238 Fishes of the Ohio 



Head elongate-cylindric, slightly flattened above the eyes 

 and beneath the throat ; not ^ the total length of the fish. 

 Eyes oblong-oval, situated above the angles of the mouth. 

 Iris yellow. Pupil semi-transparent, brownish. Jaws equal, 

 armed with sharp, strong, and slightly incurved teeth, those 

 of the vomer, finer. Tongue smooth. Operculum^ mar- 

 gined behind with a membrane and furnished with a spine 

 that is not terminal. Preoperculum delicately serrated. 



Body cylindric and fusiform. Vent behind the middle. 



Lateral line straight. Scales small and irregular. 



Dorsal fins two ; the anterior spinous ; the posterior soft 

 and elevated before. Caudal fin lunate. Anal fin not equal 

 to the soft-dorsal ; remote from the caudal. Ventral fin fal- 

 cate, horizontal, situated beneath the pectoral. Pectoral fin 

 extends as far back as one third of the spinous-dorsal, but not 

 as far as the tip of the ventral. 



Color. Head and back blackish, sides dusky and edged 

 below the middle with golden or coppery yellow ; the back 

 and sides banded or blotched irregularly with black ; abdo- 

 men white. The fins diaphanous and banded with inter- 

 rupted series of blackish dots. 



Habitat. Lake Erie, the Ohio river and their tributaries. 

 D. 13—20 ; C. 16 ; A. 1—12 ; V. 6 ; P. 14 rays. 



Observations. The males are smaller than the females ; 

 more slender, and more dusky colored. The former do not 

 often exceed 12 or 18 inches in length, while the latter are 

 met with measuring more than two feet in length. 



In the water of the Lake they readily bite at a baited hook, 

 but are much more coy in the Ohio and its tributaries. They 

 are highly esteemed in the markets of Cincinnati and com- , 

 mand an exorbitant price. 



At certain seasons of the year, they are taken in great 

 quantities in some parts of Lake Erie and especially in the 

 Maumee River, where they are salted down in barrels, for sup- 

 plying the interior of the State. When thus salted, they be- 

 come at best, a tough, tasteless and insipid article of food, and 

 the day is probably not distant, when they will be displaced 



