Shell Cracker 



small lakes, but it has been found also in sluggish streams. In 

 Lost Lake at Maxinkuckee, Indiana, it is abundant in association 

 with the bluegill. It reaches a length of 8 inches, but is of 

 Mttle value as a food or game-fish. It rarely takes the hook and 

 is not sought by even the boy angler. It is, however, a very 

 interesting and handsome fish. 



Colour, in spirits, mottled olive, yellowish below; top of 

 head blackish; membranes of vertical fins dusky; ventrals dusky 

 with lighter margins; pectorals pale. 



Shell Cracker 



Eupomotis holbrooki (Cuvier & Valenciennes) 



The habitat of this fish extends from Virginia to Florida in 

 all suitable lowland waters. It is particularly abundant in Florida 

 in which State it seems to be pretty generally distributed. It reaches 

 a length of nearly a foot and is one of the largest and most 

 important sunfishes in the South. Its habits are much the same 

 as those of the bluegill which it also resembles as a food and 

 game-fish. In Florida it is the sunfish which is most frequently 

 taken on the hook, the long cane pole being the rod in most 

 popular use. 



Body robust, compressed, elevated, the snout rather produced; 

 maxillary reaching orbit; preopercle slightly toothed; dorsal fin 

 high, the spines about as high as the soft rays, the longest half 

 head; pectoral fin very long, as long as head; gillrakers moderate, 

 obtuse, strongly toothed; opercular flap short, broad, with a broad 

 orange margin below and behind; no palatine teeth; lower pharyn- 

 geals broad, the teeth large, with subspherical crowns. Colour, 

 dusky olive, silvery below; throat yellow; fins dark, with yellowish 

 rays; no black spot on dorsal or anal. 



Eupomotis longimanus is known only from the St. Johns 

 River, Florida, and is of doubtful validity. 



35* 



