Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass Pumpkinseed or PS/RES Hybrid?

I can't help but smile because, like you, I puzzled with the appearance myself when I caught it. The LES I stocked did not look like a smaller version of the fish in the photo (more on that in bit). Also I apologize for the poorly focused low resolution pic. I did not want it out of water long and as my daughter was holding it was spinning around. But if you look closely, except for the banding and a darkened patch along the lateral line, the fish was primarily orange ... even under the dorsal fin area. This is visible in the pic but the pic does a horrible job of depicting that fish. Nothing compared to the eye candy of being there.

Back to how different it looked when I caught it as compared to when it went in. The LES in this region are bright orange with blue interspersed. I haven't been able to find a pic online that demonstrates what I am looking at when I catch one, at least not a match. Some time later I will post a pic of one for reference (will be a while after I catch another). The LES here have a long thin bright bluish grey ear tab with a black and then a white margin as did the LES when I stocked it. So I was very puzzled because ear tab a year later was long and FAT and blackish blue. The margins weren't there and I was puzzled. But at the time I new the history of the pond and I thought the fish in it were stocked by me. Given I stocked only one LES, I felt confident it was the same fish (though I could be wrong). But this leaves the question, why so different in appearance? At the time I was able to view a pic of the world record LES and it too was dark and oddly shaped and colored. So I do wonder how this plays into maximum potential sizes and how this affects morphology. As an example, consider the fish you posted. At one time the fish you see in Bruce's hands once looked very much like it ...



I would mention that the banding does occur in other LES when spawning ... but that big fat ear tab ... why? So either it wasn't the same fish ... or ... something else is going on. Perhaps colors, markings, even shapes of ear tabs are not fixed but are plastic features that can be modulated. To be sure, I wondered if the appearance had something to do with this fish's competition. With no females present, was this natures way of mimicking his competition by presenting an ear tab that was bigger and blacker than the larger BG? I just don't know, perhaps it found its way into that pond by some other means than myself. Either way, it is a memory I won't soon forget.