FISHES OF NEW YORK 



295 



The little pickerel has a short, stout bod}^ and a long head. 

 The greatest depth is nearly one fifth of the length without cau- 

 dal and two thirds of length of head; length of head two 

 sevenths of total without caudal; eye two fifths of length of 

 snout, one sixth of length of head. The maxilla reaches to 

 below middle of eye. Cheeks and opercles fully scaled; dorsal 

 origin twice as far from eye as from end of scales, its base two 

 fifths of head, its longest ray nearly one half of head; anal 

 under dorsal and with slightly longer rays; ventral nearly mid- 

 way between tip of snout and end of scales, its length equal to 

 snout and to pectoral. B. 11-13; D. 12; A. 11 or 12. Scales 

 in lateral line 105. 



Body green or grayish, usually with many irregular streaks 

 or reticulations, which are sometimes entirely lacking; sides of 

 the head generally variegated; a dark bar extends downward 

 from the eye, and another forward. Fins plain, but the caudal 

 is sometimes mottled at its base. 



This pickerel inhabits the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi 

 rivers and streams flowing into the Great lakes from the south- 

 ward. In ponds formed in the spring by the overflow of river 

 banks it is one of the characteristic fishes and is often de- 

 stroyed in great numbers by the drying up of such bodies of 

 water. In Pennsylvania the little pickerel, or trout pickerel, is 

 common in the Ohio and its tributaries. Prof. Cope mentions 

 it also as an inhabitant of the Susquehanna river, in which it 

 is probably not a native. 



The U. S. Fish Commission obtained a moderate number of 

 specimens in the Lake Ontario region at the following New York 

 localities. 



Black creek, tributary of Oswego river, 



Scriba Corner July 15 



Lakeview hotel, 7 m. west of Oswego July 17 



Wart creek July -^ 



Great Sodus bay Aug. IG 



Outlet Long pond, 4 m. west of Charlotte Aug. 7 

 JSlarsh creek, near Point Breeze Aug. 21 



