FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 



345 



against it. But bass and Pickerel and Pike do sometimes take it, and, in spite of 

 its deficiencies, the Mudfish is a good thing to have in one's minnow pail. 



Head t,3^; depth 4%; B. 6 ; P. 14 ; D. 14 ; A. 8 ; V. 6 ; scales 35,-15. 



Body oblong, compressed, covered with cycloid scales of rather large size without 

 radiating strije ; no lateral line ; head shortish, little depressed ; eye rather small ; 

 cleft of mouth moderate ; ventral fin below or slightly in front of dorsal ; anal fin 

 much shorter than dorsal ; pectoral rather narrow, rounded, placed low, the rays 

 much articulated ; caudal rounded ; gillrakers short and thick. 



Color, dull olive green, mottled with darker, and with about 14 pale, transverse 

 bars, often obscure in the young; a dark bar at base of caudal ; lower jaw pale; fins 

 plain. 



'^b.$t(Zrn ]AildfiS>i),-~ Umdra />j^!;ic-ea {De Kay). 



This species differs but slightly in structural characters from the preceding and 

 as a bait minnow the two are essentially the same. The one known as the Eastern 

 Mudfish occurs in lowland streams and swamps along the coast from New York to 

 North Carolina. It reaches 3 or 4 inches in length and is locally abundant. 



EASTERN MUDFISH. 



Head 4; depth 4)^; D. 13; A. 7; scales 35. Body less compressed than in 

 Umbra limi, the head broader, less depressed, and with smaller eye; interorbital 

 space slightly more convex, snout shorter, and the profile more gibbous. 



Color, dark greenish, with about 12 narrow, longitudinal pale streaks, the one 

 beginning at upper angle of opercle twice the width of any other; a distinct dark 

 bar at base of caudal, covering i^^ scales; lower jaw mostly black. 



