5 replies to this topic

[coolmantoole]

I have been catching some very strange looking really young warmouth in our lake lately.  These fish are not much larger than an inch and a half.  The lake was drained for dam repairs in 2016.  We stocked redear, bass and bluegill, but a huge population of small warmouth appeared and apparently ate up a lot of the fish we stocked.  There are a few red ear in the pond, and I have caught some babies that I'm prety sure of warmouth and redear hybrids.  This one definately looks more "warmouth" than anything.  But he's way more blue than any warmouth I've ever seen, especieally around his gill flap.  I could not see two lines that look like warpaint radiating from the mouth which is typical of warmouth and where they get their name from.  The dab of red on the operculum is really small and has some purple in it which makes me not think it's not hybridized with redear.  The pond has a huge bluegill population of course, a huge warmouth population, a small redbreast population and an even smaller redear population.  So what do you all thing?  A hybrid?  If so would you guess redear or bluegill as the species it's hybridized with.  I've never seen a pumpkinseed or a green sunfish in this pond as far as I know.

 

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[centrarchid]

Looks like within the range for Warmouth with respect to coloration and body shape.  

[gerald]

I often see blue, green, and purple iridescence on warmouths, especially young ones.  Looks like a pure-blood warmouth to me.

[Jconte]

Agreed. Looks like a pure Warmouth to me too, although the former commenters are the better judges.

[Matt DeLaVega]

I think warmouth can be extremely variable. I understand how they can be a bit confusing.

[coolmantoole]

Thanks y'all.