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Some pretty sunfish


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#1 fish for brains

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Posted 14 November 2017 - 08:16 AM

It's been years since I posted here but I thought of you all after shooting video in Alexander Spring in Florida. I've been diving there a lot and it's a very special place, especially for those who appreciate native freshwater fish. Of course you'll also find gators, turtles, snakes, etc.

These fish are exposed to swimmers and divers almost every day so they are fairly calm around people.

I thought it might be fun to see if you would help identify the various sunfish I recorded. I doubt it will be very challenging for the members here, and it's mainly an opportunity to see some beautiful specimens up close and personal.

The camera is a $75 GoPro knockoff called an Akaso EK7000. I'm in about 4 feet of water at 72°F which is constant year round.

https://youtu.be/BlWzb95JQoc

#2 gerald

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Posted 14 November 2017 - 09:47 AM

I didn't watch it all, but Florida Bluegill, Spotted, and Redbreast have the starring roles.


Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel


#3 centrarchid

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Posted 15 November 2017 - 06:26 AM

Fish ventilating very hard and seem a little lethargic.  The Bluegill, as typical for springs down their, are lean.

 

Gerald,  the use of Florida Bluegill and Coppernose Bluegill may need some real scrutiny.  I will not accept one term used for all Bluegill occurring in the southeastern US.  Hand Paint Bluegill are not part of the equation.  I can easily pick out three bluegill types down there.


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#4 Chasmodes

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Posted 15 November 2017 - 09:58 AM

Cool video.  It is interesting that they're using you for cover or trying to feed off of you.  They're very curious.  Of course, if they were 5' longer, they'd eat you :).  My first thought when watching this as more and more fish moved in was that you're the fish whisperer!


Kevin Wilson


#5 fish for brains

fish for brains
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Posted 15 November 2017 - 10:31 AM

Cool video.  It is interesting that they're using you for cover or trying to feed off of you.  They're very curious.  Of course, if they were 5' longer, they'd eat you :).  My first thought when watching this as more and more fish moved in was that you're the fish whisperer!

I do love fish, but it probably has more to do with them being fed by people often. Divers stir up the bottom a lot which also gives them opportunity to feed.

 

The turtles there don't want anything to do with me. Largemouths are pretty wary too. This video shows a handsome largemouth and me chasing some turtles:

 

https://youtu.be/Wuhz1woocjU



#6 gerald

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Posted 15 November 2017 - 10:37 AM

James --  Would you call those BG in the video "Florida" or "Coppernose", and how do you distinguish them?  Are their ranges sympatric?

 

Regarding hard breathing, i've seen that at Rock Spring (Kelly Park) north of Apopka FL.  I assumed it was from high CO2 and/or low Oxygen levels in water fresh out of the spring.  Fish closest to the spring outlet were breathing very hard, and the effect tapered off farther downstream (1/4 mile).


Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel


#7 centrarchid

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Posted 15 November 2017 - 11:19 AM

You have the base copper-colored (not associated with actual purple-copper color of nose) on those in northern Florida (like in video above), a dusky colored and much rounder fish in the southern part of the state, and yet another in Georgia and the Carolinas.  The northern form looks grossly like a cross between Northern Bluegill and  and the southern Florida version but body shape differs majorly from the southern version.  I am talking skeletal differences that mess up hybrids.  Based on what I have looked at, there is no overlap geographically.  They differ beyond just looks.  If it were me, Bluegills in the southeastern US would be split into three taxa plus Hand Paint Bluegill.  There is no way in hell someone else has not seen this stuff.


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#8 Chasmodes

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Posted 15 November 2017 - 11:27 AM

Cool stuff FFB.  I think that's the first time I've seen someone's tongue get attacked by a sunfish!


Kevin Wilson


#9 gerald

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Posted 15 November 2017 - 05:22 PM

James -- Is the red-orange tail (and rear part of dorsal and anal) present in the dusky/round south-FL form of BG too, or just in the north-FL form?

Carolina BG's don't normally have any red-orange in the fins.

 

FFBrains:  There's also a heavily speckled but otherwise plain-looking, short-eared sunnie that cruises through the video a couple times.  Redear maybe?


Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel


#10 centrarchid

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Posted 15 November 2017 - 10:03 PM

Red-tailed version in Suwannee and St. Johns river systems.  Dusky variant has a yellowish cast to tail if not gray.  I am familiar the Savanah River variant, very much so.  It appears to be the one on the trade used in northern markets outside their native range.


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