24 replies to this topic

[Josh Blaylock]

I was out on Saturday just kinda messing around in a little creek on my wife's family's farm, just to see what I could find.  I found a couple different juvenile sunfish.  I have a good idea of what I have, but not 100% on one of them.  These all came from the Cumberland River drainage, above the falls.  What say ye?

 

Bluegill?

 

 

This one, I'm less sure of.  But, I think it's a Redear Sunfish.  Red on the earflap with white tip.

 

 

[Dustin]

I am fairly certain that the bottom fish is not a redear. It is either a green or a green hybrid. The next to last photo with the head facing up looks like a typical green to me.

Is the top fish a greengill? The purplish flush on the cheek of all of the fish reminds me of the juvenile warmouths here. They all have that purplish coloration on the cheek.

[smbass]

First one looks like either a longear or a redbreast and the second one is a green. Your out of range for redbreast but I know they are introduced in a lot of places so they might be there. I'm certain it is not a bluegill.

[Josh Blaylock]

I certainly wasn't expecting the 2nd to be a green.  It has very odd coloration.  The whole body is a purplish blue.

 

I suppose I'll take Brian's word on it...though his very limited experience with juvenile sunfish makes his Id's suspect 

[Dustin]

I do see redbreast in the top photo but discounted it due to location. It seems too elongate for a longear from your way. I defer to Brian at all time as well Josh so you are not alone. Isa that a third species in the background of the last photo?

[Josh Blaylock]

I do see redbreast in the top photo but discounted it due to location. It seems too elongate for a longear from your way. I defer to Brian at all time as well Josh so you are not alone. Isa that a third species in the background of the last photo?

 

 

Possibly, I had three fish.  I just thought 2 were Bluegill

 

 

 

Here's another Green shot:

[smbass]

Yeah that photo with it next to the green looks very redbreast like. They certainly are introduced in many places so I would not be too surprised. Dustins comment of it being to long to be a longear is very valid. Sorry josh but none of them are bluegill!

[Josh Blaylock]

Yeah that photo with it next to the green looks very redbreast like. They certainly are introduced in many places so I would not be too surprised. Dustins comment of it being to long to be a longear is very valid. Sorry josh but none of them are bluegill!

 

I'm not upset about no Bluegills.  I'm more upset that the one I thought was a Redear, is a Green.  I would take some additional photos, but my Coosa Bass ate 1 of the 2 possible redbreast already.

[gerald]

I'll vote longear and green.  Longear is a strong maybe; the green is pretty definite.

[Kanus]

For what it's worth, I really want to call that first fish a redbreast. That being said, I don't have much experience with small longears, but I've seen thousands of little redbreasts and it looks right to me.

[Michael Wolfe]

You already have some answers, but I saw the green lines in the face on both of those fish... and the top one looks redbreasty to me as well.

 

The second one begins to have the lateral running lines that I normally associate with greens.

[MidAtlntcCllctr]

I'm saying it's a longear and a green.

[UncleWillie]

I know that location goes against redbreast, but I know redbreasts have been introduced to both the Tennessee and Cumberland drainages.  I haven't spent much time in the Cumberland, but during my time in Knoxville, redbreast was the most common sunfish caught in smaller streams/tribs to the Tennessee R. while shocking and/or snorkeling.

I'm not saying it can't be longear, but to my Georgia eyes, everything I see about that top fish says redbreast to me.  The dark orange / brown spotted on the sides, faint vertical barring, and the familiar near-parallel blue lines that extend across the cheek connecting to the top and bottom margin of ear respectively.  

[Dustin]

Yeah, the last pic looks nearly identical to my redbreast here so I feel very comfortable with redbreast and green.

[Josh Blaylock]

What's the growth rate of Redbreast?  I need a tankmate for the Coosa bass.  It will need to be big enough to not get eaten at first.

[fishlvr]

Redbreasts grow about the same as the rest of the larger Lepomis. I've had them grow 1" a month for 4 months on nightcrawlers and pellets. They tend to be very agressive though. My first male that I ever kept was with my cichlids and I stopped keeping cichlids if you catch my drift.

Edited by fishlvr, 30 April 2015 - 10:51 PM.

[Betta132]

The guy on the right in that second set of photos looks like a longear to me. Longear face-squiggles, for one. Also, those speckled lines are what I usually see on young longears who are newly caught and confused. I'm not certain, but I'd bet a couple bucks on that being a longear.

Did you see any adults around that might give you a clue what the babies are?

[Josh Blaylock]

I went back to that same creek and did a little hook/line fishing over the weekend.  

 

Perhaps this will settle the debate:

[fishlvr]

Nice looking redbreast.

[Josh Blaylock]

Nice looking redbreast.

 

He was.  Even after putting my Coosa Bass in timeout in a cooler for 2 days, the Coosa still kicked his anal fin..... 

 

That bass is pure evil.  I mean, it absolutely relentlessly beat the crap out of the Redbreast.  The redbreast was at least as long and twice and tall as the bass, didn't matter.  Dudes like Tyson....