Red eyes on green sunfish?

Hi all,
I was wondering if a small red area just above the eye in green sunfish is part of their normal coloration because the green that I got from my local pet shop doesn't have that nice red mark above it's eye and the ones I got from Brian Z do. Now I'm wondering if it's a hybrid, I will try to get a picture but it's difficult because they are so active. Maybe I should build a photography tank thingy.
D

Hi all,
I was wondering if a small red area just above the eye in green sunfish is part of their normal coloration because the green that I got from my local pet shop doesn't have that nice red mark above it's eye and the ones I got from Brian Z do. Now I'm wondering if it's a hybrid, I will try to get a picture but it's difficult because they are so active. Maybe I should build a photography tank thingy.
D

Some individuals in some populations I have observed do have reddish-brown marking above the eye, but not all.

Some individuals in some populations I have observed do have reddish-brown marking above the eye, but not all.

Well put centrarchid,
ours are 50/50, but the ones that have red only have it on the back 1/4 of the eye and front 1/4 and its more orange than red.

Well put centrarchid,
ours are 50/50, but the ones that have red only have it on the back 1/4 of the eye and front 1/4 and its more orange than red.

An interesting observation some of my fellow taxidermists and I have made comparing reference pictures is the more southern bluegills seem to have reddish eyes (but no all) while their northern counterparts do not. This explains why one of our artificial fish eye suppliers puts rea in bluegill eyes. He's located in the south.

All of my Greens are from the same pair of adults. I have been using this same pair for 3 years now so it is likely all of their young look rather similar. I took a quick look at my pair and the both have some of the red coloration but the female actually has a little more of it.

An interesting observation some of my fellow taxidermists and I have made comparing reference pictures is the more southern bluegills seem to have reddish eyes (but no all) while their northern counterparts do not. This explains why one of our artificial fish eye suppliers puts rea in bluegill eyes. He's located in the south.

This is quite interesting. I did a lot of netting the last few days in a creek and pond behind my folks' house. It seems that most of the bluegill from the pond had nearly all black eyes, but some of the young bluegill introduced into the creek have some with black, some with red eyes. Now, there are decent numbers of redbreast sunfish in the creek, so some of the young 'bluegills' may have some redbreast in them, but I did pull out some 3-4'' BG with red eyes..
I just never have seen this in BG until after I read this post and payed closer attention when out and about this weekend.

Oh, I meant to add...
This observation was in NE Georgia - Middle Oconee River trib

Here is a coppernose bluegill in Texas with some red in the eyes.