The
flier (
Centrarchus macropterus) is a sunfish (
familyIn biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus...
CentrarchidaeThe sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...
) native to muddy-bottomed swamps, ponds, weedy lakes, and riverine backwaters across the American South, from southern
IllinoisIllinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
east to the
Potomac RiverThe Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately 383 statute miles long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles . In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the...
basin and south to
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
.
The flier, which can live up to five years, grows to a maximum recorded length of about 3 cm (one foot). The maximum recorded weight of the species is just over one-half
kilogramThe kilogram is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units .[The spelling kilogram is the modern spelling used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures , the U.S...]
(about 19
ozThe ounce is a unit of mass with several definitions, the most commonly used of which are equal to approximately 30 grams. The ounce is used in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of the imperial and United States customary systems...
).
Fliers are occasionally kept in
aquariaAn aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...
by
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
n native-fish fanciers.
C.
The
flier (
Centrarchus macropterus) is a sunfish (
familyIn biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus...
CentrarchidaeThe sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...
) native to muddy-bottomed swamps, ponds, weedy lakes, and riverine backwaters across the American South, from southern
IllinoisIllinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
east to the
Potomac RiverThe Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately 383 statute miles long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles . In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the...
basin and south to
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
.
The flier, which can live up to five years, grows to a maximum recorded length of about 3 cm (one foot). The maximum recorded weight of the species is just over one-half
kilogramThe kilogram is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units .[The spelling kilogram is the modern spelling used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures , the U.S...]
(about 19
ozThe ounce is a unit of mass with several definitions, the most commonly used of which are equal to approximately 30 grams. The ounce is used in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of the imperial and United States customary systems...
).
Fliers are occasionally kept in
aquariaAn aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...
by
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
n native-fish fanciers.
C. macropterus is currently the only
speciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
of
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
Centrarchus CuvierGeorges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert Cuvier was a French naturalist and zoologist. Of humble working class origins, he belonged to a new class of self-made scholars who worked their way to the top of academe...
, 1829, but Lacépède had originally assigned it to
LabrusLabrus is a genus of wrasses of the Labridae family, currently with four recognised species*Ballan wrasse, Labrus bergylta Ascanius, 1767 *Brown wrasse, Labrus merula Linnaeus, 1758 ...
(now confined to some marine
wrasseThe wrasses are a family, Labridae, of marine fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with about 500 species in 60 genera....
s). The generic name,
Centrarchus, derives from the
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
κέντρον (centre, in this sense "sting") and
άρχος (ruler), in reference, presumably, to the sharp spines on the anal fin.
Centrarchus being the
type genusIn biology, the phrase type genus is used differently depending on the nomenclatural Code that applies:* In zoological nomenclature, a type genus is "The nominal genus that is the name-bearing type of a nominal family-group taxon."...
of family Centrarchidae, it gives its name to the whole sunfish family. The specific name,
macropterus, derives from
μακρόν πτερόν (long fin).
A
Gato-classThe United States Navy Gato class submarine design was the forerunner of all US World War II submarine designs.- History :New construction of the class began in 1941 as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's proclamation of "limited emergency" in September 1939...
submarineA submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has only limited underwater capability...
,
USS Flier, a Gato-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the flier, a round sunfish widely known in the United States....
, built in 1943, was named for this species. In addition, the newsletter of the
Native Fish Conservancy is entitled
Flier.