Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass what kind of fish is this?

Can anyone tell me exactly what kind of fish this is?

There was some minor debate at the pond yesterday on exactly what it was.

Wow, Zep, these fish ID questions usually get quick responses, but 3 1/2 hours of silence can only mean the experts are completely stumped on this one. So I guess now the question falls to absolute non-experts like me .

I say it's a hybrid bluegill. I can also tell its a male and of relatively young age. He's kinda on the skinny side, so he's either a finicky eater, or possibly was the runt of his litter. The fact that his eye is a little large in comparison to his body size suggests he suffers from some kind of acute paranoia. I will go out on a limb and suggest the paranoia may be linked to the eating disorder.

But since there's information to go on, the source of his fears at this point is difficult to diagnose for sure. Possibly he's afraid of getting his butt kicked by a larger sibling whenever he attempts to feed, but like I say, I'm not sure on this one.

What we can be sure of, though, is now that he's been yanked and dragged outa the water by his lip (hopefully it was just his lip), his food-fear has probably become soewhat more complex and all I can say is I'm glad I'm not his psychiatrist!

That was what some were saying yesterday...
so you are not alone vamaz!


he was actually shocked outta the pond

See this

http://web1.cnre.vt.edu/efish/families/hybrid.html

Thanks Eric....

I wonder if this fish is skinny like vamaz says because
the link you provides states this fish "Does not thrive in ponds".

Looks like a pumpkinseed to me.

I agree with CB1 there are some pumpkinseed genes in that fish; to what percent I am not sure. There could be some longear sunfish genes present too. Younger pumpkinseeds often do not display distinct characters of the adults.

To me, it looks like what happens when a traditional hybrid bluegill backcrosses with a pure parental strain.

I like Shawn's opinion best so far. Good evaluation for this small sunfish considering where it came from. As I recall, Shorty had some pictures of adult hybrid sunfish that looked a lot like the one above. Hybridizing of sunfishes can produce some individuals with interesting color patterns.

I wasn't thinking of that Shawn. I was thinking plain HBG.

I was thinking of a cross between a HBG and a RES. If it was far north, I'd think Pumpkinseed instead of RES, but since it's in Texas........

Interesting hybrid, exactly what percentage of each species it is, I doubt anyone can say for sure. What species of sunfish are known to exist in the pond?

Some sort of hybrid, maybe a male GSF x female BG or an F2. Here are a few pictures from the HBG archives.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=14459&page=1

The chance of a backcross between a HBG and either parental is highly remote. At least one study states they can't.

It looks like a PS but those are not normal in TX. Next best guess is a hybrid RBS.

Here is a confirmed PS which is close to the fish in question.