FISHES OF COLORADO 27 



length to the base of the caudal fin; head broad and flattened above, its length 

 4.5 to a little more than 5 in the length of the body; dorsal profile sloping in 

 both directions from the suprapectoral region; ventral profile almost straight; 

 snout broad, heavy and blunt, overhanging the mouth; eye rather small, sit- 

 uated in the posterior half of the head, near the latero-dorsal margin; diameter 

 of the eye 6 to 8 in the head; interorbital distance equalling or exceeding the 

 length of the snout; mouth large, ventral; maximum length of the median free 

 portion of the lower lip i . 5 to i . 7 in the width of the lower lip ; distance from the 

 middle of the lower jaw to the angle of the mouth barely equal to or usually less 

 than the length of the free portion of the lower lip; upper lip with 5 to 8 rows of 

 papillae; dorsal fin high its longest ray equalling or exceeding in length the base 

 of the fin, of II to 14 rays, usually 11 or 12, base of the first ray nearer the tip 

 of the snout than the base of the caudal; pectorals not reaching the ventrals; 

 ventrals not reaching the anal opening; anal large, of 7 or 8 rays, the fourth the 

 longest, its length almost equalling that of the head; scales small, crowded 

 anteriorly, 17 to 19, 100-120, 16 or 17. Size large, the species reaching a length 

 of 30 inches. 



General color above greenish or bluish gray, top of the head and region in 

 front of the dorsal fin quite dark, scales outlined with dusky, so that the sides have 

 a somewhat reticulated pattern; dorsal color extending well down the sides to the 

 eighth or tenth row of scales below the lateral line where it fades abruptly; lower 

 portion of the sides yellowish to orange-red, ventral parts lighter; under parts of 

 the head pinkish; body as a whole with a silvery luster; dorsal and caudal fins 

 dusky; anal and ventrals and to some extent the pectorals, yellowish to orange- 

 red. Young much lighter than adults, sides quite sUvery, mid-dorsal region indis- 

 tinctly mottled. Mid-ventral region just back of the head sometimes dusky in 

 either adult or young. 



Jordan' states that the stomach of a specimen of this species was full of con- 

 fervae and other vegetation, and Jordan and Evermann' list C. latipinnis as 

 herbivorous. The stomach contents examined corroborate these statements. 

 Seeds formed a considerable item in the stomach contents of several specimens, 

 as may be seen below. 



Grand River, Grand Junction, August 7, 1912. 



425 mm., vegetable debris 100 per cent, including diatoms, algae, fragments of higher plants 



and mud. 

 43S mm., seeds, 100 per cent. 247 perfect seeds were counted and fragments of many others 



found. Most of the seeds were from sedges and grasses. 

 420 mm., algae, diatoms and debris, also a few seeds. 

 425 mm., seeds, 10 per cent; algae and sUme, 90 per cent. 

 450 mm., vegetable debris, slime and algae, 100 per cent; seeds present. 



■ Btdl. U.S. Fish Com., Vol. DC, p. 26, i88g. 

 • Bull. U.S. Nal. iius., No 47, p. 175, 1896. 



