314 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



I)tue~(iiU; f^lae 5 an fiS^ (Lepomis pallidus Mitchill). 



Labrus pallidus Mitchill, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 407, 1815, near New York. 



Pomotis incisor Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., VII, 466, 1831, New Orleans; 

 DeKay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 33, 1842 (extra limital). 



Lepomis pallidus Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus., 479, 1883; Meek, Ann. N. Y. 

 Ac. Sci., IV, 313, 1888; Bean, Fishes Penna., 112, pi. 31, fig. 62, 1893; Jordan & 

 Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1005, 1896, pi. CLX, fig. 427, 1900. 



The propriety of using Mitchill's name pallidus for the blue sunfish is extremely 

 doubtful. His decision can be much more readily referred to a species of 

 Enneacanthus, and the locality "near New York" does not possess this sunfish 

 among its native species. 



The blue sunfish, blue bream, copper-nosed bream or dollardee is a very widely 

 diffused species and varies greatly in size, color and length of the ear-flap. It is 

 found in the Great Lakes and throughout the Mississippi Valley to Mexico. 

 East of the Alleghanies it ranges from New Jersey to Florida. In Pennsylvania 

 it is abundant only in the western part of the State, including Lake Erie. Dr. 

 Abbott has recorded it from the Delaware River. Dr. Meek says that it is found 

 in the Cayuga Lake basin in small numbers with the blue-spotted sunfish, Apomotis 

 cyanellus, which he took near Montezuma. It is recorded also from Chautauqua 

 Lake by Dr. Evermann. 



The blue sunfish grows to a length of nearly one foot, and individuals weighing 

 nearly two pounds are on record. Adults, however, average eight inches in length, 

 with a weight of less than one pound. The size of the individuals depends on the 

 habitat. In large lakes and streams it grows to a greater size than in small 

 bodies of water. In southern waters it attains to a larger size than in northern 

 waters. It lives in ponds as well as in streams and thrives in warm waters. It 

 is considered equal to the rock bass as a pan fish and can very readily be taken 

 by hook fishing. 



In spirits the color is pale brown, the scales with a pale margin ; a dark blotch 

 on the hind part of the soft dorsal; a black opercular flap, its width and length about 

 equal, shorter than the eye. The living fish varies with age from light green to dark 

 green. The young have the sides silvery, tinged with purple and with many vertical 

 greenish bands, which are sometimes chain-like. The dark blotch of the soft 

 dorsal is often indistinct in the young. In very old individuals the belly is often 

 coppery red. 



