92 CHECK LIST OF THE 



GENUS PERCA. (THE TRUE PERCHES.) 



Body oblong, somewhat compressed, the back elevated ; cheeks scaly , 

 opercles mostly naked ; the operculum armed with a single spine ; pre- 

 opercle and shoulder girdle serrated, preopercle with retrorse, hooked sei- 

 rations below ; mouth moderate, terminal ; premaxillaries protractile ; teeth 

 in villiform bands on jaws, vomer, and palatines, no canine teeth ; branchi- 

 ostegahs seven; gill membranes separate; pseudobranchiae small, but 

 perfect; no anal papilla; scales rather small, strongly ctenoid, lateral line 

 complete, the tubes straight and not extending to the extremity of the 

 scale ; dorsal fins entirely separate, the first of twelve to sixteen spines ; 

 anal fin with two slender spines, well separated from the soft rays ; ventral 

 spines well developed, the ventral fins near together ; caudal emarginate ; 

 air bladder present; pyloric caeca, three. 



(96) Yellow Perch. 



(Perca flavescens.) 



Body fusiform, moderately elongate, the back elevated, cheeks scaly; 

 opercles mostly naked, striate ; premaxillaries protractile, preorbital ser- 

 rate ; snout projecting, maxillary reaching middle of pupil ; top of head 

 rugose ; gill rakers stout ; caudal notched. 



D. XV., II., 13; A. II., 8. Scales, 7-57-13. 



Colour on the back olivaceous, varying to greenish ; sides golden 

 yellow, with about six to eight broad dark bars which extend from back 

 to below axis of body ; lower fins largely red or orange, especially so in 

 the spring; upper fins olivaceous. Like all fish, it varies greatly, the 

 yellow is sometimes very bright, at other times quite pale, and the black 

 bars are much deeper in some waters than in others. 



This species reaches a length of ten or twelve inches and a weight of 

 a pound or rather more. The largest I ever saw taken from our lakes 

 weighed one pound and two ounces. It is one of the most abundant of 

 our fishes and is found in all the lakes and streams of any size throughout 

 the Province. As a food fish, if taken when the water is cool it is only 

 excelled by the Yellow Pickerel. During the hot summer months the 

 Perch of shallow, weedy waters become soft and lose their fine flavour. 

 To anglers accustomed to Black Bass and Lunge it is rather an insig- 

 nificant species, but it has this to recommend it, that it can be caught by 

 anybody, with any sort of tackle, at all times of the year. 



The Perch spawns in early spring and the eggs, which are very small, 

 are enclosed in a long, narrow, translucent, strip of adhesive mucus. 



GENUS PERCINA. (Loc PERCHES.) 



Body elongate, slightly compressed, covered with small ctenoid 

 scales ; lateral line continuous ; ventral line with enlarged plates which fall 



