Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 379 



soft dorsal short; anal fin long; caudal forked; pectorals moder- 

 ate; first dorsal inserted somewhat behind the vent. Pale olive 

 green, translucent; lateral silvery band very distinct, scarcely 

 broader than the pupil, bounded above by a dark line ; back dotted 

 with black. In the black waters of the lowland swamps, the sil- 

 very is underlaid with black. Length 3i in. 



42. CRAPPIE 



POMOXIS ANNULARIS Rafinesque 



(Plate 20) 



The Crappie occurs throughout the Great Lakes region, west to 

 Nebraska and Kansas and south throughout the lowlands of the 

 Mississippi Valley to Texas. It is rather rare northward, but in 

 the lower Mississippi basin and the coastal region of Texas, it is 

 generally abundant. It prefers the sluggish waters of ponds, 

 bayous, lagoons, and lowland streams. It attains a length of about 

 a foot, and a pound in weight. Examples weighing 3 or 4 pounds 

 have been reported in the south, but such weights must be very 

 unusual. The examples of this species obtained in the north rarely 

 weigh over three-quarters of a pound. 



The true Crappie is very rare in Lake Maxinkuckee. During 

 the summer and fall of 1899 when we were doing our most thor- 

 ough collecting of the fishes of this lake, a few specimens of the 

 Crappie were obtained. These were all young fish 1 to 3 years old 

 and were seined in shallow water. No specimens were seen in 

 1900. A great many of the fish which the anglers call "crappie" 

 were examined but they all proved to be the calico bass (Pomoxis 

 sparoides) . The 2 species are entirely distinct, though difficult to 

 distinguish except by an examination of their technical characters. 

 The most evident and most reliable differential character is found 

 in the number of dorsal spines. The dorsal fin in the Crappie has 

 5 or 6 sharp spines, while the calico bass has 7 or 8. In the 

 Crappie the anal fin is usually plain and the anterior profile is 

 strongly curved, while in the calico bass the anal fin is strongly re- 

 ticulated or marbled, and the anterior profile is more nearly 

 straight. The calico bass is also a deeper fish than the Crappie, 

 its depth being half its length, while that of the Crappie is only 

 f its length. 



Within the last 11 years the United States Fish Commission 

 has planted in this lake 3,200 so-called "Crappie" but it is prob- 

 able that the majority of these were really calico bass. 1 But as 



1 See p. 280. 



