450 Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 



64. LEAST DARTER 



MICROPERCA PUNCTULATA Putnam 



This pigmy among fishes is common in clear, cold, weedy 

 streams and ponds of the Northwestern States from Indiana, 

 Michigan and Minnesota, south to Arkansas. It is not well known 

 except to collectors and naturalists as it usually escapes observation 

 on account of its small size. It is occasionally found in Lake Max- 

 inkuckee, usually in the neighborhood of Norris Inlet, where sev- 

 eral specimens were raked up through the ice. It is still more 

 abundant in Lost Lake, and is quite frequent in the Outlet between 

 the lakes. Specimens Vv^ere taken in the outlet of Lost Lake at 

 various places, some of them a mile or so below the lake. Those 

 raked up in Lake Maxinkuckee were associated with the Iowa 

 darter, from which they could be distinguished at once by their 

 smaller size, comparatively larger scales, absence of lateral line, 

 and general coloration. 



4i 



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Least Darter (Microjierra puncttdata) 



This interesting little fish most delights to dwell where the 

 water is cold and quiet and the bottom of that loose material which 

 accumulates on the floors of small lakes and sluggish streams from 

 the disintegration and slow decay of aquatic vegetation. In such 

 situations the water is apt to be vegetable stained to the appear- 

 ance of very weak cofi'ee, and the vegetable debris black in color 

 and with a specific gravity but little greater than the water which 

 permeates it. Here the Least Darter is at home quietly resting on 

 the surface of the unstable mass and ever ready to burrow in it on 

 the least alarm. A favorite place for these pigmies was in the 

 Outlet well down toward Lost Lake. 



We have in our collection 81 specimens, ranging in length from 

 I to 1.44 inches. Of these, 21 were obtained in Lake Maxin- 

 kuckee at various places, 47 in Lost Lake, and in the outlet of Lost 

 Lake. The 4 specimens in our reserve series were obtained in 

 Lake Maxinkuckee in 1890. All appear to be adult. 



