Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 1001 



Subgenus LEPOMIS. 



1896. LEPOMIS AURITUS (Linnaeus). 



(YELLOW BELLY ; REDBREAST BREAM.) 



Head (without flap) 2| to 3 ; depth 2 to 2i ; eye 4 to 4} in head. D. X, 

 11 or 12; A. Ill, 8 to 10; scales 6-43 to 48-15, 40 to 45 pores; 7 rows of 

 scales on cheek ; scales on breast very small. Body elongate, not much 

 elevated. Snout moderately prominent. Mouth rather large, oblique, 

 the maxillary reaching past front of eye. Palatine teeth few, rather 

 large. Gill rakers quite short, x + 8 or 9, not much longer than in Lepo- 

 mis megalolis, but stiff and rough, set wide apart, diminishing in size 

 from the angle forward. Opercular flap very long (longer in the adult 

 than on any other of the sunfishes except Lepomis megalotis), narrow, 

 usually not wider 'than the eye; in the young the flap is variously 

 shorter, but always narrow ; lower margin of flap usually pale. Dorsal 

 spines rather low, the longest 3 in head; pectoral 1 to H in head. 

 Color olive ; belly largely orange red ; scales on the sides with reddish 

 spots on a bluish ground ; vertical fins chiefly orange or yellowish ; head 

 usually with bluish stripes, especially in front of eye, most distinct 

 in adult ; fins becoming dusky in spirits ; no dusky blotch on last rays of 

 dorsal and anal. Length 8 inches. Maine to Louisiana ; abundant in 

 all streams east of the Alleghanies ; the typical form above described 

 chiefly northward, (auritus, eared.) 



Labrus auritus, LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 1758, 283, Philadelphia. 



Brytlm unicolor, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., VH, 464, 1831, Philadelphia and 

 Charleston. 



Pomotus rubricauda, STOKER, Jour. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1842, 177, Concord, New Hamp- 

 shire. (Coll. E. S. Hoar.) 



Lepomis ophthalmicw, COPE, Jour. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1868, 233, Roanoke River, Virginia. 



Lepomis auritus, elongatus and mystacalis, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 475 and 477, 1883. 



Lepomis auritus, BOLLMAN, I. c., 573; BOULENGER, Cat., i, 24. 



Represented southward, from Virginia to Louisiana by 



1396a. LEPOMIS AURITUS SOLIS (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 



Scales on cheeks larger, in 5 or 6 rows ; scales on breast large. A 

 dusky blotch on last rays of dorsal. Very abundant in coastwise 

 streams, passing into the typical form northward, (solis, of the sun.) 



Pomotis solis, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vii, 468, 1831, Lake Pontchartrain, 



Louisiana ; in part. 

 Pomotis elongatus, HOLBBOOK, Jour. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1855, 47, pi. 5, fig. I, St. Johns River, 



Florida. 

 Lepomis mystacalis* COPE, Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., 1877, 66, East Florida. 



*'Lepomis mystacalis (Cope}: Head 3%; depth 2. Eye large, 3% in head. D. X, 12; A. Ill, 12; 

 scales 7-51-15. Body deep, compressed. Dorsal spines robust, little shorter than the soft rays; 

 paired fins long; maxillary extending somewhat beyond front of orbit; 4 rows of scales on 

 cheeks; opercular spot short, without border. Gill rakers slender. Dusky, sides silvery, with 

 irregular, short, dark, vertical bars; a pale band from mouth across preopercle, a dark line 

 below this, then a silvery band; lower parts and most of vertical fins yellow. East Florida. 

 Cope. 



