68 THE ANGLER-NATURALIST. 



Genus ACERINA*. 



THE RUFFE OR POPE. 



(Acerina vulgaris*.) 



The Ruffe belongs to the Second Division of Perches, 

 which have seven gill-rays but only one back-fin, and is 

 closely allied to the common Perch in appearance and 

 general form, as will be observed on a comparison of the 

 engravings of the two fish, the similarity extending also to 

 the most remarkable of their instincts and habits. Like 

 the latter fish, the Ruffe is predatory and gregarious, being 

 almost always found in company with others of its own or of 

 the Perch species, and feeding voraciously upon minnows, 

 young fry, worms, and aquatic insects ; it selects the same 

 haunts, and spawns at about the same period. Of the dis- 

 tinctions between the two fish the most marked is to be 

 observed in the back-fins, which, although in both instances 

 composed partly of spinous and partly of flexible rays, are 



* From the Lat. acer, rough, and vulgaris, common. 



