102 FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 


Famity CENTRARCHIDA (Tue Sun Fisuss). 
Genus POMOXYS RarinesQue. 
116. Pomoxys sparoides Lacepéper. 
The Calico Bass. (Figure 9.) 
In the genus Pomoxys the body is deep, compressed, with long dorsal and anal 
fins, having the soft portion as long as or longer than the spinous portion. The dor- 
sal fin is continuous, its spines from five to eight in number, and rapidly increasing 
in size backward. The dorsal and anal are about equalin length and with nearly 
the same number of spines. The operculum is emarginate, the caudal deeply 
notched, and the gill rakers numerous, long, thread-like, finely toothed. The mouth 
is large, with the lower jaw strongly projecting. The calico bass has the depth 
about one-half the length not including the tail, the head about one-third. The 
mouth is very oblique and smaller than in the crappie. The eye is as long as the 
snout and one-fourth as long as the head. The maxilla reaches to slightly behind 
the middle of the eye. The dorsal and anal fins are very high; the longest rays are 
half as long as the head. The pectoral is as long as the ventral, slightly shorter 
than the longest ray of the dorsal. The ventral reaches to third anal spine. D. VII, 
15; A. VI, 17-18. Scales 7, 42, 15. 
The sides are olivaceous with silvery reflections and mottled with pale green. 
-The dorsal], anal and caudal show pale spots surrounded by green reticulations. 
The calico bass, on account of its wide distribution and variability, 
has received a profusion of names. Many of these are variations of the 
term bass. It is known, for example, as strawberry bass; grass bass, 
lake bass, Lake Erie bass, bank lick bass, silver bass and big-fin bass. 
Other names for the species are strawberry perch, chinquapin perch, 
gogele-eyed perch, silver perch and sand perch. Still other names of 
local application are bar fish, bitter head, tin mouth, sac-a-lait, lamp- 
lighter, razor-back, goggle-eye, black croppie and lake croppie. The 
species is mentioned in the fish laws of Pennsylvania under the name of 
Lake Erie bass or grass bass, 
The distribution of the calico bass is naturally extensive, and it has 
been still further increased by artificial introduction. The fish has been 
carried to France, and examples measuring about eight inches in length 
were recorded there several years ago. There is, however, some con- 
fusion in that country between the calico bass and the common sunfish, 
and there is no doubt that some of the latter species have been intro: 
duced into Germany under the mistaken belief that they were calico 
bass. 
This bass is indigenous east of the Alleghenies from New Jersey 
southward to Georgia. It abounds in the Great Lake region, Missis- 
sippi valley south to Louisiana, most common northward, and it occurs 
in the Missouri. In the Ohio valley it was rather uncommon until its 
introduction in large numbers. It was introduced into the Susquehanna 
