Northern longear?

I have a question. It concerns the range of the northern longear. The location of the fish in question is Floyd's Fork of the Salt River in Kentucky. They are in Jefferson Co. 1 mile west of Fisherville. I acquired the fish for my tank knowing they were Longear Sunfish, however, I did not know there was a Northern and Central variety. The fish I have acquired and kept exhibit the 45 degree angle on the "ear" with a little red strip on the back end, like a Northern. With that said, there are other Longears at this location that exhibit the horizontal "ear" with no strip on the back edge, it is all black. I am confused, after studying the ranges of these two Longear varieties, I have come to understand that the Central Longear is endemic to the Mississippi watershed(that is my location ) and the Northern Longear is endemic to the Great Lakes watershed (not my location ). My fish look like Northerns and I'm nowhere near their range.

Can you post a photo?

Here's a couple of my fish in the aquarium

I'll try for better photos soon.

I believe these two pictures can show the opercle tabs better.

Those appear to be central long ears to me. There is quite a lot of variation between and within populations. Those are very nice looking fish by the way.

Here are a few northern longears from SE Wisconsin. You can see they have some variability in how much red is in the opercular flap.







Here are some central longears from the Wabash River drainage in eastern Illinois. They have some differences in opercular flap angle.





And finally here are some central longears from southern Missouri. The first two were caught at the same location on the dame day. In my opinion ID guides shouldn't even talk about flap angle other than that it can vary between individuals.

Thanks for the enlightenment! Love me some Longears.

I agree your fish are just Central Longear Lepomis megalotis megalotis. Even within the definite Central Longear population there is quite a bit of variety. Anything in the Ohio River basin I would call Centrals. There is a lot of variety within longears in general though, much more than the Northern vrs Central. I think all yours and what Ben posted from the Wabash are good central longears. Here are some others that fit the Central Longear...

Female


male

Northern Longears are in the Great Lakes Basin and in the upper Mississippi basin.


female


male

There are different forms though in the south and western part of their range that are quite different. There is a nice form from the Missouri and Arkansas River basins with a red streak down the center of the forehead and a lot of bright red/orange on the body too.

male


male

Then the form in the White River of southern MO and northern AR has a "droopy" opercle flap. Isac has a great photo of this strain (top of three Longear photos in his post) posted here http://forum.nanfa.o...phic +variation

male

Then there is a strain that is found along the Mississippi River embayment from southern IL to LA and the few photos of TX longears I have seen look fairly similar to these. I've seen photos of these from Realfoot Lake in western TN too. They have a lot of bright red/orange on the lower and rear half of the fish and a distinctive edging to the scales making them appear to have a cross hatching pattern. They also have some light pale blue along the lower edge of the gill covers much like a bluegill...

female


male

There is one in the direct tribs to the gulf in the FL panhandle that has pretty much no red with a nice yellowish belly and lots of blue speckling rather than lines. Again Isac has a nice under water shot of a male (middle of the three longear photos he posted) which is found here http://forum.nanfa.o...phic +variation

Then the ones in the Mobile basin are similar in the blue speckling like the FL form but they also have a lot of red like some of the other forms. Have not seen a good photo of this one but I am growing out a group now so maybe later in the summer...

I'm not real familiar with the southwest part of their distribution so there may be some other forms I am missing.

Thanks for all the photos & information! So many beautiful fish. I am fond of the Ohio Valley, I've always lived near that big ole river.