ROCK BASS.
_Centrarchus Æneus._--This is an entirely distinct species from the
Black Bass, though, being somewhat similar in color and shape, is often
confounded with them. The same may be said of the Oswego Bass, which is
now ascertained to be equally distinct, though commonly known as bass,
and supposed to be identical. The fish under consideration must in no
wise be confounded with the Rock-fish of Pennsylvania, which is the
Striped Bass, _Labrax lineatus_, and which the benighted Pennsylvanians
would oblige us by calling by its right name.
The Rock Bass has two flat points at the angle of the gill-cover, and is
distinguished from the variety last described by six or seven spines and
eleven soft rays in the anal fin. The dorsal has eleven spines, and ten
or twelve soft rays; the pectoral fourteen soft rays, the ventral one
spine and five soft rays, and the gill-rays are six. The fin-rays are
given by Dr. De Kay as follows:
D. 11.12; P. 14; V. 1.5; A. 6.11; C. 17-3/3.
This fish is found in much the same waters as the black bass, and, like
the latter, made its way on the completion of the Champlain canal
through it into the Hudson River. It takes any of the ordinary baits,
preferring, however, the cray-fish, _Astacus Bartoni_, and can be
[Illustration: SMALL-MOUTHED BLACK BASS--(_Grystes nigricans_.)]
captured even with the fly, but not readily. In the St. Lawrence River
it feeds mostly on the eel-fly, so long as that lasts, choosing, I
believe, the dead ones; and in July I have found them filled with that
fly. They never attain the size of the larger black bass, although they
are taken of over three pounds, but are a brave, voracious fish, and
excellent at table.[17]