hey guys. i went back alone today to CB Smith Park in Broward (florida) to try and catch some more Blue Spotted Sunfish.
the day went great, only thing missing was the sunfish i wanted to get, but i caught many many fish.
i'm actually impressed by the variety of fish I found. the area i covered was only between 100-150 feet from one point to the other, and it yielded all the fish below plus whatever i didnt catch!
I plan on going back and doing another section of the same waterway...
by the way, most of the fish were released after i took the pictures. i really dont have space for more fish, so i think i'm just going to go, catch, take picture, and release.

anyways, on to the pictures!

the location:


barred cichlid - any idea who this is? this guy's body is round, yellow instead of gray, and has more stripes, and no spot on the caudal fin...


lucania goodei - there was a crazy amount of big, colorful males. very few females.


these are all the ones i brought home:


fundulus chrysotus - usual variety we catch


then i also caught these guys - looked like the chrysotus but as you can see, having much nicer colors - same fish?


no clue what this is - a sand darter? or a goby? caught maybe 4-5 of these only


marbled mosquitofish (gambusia sp.) - very few of these seen, this is the only one caught


male molly - this guy had blue in the caudal fin - i had seen them before but this is the first and only catch


sunfish (?) - caught 3-4 of these guys


is this the blue spotted sunfish i went looking for? the bigger ones i caught last time were darker and the spots looked different. if not, then what is this fish?
http://www.keepitfis.../spottedsun.jpg

and now for my favorites of the day...jewels! these fish are amazing! i just bought one from a store on thursday, and it can't even come close to the colors these wild fish had when i just took them out of the water. i think the pictures speak for themselves:

jewel 1 - bold blue spots, very noticeable
http://www.keepitfis...smith/jewel.jpg

jewel 2 - i was impressed by the red...
http://www.keepitfis...mith/jewel2.jpg

jewel 3 - but this guy made me scream like a little girl for the camera...it was amazing to see this red shining at me from my net :hyper:
http://www.keepitfis...mith/jewel3.jpg

those three i brought home to my parent's tank...
lastly, some pictures of different fish together. these were caught at the same time:

jewel + sunfish
http://www.keepitfis...wel_sunfish.jpg

jewel + fundulus chrysotus
http://www.keepitfis...l_chrysotus.jpg


besides the above i also caught mosquitofish (gambusia affinis), shrimp, and a tiny crayfish


hope you enjoyed the pictures...

comments, questions, and help with the IDs of the fish welcome!

Very nice pics of the fishies. You did indeed catch some very beautiful fish. I can't get over seeing all those bright colors!
Here are some of my thoughts on the fish.
I can't help with the cichlid or darter.
The golden topminnow difference you are seeing is male vs female.
Fish sunfish is a bluegill. Second is a bluespot.
Other sunfish with the cichlid is a young warmouth.

That wad of bluefin killies is impressive!

Darter is a swamp, E. fusiforme.

Do you know if it is legal to send those cichlids out of state?

Fish sunfish is a bluegill. Second is a bluespot.
Other sunfish with the cichlid is a young warmouth.

the picture makes them look different, but they are actually the same fish.
so are they both warmouth, or bluegill?

Darter is a swamp, E. fusiforme.

Do you know if it is legal to send those cichlids out of state?

not sure, i have never shipped live fish before so i'm unaware of the laws. sorry!

the picture makes them look different, but they are actually the same fish.
so are they both warmouth, or bluegill?




not sure, i have never shipped live fish before so i'm unaware of the laws. sorry!

Those can't be the same sunfishes. They are makedly different. One is definitely a bluegill and one is a warmouth. I am talking about the 10th and 15th pictures down, respectively.

when i caught them they looked the same to me. i guess it's my lack of experience with sunfishes

I'm pretty sure the first fish in the first picture is a zebra talapia. I'm not sure what the scientific name is but its the species that you're not allowed to possess alive.

Very nice fish indeed! why is there so many fish of the Family Cichlidae ?
i didnt know there is such a alarming problem with invasive fish in the florida (south in general) water ways.

Edited by CATfishTONY, 03 October 2009 - 12:57 PM.

Darter is a swamp, E. fusiforme.

Do you know if it is legal to send those cichlids out of state?

Hah! That's the same thing that came to my mind.

Sucks to see so many exotics but if I had access to them, my tanks would be full. The jewels are sick! One species I admire in shop tanks but have never kept. I couldn't toss those badboys back.

well if you guys ever come down here i'll join you in a dipnetting trip

i'm going back tomorrow for a family day at the same park i caught these fish in...of course, i'm going to do some dipnetting while there, though probably wont keep any fish considering how long we're planning to stay at the park.

i'll probably have more pics for you guys this week

I'm pretty sure the first fish in the first picture is a zebra talapia. I'm not sure what the scientific name is but its the species that you're not allowed to possess alive.

missed your post at first...i had never encountered T. mariae in its juvenile form, only as adult. adults have black spots on their boddies, and are mostly grey. this guy was yellow and barred so i thought it was something else. i've since been told on a different forum it is probably T. mariae (zebra tilapia) juvenile...and now i have a problem. I dont believe in killing animals (that's why i dont go fishing - just dipnetting!) and i can't release it back now that it's been in my aquarium, so what am I to do with this fish?

Very nice fish indeed! why is there so many fish of the Family Cichlidae ?
i didnt know there is such a alarming problem with invasive fish in the florida (south in general) water ways.

well i didnt know until recently when i joined my local fish club and learned about this thing called dipnetting. it is very succesful and fun to do it here because you'll never know what you'll find, and i mean that! you can find oscars, jewels, salvini, jaguars, etc...why are they so abundant? i have a theory but it's essentially a very racist stereotyping of my own people (hispanics)...the point is all these exotics we find are not rainbowfish and neon tetras, rather they're the aggressive species that get released into the waters when they outgrow their tanks and then survive and overtake the local fish population. we have plenty of warm water and vegetation, so the fry survive, and then the aggressive exotics outcompete the local north american fish for food...and due to our great canal system, most waterways are interconnected, so if i release a pair of salvinis in the canal in front of my house, they could technically make it all the way to the northern parts of the state and then boom, salvini take over tallahassee or something!

i'm going back tomorrow for a little bit...i think i might just start photographing and releasing, and then making a list of fish caught, which are native and which are exotic, and keep pictures of them...sounds like a fun project and would give meaning to me going dipnetting more often

i love the jewels too...if i could catch wild jewels i would fill my tanks with them like crazy

Those Jewels are gorgeous. Don't like that they're invasive but that doesn't change how they look. The goodei are also beautiful, look great in that tank.