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Red-breasted Bream
The red-breasted bream or yellow-belly is found from Maine to Louisiana and is abundant in all streams east of the Alleghanies. It reaches a length of 6 to 8 inches and is a good little pan-fish. It can be taken readily on the hook baited with angleworm.
Body elongate, not elevated; mouth rather large, oblique, the maxillary reaching past front of eye; gillrakers quite short, X+8 or 9, stiff and rough, set wide apart; opercular flap very long (longer in the adult than in any other sunfish except L. megalotis), usually not wider than the eye; lower margin of flap usually pale. Colour, olive; belly largely orange-red; side with reddish spots on a bluish ground; vertical fins chiefly orange or yellowish; head usually with bluish stripes, especially in front of eye, most distinct in adult; fins becoming dusky in spirits; no dusky blotch on last rays of dorsal or anal.