724 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 

 Family CENTRARCHIDiE. 



Sunfishes. 



Compressed ; body deep, not very long ; mouth well toothed with 

 villiform teeth in bands ; premaxillaries protractile ; opercle ends in 

 .two flat points or a black flap; branchiostegals six (or seven); body 

 fully scaled (ctenoid, rarely cycloid) ; usually ten spines in dorsal ; 

 intestine short; vertebrae about thirty, number changes with age; 

 pseudobranchs rudimentary ; sexes alike ; voracious. Valued for 

 food according to size. 



POMOXYS, Raf. 

 (Iia'bTus. Centrarchus.) 



P. sparoides, Lac. {hexacanthus, nigromaculaius.) Grass Bass. Barfish. 

 Calico Baas. Strawberry Bass. 



Snout projecting ; mouth large, oblique ; few teeth on tongue ; 

 scales large ; anal fin larger than dorsal ; opercle with two points ; 

 dorsal spines seven or eight, not six; scales on cheeks in six 

 rows ; fins very high ; color silvery olive, mottled with olive 

 green in small bunches over whole body; anal marked with 

 reticulations and spots likfe dorsal. Dorsal rays, 15 (soft); anal 

 rays, 17 ; lateral-line scales, 41 ; length, 12 inches. Chiefly in 

 lowland streams and lakes. 



AMBLOPLITE8, Gill. 



(Iiepomis. Bodianus.) 



A. rupestris, Eaf. (emeus, eavifrons ?) Com.mon Rock Bass. Red-eye. 

 Goggle-eye. Mud Sunfish. 



Mouth large; lower jaw projecting; lingual teeth in one 

 patch ; opercle with two points ; scales large ; dorsal larger than 

 anal, with ten to eleven low spines ; six spines in anal ; scales 

 on cheek in six to eight series ; color olive green, brassy, with 

 dark mottlings; the young irregularly barred and blotched 

 black ; adult has a dark spot on each scale ; black opercular 

 spot. Soft rays, dorsal, 10; anal, 10; length, 12 inches. 



" The writer captured a specimen of this northern species in 

 October of 1867, in Mercer county. It is the only one met 

 with."— [C. C. A.J 



