CHAPTER XLV 



ORDER OF THE SPINY-FINNED FISHES 



ACANTHOPTERl 



Even of forms classed as North American, this 

 gigantic and rather unwieldy Order contains 45 

 Families and 483 species. Fortunately the 

 groups which are of general interest are suffi- 

 ciently limited in number that it is possible to 

 place representatives of them before the reader. 



THE BASSES AND SUNFISHES. 



Cenrtrar' chi-dae. 



The Bass and Sunfish Family enjoys, on the 

 whole, the widest popularity of all the finny 

 Families of North America. With due respect 

 to the justly distinguished Trout Family, I be- 

 lieve its members are known personally to a 

 much smaller number of people than those of 

 the Bass Family. The reason is that the latter 

 are abundant in the most densely populated 

 portions of the United States, while the human 

 neighbors of the trout are comparatively few. 



This Family (of thirty species) leads from the 

 narrow-bodied and athletic black bass, by regu- 

 lar gradations in breadth through the rock bass, 

 calico bass and their allies down to the little 

 gem-like sunfish, with the extreme width of body 

 and the limit of smallness and timidity. The 

 black bass fights like a wild-cat, the sunfish can 

 be taken on a bent pin, at the end of a cotton 

 string; but observe this proportion: 



The Sunfish is to the Small Boy as the Black 

 Bass is to the Man. 



It is good to find in Nature a Family whose 

 members run from top to bottom in a stair-like 

 series; for if so studied, the natural sequence is 

 a great aid to the memory. We therefore begin 

 with the narrowest fish, and descend to the 

 broadest. 



Surely, the Black Bass, be his mouth large 

 or small, is a fish fit to head a Family. You can 

 catch an eight-pound yellow pike-perch, and 

 think you have hooked a bunch of weeds; but if 



you hook a two-pound Black Bass you know at 

 once that you have engaged a Fish. 



For its size, this is the bravest and the gamiest 

 fish that swims in our waters. In size and in 

 silver the tarpon is truly the silver king of game 

 fishes; but if he had Black-Bass energy and 

 courage in proportion to his size, no hook-and- 

 line angler in a small boat would bring him alive 

 up to the end of a twelve-ounce rod. 



The Black Bass has the narrowest body and 

 the darkest color found in the Bass Family. It 

 is built for speed and strength, and colored for 

 concealment. There are two species, so very 

 much ahke that there is practically but one point 

 of difference — the size of the mouth; and natu- 

 rally their habits are quite identical. It is im- 

 portant to remember, however, that in color 

 and markings, individuals vary most strangely 

 and unaccountably. Some are uniform dark 

 and light ; others are mottled, much and little. 



The Small- Mouthed Black Bass' is the 

 fish of the East and North, from western New 

 Hampshire to Manitoba, and southward to 

 South Carolina and the northern Gulf states to 

 Arkansas. 



It is a pity that so fine a fish should not be 

 handsomely colored, but it is really very plain 

 and unattractive. Its back is usually a uniform 

 dull oUve-green, the sides being somewhat light- 

 er. A Bass of three pounds weight may fairly 

 be counted a large one, but this species has been 

 known to attain a length of 18J inches, and a 

 weight of 5 pounds. 



This is strictly a clear-water fish, and for this 

 reason its capture is a source of pleasure beyond 

 anything that can be drawn from muddy waters. 

 It takes live minnows, or worms, or a neat trolling 

 spoon, but resists the hook and the dip-net to 

 the last extremity. Its flesh is excellent, and its 

 propagation a matter of both state and national 

 ' Mi-crop' ter-us dol'o-mieu. 



382 



