Fish Study 



173 



rounded nose and gently swelling and tapering sides; it is widest at the 

 eyes and this is a canny arrangement, for these great eyes turn alertly in 

 every direction; and thus placed they are able to discern the enemy or 

 the dinner coming from any quarter. 



The dorsal fin is a most militant looking organ. It consists of ten 

 spines, the hind one closely joined to the hind dorsal fin, which is sup- 

 ported by the soft rays. The three front spines rise successively, one 

 above another and all are united by the membrane, the upper edge of 

 which is deeply toothed. The hind dorsal fin is gracefully rounded and 

 the front and hind fin wo^k independently of each other, the latter often 

 winnowing the water when the former is laid flat. The tail is strong and 

 has a notch in the end ; the anal fin has three spines on its front edge and 





The pumpkin seed, the most common sunfish. 



ten soft rays. Each ventral fin also has a spine at the front edge and is 

 placed below and slightly behind the pectorals. The pectoral fins, I have 

 often thought, were the most exquisite and gauzelike in texture of any 

 fins I have ever seen; they are kept almost constantly in motion and 

 move in such graceful flowing undulations that it is a joy to look at them. 

 The eye of the sunfish is very large and quite prominent; the large 

 black pupil is surrounded by an iris that has shining lavender and bronze 

 in it, but is more or less clouded above; the young ones have a pale silver 

 iris. The eyes move in every direction and are eager and alert in their 

 expression. The mouth is at the front of the body but it opens upward. 

 The gill opening is prolonged backward at the upper corner, making an 

 earlike flap; this, of course, has nothing to do with the fish's ears, but it is 

 highly ornamental as it is greenish-black in color, bordered by iridescent, 

 pale green, with a brilliant orange spot on its hind edge. The colors of 

 the sunfish are too varied for description and too beautiful to reduce to 

 mere words. There are dark, dull, greenish or purplish cross-bands 

 worked out in patterns of scale-mosaic, and between them are bands of 

 pale iridescent-green, set with black-edged orange spots. But just as we 



