Percoidea, or Perch-like Fishes 



301 



aquarium fish is the black-banded sunfish, Mesogonistius chazto- 

 don, of the Delaware, as also the nine-spined sunfish, Enneacan- 

 thus gloriosus, of the coast streams southward. Apomotis cyanel- 

 lus, the blue-green sunfish or little redeye, is very widely dis- 

 tributed from Ohio westward, living in every brook. The dis- 

 section of this species is given on page 26, Vol. I. ToLepomis 

 belong numerous species having the opercle prolonged in a long 

 flap which is always black in color, often with a border of scarlet 

 or blue. The yellowbelly of the South (Lepomis auritus), ear-like 

 the showily colored long-eared sunfish (Lepomis megalotis) of the 



FIG. 237. Common Sunfish, Eupomotis gibbosus (Linnaeus). Root River, Wis. 



southwest, figured on page 2, Vol. I, the bluegill (Lepomis palli- 

 dus) , abundant everywhere south and west of New York, are 

 members of this genus. The genus Eupomotis differs in its larger 

 pharyngeals, which are armed with blunt teeth. The common 

 sunfish, or pumpkinseed, Eupomotis gibbosus, is the most familiar 

 representative of the family, abounding everywhere from Min- 

 nesota to New England, then south to Carolina on the east slope 

 of the Alleghanies, breeding everywhere in ponds and in the 

 eddies of the clear brooks. 



The Black Bass. The black bass (Micro pterus] belong to the 

 same family as the sunfish, differing in the larger size, more 

 elongate form, and more voracious habit. The two species are 



