Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations How well do you know your fish?

Here's a quiz for you. Name these fish....some of the photos are not the quality I normally have. Lens had moisture in it and I didn't realize how foggy it was until fish were released and I had downloaded the photos. See how many you can identify.



1)



2)



3)



4)



5)



6)



7)



8)



9)



10)....okay, you gotta at least get this one.

1) No idea
2) No idea
3) Black Banded sunfish
4) Chain pickerel?
5) Redear sunfish
6) Yellow Perch
7) Another redear sunfish?..yeah, probably some bluegill in him
8) Pike thingie (another chain pickerel?)
9) Golden shiner
10) Bluegill, coppernose, about 1 lb 6 ounces.

I see the same as Bruce except:
2. warmouth or goggle-eye as we called 'em as a kid
5. crappie

1)Rock bass?
2)Rock bass?
3)coppernose bluegill?
4)Pickeral
5)redear
6)yellow perch
7)redear
8)pickeral
9)shiner
10)coppernose

Blue Spotted Sunfish
Warmouth
Black Banded Sunfish
Grass pickeral/redfin pickeral
redear/hybrid
yellow perch
redear/hybrid
northern pike
golden shiner
coppernose bluegill

I don't think thats a rock bass. They have a little red in their eyes. At least the ones in WA do.

1. Bluespotted Sunfish

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/bluespotsun.html

3. grass pickerel

7. chain pickerel

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that both #4 and #8 are the same fish, a grass pickerel. As for the others, the only ones that I'm pretty sure of are:

2: Warmouth/Rock Bass
5&7: coppernose/redear hyb?
6: Yellow Perch
9: Golden Shiner
10: Coppernose

5&7 is a WAG, NOT a SWAG!

I flunk, I don't know the fish. But what nice photos and what a nice tour!

My money is on Cecil with the most correct fish so far...

I think #3, the "black banded sunfish" maybe a banded sunfish, its hard to tell from a pic but it appears there is no red on the pectoral fins like a black banded sunfish has. They are often hard to differentiate. Also black banded sunfish are far less common than banded sunfish.

I don't think #8 is a northern pike, I am guessing a large chain pickerel. The dark line running down from the eye gives that away.

#9 the golden shiner looks a lot like a rudd, but rudd are not very common in the United States so it is most likely a large golden shiner. Those fins are just so red, but the caudal fin isn't colored so that is a pretty good indication it is indeed a golden shiner.

Some great home aquarium specimens in this collection. The banded sunfish, bluespotted sunfish and redfin/grass pickerel all make great aquarium candidates.

CJ:

Chain or Grass? I'm leaning towards Grass because of the reddish color of the tail. Do they get that big? I know the Chain does. To me, it doesn't seem to have the markings of a Chain, but the hands obscure a lot of the fish. Do the Grass Pickerel have the dark band thru the eye as well?

What's your take on the other hybrid "sunfish"? Specifically #5 and #7 What Hybrid cross??

If you're referring to #8, it is definitely a chain pickerel. That fish is longer than 20" long. #4 which is a redfin pickerel is a much better example of a typical size for a redfin pickerel. Redfin pickerel rarely exceed 8" with a maximum size of 14". A 14" redfin pickerel would be like a 20 pound largemouth! VERY RARE Redfin pickerel and grass pickerel are the same species of fish, just different subspecies. Much like "northern" BG and coppernose BG are the same species, just different subspecies. Redfin pickerel are found in Atlantic slope drainages which is where Richmond Mill Lake is, where as grass pickerel are found in the Mississippi and most Great Lake's drainages. And yes, redfin, grass and chain pickerels all have that "tear drop" or dark line vertical to their eyes...



Sunfish are a pain when they hybridize and then cross back with parental species. I think #5 is most likely a pure redear sunfish and #7 is possibly a RESxBG hybrid or a RESx(RESxBG) back cross. Without counting scales and looking at gill rakers I don't know for sure. Bruce is the man when it comes to BG and RES hybrids. He seems to think its some sort of hybrid.

Richmond Mill Lake is obviously a neat BOW with an amazing history. Tannic waters have their unique fish communities. Chain pickerel and redfin pickerel seem to thrive in them. It is no surprise to see bluespotted sunfish or banded sunfish in the lake as well. Warmouth also do well in waters like that and we see one represented in #2. It would not surprise me if Mr Lusk shocked up some spotted sunfish or a flier or two as well. Both of those species do well in waters like that. Any eastern mudminnows, lake or creek chubsuckers come up in the shock survey?

Another helpful hint. Every one of these fish was collected in Richmond Mill Lake Friday while electrofishing. This phenomenal lake is outside Laurel Hill, NC.

Thanks CJ.

There Bob goes again teasing. He's almost as bad as Bruce!

I would assume then that there are no pike that far south?

I think you would be correct James. I think some of the mountain lakes in NC are about as far south as pike can be found... Maybe some high mountain lakes in GA or SC but that would be the absolute maximum southern range.

1) Bluespotted sunfish
2) Warmouth
3) Black banded sunfish (that's a full grown adult)
4) Baby chain pickerel
5) Hybrid (I'm pretty sure it's a cross between redear and a flier)
6) Yellow perch. (They call it 'raccoon perch' here)
7) Same fish as 5
8) Chain pickerel adult
9) Roach or Rudd...I might be corrected on this, but I am pretty sure this 11 inch monster is a roach.
10) Coppernose bluegill and Debbie Lusk

Did you shock up any spotted sunfish or lake or creek chubsuckers?

Two guys here in my office guessed a long nose gar pike. One guy that is here is the Head Honcho of the St. Clair Flats Watershed, it is the largest freshwater delta in North America, he is with Waterfoul USA.

I did pretty well did not know blue spotted didn't you write about that in PB or just the banded. I think we got some of those when I was there.
Hybrid b/w redear and flier now that is cool.
ALso roach is the same as GSH right, south GA boys call them roaches as well.
cj yes they do have chubsuckers in the lake, we got them up by in the main feeder creek.

I joined too late after Bob gave the answers but I would not have gotten half of them anyway. One note on #3 is that baby chain pickerel are hard to tell from redfin - even the chains have those red fins at a young age. Also, young chains have those wiggly stripes before they turn into the actual chain link circles you see on larger ones. They can be as confusing as sunfish hybrids because up in NY and NJ, you can get redfins hybridizing with chains and Northern Pike so the color variations can be confusing.

"Two guys here in my office guessed a long nose gar pike"

that's a new one on me.

Greg, I am not familiar with common names for GSH down there, but there are two separate species not the GSH, both from Europe which have been introduced sporadically in North America. One by the name of common rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus):

Juvenile Rudd


Adult Rudd


This fish species is CLOSELY related to the GSH, so close that they will hybridize in the wild when found together which concerns biologists who are afraid it will mess up the genetic integrity of our native GSH. I have caught them in the wild while seining in the Potomac River. I sent a specimen to the USGS and flipped them out as they had no record of them in there before...


And then also a species known as the common roach (Rutilus rutilus):





If that is a rudd or loach in that picture and not a GSH, it would be interesting to see where it originated from?



Greg, are the creek chubsuckers or lake chubsuckers or both? Both species are found in that region of the country, which is why I am curious...

Bob of the fish that you have in the pictures which of these would you stock in your ponds?

CJB,

I'm aware of the dark line thing but the the fish sure doesn't appear to have the distinctive chains a chain pickerel does as in below. Are you sure that dark mark is not a healed scare as on the side of the fish? Or a chain/northern hybrid as they do exist.

I know the location doesn't seem to be native for northern but it could have been transplanted.






Looks spotted like a northern to me. It doesn't help the fish is dead though.