The tullibee

Abstract

Early explorers and settlers of the northeastern United States and southern Canada found lakes teeming with fish that had white flesh and were good to eat. The larger of these they called whitefish, differentiating two kinds- the lake whitefish and the round or menominee whitefish. These looked much alike, and each had the same appearance wherever it was found. The smaller fishes with white flesh had a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors in different lakes and areas, and were given several names; most common of these were 'cisco,' 'lake herring,' and 'tullibee.' Cisco subsequently became the common name for all of the small whitefishes, and lake herring was the name given to a single shallow-water species. The use of the name 'tullibee' became less common after ichthyologists concluded that it was a form of lake herring.