SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OP FISHES. 



151 



128. LUCANIA PARVA (Baird & Girard) . 

 Rainwater-fish. 



Cyprinodon parvus Baird & Girard, Ninth Smithsonian Report, 345, 1855; Greenport, Long Island, N. Y. 

 Lucania parva, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 665, pi. cix, fig. 292. 



Diagnosis. — Form rather short, the depth contained 3.25 times in total length; head 

 equal to depth; eye large, .33 length of liead; scales in lateral series 26, in crosswise series 8; 

 dorsal rays 10 to 12; anal rays 10 or 11. Color: olive, scales dark-edged; dorsal dull yellow 

 with black spot surrounded by orange anteriorly; caudal yellow with black tip; anal and ven- 

 trals red with dusky edges; fins in female olive, unmarked, (parva, small.) 



Found in brackish ponds, ditches and bays, along the entire coast from 

 Cape Cod to Key West. It is known from Virginia and South CaroUna, and 

 undoubtedly occurs in suitable waters in North Carolina. Its small size, 1.5 

 to 2 inches, enables it to be easily overlooked. 



Genus CYPRINODON Lac^pfede. Short Minnows. 

 Small, chubby brackish-water fishes found from United States to South 

 America, usually going in schools; the males larger than the females; species 

 oviparous. Body short, back elevated, mouth small, teeth tricuspid incisors in 

 a single row, scales large, origin of dorsal fin in front of anal, branchial aperture 

 reduced, opercle superiorly fused with shoulder girdle. Ten or twelve species 

 known, one common along our Atlantic coast. (Cyprinodon, carp-toothed.) 



Fig. 57. Variegated Minnow. Cyprinodon variegatus. 



129. CYPRINODON VARIEGATUS Lacepede. 

 "Sheepshead Minnow"; Variegated Minnow; Short Minnow. 



Cyprinodon variegatus Lacepfede, Histoire Naturelle desPoissons, v, 486, 1803; South Carolina. Yarrow, 1877, 

 214; Beaufort Harbor. Jordan & Gilbert, 1879, 384; Beaufort Harbor. Jenkins, 1887, 86; Beaufort. 

 Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 671, pis. cxi, cxii.figs. 296,296a. 



Diagnosis. — Form short and deep, back elevated, depth .43 to .50 total length; head wide, 

 short, its length contained 3.25 to 3.6 times in length; snout sharp, mouth small, teeth large, 



