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Are everglades pygmy sunfish less colorful than other species?

Started by Guest_Joshaeus_* , Jul 03 2013 04:12 PM

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7 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Joshaeus_*

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Posted 03 July 2013 - 04:12 PM

Just a question I have from my personal research. Gilberti and okefenokee I've found lots of beautiful pictures of, but very few pictures of evergladei showed the black fish with blue sparkles (in contrast to the former two's stripes) I was expecting. Do evergladei not color up as easily as these species, or are the few black fish flukes?

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#2 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 03 July 2013 - 04:29 PM

IME evergladei blacken-up just as nicely as okee and gilberti. Their iridescent colors are more blue-green to green-gold, rather than the bright blue of okee and gilberti, and they usually have scattered speckling instead of distinct bars, but they are just as striking in their own way. The least colorful pygmy is (fortunately?) the most endangered one, E. alabamae.

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#3 Guest_Joshaeus_*

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Posted 03 July 2013 - 04:42 PM

Thanks for the rapid response! Out of curiosity, what does zonatum look like?

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#4 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 03 July 2013 - 04:50 PM

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#5 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 03 July 2013 - 04:50 PM

E. zontaum is highly variable ... do an image search. In general the Atlantic slope ones have more distinct bands, and the MS/Gulf drainage ones are often more speckled. Here's a pair from near Fayetteville, NC (Cape Fear River basin).

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E. zonatum pair.Angier.twenzel.jpg 24.44KB 4 downloads

Edited by gerald, 03 July 2013 - 04:51 PM.

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#6 Guest_EricaLyons_*

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Posted 03 July 2013 - 07:55 PM

There's quite a lot of variation within the species, too. I mean, these are all Elassoma, probably okefenokee or gilberti:
my fish:
(gilberti) http://gallery.nanfa...rofile.jpg.html
other peoples' fish, unknown species:
http://2.bp.blogspot...%ADtulo - 3.jpg
http://www.bee-point...vergladei_a.jpg
http://i64.servimg.c...40/imgp3910.jpg

Edited by EricaLyons, 03 July 2013 - 07:56 PM.

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#7 Guest_Bob_*

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Posted 16 July 2013 - 12:12 PM

To be honest, there may be other species that are nicer than Evergladei, but mine are such a nice fish that I don't care. _And_ they like my hard local tapwater.