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Show If OF PREHISTORIC FISH FOUND IN UTAH Bear Lake Species Said lo Have Originated in Lake Bonneviile. Ma bits lo Re Investigated; rtot Known lo Exist in Oilier Waters. ;jy I'.-iHf c.ptif u ncM ;i't, vhen the w.-jIm-'s ill- 'i'i:it I,;iki; liijnno ille bo-;;nn bo-;;nn In ri'.'nlr, 1 1 1 - left in IWr lnkr, Tfii li i-nunly, thri.'i: : j f i i i s of fish which nrn i.till I hriviti I hero inn which, it ir now ;i nt lioril yl i uly rjrekiro'l, cxiyt ni.nvhrn: i 'Imp in A nn'rii-;i . A nitibt in-Iit"M in-Iit"M inn liiMil.l.-l, ilnvribin;; I hrse fish riii'l lln ir I'oinl ,-iluii ami iilhi'r interest-ill interest-ill i; fuels eiiiii'i'i-nilij,' their re hit io nxh i p lo oilier nii'iiiliiTM of Ihe finny tribe, jiml been isMH'il by the I'niteil SI, 'id's biirrnn of fisheries. It is c 11 tilh'il "Three .New W h it e fishes From l:.'.ir l-ik.', M.ilin a ml T'lah,'' anil is written by John H terbein Snder. I opirs el" Ihe booklet, may le seeureil from Ihe suierinleinlent of documents, l:o veni men I printine ol'fiee, at Wash-inpli'ii, Wash-inpli'ii, for fi cents each. The document n u in I ier is Mil. Tn piefaeine; a technical and scientific, scien-tific, description of the three fishes, the author, who studied I hem during t ho course ot' an i u vest i a t ion of Ihe food firhes of Ihe (Ireat Salt Lake system conducted for the bureau of fisheries, says : "It is the purpose of this paper to direct allenlinn to some little known but very important food fisiies in Bear kike, Idaho am 1 I 'tnh. Aside from their nlue as food, these fishes are of interest in-terest to ichthv'olor.'i.sls, as tlioy belong to previously unknowns that havo managed man-aged lo survive as representatives of an ancient qua t erna re fauna, which w as no doubt composed of numerous species of relatively wide distribution. .At present they are confined to a single, small lake, and they therefore remind us of the animals of certain oceanic islands isl-ands which have been preserved under favorable conditions, whilo others of their kind less favored have long since passed away. Hear Lake Described. Ocsrriliin;.' Kear lake, as a. part of the (treat Sail lake drainage system, and the fact that it one time formed a part, of the ancient Lake liomteville, which had an overflow outlet into tho Columbia river system, Mr. Snyder describes de-scribes briefly the beautiful setting of the lake. lie then proceeds with the description of three hitherto unknown species, which had been caught and used bv residents in the vicinity of the lake as food. They are commonly known as the Bonneville cisco. the Bonneville Bon-neville whitcfish and tho Bear lake whilofish. The first mentioned, seien-tifieallv seien-tifieallv known as tho Leuciehthys gem-mifer, gem-mifer, "is described as a small fish, measuring about seven and one-half inches In length when (nature.- The others are known.' respectively, as the Corego'nus spilouotus and the C'oregonus nbvssicolu. "They are excellent food fishes, and have long been known to the ranchers near the lake, where they arc taken in considerable numbers,'' Mr. Snyder says. " Because of the limited simply, these fishes contribute to tho local demand de-mand only. The writer has reason to believe, however, that they are of relatively rela-tively great potential value, especially to the west, where there aro many deep alpine lalies. These lalies aro not known lo contain similar fishes, and it is probable that the best of these night be introduced without seriously disturbing the native species. Never Enter Streams. "'Nothing is known of the habits, distribution or abundance of Bear lake whit cfishes except that which is now recorded. Their life history should be carefully investigated before an attempt at-tempt is made lo introduce them elsewhere, else-where, and their artificial distribution should be preceded by experimental work to safeguard the possibility that their presence in, a new locality may be detrimental to valuable natice species. "As the introduction of eastern -wliilefish has been attempted in western west-ern lakes without success, it is worth considering that we have here one or more d.ee'i-wat er species which may prov e to be better adapted. Two of the fuecies here described are said to live in deep water. while the other species snawns near shore and returns to Ihe depihs immediately afterwards. (Manv specimens of two species were collected during the spawning period bv J. 1'. Stuck of Fish Haven, Idaho. "otes on the habits of the fishes were also contributed by him.1 The species are therefore oulv indirectly dependent upon the shore fauna of the lalte, and thev never enter the streams. In life tliev are all light green on the dorsal surface, silvery on the sides and while beneath. Associated with them in deep water, and similarly colored, are large individual trout, the 'S.'ilmo Utah.' The sculi in. ottus semiscaber. was also cau"h! at the same depth. F.xamples of the latter were covered with prickles. 7'hey were pale ash gray in color, like the bottom, specimens of which adhered ad-hered to ihe line anchors. May Ie Found Elsewhere. ''The immediate relationships of those w hitefishes are not evident. Nothing Noth-ing like them occurs within the tires cut confines of the Bonneville system, nor in the Columbia, which was its former for-mer outlet. In fact, they appear to be widely separated from any possible allies, unless the hitler remain to be di'-covered in ihe depths of other western west-ern moiiulain lakes of high altitude. It is unite probable that at some time, possibly duriu:' 'he high-water stage ot' I.ake Honneville, these species were much mere widelv distributed than at presi ni. They probublv were numerous in Lake liouuov ille. and their ramie may have extended to other mountain lakes of Ihe Columbia system, and even to Lake Lah'H'tan and the ijuaternary lak'es of eastern (irejon. lf such were indeed Ihe ease, it i rem.'ckable that they should not have been preserved in Lukes ( hekin. Kanll.su,, Tahoe and nth j ei's of similar eharncter. The deep w a ! - ei-s of Ihce lake-- have pof hoeo C - , phtri'd. and it is toil al t o"M her uurea onal-l" to -or-i'o'et that similar fish may now lie found t here. ' ' I |