66 ICHTHYOLOGIA OHIENSIS 



forked, all the fins spotted ; lateral line diagonal and 

 slightly curved. 



A fine fish, from one to three feet long; it is one 

 of the best afforded by the Ohio, its flesh is esteemed 

 a delicacy, being white, tender, and well flavoured, 

 whence the name of Salmon was given to it, and its 

 shape which is nearly cylindrical and slightly com- 

 pressed, with the head and jaws somewhat similar to 

 those of the Salmons, has induced many to consider 

 it a real Salmon, although its fins and gill covers are 

 quite different. It has received the vulgar names of 

 Salmon, White Salmon, and Ohio Salmon. It is not a 

 common fish, but is occasionally caught all over the 

 Ohio and in the Kentucky, Licking, Wabash, and 

 Miami rivers during the spring and summer; it ap- 

 pears at Pittsburgh sometimes as early as February, 

 while it winters in deep waters. It feeds on Chubs, 

 Minnows, Suckers, &c. It is not often caught with 

 the hook, but easily taken with the gig and seine. 

 It has the back and sides gilt by patches, the head 

 variegated with small gilt spots above and quite 

 white beneath. The eyes are large, prominent and 

 brown, situated above the corners of the mouth and 

 surrounded with a gilt brown iris. The two dorsal 

 fins are widely apart, the first ray of the first dorsal 

 fin is short, the second dorsal fin is slightly falcate, 

 they are both yellow as well as the tail and with 

 brown spots, the other fins are pale yellowish with 

 only a few brown [I. 370] {_22\ dotts. The rays are, 

 in the anal 12, wherein the first is short and spiny, 

 thoracic 6, the first hardly spiny, pectoral 14, caudal 

 20. The whole fish is covered with very small scales, 

 and the lateral line begins above the opercule: the 

 second spine outside of the opercule is remarkable. 



