Fishing Ontario Canada

 

Distribution in the area:

Balfour Lake, Baptiste Lake, Batelle Lake, Bird Lake, Buck Lake, Cannon Lake, Gin Lake, Jamieson Lake, Kamaniskeg Lake, Limerick Lake, Lower Paudash Lake, Mallard Lake, Mayo Lake, Mink Lake, Stringer Lake, Watt Lake, Weslemkoon Lake, Wollaston Lake,

Name:

Lepomis, from the Greek, "scaled gill cover"
gibbosus, from the Greek, "wide margin"
Common Name
Other common names include: Punkinseed

Taxonomy:

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata, animals with a spinal chord
Subphylum Vertebrata, animals with a backbone
Superclass Osteichthyes, bony fishes
Class Actinopterygii, ray-finned and spiny rayed fishes
Subclass Neopterygii
Infraclass Teleostei
Superorder Acanthopterygii,
Order Perciformes, the perch-like fishes
Suborder Percoidei
Family Centrarchidae, the Sunfishes
Genus Lepomis, common and eared sunfishes

Description:

A small, extremely colorful sunfish, probably the most beautiful of all sunfishes, and among the most beautiful of all US native fishes.

Length:

to 9"
typically 5"-6" in length
some may approach 10"

Weight:

Coloration:

body golden brown; covered with iridescent blue-green irregular spots
stomach usually a creamy white or yellow
pectoral and pelvic fins sometimes colored with translucent white or blue. Remaining fins grey, occasionally with various shades of yellow.
head marked with horizontal light-flourescent stripes
black "ear" flap like the Bluegill

Body:

typical sunfish shape
moderately compressed, deep
spiny frontal dorsal fin
long cadual peduncle

Head:

mouth is small, typical of non-predatory sunfish.

Identification:

Field Marks
horizontal stripes on face
red-tipped gill cover

Habitat:

Still, warm waters with abundant vegetation. They seem to prefer weedy, warmwater lakes and ponds, using weed patches, docks, and logs for cover and usually staying close to shore. Present in the calm pools of most rivers.
More likely to be found in moving waters than other sunfish.

Food:

Aquatic and terrestrial insects, mollusks, small fish, and occasionally small pieces of aquatic vegetation.

Uses:

Pumpkinseeds share many of the characteristics which make their larger cousins so popular on the line and on table, save only one -- their diminutive size limits their angling appeal to children and as panfish, it would take a great many to fill a pan.
Easy to maintain in aquaria as long as they have a roomy tank with cool, well oxygenated water and nutritious food.

Reproduction:

Spawning occurs early May to August. Male digs a pit in the substrate in which the eggs are deposited. Nest in colonies on sand and small gravel in open shallow areas
Fecundity is 1,034-2,436 eggs per female per year
The parents, particularly the male, guard the offspring until they are free swimming and able to take care of themselves.Hybridizes with other sunfish making identification difficult in the wild where more than one species may be found.
Mature in 1-3 years