Jordan and Ever >na?in. — Fishes of North Affierica. 1U97 



Subgenus ETHEOSTOMA. 



1490. ETHESTOMA FLABELLARE, Ilafiiiesque. 



(Fan-taii.f.d Dauter.*) 



Head 3? to 4 ; depth 4t to 5i; eye 4 to 41 iu head; siiont 4. D. VIII-12 

 to 14 ; A. II, 7 to 9 ; scales 9-40 to 65-14, 15 to 40 pores. Number of fiu 

 rays aud scales subject to large variations, the spiues occasionally fewer 

 than 8. Body slender, compiessed, the back not elevated ; head long 

 aud pointed ; snout not decurved, the upper lip on a level with top of 

 eye; mouth very oblique, lower jaw projecting; maxillary reaching 

 front of eye ; interorbital space narrow, 1\ in eye ; gill membranes rather 

 broadly united; distance from mouth to gill cleft on median line 11 to IJ 

 in head; caudal peduncle compressed, deep, its least depth 2 in head. 

 Fins all low, the first dorsal iu the male about i as high as second, higher 

 in the female, the spines with enlarged tleshy tips iu the male ; anal about 

 size of soft dorsal ; pectorals usually not quite as long as head, their tips 

 reachiug beyond tips of ventrals ; caudal large, rounded. Scales moder- 

 ate; head entirely naked; lateral line nearly straight, incomplete, reach- 

 ing about to end of first dorsal ; a narrow strip along base of spinous 

 dorsal not scaled. Color rather dark, body covered with numerous tine 

 dark specks, these forming dark cross bands or blotches in the males, 

 less distinct in the females; black humeral spot conspicuous; usually 

 a dark line across opercles, through the eye, and around snout ; second 

 dorsal and caudal fins barred, other fins usually plain ; pectorals faintly 

 barred in Virginia specimens. Length 21 inches. New York to Virginia, 

 west to Iowa, and south to South Carolina and northern Alabama; 

 usually abundant wherever found. It lives in swift waters, and its 

 movements in the water are more active than those of any other species ; 

 it is the most hardy in the aquarium. (flabellariN, like a fau, from the 

 form, of the tail.) 



Elheoslomaflahellarif, Rafinesqve, Jour, de Phj-sique, 1819, 419, tributaries of Ohio River. 

 Elheosloma flabellala, Rafinesquk, Ichth. Ohiensis, 30, 1820, Ohio River. 

 Elheosiomafontmali.^, Rafinesque, Ichth. Ohiensis, 86, 1820, Ohio River. 

 Elheostoma linsleyi, Storer, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1851, 37, Wolcott, Wayne County, 



New York. 

 Oligocephalns humeralis, Girard, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci Phila., 1859, 67, James River, Virginia. 



*The Darter of Darters is the Fan-tail [Elheosloma Jiabellarc). Hardiest, wirit^st, wariest of 

 them all, it is tlie one which is most expert iu catching other creatures, and the one which most 

 surely evades your clutch. You can catch a weasel asleep when you can put your finger on one 

 of these. It is a slim, narrow, black, pirate-rigged little fish, with a long pointed liead, and a 

 projecting, prow-like lower jaw. It carries no flag, but is colored like the rocks among which 

 it lives. It is dark brown in hue, with a dusky spot on each scale, so that the whole body seems 

 covered with lengthwise stripes, and these are further relieved by cross bands of the same color. 

 Its fins, especially the broad, fan-shaped caudal, are likewise much checkered with spots of 

 black. The spines of the dorsal fin are very low, and each of these in the male ends in a little 

 fleshy pad of a rusty-red color, the fish's only attempt at ornamentation. The Fan-tailed Darter 

 chooses the coldest and swiftest waters, and in these, as befits his form, he leads an active, preda- 

 tory life. He is the terror of water snails and caddis worms, and the larvje of mosquitoes. In 

 the aquarium this Darter is one of the most interesting of fishes, for, though plainly colored, it 

 is very handsome, aud in its movements is the most graceful of all the P.arters. Its mouth opens 

 wider than that of auv of the others, and it is fuller of bristling teeth. Its large, yellow-rim- 

 med black eyes are ever on the wat( h. The least of a "fish " and the most of a Darter, the Fan- 

 tailed is worthily left as a type of th.' genus Elheosloma, iu which it was first placed by its 

 discoverer, Rafinesque. {Jordan iC Co^elmid.) 



