I caught this small sunfish a couple of weeks ago in a small creek in Lexington, SC. In the past, I have caught Bluegill, Warmouth, and Pumpkinseed in the same creek. I was wondering if this is a juvenile of one of those, or maybe a hybrid?
Small Sunfish
Started by
nviole
, Oct 29 2017 04:30 PM
19 replies to this topic
#1
nviole
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- NANFA Member
- Congaree/ Lower Saluda River Basins, Columbia, SC
Posted 29 October 2017 - 04:30 PM
#2
centrarchid
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- NANFA Guest
Posted 29 October 2017 - 06:22 PM
Need picture.
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#3
Matt DeLaVega
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- Forum Staff
- Ohio
Posted 29 October 2017 - 06:24 PM
Provide a photo or we cannot help you. We, most of us scientifically minded, cannot speculate on questions like this. We would be lying to you in essence. It also has to be a good photo. Look through the gallery archive for what is a truly ID quality photo. Not easy to duplicate, and it doesn't need to be as good, but we need much more than a simple description. You should at least own this. https://www.amazon.c...s/dp/0547242069
The member formerly known as Skipjack
#4
Michael Wolfe
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- Board of Directors
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- North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage
Posted 29 October 2017 - 07:50 PM
Hey guys... nviole knows he needs a picture, but is having some problems with the forum... I asked him to try his post even if the picture did not load for him.. so that I could see his post and try to figure out how to help him.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#5
nviole
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- NANFA Member
- Congaree/ Lower Saluda River Basins, Columbia, SC
Posted 30 October 2017 - 05:47 AM
Here's the pic sorry for the confusion.
#6
gerald
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- Global Moderator
- Wake Forest, North Carolina
Posted 30 October 2017 - 09:01 AM
I'd vote pumpkinseed. BTW, a closed mouth is better for ID purposes.
Gerald Pottern
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Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel
#7
centrarchid
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- NANFA Guest
Posted 30 October 2017 - 09:50 AM
Stunted based on eye diameter / total length ratio.
Hybrid with Pumpkinseed or Redear in it. Not a Pumpkinseed x Redear. Orange spots on flank indicate Pumpkinseed. Pattern on opercula suggest a Bluegill also in woodpile as does the long dorsal spines. Warmouth and Green Sunfish hybrids will have shorter dorsal spines and larger mouth.
Pumpkinseed x Bluegill or Bluegill x Pumpkinseed.
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#8
Dustin
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- Forum Staff
Posted 01 November 2017 - 09:45 AM
As much as I hate to say the word hybrid and I don't know that I have ever seen a hybrid around Lexington, I have to agree with Centrarchid. It appears to be a pumpkinseed X something, either bluegill or warmouth.
Dustin Smith
At the convergence of the Broad, Saluda and Congaree
Lexington, SC
#9
centrarchid
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- NANFA Guest
Posted 01 November 2017 - 10:03 AM
As much as I hate to say the word hybrid and I don't know that I have ever seen a hybrid around Lexington, I have to agree with Centrarchid. It appears to be a pumpkinseed X something, either bluegill or warmouth.
I need to take you out to some streams I piddle around in. Hybrids are seldom abundant, but they are also not rare. Greens and Longears really like to mix it up and it may have nothing to do with habitat degradation or difficulty in finding a mate. Cuckolders are doing the nasty in the wrong nest.
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#10
Dustin
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- Forum Staff
Posted 01 November 2017 - 10:16 AM
Maybe its because we don't have longears at all and greens are very rare. Pumpkinseeds aren't exactly common either.
Dustin Smith
At the convergence of the Broad, Saluda and Congaree
Lexington, SC
#11
centrarchid
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- NANFA Guest
Posted 01 November 2017 - 10:24 AM
I assume your sunfishes are not regularly forming mixed species colonies. Coppernose do things differently than Northerns for sure. In many more northerly locations large colonies can sometimes have four species breeding at same time.
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#12
nviole
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- NANFA Member
- Congaree/ Lower Saluda River Basins, Columbia, SC
Posted 01 November 2017 - 03:36 PM
Dustin, I do agree that I rarely find hybrid fish in the Three Rivers area, but for whatever reason they seem to be abundant in this location. Mostly Bluegill x Pumpkinseed, but I think I've caught a few hybrids that are part Warmouth
#13
Dustin
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- Forum Staff
Posted 01 November 2017 - 03:41 PM
What creek do these come from?
Dustin Smith
At the convergence of the Broad, Saluda and Congaree
Lexington, SC
#14
Matt DeLaVega
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- Forum Staff
- Ohio
Posted 01 November 2017 - 04:32 PM
Up here we see greengills quite often. Some are surely escaped from pond stockings, but not all.
The member formerly known as Skipjack
#15
nviole
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- NANFA Member
- Congaree/ Lower Saluda River Basins, Columbia, SC
Posted 01 November 2017 - 07:17 PM
Just a small un-named un-mapped creek. It's draining one of the retention ponds on highway 1 between I20 and the old mill
#16
Matt DeLaVega
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- Forum Staff
- Ohio
Posted 02 November 2017 - 06:53 AM
A lot of retention ponds have wild swings in water levels. At least in my area. I could see that type of adversity precipitating hybridization. All the fish trying to spawn in a rapidly shrinking habitat.
The member formerly known as Skipjack
#17
Dustin
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- Forum Staff
Posted 02 November 2017 - 07:13 AM
Just a small un-named un-mapped creek. It's draining one of the retention ponds on highway 1 between I20 and the old mill
Across from the library?
Dustin Smith
At the convergence of the Broad, Saluda and Congaree
Lexington, SC
#18
nviole
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- NANFA Member
- Congaree/ Lower Saluda River Basins, Columbia, SC
Posted 02 November 2017 - 02:09 PM
Across from Dollar General
#19
Savannahhh
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- NANFA Guest
- Illinois
Posted 26 May 2018 - 09:34 PM
It's not a very good picture and I apologize but my little brother had found this little guy stuck in a fishing net today in our lake and he begged to keep it and eventually brought it in and we put it in a ten gallon with a filter and such but he's dying to know what it is. I've looked around and I've been lead to believe it may be a very young bluegill but I was hoping maybe one of you could figure it out even though the picture quality isn't the best.
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