CJ I've decided to call the fish picture above in my pond PS.
PS occur naturally in our area and I've added over 100 to my pond. The ones I've put in there myself are PS I'm positive of that. They were added as fingerlings and I have a positive ID based off the pic in the last issue of Pond Boss.
I did not do the initial stocking on my pond, but the same BOW that holds the PS can and will join the pond during the early spring when the weeds are gone and the water is high.
My guess is that the original BG/HBG/GSF mix was inundated with a population of PS sometime ago. Keep in mind this BOW's top predators were crappie. Most likely stocked as fingerlings the same time as everything else. So a lot of mingling occurred so to speak. There are a lot of variations on each of the species.
Here are some examples of PS I found on the net, so they may too be hybrids:
Now I believe this is the classic "full color" PS, probably raised in a crystal clear aquarium.
This is what several of my PS look like. Which I would expect for a eutrophic NE Ohio Pond:
Here's another
So CJ I may be wrong but morphologically speaking these fish resemble PS more so then any other species. I guess you'll just need to come up to OH and catch fish with me to see for yourself.
Wait I have a better idea. I can create my own species called Altmann's Hybrid Pumpkinseed...or AHPS for short.
