1. Mr. Evans is now (1949) a fisheries biologist for the California Division of Fish and Game. Mr. Wallis is now a fishery research biologist, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Stanford University.

Introduction

Could you, as the average American angler, recognize the various kinds of fish you caught on that trip last summer? Are you familiar with the life and habits of those speckled beauties that covered the bottom of your creel? To be quite honest, most of our national park visitors will answer in the negative and display a sincere desire for knowledge by asking many questions. It is the purpose of this booklet to present in simplified form, avoiding long scientific descriptions, an account of the fishes of Yosemite National Park, their habits and propagation, both natural and artificial. The visiting angler may not be interested in knowing the differences in anatomical structure which distinguish a certain fish, but he is interested in knowing the visible characters which determine one kind of fish from another. To facilitate such recognition, an identification key and descriptions of all fishes occurring in the park are presented in this guide.

Since the publication of the first edition of “Fishes of Yosemite National Park” by Willis A. Evans in 1944, (reprinted in 1946, revised in 1947 by George J. Ross, Jr., now park ranger in Colonial National Historical Park) some changes have been made in the common and scientific names of some of the species, three new native fishes have been discovered within the park, and other information has been collected. The names used in this edition are those approved by the American Fisheries Society and listed in its Special Publication No. 1, “A List of Common and Scientific Names of the Better Known Fishes of the United States and Canada.”

The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of the following persons whose helpful suggestions and criticisms of the manuscript have aided in making this edition more useful to the park visitor and angler: Messrs. Malcolm E. Wilson, Richard S. Croker and L. E. Nixon, California Division of Fish and Game; Dr. Carl L. Hubbs, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Dr. W. I. Follett, California Academy of Arts and Sciences; and Dr. Harold Bryant and Lon Garrison, Grand Canyon National Park, Messrs. M. B. Evans, Duane Jacobs, Robert N. McIntyre, Donald Edward McHenry, Harry C. Parker and Dr. Carl P. Russell, Yosemite National Park, United States National Park Service.

We are especially grateful to Dr. Hubbs for his advice and counsel on the more technical aspects of this presentation and the identification of some of the specimens.

To Mr. Martin R. Brittan, Ranger Naturalist 1947 and 1948, who has drawn the illustrations of the non-game species for this edition and to the California Division of Fish and Game for the use of their black and white and color plates of the trout we are grateful.

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