SUNFISH^ CARP, CATFISH AND SUCKERS. 169 



fish shape, but has a flatter and thinner body than the others. 

 It seldom reaches a length of more than ten inches, or a 

 greater weight than one pound, but much larger ones are said 

 to exist in some waters. The general color is olive-green, 

 dark on the back and pale beneath. The sides are covered all 

 over with dark sports; the fins are mottled. 



The crappie supplants the calico bass in the south. It 

 resembles the latter fish very much, but when specimens of 

 each are compared a difference will be noted. The best 

 way to distinguish them is by counting the spines in the 

 dorsal fin (on back) ; the crappie has six of these and the 

 calico bass has seven. It is also of a paler color. 



The blue sunfish is found almost all over the eastern, 

 central and southern states. In Ohio, and other of the 

 central states, it is known as the blue-gill and in the South 

 as blue bream and coppernosed bream. It is larger than 

 the common sunfish and sometimes attains a weight of a 

 pound or a pound and a half, but usually is lighter. The 

 coloring is greenish or bluish, sometimes a slate color, 

 lighter on the sides, and the under parts are copper colored 

 or red. The ear cover is dark or black. 



The long eared sunfish is found throughout the Missis- 

 sippi Valley, and in the east coast streams; also in the Gulf 

 States. It gets its name from the large ear flap. It has a 

 red iris eye, in common with the other true sunfish. It is 

 bluish on the back and orange, brown or yellow on the 

 under parts. The ventral and anal- fins (fins on under parts) 

 are blue, and the dorsal fin is orange color with blue rays. It 

 is about the same size as the common sunfish. 



The warmouth perch is also a sunfish, and is sometimes 

 called the black sunfish. In appearance it resembles some- 

 what a black bass but is broader in proportion to length, 

 more like the rock bass. It is found in the South and also in 

 the northern part of the Mississippi Valley. It is a dark 

 clive-green on the back, lighter on the sides, with orange or 



