114 FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 


The species is common in streams east of the Alleghenies from Maine 
to Florida, and in tributaries of the Gulf of Mexico to Louisiana. In 
the southern states the typical long-eared sunfish is replaced by a 
variety with larger scales on the cheeks and belly and a dusky blotch 
on the posterior part of the soft dorsal fin. 
In size the long-eared sunfish averages about eight inches when 
adult and weighs about one pound. In the South the size and number 
of individuals is greatly increased. This fish feeds upon worms, insect 
larvee, crustaceans, mollusks and small fishes. In the Susquehanna this 
is one of the commonest of the sunfishes, in the Delaware, also, it is abund- 
ant and reaches a large size. Although not important commercially, it is 
taken in large numbers on the hook and is an excellent food fish. It 
takes any kind of live bait very readily and furnishes good sport also 
with the artificial fly. 
127. Lepomis megalotis ( Rarinesque). 
The Red-bellied Bream. (Figure 64.) 
The red-bellied bream has a deep, oblong and thin body; its greatest depth at the 
ventrals one-half of the total length without caudal; its thickness less than one-third 
of its depth. The caudal peduncle is rather short and deep, its least depth two- 
thirds of its length and nearly one-third of the greatest depth of body. The head is 
moderately large, its length without flap about one-third of the total length without 
caudal. The back is strongly arched in front. The space between the eyes is very 
slightly convex, its width greater than the diameter of the eye. The snout is mod- 
erately short and obtuse, as long as the eye, which is one-fourth as long as the head 
without the flap, or one-fifth as long including the flap. The mouth is rather small 
and oblique, the lower jaw veryslightly projecting. The maxilla is not very broadly 
expanded behind; it reaches a little past frontof eye. Scales on the cheeks in five 
rows. The gill rakers are short and stout, eleven or twelve developed on the first 
arch the longest scarcely one-third the diameter of the eye. The dark opercular spot 
is one and one-third times as long as the eye; its width nearly equals the diameter of 
the eye. The spinous dorsal begins over the fourth scale of the lateral line, its base 
about one-third of the total without caudal; the first spine is two-thirds as long as the 
second, and nearly one-half aslong as the fourth (longest), whichis as long as the lower 
jaw ; the fifth and sixth are about equal to the fourth, the seventh, eighth and ninth 
are shorter, and the tenth is a little longer than the ninth ; the sixth and longest soft 
ray is one-half as long as the head, including the flap, and the last ray is one-half as 
long as the sixth. The base of the soft dorsal is as long as the eye and snout com- — 
bined. The anal begins under the nineteenth scale of the lateral line; the spines 
are short and stout, the first two-thirds as long as the second and one-half as long as 
the third, which is onc-third as long as the head, including the flap. The fourth and 
fifth soft rays are longest, one-half as long as the head ; the base of the anal equals 
one-half of the depth of the body. The ventral reaches to the second anal spine ; its 
spine is one-third as long as the head and about one-half as long as the fin. The pec- 
toral reaches to above the first anal ray and below the twenty-third scale of the lateral 
line. The caudal is emarginate, its middle rays three-fourths as long as the outer. 
The lateral line follows the outline of the back. 
D. X, 11; A. TEI, 10; V. 1, 5; BP. 18. Seales 6-42-13. 
In spirits the body is pale brown; the fins dusky and a large black blotch on the 
hind part of the soft dorsal as large as the eye; the opercular flapis black. There is 
also a faint trace of a dark blotch on the hind part of the anal. In life the adult has 
a red or pale blue margin on the opercular flap; the upper parts are mainly blue, 
