse Carp Channel catfish Blue catfish . Yellow bullhead Brown bullhead Black bullhead Flathead catfish Freshwater drum Subtotal Sport Fishes Grass pickerel Yellow pikeperch Sauger Spotted black bass Largemouth black bass. . Green sunfish Bluegill Warmouth Flier White crappie Black crappie White bass Yellow bass Subtotal Predatorv Fishes Longnose gar Shortnose gar Alligator gar Bowfin Subtotal Forage Fishes Mooneye and goldeye. . . Skipjack Gizzard shad Golden shiner Subtotal Total 2 6 6 37 5 16 48 14 8 142 1 2 4 8 4 63 57 6 1 146 1 69 70 4 3 93 100 438 1.68 2.90 3.86 60.10 1.68 4 19 21.42 14.74 1.78 112.35 0,S8 1.21 2.91 1.40 0.89 17.41 8.87 2.66 0.16 36.09 0.20 124.09 124.29 1.37 1.59 42.12 45.08 317.81 0.53 0.91 1.21 18.91 0.53 1.32 6.74 4.64 0.56 35.35 0.18 0.38 0.92 0.44 0.28 5.48 2.79 0.84 0.05 11.36 0.06 39.05 39.11 0.43 0.50 13.25 14.18 100.00 7 27 7 23 28 63 81 92 3 1 94 5 24 455 3 1 17 9 10 23 16 2 1 14 17 31 5 3 68 76 644 2.65 30.62 2.58 22. lA 25.63 127.65 23.30 39.83 2.50 0.54 72.30 12.93 16.11 388.88 2.21 1.51 1.98 1.54 2.90 6.97 3.99 0.25 0.32 21.67 60.99 28.47 89.46 1.51 1.19 20.89 23.59 523.60 * Nonetaken in lest nets but one procured from angler at time of survey. t Carpiodcs spp. September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River .U5 species of fish (except those in minnow seine collections) taken during the Mississippi ville. Missouri, and Warsaw, Illinois. Cairo, III. 336 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 Appendix B, Table 1. — Species Commercial Fishes Scaphirhynchus album* , . . Shovelnose sturgeon Paddlefish American eel Blue sucker Bigmouth buffalo Black buffalo Smallmouth buffalo Carpf;uckert Northern redhorse Carp Channel catfish Blue catfish Yellow bullhead Brown bullhead Black bullhead Flathead catfish Freshwater drum Subtotal Sport Fishes Grass pickerel Yellow pikeperch Sauger Spotted black bass Largemouth black bass. . . Green sunfish Bluegill Warmouth Flier White crappie Black crappie White bass Yellow bass Subtotal Predatory Fishes Longnose gar Shortnose gar Alligator gar Bowfin Subtotal Forage Fishes Mooneye and goldeye. . . Skipjack Gizzard shad Golden shiner Subtotal Total Ste. Genevieve, Mo. June 18-24, 1944 ^(S 1 14 89 .320 27 8 28 45 53: 7 49 56 2 2 4 594\ 5.94 29.98 148.91 616.70 49.96 3.72 106.11 39.00 1,000.32 1.66 1 .66 19.65 42.03 61.68 1.22 0.84 2.06 1,065.72 Oh o 0.56 2.81 13.97 57 . 87 4.69 0.35 9.96 3.66 93.87 0.16 0.16 1.84 3.94 5.78 0.11 0.08 0.19 100.00 Crv.stal City, Mo. June 25-30, 1944 3 21 41 7 210 6 14 3 38 34 377 1 1 4 10 28 3 47 6 20 20 9 S9 479 :£ 7.95 14.52 43,44 4.20 494.07 11.62 13.48 1.53 106.81 26.79 724.41 0.77 0.32 0.73 2,57 9.13 1,59 15.11 20,79 17.07 37.86 8,93 3.00 11.93 789.31 * None taken in lest nets but one procured from angler at time of survey. I Carpindes spp. September, 1951 Continued. Fishes of the Mississii'pi Ri\er 337 Ci.iFF Cave, Mo. JiLY 2-8, 1944 338 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 Appendix B, Table 1.- Species Grafton, III. July 17-25, 1944 Cl, o Grafton, III. Sept. 22-27, 1944 53 2 ^c2 Commercial Fishes Scaphirhynchus album* . . Shovelnose sturgeon .... Paddlefish American eel Blue sucker Bigmouth buffalo Black buffalo Smallmouth buffalo Carpsuckerst Northern redhorse Carp Channel catfish Blue catfish Yellow bullhead Brown bullhead Black bullhead Flathe.ad catfish Freshwater drum Subtotal Sport Fishes Grass pickerel Yellow pikeperch Sauger Spotted black ba.ss Largemouth black bass. . Green sunfish Bluegill Warmouth Flier White crappie Black crappie White bass Yellow bass Subtotal Predatory Fishes Longnose gar Shortnose gar Alligator gar Bowfin Subtotal Forage Fishes Mooneye and goldeye. . . Skipjack Gizzard shad Golden shiner Subtotal Total 3 12 4 39 35 46 5 2 6 3 14 14 33 ?A6 1 36 132 13 74 353 32 1 13 43 1 12 69 6 101 107 1,034 7.28 19.11 28.04 18.24 26.74 82.21 7.42 0.27 2.93 3.45 7.64 23.46 16.13 1.36 34.03 30.81 3.89 16.84 113.73 16.71 0.45 m7.82 30.42 43.92 4.10 29.00 107.44 6.14 58.45 64.59 632.77 1.15 3.02 4.43 2.88 4.23 12.99 1.17 0.04 0.46 0.55 1.21 3.71 2.55 38.39 0.21 5.38 4.87 0.62 2.66 17.97 2.64 0.07 34.4^ 4.81 6.94 0.65 4.58 16.98 0.97 9.24 10.21 100.00 <0 5 1 22 14 3 18 11 2 13 6 25 im 2 28 17 3 58 185 30 1 324 13 3 94 97 554 11.51 2.80 15.21 10.43 3.84 41.00 4.02 1.33 7.71 12.56 11.28 121.69 2.S6 25.83 3.20 1.00 16.00 80.13 16.93 0.23 145.88 2.68 4.30 29.11 36.09 2.91 30.99 33.90 337.56 * None taken in te r^ Qc 344 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 1 Vol. 25, Art. 5' o IM^I^M JO I I I C I SO CN I n I I o (^ rs r^ o '-.IO O 1^ 00*0 I I Tj-' t-~' Ov'— >o --no spunoj jsquinj^ O (S — Oo OS ^'^ 'n -1- OOO-^OO-^OvOOOOrocsc^OO-^r^f^ »-H -H to ^ CO VI 0© 2< u-< CN "O -sO -*• w^ C ts. CN >^ CN O •—' -^ Oo I I Ot^^ ! OCOi-" •> spunoj o ^ o CN n o CN CO ch o CN ^ OO n O O ro I »J-) to TjH u-^ I I" On M3 00 CN CTv O "-^ C7\ CN u-^ sO OO r- 0\ r- I o '^ oc o^ — I ' ^ lO ^o Ot-.n—.OcNc*^'--- .laqiun^ Hj3l3^ JO OOOOCN.—-CNOO I I -= I spunoj ONCOCOOO—'.—"Tt-sO ^or^cou-^cN.—i-^r~- CN ^ 1-H ^O I I u B aaquinjvj c o U u •" ^ if J- oooo'^'-'r--ooo os a\ r-- c?\ -^ •-" o OO CO r^ o >— < 1— ' C) I I o OO CO I o r-- o. -1- spunoj looJ^coOO'O'fvol |r-,r--cN O -^ r^ <^i CO r-- c= jsqiun]^ OCNLO.—i,-(00C0O-^C0OOr--00rt*OCN-^0%>-H -—I Tt^ C^) CO OO W~J O 0^ c September, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 345 I >^^ I o I o I 2- I oo o ooo — c c o o =>. o-*oooooooi>c4e 4) i> ..ill 346 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 o o Cl0000w->OCO'^000'--^CSOOI^'0? n r-—•u-^o*. (SQNn ooo'^. O o U jqSp^ JO JU33 J3d I „ I .^ _H „ O Id I O O OI^ spunoj '— o r^ o v^ ' ?tember. 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 347 c-^ o -^ '*, ri W-, >; inr^oocNOoc^ocOr~-c^ir-i =c ^ ri ^J'*- — n ;; OO O Tf — . n o "^ c* ri — •> 3 64 1.28 0.57 LITERATURE CITED American Fisheries Society 1948. A list of common and scientific names of the better known fishes of the United Stai and Canada. Am. Fish. Soc. Spec. Bui. 1. 45 pp. Bennett, George W. 1947. Fish management— a substitute for natural predation. N. Am. Wildlife Conf. Trat 12:276-85. Coker, Robert E. 1914. Water-power development in relation to fishes and mussels of the Mississippi. U.* Commr. Fisheries Rep. for 1913, Bur. Fisheries Doc. 805. (App. 8.) 28 pp. 1929. Keokuk dam and the fisheries of the upper Mississippi River. U. S. Bur. Fisheries 45(1063) : 87-139. 1930. Studies of common fishes of the Mississippi River at Keokuk. U. S. Bur. Fisheries 45(1072) : 141-225. Cole, Leon J. 1905. The German carp in the United States. U. S. Bur. Fisheries Rep. for 1904:523-6*1 Eddy, Samuel, and Thaddeus Surber I 1947. Northern fishes, with special reference to the upper Mississippi valley. (Rev. Ed.) Ui versity of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. 276 pp. Ellis, M. M. 1931. A survey of conditions affecting fisheries in the upper Mississippi River. U. S. Bi Fisheries. Fishery Circ. 5. 18 pp. 1936. Erosion silt as a factor in aquatic environments. Ecology 17(1) : 29-42. 1943. A study of the Mississippi River from Chain of Rocks, St. Louis, Missouri, to Caii Illinois, with special reference to the proposed introduction of ground garbage into tl river by the City of St. Louis. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Serv. Spec. Sci. Rep. 8. 22 pp. Evermann, Barton Warren 1899. Report on investigations by the United States Fish Commission in Mississippi, Louisian and Texas, ial897. U. S. Comn. Fish and Fisheries Commr. Rep. for 1898:285-310. Fiedler, R. H. 1933. Fishery industries of the United States, 1932. U. S. Commr. Fisheries Rep. for 193 149-449. (App. 3.) 1935. Fishery industries of the United States, 1934. U. S. Commr. Fisheries Rep. for 193 75-330. (App. 2.) 1936. Fishery industries of the United States, 1935. U. S. Commr. Fisheries Rep. for 193 Admin. Rep. 24:73-348. (App. 2.) 1938a. Fishery industries of the United States, 1936. U. S. Commr. Fisheries Rep. for 193 Admin. Rep. 27:1-276. (App. 1.) 1938i. Fishery industries of the United States, 1937. U. S. Commr. Fisheries Rep. for 193 Admin. Rep. 32:151^60. (App. 3.) 1940. Fishery industries of the United States, 1938. U. S. Commr. Fisheries Rep. for 193 Admin. Rep. 37:169-554. (App. 3.) 1941. Fishery industries of the United States, 1939. U. S. Commr. Fisheries Rep. for 194i Admin. Rep. 41:185-554. (App. 3.) Fiedler, R. H., John Ruel Manning, and F. F. Johnson 1934. Fishing industries of the United States, 1933. U. S. Commr. Fisheries Rep. for 1934 1-237. (App. 1.) Forbes, Stephen Alfred, and Robert Earl Richardson 1905. On a new shovelnose sturgeon from the Mississippi River. III. Lab. Nat. Hist. Bu 7(4): 37-44. 1920. The fishes of Illinois. (Second Ed.) Illinois Natural History Survey, cxxxvi 4- 357 pi Frey, David G. 1942. Studies on Wisconsin carp. 1. Influence of age, size, and sex on time of annulus forma tion by 1936 year class. Copeia 1942(4) : 214-23. Galtsoff, P. S. 1924. Limnological observations in the upper Mississippi, 1921. U. S. Bur. Fisheries Bu! 39(958): 347-438. (Doc. 958.) Garman, H. 1890. A preliminary report on the animals of the Mississippi bottoms near Quincy, Illinoi! in August, 1888. Part 1. III. Lab. Nat. Hist. Bui. 3(9) : 123-84. [348] ieptetnber, 1951 Fishes of the Mississippi River 349 ilazier, Willard 1891. Down the great river; embracing an account of the discovery of the true source of the Mississippi, together with views, descriptive and pictorial, of the cities, towns, villages and scenery on the banks of the river, as seen during a canoe vovage of over three thousand miles from its head waters to the Gulf of Mexico. Hubbard Brothers, Philadelphia, l.xiii + 443 pp. }owanloch, James Nelson 1933. Fishes and fishing in Louisiana, including recipes for the preparation of seafoods La. Cons. Dept. Bui. 23. 638 pp. Jreene, C. Willard I93S. The distribution of Wisconsin fishes. Wisconsin Conservation Commission M.idison 235 pp. -lansen, Donald F. 1951. Biolog>- of the white crappie in Illinois. 111. Nat. Hist. Surv. Bui. 25(41:211-66. Vessel, Rudolph 1878. The carp, and its cuultre [sic] in rivers and lakes: and its introduction in America. U. S. Comn. Fish and Fisheries Commr. Rep. for 1875-1876:865-900. -lubbs, Carl L., and Karl F. Lagler 1947. Fishes of the Great Lakes region. Cranbrook Inst. Sci. Bui. 26. 186 pp. lefferson, Thomas 18C1. Notes on the state of Virginia. With an appendix. (Eighth .\merican Ed.) David Carlisle, Boston. 364 pp. ^lississippi River Commission 1940. The Mississippi River. A short historic description of the development of flood con- trol and navigation on the Mississippi River. Office of the President, Mississippi River Commission, Vicksburg, Miss. 3S pp. V'uttall, Thomas 1821. A journal of travels into the Arkansa territory, during the year 1819. With occasional observations on the manner of the aborigines. Thos. H. Palmer, Philadelphia. 296 pp. ^latner, Wesley S. 1946. Water quality studies of the Mississippi River. V. S. Fish and Wildlife Serv. Spec. Sci. Rep. 30. 77 pp. Pectus, filisee 1859. Le Mississipi ; etudes et souvenirs. I. Le cours superieur du fleuve, pp. 257-96, from tome 22, Revue des deux mondes. Paris. taxon, Lyle 1927. Father Mississippi. Century Co., New York, London. 427 pp. ttnitb. Hugh M. 1898. Statistics of the fisheries of the interior waters of the United States. V. S. Comn. Fish and Fisheries Commr. Rep. for 1896:489-574. (App. 11.) imith, Lloyd L., Jr. 1949. Cooperative fisherv survev of the upper Mississippi River. Am. Fish. Soc. Trans, for 1946, 76:279-82. Smith, Osgood R. 1940. Placer mining silt and its relation to salmon and trout on the Pacific Co.ist. Am. Fish. Soc. Trans, for 1939. 69:225-30. imyser, R. E.. Jr. 1947. Mississippi River—Chain of Rocks project. [United States] Corps of Engineers, Depart- ment of the Army, St. Louis District. 12 pp. itarrett, William C. 1951. Some factors affecting the abundance of minnows in the Des Moines River, Iowa. Ecology 32(1) : 13-24. starrett, W. C. and William J. Harth 1950. A report on the river fisheries. Fisherman 18(4): 8-9. rhompson, David H. 1933. The finding of very young Polyodon. Copeia 1933(1) :31-3. Thompson. David H.. and George W. Bennett 1939, Lake management reports. 3. Lincoln Lakes near Lincoln, Illinois. III. Nat. Hi>t. Surv. Biol. Notes 11. 24 pp. 350 Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Vol. 25, Art. 5 Townsend, C. H. 1902. Statistics of the fisheries of the Mississippi River and tributaries. U. S. Comn. Fish and Fisheries Commr. Rep. 1901:659-740. United States Department of Commerce 1946. Daily river stages at river gage stations on the principal rivers of the United States. Weather Bur. No. 1457, 40 (1944). United States Government Printing Office, Washing- ton, D. C. 161 pp. United States 72d Coni^ress, 1st Session 1932. Survey of Mississippi River between Missouri River and Minneapolis. Letter from Sec. War transmitting report from the Chief of Engineers on survey of Mississippi River between Missouri River and Minneapolis with a view to securing a channel depth of 9 feet at low water, with widths. Part 1—Report, House Doc. 137. United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 120 pp. War Department Corps of Engineers 1940. The middle and upper Mississippi River. Ohio River to Minneapolis. Division Engineer Upper Mississippi Valley Division, St. Louis, Mo. United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 345 pp. 1946. Navigation locks and dams. Mississippi River. [United States] War Department Corps of Engineers. 8 pp. Recent Publications A.—ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY BULLETIN. Volume 22, Article 1.—The Plant Bugs, or Miridae, of Illinois. By Harry H. Kn^ September, 1941. 234 pp., frontis. + 181 figs., bibliog., index. $1.25. Volume 22, Article 2.—Studies of North American Plecoptera, with special reference! the fauna of Illinois. By T. H. Prison. September, 1942. 122 pp., frontis. + 126 ^ bibliog., index. $1.00. -s Volume 23, Article 1.—^The Caddis Flies, or Trichoptera, of Illinois. By Herbert] Ross. August, 1944. 326 pp., frontis. + 961 figs., bibliog., index. $1.50. Volume 23, Article 3.—Overfishing in a Small Artificial Lake: Onized Lake near Afi Illinois. By George W. Bennett. May, 1945. 34 pp., frontis. + 15 figs., bibliog. Volume 24, Article 1.—The Mosquitoes of Illinois (Diptera, Culicidae). By Her^ H. Ross. August, 1947. 96 pp., frontis. + 184 figs., bibliog. 50 cents. Volume 24, Article 2.—The Leafhoppers, or Cicadellidae, of Illinois (Eurymelin Balcluthinae). By D. M. DeLoBg. June, 1948. 280 pp., frontis. + 514 figs., biblioi index. $1.25. Volume 24, Article 3.—^The Bass-Bluegill Combination in a Small Artificial Lake.^ George W. Bennett. December, 1948. 36 pp., frontis. + 10 figs. Volume 24, Article 4.—The Pseudoscorpions of Illinois. By C. Clayton Hoff. J]| 1949. 86 pp., frontis. + 51 figs., bibliog., index. 50 cents. Volume 25, Article l.^-Characteristics of Residual Insecticides Toxic to the House By Willis N. Bruce. July, 1949. 32 pp., frontis. + 14 figs., bibliog. Volume 25, Article 2.—Eflect of Permanent Flooding in a River-Bottom Timber A By Lee E. Yeager. August, 1949. 32 pp., frontis. + 21 figs., bibliog. Volume 25, Article 3.—Canada Geese of the Mississippi Flyway, with special refer to an Illinois flock. By Harold C. Hanson and Robert H. Smith. March, 1950. 144' frontis. + 82 figs., bibliog. Volume 25, Article 4.—Biology of the White Crappie in Illinois. By Donald F. Hani August, 1951. 54 pp., frontis. + 13 figs., bibliog. B.—ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY CIRCULAR. 36.—Planting and Care of Shade Trees. By J. E. Davis. September, 1947. (Tl printing, with additions.) 28 pp., frontis. + 20 figs. 38.—Windbreaks for Illinois Farmsteads. By J. E. Davis. April, 1951. (Fourth print with revisions by L. B. Culver.) 33 pp., frontis. + 27 figs. 39.—How to Collect and Preserve Insects. By H. H. Ross, July, 1949. 59 pp., froji + 65 figs. 41.—How to Recognize and Control Termites in Illinois. By B. G. Berger. Febru 1947. (Reprinted without text revision, April, 1950.) 44 pp., frontis. + 32 figs. 42.—Bird Dogs in Sport and Conservation. By Ralph E. Yeatter. December, 1948. pp., frontis. + 40 figs. 43.—Peach Insects of Illinois and Their Control. By Stewart C. Chandler. Decern 1950. 63 pp., frontis. + 39 figs. 44.—The Drug Plants of Illinois. By Leo R. Tehon. July, 1951. 122 pp., frontis. + figs., index. C—ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY MANUAL. v 2.—Fieldbook of Illinois Land Snails. By Frank Collins Baker. August, 1939. 16^ color frontis. + 170 figs., 8 pis. $1.00. 3.—Fieldbook of Native Illinois Shrubs. By Leo R. Tehon. December, 1942. 307' 4 color pis. + 72 figs., glossary, index. $1.25. List of available publications mailed on request. Single copies of Illinois Natural History Survey publications for which no price is liste will be furnished free of charge to individuals until the supply becomes low, after which nominal charge may be made. 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