THE DRUM FAMILY (_CONTINUED_)
(_Sciænidæ_)
The most conspicuous and characteristic features by which the members of
this family may be known were given in the preceding chapter, where the
brackish-water and salt-water species were described. There is but one
species found in fresh water, a description of which follows.
_Aplodinotus grunniens._ The Fresh-water Drum. Body oblong,
much elevated, and compressed; profile long and steep; snout
blunt; head 3-1/3; depth 2-3/4; eye moderate; D. X, 30; A. II,
7; scales 9-55-13; mouth small, low, and horizontal, lower jaw
included; teeth in villiform bands, pharyngeals with coarse,
blunt, paved teeth; preopercle slightly serrate; the dorsal
fins somewhat connected; scaly sheaths at base of spiny portion
of dorsal and anal fins; second anal spine very large;
gill-rakers short, 6 + 14; pyloric coeca 7; caudal fin double
truncate.
THE FRESH-WATER DRUMFISH
(_Aplodinotus grunniens_)
This well-known fish of the Middle West is also known as lake-sheepshead
on the Great Lakes, white-perch on the Ohio River, gaspergou in
Louisiana, and as bubbler, croaker, thunder-pumper, and other names in
various sections of the country. It was first described by Rafinesque,
in 1819, from the Ohio River. He named it _grunniens_, meaning
"grunting," from the grunting sound it makes, in common with other
members of the drum family, when taken from the water. It inhabits the
Great Lakes and other smaller lakes in the vicinity, extending along the
Mississippi Valley to Louisiana. Texas, and Mexico.
The fresh-water drum is somewhat elliptical in outline, with quite a
hump over the shoulders, with a depth of about one-third of its length,
while its head constitutes more than a fourth of the length of the body.
The single dorsal fin has the appearance of two. The ear-bones
(otoliths) are quite large and resemble porcelain in their peculiar
whiteness, and have a semblance of the letter "L" seemingly cut on them.
From this circumstance they are known as "lucky-stones," and are often
carried by boys as pocket-pieces.
It is of a grayish silvery hue, dark on the back, fading to white on the
belly. In the lakes of the North it has several oblique dusky streaks
or bands, resembling in a minor degree those of the sheepshead of the
coastwise streams and bays. In southern waters the streaks are not so
apparent, and it is called white-perch, owing to its silvery appearance.
It is a bottom fish, feeding mostly on mollusks, which it crushes with
the blunt teeth of the throat. It also feeds on small fishes, crawfish,
and other small organisms. Its spawning habits are unknown, but it
probably spawns in the spring and summer.
On the Great Lakes it grows to an enormous size, occasionally reaching
fifty or sixty pounds, though as usually taken by anglers it is from
three to ten pounds in weight. It is of no value as a food-fish in that
region, being seldom eaten and heartily despised. On the Ohio and lower
Mississippi rivers its weight is much less, from one to six pounds, and
it is there considered a good pan-fish, selling readily in the markets.
There is no doubt but that it is of better flavor in southern waters
when of small size.
As a commercial fish it is taken in nets in the North, and in fyke-nets
in the southern extent of its range. On northern lakes it is often taken
by anglers when fishing for black-bass, and being a strong, vigorous
fish with the family habit of boring toward the bottom when hooked, it
furnishes fair sport, and with considerable jeopardy to light tackle,
when of large size. The angler is at first elated with what he imagines
to be a fine bass until its identity is established, when his enthusiasm
gives place to infinite disgust. And this is one reason why it is
despised in northern waters, and very unjustly, too, for it is game
enough, so far as resistance is concerned, and is entitled to that much
credit. In southern waters it bites freely at small minnows, crawfish,
or mussels, and is there better appreciated and has a fair reputation as
a game-fish. I have enjoyed fishing for it with light tackle on White
and St. Francis rivers in Arkansas, and some of the streams in
Mississippi. Light black-bass tackle is quite suitable for it.