8 replies to this topic

[Betta132]

I was just down at a local river, testing out some tiny little hooks. They work really well. I caught a few baby sunfish, and a couple of decent-sized juveniles. 

I found something I haven't seen before... a blue sunfish. And I don't mean bluegill-type blue, I mean bright blue, even brighter than in the pic. Has anyone seen a sunfish like this before? I've definitely never caught one this color, or anywhere near it. I think it might be a bluegill... I'm not sure. We only have bluegill and longear sunnies in this river, plus maybe a few Rio Grande cichlids, and I'm pretty sure this isn't a Rio Grande. 

Here's a pic of the blue baby, plus another one I found in the same spot. I'm fairly sure the duller one is a longear, and I think the stripe pattern means the gorgeous one is a bluegill. I didn't want to put him back, he was so pretty, but I think he'd dull down and possibly be bullied to death in my 65g. 

 Baby sunfish comparison.png   530.85KB   7 downloads

[centrarchid]

Fish on left looks like a Redbreasted Sunfish while fish on right looks like a Bluegill with at least some Coppernose in it.  High dorsal fin and color other than green / gray in caudel fin say Coppernose for the latter.

 

You have both in Texas.  Texas in many ways is a mess because someone did mess with it.

[Michael Wolfe]

Hey Betta, I know that you are looking at overall color, but those double railroad track looking stripes and the dark spot on the second (soft) dorsal are dead give aways for bluegill... and to be honest with you, as a hobbyist, I have always thought that baby bluegills look purple when first pulled form the water.  Much more so than any other sunfish, you can almost make a non-scientific identification on just that purple (sometimes), but those other two identifiers are much more reliable.

[Betta132]

It just surprised me a bit to see a fish quite that brightly colored. I've caught young bluegills before, but never one that was anywhere near this bright, and I wanted to see if it was typical. Shame they don't keep that much color... a full-sized bluegill that was blue and purple and gold all over would look fantastic. 

[Evan P]

It's interesting that purple coloration is odd for your area, as almost all of the juvenile bluegill in my area look very similar to that.

[Betta132]

If it only shows up on the very young bluegills, that could explain it. Usually I catch sunfish at least 2" long. I just got some new micro hooks, and I was testing them out, this is the first time I've caught a bluegill that young. 

 

Hmm... do redbreast sunfish tend to have dark-edged fins as juveniles? I've seen a few sunfish in that area with dark fin edging and a reddish tone, but I've never been able to catch them. For some reason, they're never interested in my bait. 

[NotCousteau]

I've noticed all young bluegill I've seen in Minneosta look that purple. It caught me off guard the first time I saw one, too.

[centrarchid]

If it only shows up on the very young bluegills, that could explain it. Usually I catch sunfish at least 2" long. I just got some new micro hooks, and I was testing them out, this is the first time I've caught a bluegill that young. 

 

Hmm... do redbreast sunfish tend to have dark-edged fins as juveniles? I've seen a few sunfish in that area with dark fin edging and a reddish tone, but I've never been able to catch them. For some reason, they're never interested in my bait. 

Redear and black basses often have he darker trim and some Bluegill although not those with Coppernose in them.  The dark trim with Northern and Handpaint bluegills can be a function of mental state.  Redbreast I am not so certain about becuase my expereince with those is limited and they do exhibit regional variation. 

[Betta132]

I Googled Redbreast sunfish, and not only do they look like the babies I was seeing, they look like a fish I caught before but wasn't sure about.