NOTROPIS 145 



This active minnow loves to play in the swift ripples of 

 rocky streams, where its presence may be betrayed to the watch- 

 ful observer by flashes of rainbow color from a fish not otherwise 

 visible. It spawns from the middle of May to the last of June. 

 The breeding males are excessively tuberculate, with a double 

 row of tubercles bordering the upper lip, a triangular or cres- 

 centic patch about each eye, two longitudinal rows along the 

 middle of the top of the head, and several shorter ones upon the 

 sides. The scales of the nape and those of the sides of the 

 body are also tuberculate, especially those on the caudal peduncle 

 between the anal fin and the lateral line. Sometimes all the 

 scales are tuberculate, with the exception of a few in front of the 

 ventrals, on the lower part of the sides and belly. We have 

 even seen females with small tubercles upon the head. 



NOTROPIS WHIPPLII (GIRARD). 



STEEL-COLORED MINNOW; SILVERFIN; LEMON-FIN 



(MAP XL) 



Girard, 1856, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 198 (Cyprinella). 



G., VII, 254 (Leuciscus spilopterus) ; J. & G., 178 (Cliola), 179 (C. analostoma); 

 M. V., 58; J. & E., I. 278; N., 47 (Cyprinella galacturus); J., 57 (Photogenis 

 analostanus); F., F., I. 6, 87 (Photogenis analostanus) ; F., 77; L., 17. 



This species, which presents a general resemblance to N. lutrensis, is 

 generally distinguishable from that species by its more elongate, lanceolate 

 form, by its longer and more pointed head, and, in most cases, by the black 

 spot on the posterior membranes of the dorsal fin (a mark absent in typical 

 specimens of lutrensis}. Length 3 to 4 inches; depth 3.3 to 4 in length in 

 adults; females and young more slender, the depth 4.3 to 5; caudal peduncle 

 slightly shorter than head, its depth 1.7 to 2.2 in its length. Color leaden 

 silvery over olive in females, somewhat bluish forward and above. Males 

 bright steel-blue to purplish above, dull silvery white or greenish on lower 

 part of sides and on belly; steel color most prominent behind and above 

 opercles and above lateral line backward along sides to tip of caudal peduncle; 

 cheeks and opercles metallic purplish blue; iris brassy, purplish outward 

 above; scales of sides with dusky bluish lines parallel to their edges, pro- 

 ducing the appearance of a very regular and sharply defined lozenge-blocked 

 reticulation* over the entire side, this appearance being aided by the great 

 uniformity in size of the scales; a rather broad but faint vertebral streak; 

 two black blotches on the posterior membranes of the dorsal (fainter in 

 females); paired fins, lower part of belly, tips of a-nal and caudal, and the 



* These lozenges of darker blue outline on a purplish or steel-blue ground form one of the 

 most noticeable features of the coloration of this species distinguishing it ordinarily with readi- 

 ness from A', lutrensis, in which, except in some specimens from the more northward part of its 

 range, the cross-hatching on the scales is indistinct. 



