FISHES OP MINNESOTA 71 



litlieostoma flabellare^ lineolatum (Agassiz). Fan- tailed Darter. 



General color rather dark; body covered with a series of small 

 dark spots which form a series of fine longitudinal lines and which 

 are aggregated in some specimens so as to form several broad cross 

 bars; a dark line usually present across the opercles and through 

 the eyes; soft dorsal and caudal fins barred with fine dark lines, 

 other fins plain. Body rather heavy, not greatly compressed; head 

 pointed; mouth oblique; lower jaw projecting beyond the upper; 

 body deep posteriorly, the anal fin broad and fan-like. The fins all 

 low ; the first dorsal in the male i of the height of the second and 

 the spines each with a fleshy tip. Head contained 3 3-5 to 4 times in 

 the length. Depth 4^ to 5^. Eye 4 to 4J in the head. Dorsal fin 

 VIII-12 to 14. Anal II, 7 to 9. Scales 9-40 to 65-14; head naked; 

 lateral line straight and not complete ; a black scale on the shoul- 

 ders. Length 2J inches. 



Not common in the state. But one specimen has been taken 

 and that from the Des Moines River at Windom (Cox, 1894). 



Genus BOLEICHTHTS Girard. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF BOLEICHTHTS. 



A. Cheeks and opercles scaly fusiformis, 71 



AA. Cheeks naked, opercles scaly exilis, 72 



Boleiclittays fusitbrmis (Girard). 



Color olivaceous, upper parts dotted with darker colors, lower 

 parts lighter; upper part of the head dark, sides with red dots; a 

 dark line extending forward and one downward from the eye; 4 

 dark spots in a vertical row on the base of the caudal fin; dorsal 

 and caudal dotted and barred with dark colors; spinous dorsal 

 bright blue, a red band across it in the middle. Body elongate, 

 compressed; head long and narrow; snout short and decurved, 

 shorter than the eye; mouth large and terminal, lower jaw not ex- 

 tepding beyond the upper; upper jaw not protractile. Head con- 

 tkrned'5| to 4 times in the length. Depth 3| to 6. Eye 4 in the 

 head. Dorsal fin IX or X-9 to 12. Anal II, 6 to 8. Scales 3-43 to 

 60-12 ctenoid; cheeks scaled; opercles, back of the neck and breast 

 also usually scaled. Lateral line incomplete and located high up 

 on the body. Opercular spine well developed. A variable fish. 



This species is but little known to the state. It is listed in the 

 University museum as Boleicthys eos from Minneapolis, April 24, 

 1879, by T. S. Roberts. 



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