LA.MPREYS AND FISHES OF INDIANA. 289 



Genus APLODINOTUS Rafinesque. 



Body deep and compressed. Snout blunt. Month slightly inferior. 

 No barbels. No canine teeth. Gill-rakers short aud blunt. Lower 

 pharyngeal teeth large and rounded. Second anal spine large and 

 strong. 



Aplodinoius grunniens (Raf.). 

 Drum ; Sheeps-head ; Croaker. 



Haploidonotus grunniens, Jordan and Gilbert, 1882, 8, 567; Jordan, 

 1884, 12, 370, pi. 123. Aplodiiwtus grimniens, Smith, 1892, 4., 49. 



Body rather elongated and compressed, the back high-arched. Head 

 blunt, the snout rounded, aud the mouth nearly inferior. Head in the 

 length three and one-half to four. Depth in the length about three. 

 Lateral line arched and running back on the caudal rays. Scales 

 11-55-11. Whole head covered with scales. Dorsal rays IX-I, 30, ihe 

 eighth and ninth spines low; anal, H, 7; the first spine very short, the 

 second long and strong. Color bluish silvery above aud white below 

 Fins mostly plain. Length as great sometimes as four feet and the 

 weight fifty pounds (^, '92, 49) ; but such size and weight are unusual. 



Region of the great lakes southward to Georgia and Texas; comnion 

 in larger waters of Indiana. Vigo County (33, '88, 55); Franklin 

 County (5, No. 2, 11) ; White River, at Indianapolis (1, 77, 44) ; Oiiio 

 and Wabash rivers and Great Lakes (10, '74, 216) ; Gibson and Posey 

 counties (4, '88, 165) ; Evansville (4, '88, 166); Vigo County (16, 96) ; 

 Ohio River, at Madison. 



Professor Forbes has investigated the food of this fish (I4, No. 3. 64). 

 The adults examined by him had eaten only moUusks, 46% of the con- 

 tents of the stomach consisting of the remains of the thick and heavy 

 water-snail Melantho decisa. The shells are crushed by means of the 

 pavement like teeth on the enormous pharyngeal bones of this fish. The 

 young fish devour the larvie of diptera and ueuroptera. Forbes states 

 that this fish is abundant in Lake Michigan and that it is usually regarded 

 as unfit for food. Dr. H. M. Smith (4, '92, 49) also says that it is not 

 much esteemed as a food fish and is one of the cheapest fishes sold. The 

 smaller fish are regarded as the most palatable. 



This fish has the curious habit of making a croaking sound beneath the 

 water. Dr. Holbrook thought that the fish accomplished this by forcing 

 the air from one division of the air-bladder to the other. Mr. W. R. 

 Hamilton (4, '87, 63) thinks that it is done by grinding together the 

 pharyngeal teeth. 



19 — Geology. 



