The American Smelt, Osmerus Mordax (Mitchill), of South Bay, Manitoulin Island, Lake Huron
- 1 January 1950
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
- Vol. 78 (1) , 176-180
- https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8659(1948)78[176:tasomm]2.0.co;2
Abstract
A smelt fishery established on the streams and freshets flowing into South Bay during the 1948 spawning run yielded a total of 51,382 pounds to local fishermen using dip‐nets and seines. The smelt taken averaged 5.7 inches (145 millimeters) in fork length and 0.73 ounce (20.6 grams) in weight. Age‐group II comprised 54 percent of the catch and age‐groups III and IV 38 and 8 percent, respectively. Age‐group II averaged 5.4 inches in length, age‐group III 6.1 inches and age‐group IV 7.2 inches. The estimated egg content in five fish ranged from 9,650 to 27,600 and was not entirely dependent on size. Some general observations on the food and spawning behavior of the smelt are also presented and comparisons with other populations made.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: