FAMILY CENTRARCHIDAE 



235 



Figtire 42. Warmouth, Chaenohryttus coronarms, 5 inches long. 



GENUS Lepomis Rafinesque 



This genus includes many of the sunfishes found in the central and 

 eastern United States. They were formerly distributed in several genera 

 but have recently been grouped into the single genus Lepomis by Bailey 

 (1941) . In Minnesota they are rare or absent from most of the Lake 

 Superior drainage except where introduced. 



GREEN SUNFISH 



Leipomis cyanellus Rafinesque 



The green sunfish (Figure 43) is rather dull in color. When it is just 

 freshly removed from the water the sides and back are colored olive 

 green and each scale is flecked with yellow. The body is rather robust, 

 particularly in old specimens. This sunfish is not as deep-bodied as the 

 pumpkinseed and the black opercular lobe is shorter. The mouth is 

 large; the maxillary is one-fifth to one-fourth longer than the distance 

 from the lower margin of the orbit to the lower posterior corner of the 

 preopercle. The gill-rakers are long and slender. The dorsal fin has 9 or 

 10 spines and 10 to 12 soft rays. The spinous portion of the fin is less 

 than one-half the height of the soft portion. The pectoral fins are short 

 and rounded; their length is contained 4 times or more in the standard 

 length of the body. The anal fin has 3 spines and 9 or 10 soft rays. 

 There are more than 44 scales in the lateral line. 



The green sunfish occurs from Colorado and South Dakota eastward 

 to western New York and southward to Mexico and the Gulf States. It 

 is found in certain lakes in all parts of Minnesota. Although widespread 



