104 ' FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Inhabits only the headwaters of the Santee and Great Pedee basins. " Com- 

 mon in creeks heading the Catawba River in Macdowell County, N. C, or tribu- 

 tary to the Yadkin River in Roane County" (Cope). 



94. HYBOPSIS AMBLOPS (Rafinesque). 

 Silver Chub. 



Rutilus amblops Rafinesque, Ichthyologia Ohiensis, 51, 1820; Ohio River. 



Ceratichthys hyalinus Cope, Journal Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1868, 226; Holston River, 



Va. Cope, 18706, 459; French Broad River, N. C. 

 Hybopsis amblops, Jordan, 18896, 152; Swannanoa River and Spring Creek 



Diagnosis. — Body rather slender, not greatly compressed, stout anteriorly, depth .2 

 totallength; head large, flat, broad, .25 total length; eye .33 length of head, longer than snout 

 and longer than interorbital space; mouth small, somewhat inferior, horizontal, maxillary 

 not reaching anterior margin of orbit; snout blunt; teeth 1,4 — 4,1; scales, 38 in lateral series, 

 9 in transverse series, 16 in front of dorsal; lateral line decurved. Color: green above, scales 

 dark-edged; a silvery lateral band, this usually superimposed on a plumbeous or blackish 

 band; a dark stripe through eye to snout. Length, 3 inches, (amblops, blunt-faced.) 



This species, which ranges from New York to Iowa and Alabama, is perhaps 

 most numerous in the Ohio and Tennessee valleys. It is common in Swannanoa 

 River near Asheville and in Spring Creek at Hot Springs. 



95. HYBOPSIS KENTUCKIENSIS (Rafinesque). 

 "Knotty-head"; "Horny-head"; River Chub. 



Luxilus kentuckiensis Rafinesque, Ichthyologia Ohien:;is, 48, 1820; Ohio River. 



Ceratichthys leptocephalus Girard, Proceedings Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1856, 213; Yadkin 



River, at Salem, N. C. 

 Ceratichthys biguttatus. Cope, 18706, 459, 494; Neuse, Yadkin, Catawba, and French Broad rivers. 

 Hybopsis kentuckiensis, Jordan, 18896, 126, 129, 134, 139, 152; Tar, Neuse, Yadkin, Catawba, and French Broad 



rivers. Evermann & Cox, 1896, 305; Neuse River near Raleigh. Bean, 1903, 914; Cane River. 



Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 322. 



Dl\gnosis. — Body stout, slightly compressed, little elevated, depth contained 4.25 times 

 in length; head large, broad, .25 total length; snout conical, blunt; mouth large, nearly terminal, 

 lower jaw slightly shorter, upper jaw not extending to margin of orbit; barbel well developed; 

 eye placed rather high in the side of head; teeth variable, 4 — 4, 1,4 — 4,1, or 1,4 — 4,0; scales large, 

 40 in lateral series, 10 in transverse series, 18 before dorsal; lateral line decurved; dorsal fins 

 placed slightly posterior to ventrals, rays 8; anal rays 7. Color: bluish-green above, scales 

 dark-edged, coppery and green reflections on sides, white below; fins pale orange; spring males 

 with a red spot on each side of head and lower parts rosy; top of head in adults swollen into a 

 h.gh crest, which is covered with tubercles; a dark caudal spot in young, (kentuckiensis, 

 inhabiting Kentucky.) 



This is the commonest and most widely distributed of the species of Hybop- 

 sis in North Carolina. It exists in most of the rivers which flow into the Atlantic 

 and also in tributaries of the French Broad, preferring the larger streams and 

 seldom entering small brooks. In 1904 specimens from a tributary of the Little 

 Tennessee River in Macon County, North Carolina, were sent to the Bureau of 

 Fisheries by Mr. D. P. Cabe, who reported that the fish was known in that section 

 as " knotty-head" or "horny-head". It reaches a length of 9 or 10 inches and, is 

 sometimes eaten. 



