Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass Fish ID please?!?!?

So put a minnow trap out in a lil ditch near my house and caught these guys never have had them in my neck of the woods before
The one is some kinda sucker and the other I though might have been a green sunfish but has a small mouth.

Top one looks similar to a lake chubsucker (LCS) but not sure if they are native in your area. I can't help with the bottom one.

See this fact sheet about suckers in Florida and good pictures:

Florida Suckers

Can someone else comment on ID of fish in bottom picture?

Bottom fish has green sunfish genetics due to the emerald streaks on the gill cover. The mouth appears to extend at least to the middle of the eye which is not unlike GSF. 1st fish does look like a chubsucker creek or lake species.

Agree with Bill

Use as bait? Lol

could it be a pumpkin seed? according to the FWC web page (gamewarden) GSF do not live in my part of FL they are in the pan handle, and I live in the most north east corner of FL 5 minutes from the the St. Mary`s river

BE careful what you believe from Game Wardens and that group and any group really; including this forum. We try to produce the best, most accurate and up to date pond information but sometimes a few things slip past the Moderators. Green sunfish are notorious for getting distributed to all areas with water especially streams.

In my fish identification experience which is pretty extensive during the college years including a month looking at fish at the Fish Museum Univ of MI), your sunfish is not a pumpkinseed. This is why. The maxillary (aka upper jaw) of your fish pictured extends beyond the front edge of the eye. Look carefully. The maxillary of the pumpkinseed goes back only to the front of the eye. Tomelleri's images are very acurate.
http://www.state.me.us/ifw/fishing/species/identification/images/pumpkinseedsunfish.jpg
Now your fish could have some longear sunfish genetics since it has the prominent emerald streaks on the gill plate and its mouth (upper jaw) extends past the front toward the middle of the eye as does the GSF.

The turquoise specks on the cheek pf this fish is what makes this a longear. However this ear tab has red in it and the eye has a rim of red. I'm suspecting this is not a pure RES but possibly a RES/LES hybrid (the only sunfish in my pond are LES and RES). The hints of turquoise in your fish means it may have longear genetics in it.



By comparison, this is what I believe to be a pure RES from our pond. Notice it also has the red coloring around the eye.




Not the best picture, but this is what a young lake chubsucker (LCS) looks like in my pond with your picture right below for comparison.

I do not think the first fish pic has RES genetics. Looks PS to me. But next to impossible to tell.

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

Ewest,

I have PS in my pond and that was my first thought as well when I saw that first pic from Canyoncreek but, the shape of the opercular flap looks a little "off" to me. Also, I haven't caught any PS in my pond with red eyes (Do some PS have red eyes?).

The OHIO DNR gives this description for LES:

Longear sunfish are deep, slab-sided fish with a small mouth. They get their name from their long ear flap, or opercle. There are two subspecies found in Ohio, the northern longear sunfish (Lepomis megalotis peltastes) and the central longear sunfish (Lepomis megalotis megalotis). The opercle is nearly all black with a white margin. The opercle of the central longear usually runs parallel to the fishes' body and may have several small red spots in the white margin. The opercle of the northern longear is smaller and often points backward at an upward angle rather than being parallel. Northern longears also have a large red spot at the back edge of the opercle. Longear sunfish have emerald blue wavy lines running from the mouth to the rear edge of the gill cover. The back is olive-green with blue-green specks on the side, and the belly is orange, red or yellow. Breeding males are brilliantly colored with the red and blue coloration on their face and body becoming more intense during this period. Females are less intensely colored and do not have as long of an opercle as males. Members of the Centrachidae (sunfish) family. The central longear is typically 4-7 inches, but can reach 9 inches, and the northern longear is typically 2.5-4.5 inches, but can reach 5.5 inches.

So yes, the ear flap is 'funny' it tends to have a swept back look.

The rich yellow belly on my fish makes me wonder about PS genes but searching picture online the heavy turquoise pattern seems pretty strongly LES.

Here are 2 pictures from the ohio DNR page:






I got my RES and LES from Brian Zimmerman. Here is a picture of Brian holding one of his LES 'breeders'


Mine is here, you can see the yellow belly on his and mine. Who knows, perhaps his LES have some pumpkinseed in them too

Sorry Dinsmore, back to your thread. If you can post more pictures of these sunny fish from FL we would be happy to give our opinions.

I FOUND OUT WHAT IT IS!!! it is called a Dollar sunfish!! they live here in the south east in small creeks and drainage's like where I found mine, and they only grow to be 4" max. they are sold for aquarium fish as well

Beautiful fish

nice detective work!

Thanks Bobby, might get a couple more for my aquarium