The Algal Food of Pimephales Promelas (Fathead Minnow)

In recent years increasing interest has been shown by icthyologists and those people concerned with fish culture regarding the food of our common fishes.The interest at the present time is centered in the study of the food of the possible species which may be used as forage fish for bass or other carnivorous pond fishes.Pimephales promelas, Rafinesque, the fathead minnow, is a species under such consideration.The purpose of this paper is to describe the food of the fathead with special emphasis on the algal food, but also with mention of such animal forms and other materials found in the alimentary canal.This work has been carried on for over a year at the Botany Department of the Ohio State University and at the Franz Theodore Stone Laboratory at Put-in-Bay, Ohio.The writer wishes to express her gratitude to those people who so kindly aided in the preparation of this paper: to Dr. L. H. Tiffany, of Ohio State University, for suggesting and directing the problem; to Mr. E. L. Wickliff, of the Ohio State Division of Fish and Game, for furnishing material for study; to Mr. Milton Trautman