Info for iding lepomis and what they eat.
Food of Three Species of Sunfishes
(Lepomis, Centrarchidae) and
Their Hybrids in Three
Minnesota Lakes
DAVID A. ETNIER
Department o• Zoology and Entomology
University o• Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee 37916
Wisc Fish on PS traits - note last para.
Mouth and snout: Mouth terminal, relatively small and slightly oblique, with pads of small teeth on the jaws. No barbels. Body patterning, color, and scales: Back brown or olive, sides olive or yellow-olive, belly yellow or yellow-orange. Sides with numerous irregular yellow or red-orange spots and/or small blotches and sometimes faint diffuse vertical bars. Sometimes 3-5 bluish lines radiating backward from the eye; opercular flap dark with a red spot at the posterior margin. Dorsal, caudal, and to a lesser extent anal fins usually darkly pigmented with faint dark blotches or light spots; pelvic and pectoral fins lightly pigmented to dusky. 38-43 ctenoid lateral scales. Body shape and size: Body laterally compressed and deep; oval in cross section. Typically 125-200 mm (5-8 in) TL; maximum in Wisconsin about 250 mm (10 in).
Tail, dorsal and other fins: Slightly forked or round tail. Dorsal fin with 2 lobes, broadly joined by a membrane and appearing as one fin, the first with 10-11 spines and the second with 10-12 rays. Pelvic fins thoracic. Adipose fin absent. Anal fin with 3 spines and 10-11 rays.
All Lepomis species in Wisconsin have the potential to hybridize with each other, and certain combinations are relatively common: pumkinseed X warmouth, pumpkinseed X bluegill, pumpkinseed X green sunfish (photos).
two centrarchids, redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus) and pumpkinseed (L. gibbosus),
possess both upper and lower pharyngeal teeth and are likely to consume more zebra mussels
than fishes with only lower pharyngeal teeth.