Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 387 



greater number measured were 10, 11 and 12 inches long. Most 

 of the stomachs examined were empty; one contained many flies. 



Like the bluegill, the Calico Bass dies in considerable numbers 

 in the spring. 



Head 3 ; depth 2 ; eye 4 ; snout 4$ ; D. VII or VIII, 15 ; A. VI, 

 17 or 18 ; scales 6-40 to 45-15, 6 rows on the cheek. 



Body oblong, elevated, and much compressed; head long, its 

 profile not so strongly double-curved as in the Crappie proper, the 

 projection of the snout and the antedorsal region and the depres- 

 sion over the eye being less marked; mouth smaller than in the 

 Crappie, the maxillary reaching about to the posterior edge of 

 pupil, the mandible shorter than the pectoral ; fins very high, anal 

 higher than dorsal, its height 4 to 5 times in length of body. 



Color, silvery-olive mottled with clear olive-green, the dark 

 mottlings gathered in small irregular bunches and covering the 

 whole body; vertical fins with dark olive vermiculations surround- 

 ing pale spots ; anal marked like the dorsal ; dusky opercular spot. 



The Calico Bass and the Crappie resemble each other very 

 closely and are not always differentiated by anglers and fishermen. 

 They are, however, perfectly distinct and may be easily distin- 

 guished by means of the number of dorsal spines, the Crappie 

 having only 5 or 6 while the Calico Bass has 7 or 8. The differ- 

 ences in coloration, particularly of the anal fin, is also an important 

 diagnostic character. 



44. ROCK BASS 



AMBLOPLITES RUPESTRIS (Rafinesque) 



(Plates 22 and 23) 



The Rock Bass is one of our best known and most familiar 

 fishes. Every angler in the upper Mississippi Valley began an 

 intimate acquaintance with it during his boyhood days when a 

 water-beech or iron-wood pole, a cotton line, a limerick hook and 

 a can of fish-worms were all the outfit the boy found necessary to 

 insure a goodly string of "red-eyes" and "pumpkinseeds". From 

 Vermont to Manitoba, and southward west of the Alleghenies to 

 Louisiana and Texas, this fish is found; "rock bass" in the north, 

 "goggle-eye" in the south, and "red-eye" with the boys wherever 

 he is known. This fish is found in all sorts of waters ; it is abund- 

 ant in all the Great Lakes and their tributary streams. In the 

 small lakes of the upper Mississippi Valley states it is one of the 

 most common species, and in the rivers, creeks and smaller streams 

 it is equally common. It prefers clear, cool water and is therefore 



