YELLOW PERCH. 959 
Perca serratogranulata, Cuv. and VAL., Hist. Nat. des Poissons, ii, 1828, 47.—DrKay, 
New York Fauna, Fishes, 1842, 5. 
Perca granulata, Cuv. and VAL., Hist. Nat. des Poissons, ii, 1828, 48.—D#Kay, N. Y. 
Fauna, Fishes, 1242, 5. 
Perca acuta, Cuv. and VAL., Hist. Nat des Poiss., ii, 1828, 49.—RICHARDSON, Fauna 
Bor.-Amer., Fishes, 1836, 4.—DEKay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 1842, 6—GUNTHER, Cat. 
Fish. Brit. Mus., i, 1859, 60. | 
Perca gracilis, Cuv. and VAUL., Hist. Nat. des Poiss., ii, 1828, 50.—RIcHARDSON, F'auna 
Bor.-Amer., Fishes, 1836, 4—_GUNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., i, 1859, 60. 
Description.— Body oblong, rather short, deep, and compressed; mouth moderate, the 
maxillary not quite reaching to orbit; lower jaw a little longest; eye moderate, 44 to 
5 in head; top of head naked, the bones rough behind; cheeks with rather large scales, 
well imbricated; opercle naked, and with radiating strie, of which the uppermost 
forms a strong, flat spine, below which seven or eight striz end in sharp teeth; gill- 
rakers comparatively short, in length about equal to the diameter of the pupil; 
pseudobranchiz very small; scales rather small, 55 to 62 in the lateral line, 6 above and 
15 to 18 below; first dorsal spine inserted above base of pectorals; head 24; depth 32; 
fin rays: D. XIII-I, 13; A. II, 8. Color dark-olive above; sides more or less brassy- 
yellow; belly white; about six irregular, dark olive bars on sides; lower fins clear, 
pale orange, sometimes whitish, sometimes red; second dorsal and caudal yellowish- 
olive, somewhat dusky tinged; first dusky yellow at base, a black blotch on the pos- 
terior part of the fin; lower jaw, etc., translucent reddish. The coloration varies much 
with circumstances, individuals living in weedy streams, being much darker and more 
spotted than the average lake specimens are. Length of adult 8 to 12 inches. 
Habitat, entire Great Lake Region and upper portion of the Mississippi Valley, and 
in all streams east of the Alleghany Mountains, south to Georgia. West of the Alle- 
ghanies it does not occur, except in the lake region and in the upper waters of such 
streams as the Scioto, Wabash, Illinois, Rock, etc., rising in the same water shed with 
streams flowing into the great lakes. In the upper courses of the Wabash, Scioto, ete., 
the Perch is often very abundant, but in the valley proper of the Ohio, into which these 
streams flow, it is not found native, a peculiarity of distribution not yet accounted for. 
The Perch is voracious and gamey, readily taking the hook, and being a handsome 
fish, it usually finds a ready sale for food. Its flesh is, however, much inferior to that 
of the Bass or the Pike-Perches, being rather soft, coarse, and insipid. 
““The common Perch, Perca flavescens, which name describes well the gleaming, golden 
reflections of its scales, as it is drawn ont of the water, its red gills standing ont in 
vain in the thin element, is one of the handsomest of our fishes, and at such a moment 
as this reminds us of the fish in the picture which wished to be restored to its native 
element until it had grown larger. 
“The Perch is a tough and heediess fish, biting from impulse, without nibbling and from 
impulse refraining to bite, and sculling indifferently past. It is a true fish, such as the 
angler loves to put into his basket or hang on the top of his willow twig, on shady 
afternoons, along the banks of the streams. So many unquestionable fish he counts, 
and so many shiners which he counts, and then throws away.”— Thoreau. 
