EUPOMOTIS — PUMPKINSEED SUNFISH 259 



perch. The greater part of the sunfish catch of Illinois, amount- 

 ing to 200,000 to 500,000 pounds a year, is composed of this 

 species. 



It spawns in May, according to our observations at Meredosia, 

 although Dr. Kofoid found a ripe male June 12. 



Genus EUPOMOTIS Gill & Jordan 



(PUMPKINSEED SUNFISH) 



Form as in Lepomis; mouth always small; no supplemental maxillary 

 bone and no teeth on palatines; lower pharyngeals deep and broad, with 

 inferior and lateral prominences, the width of the toothed portion about 

 2 in its length; pharyngeal teeth short with the upper surfaces bluntly 

 rounded or paved (truncate) ; gill-rakers short ; fins ratlrer long ; red color 

 on opercular flap in typical species forming a roundish spot. Eastern 

 United States and Canada; 3 species. . 



Key to Species or EUPOMOTIS found in Illinois 



a. Pectorals reaching vertical from base of last anal spine; wavy lines on cheeks 



faint; border of opercular flap red in male, pale in female heros. 



aa. Pectorals scarcely reaching front of anal; evident lines of emerald on cheeks; 

 opercular flap with a blood-red or orange spot at its lower posterior cor- 

 ner (white in preserved specimens) gibbosus. 



EUPOMOTIS HEROS (Baird & Girard) 



Baird & Girard, 1S54, Proc. Ac. Xat. Sci. I'hila . 25 (Pomotis). 



J. & G.. 4so (Lepomis). 482 (L. notatus); J. & E , I, 1007; B., I, 32; F., 67 (Lepomis 

 notatus); L., 2i; R., 35. 



Length 6 to 8 inches; depth 2. 1 to 2.3 in length. Color pale olive, 

 slightlv mottled; opercular flap black with a wide border, which is 

 blood-red in males, pale in females. Head in length 2 . 7 to 3 ; profile not 

 angled at nape; eye 3.7 to 4 in head; mouth rather small, the lower 

 jaw but slightly projecting; maxillary 3 . 1 to 3 .3 in head; teeth presi n1 

 on vomer, but not on tongue or palatines; lower pharyngeals broad, 

 with short blunt teeth; flexible margin of opercular flap fleshy; gill-rakers 

 very short, the longest about I eye. Dorsal X, 11, the longest spine 

 § height of soft portion ; anal III, 10; pectorals very long, reaching past 

 a vertical from base of last anal spine; ventrals past vent. Scales 6, 

 S6 10, 14 or IS; rows on cheeks about 4. 



This is a southern fish, and has occurred in our Illinois collectii >ns 

 only at a few points in the Wabash basin. It has occurred in Indiana 

 also, in the same stream and its tributaries, and it has been lately 

 taken in Little Eagle Lake in Kosciusko county, by Prof essor Moenk- 



