FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



oid family. The strawberry bass grows to an 

 average length of ten inches, and the weight of 

 a pound, but unlike its brother of the same genus, 

 delights in cold and clear waters, and is seldom seen 

 in muddy bayous. Its range of habitat is more 

 extended to the eastward than the crappie, as it is 

 found from the Great Lakes southward to Florida, 

 Louisiana, and Texas, and eastward to New Jersey. 

 It is an excellent pan fish, and, like its relative, 

 fights well on restraining line and rod. 



As this fish is being very generally introduced 

 into New England waters, it is well to explain the 

 differences in form and coloration of the two 

 species. Both are similar, to the ordinary observer, 

 in appearance; but on a close inspection it will 

 be found that the profile of the crappie {annularis), 

 when the mouth is open, is more or less shaped 

 like the letter S, which is mainly owing to the 

 projecting snout; in the profile of the strawberry 

 bass (sparoides), this peculiarity is not so strongly 

 shown, as the projection of the snout and the 

 depression over the eye is less marked. The 

 coloration of the two species is similar, except 

 that the dark blotches on the body of the first- 

 named fish show a tendency to form narrow verti- 

 cal bars, while on the latter they are gathered in 

 small irregular bunches, covering the entire body. 

 ioo 



