FIELD BOOK OF PONDS AND STREAMS 



clear rapid streams. Darters and perches have two dorsal fins 

 — a spiny one followed by a soft-rayed one (Fig. 282). Their 

 scales are toothed on the free edges, making the body of the 

 fish feel rough to one's fingers. 



Common or yellow perch, Perca flavescens. — The yellow 

 perch (Fig. 281) is one of the commonest fishes in ponds and 

 lakes, and one of the easiest to recognize. Its back is olive, 

 blending into brilliant yellow on the sides and under part of 

 its body, and the yellow of the sides is crossed by dark bars; 

 the lower fins are bright orange, especially during the breeding 

 season in April. Through the winter, perch stay in the deeper 

 water, ten feet or more, and large numbers of them are caught 

 by hook and line through holes in the ice. 



Perch do not make nests of any kind but lay their eggs in 

 strings of jelly from two to seven feet long, twined about the 

 water weeds of the shallows. With its surrounding jelly each 

 egg is about one-eighth of an inch across and there may be 

 many thousands of them in a string. They are laid in March 

 and April or May, depending on the temperature, and hatch 

 in from ten to twenty days. 



Size. — Reaches a foot in length but is usually 6 to 10 inches. 



Distribution. — Great lakes region; eastern states. 



Fig. 282. — Johnny darter, Boleosoma nigrum. 



Darters. — Darters are so small and swift and brightly 

 colored that they take the same place among fishes that the 

 wood warblers do among birds. There are many kinds, re- 

 sembling each other so much that species are difficult to 



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