Here's a picture of a BG I caught today. I caught about a half dozen carbon copies of this one. I stared this thread with the intent of posting some pictures of some of my F2 and beyond offspring. There has been a lot of discussion about what HBG turn into over time. Along with the picture posted here I also caught some small 4 to 5 inch fish that I think will really show the variety of offspring I'm getting from the HBG. Some looked like regular BG, some like HBG, and some like GSF. Unfortunately today as soon as I got the camera I couldn't catch anything but these big ones. Over the next several weeks I will work at finding some of the F2+ and posting pictures in this thread.

I understand each of those words individually, but for some reason the sentence just isn't making any sense to me.

bz:

I look forward to varied F2(+) pics. Should be interesting; it sounds like it demonstrates the theoretical variability in Fx gene combinations.

That's a fascinating photo. Has all of the standard characteristics of HBG, but without much fin bordering. Hmmmm...

That is a hunk of a fish right there. I also look forward to more photos. Folks, remember, 'Bubba' came from a 20 yr. old pond. He had to be an Fx with x being a high number.

That's a beauty bz. I'm looking forword to photos of the offspring, especially something with a lot of GSF traits.

BZ that one looks some what like last years from the HBG thread.

HBG thread http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000439

This year




Last year

Ewest, you are right. They pretty much look like duplicates don't they? The one last year was about 4 ounces lighter. Could be the same fish but as I mentioned above I did catch a half dozen of them that all looked the same. Several weeks ago I had a buddy over and he caught 22 of them that could have been twins. No doubt these are all my F1 generation.

Bruce, it is interesting that the fin bordering seems to come and go. I hadn't noticed it until you point it out. It was much more pronounced in the spring, every fish had bright orange borders. Right now most of them don't.

I'd really like you all to see the F2+ fish. They really do exhibit some wide ranging characteristics. I'll work hard to get pictures over the next several weeks.

GW, that sentence is the opposite of the usual complaint isn't it? Usually the big ones don't bite when the camera is around. Since I wanted small ones I couldn't catch them. I've been catching more small ones than large ones for a week now and all of a sudden when I want small ones I can't fine them. Go figure. Mr. Murphy is definitely at work here.

Fine looking fish Bz. Any idea as to it's weight?

Jeff, didn't weight that one but typically at 10 inches they weigh close to a pound, at 10.25 inches they have been running 18 ounces.

Finally got some pictures of some F2's. Take a look:

GSF strong, especially the bottom two.

that second one is really strange but a cool looking fish.

bz interesting. IIRC you have no plain BG or GSF just HBG - is that correct ? Can you give us the app. size and did you see what sex they were ?

Interesting pics. Thanks bz.

Originally posted by Sunil:

Second that. This is a really interesting ongoing thread-I'm starting to think I may never have seen a "pure bred" GSF; lots of ponds and creeks around here have them, but they may all come from "degenerate" HBG. bz, have you been able to get any feeling for the fecundity of your F1 or F2s?

Lots of variation.

I think this is the first time anyone on the forum has posted some real examples of the offspring of HBG, at least that I've ever seen.

As ewest said, it will be good to see if what all fish bz had in his pond before these offspring.

yes, thanks again for taking the time to do this bz, its fascinating.

correct me if i'm wrong, but in a true GSF, the back of the jaw (where the upper and lower jaws meet) nearly lines up under the eye of the fish. on bz's Fx fish it looks well forward of the eye (maybe its just camera angle or degree of the mouth opening on bz's fish?).

here's a couple pics (same fish) caught from ranch pond last year for comparison:

Found this on the Ohio Department of Natural Resources site......

IDENTIFICATION: Green sunfish have a moderately compressed body, but are not as deep bodied as other sunfish. The mouth is relatively large and the upper jaw extends back to the middle of the eye. The pectoral fin is short and rounded. Green sunfish are colored a bluish-green with emerald and yellow iridescence. The belly is yellow to white. The ear flap is black with a white to yellow margin. Frequently, green sunfish have a black spot near the end of the dorsal and anal fins.

That second fish down (in the series of four) is one strange looking fish! Like DIED's GSF my GSF have yellowish bellies (not bright orange) and their mouths are huge in relation to body length (when compared to BG or RES).

Don't know where the orange comes from, you feeding those fish carrots or what Bz???

Here is a standard GSF BUT they exhibit wide visual variation.

I had absolutely no fish in my pond prior to the HBG. It was a new pond, no inlets, no outlets, just a hole in the ground. Unless the hatchery accidently mixed something else in all I have is HBG. All my F1's were very identifiable and looked very much the same. I never saw anything like these until now. Yolk Sac, I'll answer your "fecundity" question as soon as I look up the word. If it has to do with reproduction I'd say I don't know yet. But I have never seen schools of small BG in the pond and there aren't a lot of this size fish. So I don't think anything is reproducing very much yet. I trap pretty often and usually get a couple but never very many.

Ewest, these fish are generally in the 4 to 5 inche size. I don't know how to tell males and females so I can't answer that. I can say thought that of my HBG F1's I have eaten 250 so far and I have yet to find any that had eggs in them. So I think that means they were probably all males? I have yet to cut into any of these f2's.

bz, if you catch some more and have the time and desire, please post some more pics of those "next generation" wonders.

Here's two more F2's I caught today and a random crappie that hit a bug.

And here's my mutant bluegill. I catch this guy once or twice per year. I've described him before on this forum but this is the first time I've had my camera handy. What kind of deformity is this?

Couple of observations. The bottom 2 of the 4 are scarily like GSF for F2s.

The pics of last and this year actually look quite a bit different. Last years has a good bit taller aspect ratio. This years has lots of emerald markings behind the mouth, as compared to last years.
A true hodgepodge, although a chunky hodgepodge.

Kinda like this one.

Eric,

How in the world does that happen? That looks like something Dr. Frankenbruce would create...except his would be eating your hand, not flopping around in it.

I think someone has a pug-type dog mixing up with the fishes.

If BZ's pug-gill could talk, he'd sound like Peter Lorre.

That is one weird looking mutant fish!

David that is not a fish from my ponds. It came from a pond that has CNBG , RES , std. HBG and GG. but probably at that time no spawning of fish to that size had occurred. No idea what or how.

Very interesting, nonetheless. That's a face only a pondmeister could love.

I think Theo's got it. We have always just referred to my fish as "the pug". I think his name is "Peter". I knew it reminded me of someone. How weird, Ewest's fish is just like mine. There must be some natural mutation that causes this. I think I have at least two of these in my pond since I've caught at least two different sized fish with this look. Almost scary aren't they?

BZ, that looks like the results of a bluegill mating with a bass plug.