64 Fish and Game Waeden. [Bull. No. 1. 



The SunRshes. 



There are several varieties of sunfish *n Kansas streams 

 and ponds; some are native, and others have been introduced. 

 The sunfish family (Centrarchidse, having spine^ m the anal 

 fin,) include such fishes as the Black basses, the crapp-es and 

 the Rock bass, as well as several species and varieties of 

 smaller fishes commonly known as sunfishes. All the members 

 of this family inhabit fresh waters and are found native only 

 in the waters of the North American continent. 



There are about a dozen genera and between thirty ana 

 forty species and varieties, nearly one-half of which are rep- 

 resented in Kansas waters, either native or introduced. Among 

 the forms found in Kansas are the large- and small-mouth Black 

 basses; the White (river or large-mouth) and the dark, Giant 

 (or small-mouth) crappies; the Rock and Warmouth basses; 

 the Bream and Bluegill, with such other small and common 

 forms as the green, pond, and little red and orange spotted 

 sunfishes. The fish in this family vary in size when full 

 grown from specimens three to four inches in length and 

 weighing but a few ounces, in case of the small red and orange 

 spotted "sunnies," to forms as large as the Black basses. 

 These latter vary from a foot to sixteen inches in length in 

 northern waters, weighing from two to three pounds, to forms 

 varying from twenty to thirty-six inches in length in southern 

 waters and weighing from five to twenty pounds. 



THE COMMON SUNFISHES. 



In this article we desire to speak more especially of the 

 common, every-day pond or creek sunfishes, such as are found 

 in the smaller rivers, creeks and ponds of Kansas. These 

 smaller forms seldom attain a length of more than eight inches 

 and usually weigh from four to ten ounces, though occasion- 

 ally specimens may be taken that are larger. 



The sunfish is frequently spoken of by grown-up fishermen 

 as a "boy's fish." The writer is one of the boy fishermen 

 whose heart has been made glad hundreds of times by catching 

 the gamey little sunfishes. 



The first fish we ever caught was a "sunnie." We have 

 been catching them for more than two-score years and are 

 free to confess that we still enjoy catching sunfish. Next to 

 the brook trout the "sunnies," for their size, are the most 

 active fishes in the waters. From early in the morning until 

 late in the evening they are always ready to bite and are not 

 at all particular or finical about the kind of bait they take. 

 Old-fashioned angleworms and grubworms are undoubtedly 

 most acceptable ; however, grasshopper bodies — in fact, almost 



