Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-11
BASS AS CANNIBALS
GOVERNMENT PUT TO GREAT Ex-
PENSE AT HATCHERIES.
Two Collections for Shipment Each
Year, Instead Of One, as
Formerly.

bass that are propagated in the govern
hsh ponds. in the rear Of the White House
grounds. Mr.. Chester K. Green, superin-
tendent of the ponds, has been obliged in
recent years to change the previous plans
and make two collections of the young fish
for shipment each season, instead of one.
The first collection for 1908 was being made
yesterday afternoon when a Star reporter
visited the pretty ponds. A force of men
with seines were taking the little fishes
from the water-lily covered lakes and plac-
ing them in retaining pools ready for dis
tribution by fish commission cars to all
parts of the country for the stocking of
streams great and small.
Superintendent Green talked Interestingly
about the cannibalistic tendencies of the
young fish,
I'VE have to be careful in asserting the
bass he said. ''In this tank or pool, for
instance, we have about 5000 of the small
est size, which average an inch and three
quarters In length. The reason we have to
be particular is because the little fellows
have practice Of devouring each other.
The young bass are great cannibals.
Look at that exclaimed Mr.. Green,
pointing at the mass of fish In the tank.
There is a little fellow that has seized
another almost as large as himself.
The reporter looked in the indicated d.
rection and saw a bass about two inches in
length that had seized another about one
and q half inch long and was making
away with him.
Of Large Size.
In the next tank was the second size fish.
about 2k inches in length, while in the
last tank was another size averaging from
three to three and half inches in size.
By keeping fish of nearly the same size
in the retaining pools the dangers Of can
nibalism are lessened.
Mr. Green told of recent occurrence
which came under his observation. A bass
which was by actual measurement 6k
inches long had tried to swallow one Az
inches in length. The larger fish had
partly swallowed the other and the tail Of
the unfortunate was protruding from the
mouth of the bigger one. The Superin-
tendent captured the cannibal in a net and
upon examination found that the head of
the smaller fish had been partly digested.
1t was case, he said of laying in about
a weeks supply of food and digesting it by
degrees.
The superintendent also stated that
while oannibalism is general among the
younger fish, the adult bass do not eat
their own young, although they devour
great quantities of young fish of other
species.
We now have to make a spring distri-
button of bass well as summer one,
| owing to this cannibalsm," said Mr..
Green The spawning period covers
about forty days and if we did not make
devour the second lot that is Matched after
the first are about forty days old and have
become full-f1edged cannibalS
1t Is remarked as a peculiar coincidence
that this proclivity on the part of the little
bass has resulted as stated. in changing
the plans of the government for the dis
tributiOn.
Guarding the Nests.
A number of visitors to the ponds yester-
day were interested watchers of several
large adult male bass they did guard
duty over the nests of their young. These
nests" are in open places in the thick ma
rlne growth. and near the bottom Of the
pond in one place were approximately H.
coo wee bass, recently Matched. Floating
over them was the father fish, a magnifi-
cent full-grown specimen. Occasionally
upon the approach of another fish near the
nest the one on guard would make vicious
dart at the intruder.
That fellow" said Superintendent Green.
reminds me of brave old hen with her
brood of chicks, and he is just pugna-
cous as the mother chicken"
He explained that after the eggs are
Matched the male drives the female away
and faithfully stands guard over the wrg-
Cling mass of young until they are large
enough to take care of themselves. During
its constant yigils, day and night. the father
fish usually goes without food, unless some
floats into the open space where the nest is
located.
In shipping the bass to distant points 200
of the smaller sizes are placed in ten-gallon
cans filled with water.
Several recent improvements have been
made about the fish pond Enclosure, which
is said to be one of the most picturesque
spots in the District. A new iron fence has
been constructed along the driveway on the
18th street side. The several buildings have
been painted, and a force of florists
planting flowers and putting In other dec
oratons.