CISCO.
I record a description of this fish for the purpose of calling to it the
attention of those who have the requisite knowledge to determine what it
is, and beg naturalists, if it is still undescribed, to leave it its own
pretty, original name. It inhabits Lake Ontario, near its outlet into
the St. Lawrence, and is taken in the neighborhood of Cape Vincent. It
is one of the _Coregonus_ group, but neither the White-fish, Attihawmeg,
_Coregonus albus_, nor the Otsego Bass, _Coregonus Otsego_. It may be
related to the _Coregonus clupeiformis_, although differing much from
the meagre description of the latter in the accounts copied one from
another, of Dr. Mitchill, Lesueur, and Dr. De Kay.
The Cisco is not so compressed nor deep as the white-fish; the teeth are
more delicate and velvety, and in the gill arches are a few long,
distinct, slim teeth or bristles. The mouth is smaller than that of the
white-fish, and when open, perfectly square. The scales are similar to
those on the latter, but the tail is so delicate as to make counting the
rays mere guesswork; the point of the tongue is hard, the back colored
green, the sides silver white, while the first ray of the pectoral,
ventral and anal fins is darkish. The first dorsal has ten soft rays,
the second is adipose; the pectoral has fourteen soft rays, the ventral
eleven, the anal twelve, and the caudal, as well as I could count them,
fourteen. It is a very beautiful and delicate fish, more so even than
the white-fish.
The cisco is taken at Cape Vincent, with the eel-fly baited on a small
hook and dibbled along the top of the water, and is said not to notice
any artificial fly. I unfortunately had no chance to try, though I saw
them rising and taking the natural fly readily. They do not rise with
the rush of a salmon or trout, never springing out of water, and simply
show their heads as they seize their prey. The eel-fly is a fat and
sluggish fly, and it may be that the fish rising slowly, as they
naturally do, would discover the deception even if an imitation eel-fly
were offered to them. This fly, as I have elsewhere observed, is
similar, both in appearance and habits, to the famous European May-fly.
The fish known as the lake herring, _salmo clupeiformis_, although very
similar in appearance, has certain distinctive characteristics; for
instance, there are minute teeth on the tongue, and the fin-rays, as I
make them, are--
D. 12; P. 16; V. 11; A. 11; C. 19-5/5; B. 9.
According to Lesueur--
D. 12; P. 16; V. 12; A. 14; C. 19-5/5.
In the lake herring I also found the first ray of the dorsal the
longest, although Lesueur says it is simple and short; the tail is
deeply forked. The dorsal terminates nearly opposite the ventrals, and
the second dorsal is opposite the centre of the anal.