THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 



435 



129. Fresh-water Drum ; White Perch (Aplodinotus grunnicns Rafinesque). 



Aplodinotus grunniens JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1484, 1898, 



pi. CCXXVI, fig. 574, 1900. 



Haplo idonotus grunniens JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus., 567, 1883. 

 Corvina oscula DEKAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 73, pi. 21, fig. 63, 1842, Lakes Erie and 



Ontario. 



The color is grayish, darker on the back ; lower parts silvery. Young specimens 

 have dark spots along the rows of scales, forming oblique lines, 



The Fresh-water Drum has received a great number of common names. In the 

 Ohio Valley and South it is known as the White Perch ; in the Great Lakes region 

 it is called Sheepshead or Fresh-water Drum on account of its resemblance to the 

 Salt-water Drum. At Buffalo and Barcelona, New York, it is known as Sheepshead. 



FRESH-WATER DRUM. 



The name Crocus, used on lakes of Northern Indiana, is a corruption of Croaker, a 

 name of a marine fish of the same family. In the Southern States the name Drum 

 is generally applied to the species, and in addition the terms Thunder Pumper, 

 Gaspergou and Jewel-head are used. Gaspergou is a term used in Arkansas, Louisi- 

 ana and Texas. The names Drum, Croaker and Thunder Pumper have reference to 

 certain sounds produced by the fish, either by means of its air bladder or by grind- 

 ing together the large molar-like teeth in the pharynx. The name Jewel-head prob- 

 ably refers to the otoliths or ear bones, frequently called lucky stones, which are 

 found in the skull of this species. In Texas, adjacent to Mexican territory, occurs 

 the name Gaspagie, a variation of the name Gaspergou. 



The Fresh-water Drum is widely distributed ; it occurs in Lake Champlain and 

 the entire Great Lakes region, the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys southward to Texas 

 The U. S. Fish Commission obtained a specimen at Point Breeze, N. Y., on Lake 



