FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



159 



at maturity as well as when young. In the male the barring is transverse through- 

 out life, the stripes increasing in number from 7 to 10 in the young to from 14 to 20 

 in adult fish. In the female, however, the original 7 to 10 transverse bars are trans- 

 formed with growth into two longitudinal stripes on each side, the upper running 

 uninterrupted from gill opening to tail, the lower in two segments, the first from 

 close behind the pectoral to above the ventral, and the second thence backward to 

 just behind the rear edge of the anal fin. Even in the oldest females, however, 

 one or two transverse bars persist on the caudal peduncle. 



Color. — Apart from these black bars the male is dark olive green above with 

 silvery sides, a greenish-yellow belly, and a black spot on the rear part of the dorsal 

 fin; his pectorals and caudal pale yellowish — -a decidely paler fish than the other 

 "mummy." At breeding tune the males become more brilliant, the back turning 

 almost black, the lower sides and belly changing to orange or golden, and the fins 

 to bright yellow. The female is olive green above and white below. 



Size. — This is a larger fish than the common mummichog, occasionally grow- 

 ing to a length of 8 inches and frequently to a length of 6 inches. 



Fig. 66. — Striped mummichog, male (Funduius majalisj 



General range. — The coast of the United States from Cape Cod to Florida. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — We have never seen this fish in the Gulf of 

 Maine, though it is very abundant along the southern shores of New England west 

 of Cape Cod. In fact, the only Gulf of Maine records are for the neighborhood 

 of Boston many years ago. Possibly it is more plentiful along the outer sands of 

 Cape Cod than is now realized; north of that, however, it is only a stray, hence 

 we need merely remark that it parallels Funduius heteroclitus in its confinement t > 

 the immediate neighborhood of the land and in its general habits, but that it keeps 

 more strictly to salt water. 



59. Sheepshead minnow {Cyprinodon variegatus Lacepede) 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 671. 



Description. — Anatomically, as pointed out above (p. 156), the sheepshead min- 

 now is separated from the mummichogs by the form of its teeth, which are large, 

 wedge shaped, with tricuspid cutting edges, instead of small and pointed. Further- 

 more, it is so deep bodied (its body nearly half as deep as long, not counting the 

 102274— 25 1 11 



