AMEiuRUS — bullheads; horned pout 



187 



AMEIURUS NEBULOSUS (Le Sueur) 

 (common bullhead; brown bullhead; speckled bullhead) 



Le Sueur, 1819, M^m. Mus., V, 149 (Pimelodus). 



J. & G., 104 (catus): M. V.. 40; J. & E., I, 140; N., 50 (albidus, atrarius, vulgaris); 

 J., 66 and 67 (catus, xanthocephalus (?), marmoratus, vulgaris); F., 83 (Ictalurus 

 hebulosus, part); F, F., II. 7, 460 (Ictaliurus) ; L., 10. 



Body typically elongate, never more than moderately robust, rather 

 more compressed than in A. melas; depth from 3.5 to 4.3 in length, 

 tisually nearly or a little more than 

 4; profile long and almost straight, 

 the shoulders never prominent and 

 no groove before dorsal; skin thin, 

 fitting closely over top of head and 

 nape, that of belly consisting of a 

 ven^ thin and delicate epidermal 

 layer over a thick layer of unpig- 

 mented connective tissue. Size rang- 

 ing larger than in the next species, 

 reaching 18 inches. Color variable, 

 usually a rather dark 3^ellowish 

 brown faintly clouded, more strong- 

 ly mottled with darker in the nom- 

 inal variety marmoratus, sometimes 

 nearly black ; under parts, including 

 chin, breast, and belly, pale gray, 

 pinkish, or satiny whitish ; nasal and 



maxillan^ barbels of same shade as top of head ; lower barbels slaty to 

 pinkish white, sometimes faintly marbled with darker; fin membranes 

 less strongly pigmented than in A. melas, the black on anal typically 

 densest in the membranes near their free margin, in spots which form a 

 more or less faint longitudinal bar near base of fin, or in faint mottlings 

 irregularly distributed on both membranes and rays; in pale, unmottled 

 specimens both the rays and membranes weakly, but about equally pig- 

 mented. Head 3 . 2 to 3 . 6 in body, subconic, rather narrower and more 

 slender than in the next species and somewhat more depressed, its 

 length always considerably greater than its width, which is contained 

 1 . 2 to 1 . 3 in length of head in adults, in length of body from 3 . 9 to 4 . 7 ; 

 nose longer and the snout more sharply rounded than in A . melas ; upper 

 jaw usually distinctly longer than lower; maxillary barbel usually reach- 

 ing considerably beyond gill-opening, often beyond humeral process. 

 Dorsal spine variable, 1 . 8 to 2 . 5 in head, as a rule rather long. Caudal 

 typically somewhat more deeply emarginate than in the next species. 

 Anal fin of 21 to 24 rays, including rudiments, usually 22 or 23, its base 

 from 3.2 to 4.1 in length of body; free margin of fin from about the 

 eighth to the fifteenth ray but little rounded, sometimes ahnost straight, 

 the rays rather slender and split usually less than a third of the way to 

 base. Pectoral spine as a rule rather long, curved, and sharply pointed, 

 its length 1 .8 to 2 .4 in head, usually less than 2 ; the posterior edge in 



Fig. 52 



Caudal, anal, and pectoral fins of Ameiu- 



rus nebiilosiis. 



