Northern Longear Sunfish

Hi Everybody,
I just busted out the photo container (thanks again Uland for construction tips) and took a few photos of a fish that I really wanted to have some shots of. This guy is a male Northern Longear Sunfish that I raised from the young of year stage where he barely had any identifying characteristics to now, he's a big boss. Hope you all enjoy;





-Nate


Also, I did want to note how dark the pelvic fins and anal fin are on this fish. I've never seen a male Northern Longear with black in the fins before. I should also mention that this fish is in breeding condition and was making a nest prior to removal into the photo container.

I like that fish, he has an aura that he could do you some harm if he wanted to.

Beautiful specimen and photographs. The jet black comes out on the dominant spawning male. You basically have to pull them off the bed to see it, which it sounds like you did We saw some spawning last year in the Raisin. They flash even more black in the act, extinguishing pretty much all color. I wish I'd had my video with me that day, I didn't expect there to be enough water, but they were getting their business done right below the dam, which is usually flowing, but was then choked with plants.

Is it a Sneegas or Roston photo of the centrals that's all fired up blue? All that blue in the northerns goes black. Or maybe it's the red. Something goes black. It's awesome.

The rainbow darters in the Maumee and Michigan do the same thing too, except it's just really dark navy. I wonder if it's some type of local adaptation to the northern conditions, perhaps since there'd been more plants and tannic water than occurs across the rest of the range? Wild speculation here. But interesting to think about.

Todd

Beautiful fish Nate. Those northerns look so different from the ones we have here.

Edited by natureman187, 15 January 2009 - 08:41 PM.

I like that fish, he has an aura that he could do you some harm if he wanted to.

I was thinking that too, he's a tough customer. That's not an aura that bodes well in a community aquarium, though. He's being moved to his own aquarium.

Beautiful specimen and photographs. The jet black comes out on the dominant spawning male. You basically have to pull them off the bed to see it, which it sounds like you did We saw some spawning last year in the Raisin. They flash even more black in the act, extinguishing pretty much all color. I wish I'd had my video with me that day, I didn't expect there to be enough water, but they were getting their business done right below the dam, which is usually flowing, but was then choked with plants.

Is it a Sneegas or Roston photo of the centrals that's all fired up blue? All that blue in the northerns goes black. Or maybe it's the red. Something goes black. It's awesome.

The rainbow darters in the Maumee and Michigan do the same thing too, except it's just really dark navy. I wonder if it's some type of local adaptation to the northern conditions, perhaps since there'd been more plants and tannic water than occurs across the rest of the range? Wild speculation here. But interesting to think about.

Todd

The only spawning sites I've ever seen of Sunfish have been in lakes/ponds. I need to make that more of a priority in the late spring/early summer to check the rivers and creeks for sunfish spawning beds. You're saying that these remmnants of the Black Swamp that were spawning in conditions of tannin stained waters may have adapted darker breeding patterns than ones that historically did not have that stain to their water? Hmm...how does that aid these fish in the darker stained water? Avoidance of predators during the time they are most colorful? Maybe not. Blue is able to be seen further in low light conditions. It's one of the last colors to dissappear in low-light conditions. This dark coloration would allow gravid females to find them easier and males to know where another male is (territory). It works in that way.

Edited by NateTessler13, 16 January 2009 - 08:36 AM.

Yeah, it's about contrast, not color. And it's not just the Black Swamp. Oak Savanna and Great Lakes twig rush wet prairie remnants produce some pretty tannic water. This extends on up into Michigan and into the Interlobate lakes that form the headwaters of the Raisin and Huron.

I really need to get film at the conjunction of Langenderfer and Prairie ditches this year so people can see the "black" and "white" waters mix. It's pretty impressive.

Todd

I have seen those black fins on fish I have kept before too. It is impressive how quickly they can change. They display those black fins one minute and the next they are gone.

I was thinking that too, he's a tough customer. That's not an aura that bodes well in a community aquarium, though. He's being moved to his own aquarium.



The only spawning sites I've ever seen of Sunfish have been in lakes/ponds. I need to make that more of a priority in the late spring/early summer to check the rivers and creeks for sunfish spawning beds. You're saying that these remmnants of the Black Swamp that were spawning in conditions of tannin stained waters may have adapted darker breeding patterns than ones that historically did not have that stain to their water? Hmm...how does that aid these fish in the darker stained water? Avoidance of predators during the time they are most colorful? Maybe not. Blue is able to be seen further in low light conditions. It's one of the last colors to dissappear in low-light conditions. This dark coloration would allow gravid females to find them easier and males to know where another male is (territory). It works in that way.

Some of the sunfishes of the south (spotted sunfish and redear) get the jet black pelvic fins on nesting males as well. Some southern redear males get darker by far than any other sunfishes when nesting. The fins are distend during diplays. To my eyes the black is like counter shading.
MAybe selective force similar to that operating in Great Lakes area?