112 FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

The sides are steel blue overlaid with bronze orange spots arranged 
so as to form chain-like bars. The fins are mottled with bronze, and 
generally with a pale orange border. The sides of the head have a pur- 
plish tint. 
125. Lepomis pallidus (Mrrcutr1). 
The Blue Sunfish. (Figure 62.) 
The blue suntish has a deep, elliptical body, its greatest depth at the ventrals one- 
half of the total length without the caudal; the thickness equals about one-third of the 
depth. The caudal peduncle is short and deep, its least height nearly one-half 
length of head. The head is one-third of the total length without the caudal ; its 
width equals one-half of its length. The snout is short, obtuse and oblique, less 
than the eye in length. The interorbital space isslightly convex, its width one-third 
of the length of the head. The mouth is sinall, oblique, the maxilla not greatly ex- 
panded behind, reaching to below the front of the eye. The width of the preorbital 
equals one-half the diameter of the eye. Scales on the cheeks in five rows. The 
gill-rakers are short and stout, about fifteen developed on the first arch, the longest 
little more than one-fourth as long as the eye. No supplemental maxillary bone. 
No palatine teeth. The lower pharyngeal bone narrow, with teeth in only about four 
series, chiefly acute. The spinous dorsal begins over the fourth scale of the lateral 
line: the spines are stout, the first as long as the snout and one-half as long as the 
fifth and longest ; the spines following the fifth are notmuchshorter. The first seven 
soft rays are about equal in length and one-half as long as the head ; the last ray is 
one-third as long as the head. The base of the spinous dorsal is nearly as long as 
the head; the soft dorsal is two-thirds as longasthe spinous. The anal begins under 
the twentieth scale of the lateral line; its base is as long as the head without the 
snout; the spines are short and heavy, the first five-sixths as long as the eye, the 
second a little longer than the eye, and the third one-halfas long as the head without 
the snout ; the longest rays are the fourth to the seventh, which are one-half as long 
as the head. The caudal is notched, its middle rays three-fourths as long as the outer. 
The ventral reaches almost to the anal, its spine being one-half as long as the head 
without the Snout. The pectoral is broad and reaches to below the eighteenth scale 
of the lateral line. The lateral line follows the curve of the back. 
Dr xX 1s AST 10s Vio be. 13seyscalesi7—41—-15; 
In spirits the color is pale brown, the scales with a pale margin. A large dark 
blotch on the hind part of the soft dorsal. A black opercular flap, its width and 
length about equal, shorter than the eye. The living fish varies with age from light 
green to dark green. The young have the sides silvery, tinged with purple and with 
many vertical greenish bands, which are sometimes chain-like. The dark blotch of 
the soft dorsai is often indistinct in the young. In very old individuals the belly is 
often coppery red. The specimen described, No. 27,845, United States National 
Museum, from Peoria, Ill., is seven and one-half inches long. 
The propriety of using Mitchill’s name pallidus for the blue sunfish 
is extremely doubtful. His description can be much more readily re- 
ferred to a species of Hnneacanthus and the locality “near New York” 
probably does not possess this sunfish among its native species. 
The blue sunfish, blue bream, copper-nosed bream or dollardee, is a 
very widely diffused species and varies greatly in size, color and length 
of the ear flap. It is found in the Great Lakes and throughout the Mis- 
sissippi valley to Mexico. East of the Alleghenies it ranges from New 
Jersey to Florida. In Pennsylvania it is abundant only in the western 
part of the state including Lake Erie. Dr. Abbott has recorded it from 
the Delaware river. 
