240 NORTHERN FISHES 



frequently move about in schools. During the spawning season they 

 usually have their nests close together or even side by side. Carbine 

 (1939) reported finding as high as 51,000 eggs in a single bluegill nest 

 in Michigan. At the University of Minnesota counts of eggs from the 

 ovaries showed as many as 07,000 eggs in a single female. Twenty-seven 

 females, weighing from 8 to 10 ounces, each contained from 15,000 to 

 58,000 eggs. It is probable that many nests contain eggs deposited by 

 more than one female, and females have often been reported as spawn- 

 mg several times during the summer. 



The bluegill is one of the most popular pan fishes, and it is not a bad 

 game fish when it will rise to a fly. It is an excellent pan fish, for the 

 meat is well flavored and relatively free from bones. It is very popular 

 with many cane-pole anglers and small boys, for it bites readily on 

 worms, grasshoppers, and even pieces of perch. According to recent 

 creel censuses on Minnesota lakes more bluegills than any other species 

 are caught by anglers. In fact, they constitute nearly half the total 

 catch of the summer anglers. 



GENUS Ambloplites Rafinesque 



This genus contains several species, only one of which occurs in the 

 northern states. 



NORTHERN ROCK BASS (Redeye, Goggle-eye) 

 Ambloplites rupestris rupestris (Rafinesque) 



The body of the rock bass (Figure 47) is thicker than the body of 

 the crappie or sunfish. The rock bass is more or less oblong, the back is 

 considerably elevated, and the forehead is considerably rounded. The 

 dorsal fin contains 10 or 11 spines, the anal fin 6. The back and sides 

 are ordinarily an olive-brown color, and each scale has a dark spot. The 

 eye is more or less red. The young fishes may be readily recognized by 

 the broad, irregular, black vertical bars on their sides. The rock bass 

 can change color with great rapidity; in a few minutes it can change 

 from silver to almost solid black or to silver with black splotches. It 

 reaches a length of 8 to 10 inches. 



The northern rock bass is found from the Dakotas and southern 

 Canada southward in the Mississippi drainage to North Carolina and 

 northern Arkansas. It is widely distributed in lakes and clear streams 

 throughout most of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and neighboring states. 

 Although it is supposed by some to inhabit rocky streams only, it is 

 found commonly as well in many lakes of moderate size and even oc- 

 curs in some of the rocky lakes of northeastern Minnesota. It has been 

 reported from the Rainy River drainage and from such large lakes 

 as Mille Lacs and Lake of the Woods. It is rather rare in much of the 



