FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 127 


The yellow perch, ringed perch or striped perch is found throughout 
the Great Lake region, rivers and ponds of New England and north- 
westward, and in streams east of the Alleghenies south to Georgia. It 
does not occur in the Ohio valley or southwest. 
The species reaches a length of one foot and weight of two pounds. 
It is one of the best known of our food fishes and has excellent game 
qualities. Its flesh, however, is rather soft and coarse and is far inferior 
to that of the black bass and other members of the sunfish family. 
Tt is a voracious feeder, its food consisting of small fishes, crustaceans 
and other animal matter. 
The yellow perch spawns early in the spring. The eggs are adhesive 
and enclosed in thin translucent strips of adhesive mucus. The spawn- 
ing of this species was described by Mr. Wm. P. Seal, in Forest and 
Stream of April 17,1890. The spawning season extends from December 
to April. Mr. Seal describes the egg mass as having the shape of a 
long tube, closed at the ends and arranged in folds like the bellows of 
an accordion. When folded the mass was about eight to twelve inches 
long, but was capable of being drawn out toa length of three or four feet. 
Spawning in the aquarium took place at night and was observed by 
Mr. Wm. Maynard, who describes it as follows: “The female remained 
quiet in one spot on the bottom of one of the hatching aquaria tanks, one 
or more of the males hovering over and about her with pectoral fins vibrat- 
ing with intense activity. The males would at times lie close alongside 
of her and at other times endeavor to force themselves under her with the 
evident intention of assisting in the extrusion of the eggs.” Mr. Seal 
remarks that “the roe wheh taken from the dead fish not yet ripe is in 
a single compact mass, covered by a thin membrane; but in spawning 
the mass separates, one side being spawned before the other.” This 
was noticed in a specimen which had spawned one side and appeared 
to be unable to get rid of the other. It was stripped from her and arti- 
ficially fertilized successfully. Mr. Seal believes that the yellow perch 
spawns at the age of one year. 
Genus STIZOSTEDION Rarinesaque. 
146. Stizostedion vitreum (Mrrcuirt). 
The Pike Perch. (Figure 13.) 
The pike-perch belongs to thesubgenus Stizostedion, which has been distinguished 
from the saugers by the structure of its pyloric ceca, which are three in number, 
nearly equal in size, and about as long as the stomach, and also bythe presence of 
twenty-one soft rays in the second dorsal, while the saugers have eighteen. It may 
be remarked that all of these characters are more or less variable. The S. vitrewm 
has the body long and moderately deep, its depth varying with age and equaling 
from one-sixth to one-fourth of the total length without caudal; the length of the 
head is contained in the same standard four and two-thirds times; the eye is mod- 
erate, about two-thirds as long as the snout and a little more than one-sixth of the 
length of the head; the lower jaw projects slightly; the maxilla reaches to beyond 
