Redbreast Sunfish Photo

I received a CD yesterday of photos taken by Stan Sung on his recent visit to north 'bama. It's really nice work, of course. The one photo that struck me (among many...) was of a redbreast sunfish that we netted in Estill Fork, Jackson County, Alabama on Oct. 25. Here 'tis:
 Lepomis_auritus_Paint_Rock_1.jpg   64.54KB   6 downloads

Wow! That one has really nice colors. Next time I'm in Alabama I'll have to look for some redbreast.

Edited by fishlvr, 08 November 2008 - 04:00 PM.

Very nice pic.
is this fish small ?

The fish was about 5 inches (12 cm) long, a typical size of the ones we encounter by seining. I'm sure there are bigger ones present but they're better able to avoid a 10-ft seine as a rule.

Is the redish coloration of the vertical fins seasonal?

Is the redish coloration of the vertical fins seasonal?

I would have thought so several years ago, but I keep seeing it year-round in redbreasts from local streams in the Tennessee Valley. They're often the most common lepomid.

Very nice looking fish. That red on the tail is beautiful. Most redbreasts I find (GA, TN) have only the red on the upper and lower parts of the caudal fin. Typically, I see this in most males over 4 inches nearly year round - but never that beautiful deep red on that guy! Great pic and great specimen.
I too have caught many here in Knoxville while fishing - many more than I would have thought. I know they are introduced here, and it seems they have really pushed out the longears here in the headwaters which is a bummer.

Very nice looking fish. That red on the tail is beautiful. Most redbreasts I find (GA, TN) have only the red on the upper and lower parts of the caudal fin. Typically, I see this in most males over 4 inches nearly year round - but never that beautiful deep red on that guy! Great pic and great specimen.
I too have caught many here in Knoxville while fishing - many more than I would have thought. I know they are introduced here, and it seems they have really pushed out the longears here in the headwaters which is a bummer.

Do you see any longears remainining that look like they have a little longear in them?

Do you see any longears remainining that look like they have a little longear in them?

I saw a few longears while boat e-fishing 2 years back. But in the last 1.5 years I have only been fishing. While fishing I have seen zero longears. But one one occasion I caught 2 redbreasts that I swear was a auritus x megalotis hybrid. It had the typical red breast, red upper and lowers on the tail, but had a bit of white on the earflap and had a lot of megalotis-like markings and coloration on the rest of the body. It was about 5 inches, and beautiful. After releasing it I kicked my own butt for about 2 weeks for not keeping it OR taking a picture. I think two Lepomis in a 46 gal would be too much. I'm still kind of bummed about not keeping it, or finding any longears for such a long time.

I saw a few longears while boat e-fishing 2 years back. But in the last 1.5 years I have only been fishing. While fishing I have seen zero longears. But one one occasion I caught 2 redbreasts that I swear was a auritus x megalotis hybrid. It had the typical red breast, red upper and lowers on the tail, but had a bit of white on the earflap and had a lot of megalotis-like markings and coloration on the rest of the body. It was about 5 inches, and beautiful. After releasing it I kicked my own butt for about 2 weeks for not keeping it OR taking a picture. I think two Lepomis in a 46 gal would be too much. I'm still kind of bummed about not keeping it, or finding any longears for such a long time.

The unique and beautiful "central longear" of the white river drainage of south central Missouri and north central Arkansas I think are are a hybrid swarm of the local centrl longear with liberal amount redbreast (from Virginia) mixed. Establishement of redbreast occurred before interest in longears developed. Stocking involved tens of thousands of redbreast over several years. If I am correct then the hybrid swarm must be settling down into a locally adapted form.

It's a shame that so much stocking went on before longears were considered of any importance. I will be going out on Tuesday morning to do some boat e-fishing about 3 miles away from where I usually fish. If I don't get too distracted, I will try to take some pics of any redbreasts or longears we come across, and post them in the trip report section.

It's a shame that so much stocking went on before longears were considered of any importance. I will be going out on Tuesday morning to do some boat e-fishing about 3 miles away from where I usually fish. If I don't get too distracted, I will try to take some pics of any redbreasts or longears we come across, and post them in the trip report section.

here is a pic of local long ears in creeks here in indiana, that empty into the wabash river, do these look like the standard longear??

I wish I could've gotten some pics of the redbreast I pulled out of the kish back in august. It was roughly 8-9" from nose to tail, had the brightest pink coloration....

Man, I wish my wife didn't "HAVE" to have mollies.....

They'd make such a great snack for a fish like that....