FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 115 

the belly orange, the sides spotted with orange and having undulating vertical blue 
streaks. The lips are blue, the cheeks orange, striped with blue. Iris red. Snout 
with blue streaks. The dorsal, anal and caudal membranes are blue on the rays and 
orange between them. 
The specimen described, No. 36,391, United States National Museum, from the Po- 
teau river, Indian Territory, is seven inches long. 
The red-bellied bream or long-eared sunfish is very abundant in the 
Ohio valley and also in tributaries of Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. 
It extends west to Dakota, south to South Carolina and Mexico, but is 
absent from Atlantic waters of the northern and middle states. It is 
especially abundant in small brooks. The species grows to a length of 
eight inches and is one of the handsomest of the sunfishes. The spe- 
cific name is derived from the large opercular flap, generally spoken of 
as the ear-flap. 
The sides are blue and orange, the blue occurring in undulating 
streaks, and the orange in spots. There are distinct blue stripes on the 
head. The thin membranes are generally orange and the rays blue. 
This fish is extremely variable and has been described under about 
twenty different names. According to Dr. Jordan it avoids muddy 
water and frequents deep still places in rivers and clear ponds. It runs 
into very small streams. The red-bellied bream is used for food and 
takes the hook very freely. 
128. Lepomis gibbosus Linxné. | 
The Common Sunfish. ( Figure 65.) 
The body of the common sunfish is nearly ovate, its depth one-half of the total 
length without caudal, its thickness one-third of the depth. The caudal peduncle is 
short and compressed, its least depth less than the thickness of the body. The head 
is moderately large, one-third ofthe total length withoutcaudal. Its width one-half 
of its length. The snout is short and depressed, its length four-fifths the diameter 
of the eye, which is one-fourth as long as the head. The interorbital space is nearly 
flat, its width one and one-half times the diameter of the eye. The mouth is small 
and oblique ; the maxillanot much expanded behind and reaching to below the front 
of the eye. Scales on the cheeks in four rows. The opercular spot is short, less 
than two-thirds the diameter of the eye, and has a whitish margin behind. The gill- 
rakers are very short, moderately stout, ten or eleven developed on the first arch ; the 
longest less than one-fourth the diameter of the eye. The spinous dorsal begins 
over the third scale of the lateral line; its base is as long as the head without the 
opercular flap ; the first spine is two-thirds as longas the eye ; the spines increase in 
size ; the fourth, fifth and sixth being nearly equal in length and about as long as the 
eye and snout combined. The sixth and longest soft ray is as long as the postorbi- 
tal part of the head, while the last ray is less than one-thirdas long as the head. The 
base of the soft dorsal is as long as that of the spinous dorsal. The anal origin is 
under the twenty-third scale of the lateral line. The anal base is two-thirds as long 
as the head; the first spine is about one-half as long as the third (longest), which is 
two-fifths as long as the head. The first and second rays are the longest, nearly as 
long as the base of the fin. The last ray is two-thirds as long as the first. The ven- 
tral reaches beyond the vent ; its spine is one-haif as long as the head without the 
snout. The pectoral reaches to above the anal origin. The caudal is emarginate, its 
middle rays four-fifths as long as the outer. The lateral line follows the curve of the 
back. 
