SIXTY-TWO SPECIES OF FISHES FROM LAKE ERIE 
351 
17 -millimeter stage. — Total length, 17.0; standard length, 14.0; length to vent, 
7.6; length of head, 4.5; greatest depth before vent, 5.0; depth behind vent, 2.8; 
diameter of eye, 0.9 millimeter. Vertebrae, about 15 to vent plus 27 behind. Dorsal 
I, 6; anal, 24; caudal, rounded. Body heavy; head broad; maxillary barbel as long as 
head ; dorsal and pectoral spines very strong, shorter than soft rays. 
Pigmentation. — The young A. natalis is covered with small, round, closely set 
chromatophores which give a gray color to head, body, and fins, as in A. nebulosus, 
but it differs from the latter in having the whole underside of head and stomach from 
behind lower jaw to vent perfectly colorless. The white barbels below the chin are 
an easy field character for identifying this species. 
BREEDING 
The yellow catfish spawns in June, and its breeding habits are probably similar 
to those of A. nebulosus. 
31. Noturus flavus Rafinesque. Stonecat; mongrel bullhead; deep-water bullhead. 
RECORD OF CAPTURE 
The stonecat is common in Lake Erie along rocky shores, ranging out into water 
at least 30 feet deep, and in the larger tributary streams over stony bottom. 
DESCRIPTION 
The yellow stonecat is distinguished immediately from other catfishes, except 
Schilbeodes, by the fact that the adipose fin has its posterior margin adnate to back, 
separated from margin of caudal only by an incomplete notch, if at all. The pre- 
maxillary teeth have backward lateral extensions which differ from the more delicate, 
smoother ones of Schilbeodes. 
20.0 -millimeter stage. — Total length, 20.0; length to vent, 10.1; length of head, 
4.9; snout, 2.1; eye, 1.2; greatest depth before vent, 4.05; depth behind vent, 2.8 
millimeters. Dorsal I (short), 6; anal, 16; low adipose begins over origin of anal, 
continuous in this specimen to caudal; pectoral spine retrorsely serrate in front, 
slightly rough behind. Body elongate, head very depressed, flat, nearly as broad as 
long; barbels short. 
Pigmentation. — The little stonecat is yellowish with small black chromatophores 
uniformly distributed over top and sides of body, thickest over head. The belly is 
white. Chromatophores extend from body on to adipose and caudal. Other fins 
are unmarked. The barbels are very lightly spotted with chromatophores. 
BREEDING 
John Greeley (1929) reports two egg masses of the stonecat found during the survey 
under flat stones in lower Sister Creek on July 13, 1928, at a temperature of 82° F. 
Two fishes, probably the parents, guarded one mass, while the male was hidden 
beneath the other. The eggs were yellow, opaque, from 3.5 to 4 millimeters in 
diameter, about 500 of them held together in a round mass by an adhesive jelly. 
