Sprkplug, I am going to rethink my previous post and just say that there is some definite overlap between male and female characteristics in the opercular appearance. I would not use the the color or appearance of the ear tab as the only cue to sex RES for sorting to put in a single sex pond. Case in point, see the male I caught this morning, the ear tab is very orange in appearance, I am pretty sure that I pulled this male off a bed in my shallow pea gravel area even though I can't actually see the bed right now.
