no AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



EUNEACANTHUS GEORIOSUS. 



Blue-Spotted Sunfish. 



"About the same size as obesits and with habits similar. They 

 are often found together, always among plants." 



Dr. Bean says : "In spirits the color is brownish ; about seven 

 or eight rows of scales below the lateral line with pearly blotches 

 forming interrupted stripes; a dark band under the eye; the 

 dorsal, anal and caudal profusely spotted with roundish, pearly 

 spots. Young individuals are obscurely banded. In life the 

 spots of the male are blue, and the fins are higher than in the 

 female ; the opercle bears a pearly blue spot." 



Figure 32. 



Eneacanthus gloriosns: blue spotted sunfish. (From Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. 

 ■S. Nat. Mus.) 



Mr. Seal adds that : "There are many more species of sunfish 

 in New Jersey, but the three above mentioned are the only ones 

 that are widely distributed and abundant in waters where mos- 

 quitoes might be expected to breed. Another small species, 

 Mesogauisteits chcEtodar, is extremely local and nowhere so 

 abundant as the others." The mud sunfish, Acantharchus 

 poinotis, prefers muddy water and may even lie imbedded in the 

 mud. It is shy, seclusive and nocturnal in habit. 



