206 NORTHERN FISHES 



(Jordan and Gilbert) 



Lateral line at least partly developed; dorsal spines usually 8 or more;' lower 

 fins not greatly developed; adults usually over 1 1/2 inches long 15 



15. Conspicuously marked with longitudinal rows of spots or dashes; head com- 

 pletely scaleless; males not brightly coloretl; dorsal spines of breeding males 



ending with fleshy knobs 



Striped Fantail Darter, Catonotus flabellaris lineolatus Agassiz 



Not conspicuously marked with longitudinal rows; head partly scaled; males 

 brightly colored; dorsal spine without knobs 16 



16. Gill-membranes very broadly connected; color greenish in life 



Eastern Banded Darter, PoccUichthys zonalis zoualis Cope 



Gill-membranes not broadly connected; not green 17 



17. Body rather slender; depth 5.4-6.8 in length; soft dorsal rays 9-11, occa- 

 sionally 12 Iowa Darter, Poecilichthys exilis (Girard) 



Body rather deep; depth 4.5-5.4; soft dorsal rays 12-14 18 



18. Cheeks covered with ctenoid scales; scales 49-57 in lateral line 



Northern jNIud Darter, Poecilichthys jessiae asprigenis Forbes 



Cheeks scaleless or with a few embedded scales around the eye; scales 43-53 



in lateral line 



Northern Rainbow Darter. Poecilichthys caeruleus caeruleus (Storer) 



Subfamily PERCINAE 



GENUS Fere a Linnaeus 



This genus contains but one species, which is common in north- 

 eastern North America. 



YELLOW PERCH (Common Perch, Ringed Perch, 



Ah-sah-waince of the Red Lake Chippewas) 



Perca jiavescens (Mitchill) 



The yellow perch (Figure 37) varies greatly in color. Usually the 

 sides are golden yellow, with 6 to 8 broad, dark crossbars from the back 

 to below the middle of the sides. The upper fins are dusky, the lower 

 fins orange or bright red in males during the spawning season. This 

 species reaches a length of 12 to 15 inches and a weight of about a 

 pound. The mouth contains many small teeth but no large canine, or 

 tearing, teeth. This last characteristic serves to distinguish the perch 

 from the young walleye, the only fish it resembles. 



Perch range through southern Canada south to Kansas, northern 

 Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and into Pennsylvania. They are 

 present in the Atlantic drainage from Nova Scotia to South Carolina. 

 They have been widely introduced elsewhere. Perch are generally 

 abundant throughout Minnesota and neighboring states in lakes and 

 large streams, but they are seldom found in small streams. In some of 

 the smaller northern lakes perch occur in immense numbers, but in 

 only a few lakes do they exceed a weight of one-half pound. They are 



