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 |