Fish ID?

[sandtiger]

i dont make my jugments on just color but it is a main factor. now hybrids in sunnies are very common and should be used. this fish has certeristics of both bluegill and green sunfish. it also has a lack of pigimentation on its face

Hybrid sunfish are common but they aren't so common that every fish someone posts has to be a hybrid. I get the feeling that people are just calling fish hybrids because they cannot properly identify them. I honestly don't see any characteristics that scream bluegill, it looks like a typical juvenile green sunfish. The mouth is far to large and the body far to elongate for it to be much of anything else. Also look at the pectoral fin, in greens it is rounded, in bluegills pointed. The fish in the pictures have rounded pectoral fins. The fish in the picture also lack a key feature used in identifying a bluegill, a black spot on the soft portion of the dorsal fin.

 

[JIM]

Hybrid sunfish are common but they aren't so common that every fish someone posts has to be a hybrid. I get the feeling that people are just calling fish hybrids because they cannot properly identify them. I honestly don't see any characteristics that scream bluegill, it looks like a typical juvenile green sunfish. The mouth is far to large and the body far to elongate for it to be much of anything else. Also look at the pectoral fin, in greens it is rounded, in bluegills pointed. The fish in the pictures have rounded pectoral fins. The fish in the picture also lack a key feature used in identifying a bluegill, a black spot on the soft portion of the dorsal fin.

It also appears in a couple of pics there is a white trim to some of the fins, and the rounded tail....maybe not a screaming green, but young fish, and even my grown ones can change some of their best identifiers, at will almost, except the fin shape, and mouth size. I vote GREEN

 

[teleost]

I ask the same question of all of the people that question the Green sunfish ID.
What key features are you using to ID this fish and from what book are you getting these key features?

 

[MultispeciesTamer]

I ask the same question of all of the people that question the Green sunfish ID.
What key features are you using to ID this fish and from what book are you getting these key features?

i use the north american fishing and hunting libary, series of books

 

[JIM]

I ask the same question of all of the people that question the Green sunfish ID.
What key features are you using to ID this fish and from what book are you getting these key features?

Since you dont have a PM option on your posts, I would like for you to contact me by Email @ JimV8673 at aol.com, I have somthing i would like to tell you.

 

[teleost]

i use the north american fishing and hunting libary, series of books

I'm sorry I don't use that book but doubt it could key that fish as a Bluegill. Can you tell us how the book describes a Bluegill's identifying features?

Jim,
We've communicated a few times already via email....What's up?

 

[MultispeciesTamer]

heres a sample paragraph out of a 160 page book about panfish

"As their name implies, bluegills have a powder blue gill cover. Females have yellow breasts; males copper-orange. The ear flap is entirely black. The bluegill has a black blotch on the lower rear of the dorsal fin, a mark not found on other sunfish. Bluegills in Florida waters usualy have dark, vertical bars on their sides."
The Hunting & Fishing Libary

 

[sykofrenic]

Looks like some sort of sunfish to me. They are actually related to cichlids afterall.

cichlids arent related to sunfish

 

[JIM]

I'm sorry I don't use that book but doubt it could key that fish as a Bluegill. Can you tell us how the book describes a Bluegill's identifying features?

Jim,
We've communicated a few times already via email....What's up?

Just wanted to tell you more privately , but i guess it dont matter the only surviving specimen is doing great, is about 3 inches or more now . fat healthy and must be a male, has classic coloration really reddish fins and brilliant orange spots, Great fish, just wanted to say thanks again. I intend to search for some more myself in the spring now that i know they are in the river and not the creeks where ive searched all fall.

 

[teleost]

heres a sample paragraph out of a 160 page book about panfish

"As their name implies, bluegills have a powder blue gill cover. Females have yellow breasts; males copper-orange. The ear flap is entirely black. The bluegill has a black blotch on the lower rear of the dorsal fin, a mark not found on other sunfish. Bluegills in Florida waters usualy have dark, vertical bars on their sides."
The Hunting & Fishing Libary

If you want to start getting into a more technical (and accurate) ID guide, I would recommend starting with Freshwater fishes of North America in the Peterson Field guide series. You'll probably want to progress further from that book but it's a great start and very inexpensive. It provides much more detailed descriptions (including scale, ray and other counts) and practical key features to distinguish similar fishes. This book has it's shortcomings but hey...it's a small inexpensive book attempting to cover every single NA freshwater fish. That is one heck of a task.

Jim,

I guess you lost my email?? I wasn't trying to make you post in public, but I'm glad the fish is well and looking good.