Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Please Identify these 2 bg?

Thanks......

Okay, I'll try!

1. Not sure - leaning towards Male bc of coloration but opercular tab is kinda small. I'm not sure.

2. Male

Pure strain bluegills no doubt in my mind.

Gender, Cecil?

BG

Top - female - possible immature male

Bottom - male

I have noticed that with my BG the males seem to have the color and the females seem to not have any real color. Is that the norm for BG?

Thanks guys....
So different color patterns is normal even if the fish are from the same strain? I catch some that have a really orange belly, and some barely have any color at all?

Color variation is normal even amongst the same strain within the same species even from the same body of water... Genetics, maturity, size, sex and the fishes mood can all be factors. When you compare from different BOW's the causes become even more variable.

My money is on ewest.

CJ's spot on his color assesments. I've seen the same thing that he's describing.

+2

Thanks guys....and might I ask how you know it is a male?

At least one seems to be a male by the darker breast but I don't see the black scales so I'm not going out on a limb. I would prefer they be mature males during spawning season.

The truth be know from now on I will do a probe with a catheter tube on sexually mature bgs during spawning time, as I'm not 100 percent convinced you can do it entirely visually. I know a sneaker male can disguise himself as a female but I'm starting to wonder if there aren't anomolies out there where females look like males. Theo produced a pic of a what he thought was a gravid female with black scale spots out of his pond that are only supposed to be on males.

I was sure I sexed my fish well recently in my all male pond and I'll be damned if I don't have bluegill fry swimming around! There may have been cage escapees but I'm not so sure...

From the PB articles by Bill Cody , Bruce Condello and Cecil Baird.