188 AMERICAN FISHES. 



northern fish, its range extending to about the fiftieth parallel, but it ' 

 has lately, like several others of the same species, been much more 

 widely diffused through artificial channels, as, for instance, the Black 

 Bass, Gristes Nigricans, and the Rock Bass, Centrarchus ACneus, 

 which have descended from the basin of the St. Lawrence, by the 

 Erie and Whitehall canals, into the waters of the upper Hudson. 



The Yellow Pearch .is a bold biter, and a tolerably good fish on the 

 table ; it frequents the same waters with the Pickerel, from the assaults 

 of which it is defended by the sharp spinous rays of its dorsal fin. 



In color, its sides are yellow, varying in intensity from greenish to 

 bright golden in different waters, and occasionally in tide waters to 

 pale greenish white Its back is banded with six or eight dark verti- 

 cal bars. Its pectorals, ventrals and anal are golden orange — its 

 dorsals and caudal greenish brown. 



Its body is compressed, elongated, with a slightly gibbous dorsal 

 outline. The scales are small, the head, above the eyes and between 

 them, smooth, lateral line concurrent with the line of the back. Head 

 sub-depressed, and in the larger and older fish the rostrum is pro- 

 duced, causing a hollow in the facial outline. The first dorsal com- 

 mences above the base of the pectorals, the first ray much shorter than 

 the second, the fourth, fifth and sixth rays are the longest, and the 

 last the shortest — it has in all thirteen rays. The second dorsal has 

 seventeen rays, the two first spinous. The pectorals have fifteen soft 

 rays ; the ventrals have one spinous and five soft rays ; the anal, two 

 spinous and eight soft ; the caudal is forked, with rounded tips. 



The mouth is of moderate size ; the preoperculum strongly toothed, 

 the operculum serrated beneath, with a spine on its posterior angle. 

 The irides are golden yellow — the pupils black. 



It varies in weight in different waters, from a few ounces to four or 

 _five_jgounds. It is a bold, hardy fish — is easily transported from one 

 water to another, and appears to thrive equally well on all soils. 



It is taken with the worm or small fish, used either as a live or 

 dead bait, and aifords very fair sport, pulling strongly on the line for 

 a few minutes, but by no means requiring the same degree of skill as 

 the Pearch to effect its capture. It is the favorite fish of rural anglers, 

 where Pickerel do not abound, and is esteemed a great delicacy where 

 sea-fish cannot be obtained. 



