XOTR0P1S 



137 



J 



Fig. 31 



NOTROPIS BLENNIUS (Girard) 



STRAW-COLORED MINNOW 

 (Map XXXV) 



Girard, 1856, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila.; 194 (Alburnops). 



M. V., 56 (deliciosus); J. & E., I, 261; N., 46 (Hybopsis stramineus); J., 57 (Al- 

 burnops stramineus) ; F. F., I. 6, 84 (Luxilus cornutus); F. 78 (stramineus); 

 L., 17. 



A small pale species of rather indefinite characters, almost entirely 

 without marked distinctions of either form or color. Length 2J/2 inches; 

 body about equally tapered both forward and backward from its deepest 

 point, which is a little in front of a line connecting first dorsal and ventral 

 rays; moderately compressed; depth 4.2 to 4.8; caudal peduncle rather 

 slender, its depth 2 to 3.1 in its length. Color very light olive above, paler 

 below; sides silvery, with an indistinct light-leaden stripe above lateral line, 

 above and below each pore of which is a black spot; belly silvery; a faint 

 vertebral streak, broadening into an evident blackish blotch at front of 

 dorsal; caudal spot faint or but a trace; head olivaceous above, the cheeks 

 and opercles silvery; dorsal and caudal often with 

 some dusky; other fins pale. Head small, conic, 

 3.8 to 4.2 in length of head and body; width of head 



1.7 to 2 in its length; interorbital space 3 to 3.6 in 

 head; eye 2.9 to 3.4, usually over 3.2 in full-grown 

 specimens; nose bluntly conic, scarcely decurved, 

 its length equal to diameter of eye in adults, 3.3 to 



3.8 in head, usually about 3.5; mouth rather small, 

 terminal, slightly or moderately oblique, the tip of 

 the upper lip seeming to vary in position from quite 



on a level with the inferior margin of the pupil to even with the lower margin 

 of the orbit; maxillary 3.3 to 3.7 in head, about reaching vertical from front 

 of orbit; jaws about equal; isthmus less than pupil. Teeth 4-4, rather 

 strongly hooked, with grinding surfaces developed on at least two or three 

 teeth; intestine .9 to 1.2 times length of head and body; peritoneum more 

 or less densely sprinkled with rather large and coarse black specks. Dorsal 

 fin ^ith 8 rays (rarely 7), inserted almost directly over, or slightly in advance 

 of, ventrals, and usually almost exactly equidistant between muzzle and base 

 of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1.1 to 1.3 in head; anal rays 7 (rarely 6) ; pectorals 



—18 F ' • 



Fig. 32 



