Green Sunfish Right?
- Thread starter pelleeklund
- Start date
From what I'm seeing Longear have not been caught that far east. Their populations are mostly around the Ohio River basin. So I'm guessing you have a redbreast.
I was not able to find much on redbreast distribution since they're not a popular gamefish. If you post over at Nanfa they could probably tell you for sure.
I am, of course, obligated to say, as an avid native fish hobbyist, that you really shouldn't take fish home that you haven't already ID'd. Especially when you have comparable species that are endangered.
For instance, if you catch a sunfish, and none are endagered or threatened in your state, then it might be ok to bring it home because even without an exact species ID you know you're not bringing an endagered or threatened species home. In other words, no matter what the fish ends up being, you can be safe in knowing that it was legally and ethically attained and brought home.
If you catch a sunfish, many of which are hard to ID for the average person, and there are a few that are endagered in your state (which is true of PA), you shouldn't bring it home without a proper ID, because you don't know for sure whether you're keeping it legally or not (and ethically it's not a good idea to bring home endagered species either).
That's why people harp on the ones that bring home darters and then ask for an ID. There's so many populations of darters that are questionable or endagered it's not ethical and possibly not legal.
I was not able to find much on redbreast distribution since they're not a popular gamefish. If you post over at Nanfa they could probably tell you for sure.
I am, of course, obligated to say, as an avid native fish hobbyist, that you really shouldn't take fish home that you haven't already ID'd. Especially when you have comparable species that are endangered.
For instance, if you catch a sunfish, and none are endagered or threatened in your state, then it might be ok to bring it home because even without an exact species ID you know you're not bringing an endagered or threatened species home. In other words, no matter what the fish ends up being, you can be safe in knowing that it was legally and ethically attained and brought home.
If you catch a sunfish, many of which are hard to ID for the average person, and there are a few that are endagered in your state (which is true of PA), you shouldn't bring it home without a proper ID, because you don't know for sure whether you're keeping it legally or not (and ethically it's not a good idea to bring home endagered species either).
That's why people harp on the ones that bring home darters and then ask for an ID. There's so many populations of darters that are questionable or endagered it's not ethical and possibly not legal.
Thank you for your concern. Not that it's an excuse but in my defense I was pretty sold at the time it was a green. I was also unaware that there is panfish species in our state that would be illegal to keep regardless of size or type. Thank you for telling me, I will brush up on it and keep better tabs. I appreciate your position on the subject too, but personally ethics aren't as important to me in the grand scheme as plain legality. State law isn't as open to interpretation as ethics. Even if I do agree, its not worth it for personal feelings to muddle a discussion already clarified in black and white. Not that you were harping on me, just kindly passing on some very important info, I just get nervous when that word starts to pop up around here. Honestly though, thank you for the heads up. You seem very knowledgeable on the subject and it's nice of you to pass it on.
pelleeklund;4356363; said:
You're welcome.
And yeah, I wasn't trying to harp on you. I was someone that didn't understand all those issues at first either, so it would be hypocritical for me to do so.
The endagered sunfish fish in your state are Longear, Warmouth, and the Banded Sunfish.
Identifying sunfish can be difficult because they often have a lot of characteristics in common. People tend to compare those characteristics rather than looking at the ones they generally DON'T have in common.
And with some fish you need to count fin rays to get a definitive ID. Sometimes that's not exact either, so you need to pay attention to where the fish was caught and if it's likely to be present in that region and waterway.
The other issue is that people can make up any common name they want. When we say green sunfish we're generally referring to Lepomis cyanellus. Lepomis is the genus, which includes other related sunfish. cyanellus, when put after the genus name, refers specifically to that ONE species of fish. That's why hardcore hobbyists will often refer to scientific names. Scientific names do not change depending on regional slang.
Here in Southeast Missouri, most people refer to any sunfish as "perch", even though sunfish are not in the perch family. They refer to both Rock Bass and Warmouth as goggleeye, neither of which are in the same genus (warmouth being a Lepomis, and Rock Bass being an Ambloplites).
So you see, it gets confusing. That's why it helps to learn exactly which fish you are referring to by its common name, and also what tricks you need to know to make a positive ID.
Thanks very much. Sucks about the warmouths too, I had always hoped to catch one for the tank. The only other fish I was considering to bring home was a pumpkinseed. Is there any info on those guys that you could pass on? Habitat, feeding tendencies, population per lake etc.. things like that? Once again much appreciated. The only place I have ever seen one caught was French Creek Pa., and here it is courtesy of my buddy Steve.
http://www.fish.state.pa.us/ has a bunch of info on what is stocked where and what waterways many fish are found it.
Most Lepomis species have about the same care, so if you keep a pumpkinseed it's going to need about the same setup and food. Though pumpkinseed do not get as large as the redbreasts and green sunfish.
Most Lepomis species have about the same care, so if you keep a pumpkinseed it's going to need about the same setup and food. Though pumpkinseed do not get as large as the redbreasts and green sunfish.
