The Northville (Michigan) Biological Station has been a center for study of the developmental morphology of coregonid fishes. This work requires the production of numerous individual series of lake herring, lake whitefish, and several species of chubs from parent fish of positively known identity. The offspring of individual pairs or groups of fish must be held in individual tanks from the time they hatch until they reach maturity. One of the important problems in this project has been the poor growth of most fish. Though some have grown well, their growth has been less than that of the same species in nature, and a few fish from each hatch have grown very slowly. Irregularity of feeding may contribute to the slow growth of laboratory fish. The hatchery caretaker feeds them several times during his 8-hour workday, but they must go without food during the remaining 16 hours. The high metabolic rate of small fish, however, appears to make them strongly inclined toward almost continual feeding. Belief that greater, more regular food consumption would result from a mechanical feeder providing a continuous supply of food over a longer period of the day led to development of the equipment described in this paper.
