Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 1053 



1443. DIPLESION BLENNIOIDES * (Rafinesque). 

 (GREEN-SIDED DARTER.) 



Head 4 to 4f; depth 4f to 6. D. XII to XIV-12 to 15; A. II, 8 or 9; 

 scales 6-58 to 78-14. Body stout, elongate, little compressed ; profile 

 very convex. Eyes large, 3| in head, high up and close together ; a 

 longitudinal furrow between the eyes. Mouth small, horizontal, quite 

 inferior; upper jaw concealed in a furrow under the snout. Opercular 

 spine strong ; distance from mouth to gill cleft head. Scales moderate ; 

 those on the belly large, not caducous; cheeks with fine scales; opercles 

 with large ones ; neck scaly ; chest naked. Anal papilla very large. 

 Anal spines strong; caudal fin emarginate; lower rays of the pectorals, 

 and the rays of the ventrals and anal enlarged and fleshy in the males. 

 Pectoral longer than head, of 15 rays. Vertebrae 23 -f 21 = 44. Color 

 olive green, tessellated above ; sides with about 8 double transverse bars, 

 each pair forming a Y-shaped figure; these are sometimes joined above, 

 forming a sort of wavy lateral band ; in life these markings are of a 

 clear deep green; sides sprinkled with orange dots; head with olive 

 stripes and the usual dark bars ; first dorsal dark orange brown at base, 

 blue above, becoming pale at tip ; second dorsal and anal of a rich blue 

 green, with some reddish; caudal greenish, faintly barred; young and 

 female specimens are more or less dull, but the pattern is peculiar. 

 Length 3 to 5 inches. Pennsylvania to South Dakota and Kansas and 

 south to the lower Alabama basin ; one of the handsomest and most 

 abundant of the darters; in clear brooks. (Blennius, blenny; eMof, 

 likeness.) 



Etheostoma (Diplesion) blennioides, KAFINESQUE, Journ. de Physique, 419, 1819, Ohio River; 



YAILLANT, Kecherches, 57, 1873. 

 Hyosloma newmani, AGASSIZ, Amer. Journ. Sci. and Arts, 1854, 305, vicinity of Huntsville, 



Alabama. (Coll. Dr. Newman.) 



Pileoma cymatogramma, ABBOTT, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1860, 327, no locality. 

 Hyostoma blennioperca, COPE, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1868, 215, tributaries of the 



Kanawha and Holston rivers. 

 Diplesium blennioides, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 497, 1883; BOTJLENGER, Cat., i, 100. 



*0ne of the most simply beautiful of all fishes is the Green-sided Darter (Diplesion blennioides). 

 He is not like the Etheostoma cseruleum, an animated rainbow, but he has the beauty of green 

 grass, wild violets, and mossy logs. As we watch him in the water, with his bright blended 

 colors and gentle ways, once more, with Old Izaak, "we sit on cowslip banks, hear the birds 

 sing, and possess ourselves in as much quietness as the silent silver streams which we see glide so 

 quietly by us." During the ordinary business of the year, Diplesion, like most sensible fishes and 

 men, dresses plainly. It is not easy to get time for contemplation when the streams are low and 

 food is scarce. Besides, a plain coat may ward off danger as well as facilitate attack. At all 

 times, however, he may be known by these marks: The fins are all large; the back is covered 

 with zigzag markings, while on the lower part of the sides are 8 or 9 W-shaped olive spots; 

 these are more or less connected above, and sometimes form a wavy line. The eyes are promi- 

 nent; the snout is very short and rounded; while the little inferior mouth is puckered up as if 

 for saying "prunes and prisms, prunes and prisms." But when the first blue birds give warning 

 by their shivering and bodiless notes that spring is coming, then Diplesion puts on his wedding 

 clothes and becomes, in fact, the Green-sided Darter. The dorsal fins become of a bright grass 

 green, with a scarlet band at the base of each; the broad anal has a tinge of tlio deepest emerald; 

 while every spot and line upon the side has turned from an undefined olive to a deep rich 

 green, such as is scarcely found elsewhere in the animal world excepting on the heads of frogs. 

 The same tint shines out on the branching rays of the caudal fin, and may be seen struggling 

 through the white of the belly. The blotches nearest the middle of the back become black, 

 and thickly sprinkled everywhere are little shiny specks of clear bronze orange. In the aqua- 

 rium Diplesion is shy and retiring, too much of a fine lady to scramble for angleworms or to 

 snap at the "bass feed." She is usually hidden among the plants or curled up under an arch 

 of stones or in a geode. (Jordan & Copeland.) 



