I'd say we have found our answer then lol One thing I have seen in the Dollars vs Longears (according to google images) is some of the Dollars seem to have flecks or spots of silver-ish iridescence on their 'ear spot' in addition to the silver-ish outline around the ear, while none of the images of Longears I've seen have the random spots on the ear. None of mine have the spots in the ear, but it probably varies by location or individual.. or age maybe?
ID on these sunfish?
- Thread starter KHarris
- Start date
That's like saying there is no difference between Black and White, when clearly there is. If there was no difference in the two, this thread wouldn't be here. But since it is easily confused, there is a thread.
Longear
Cheek scales 5 to 7 rows
pec rays 13 to 15
no red streaks along lateral line
Dollar
cheek scales 3 or 4 rows
pec rays usually 12
red streak along lateral line
max length 10 cm
There are several types of Longears floating around, are they all exactly the same besides the coloring or do some have more rays, etc. than the others?
Good eye KHarris im sure your right and that's one distinguishing feature, sometimes its hard to tell because there are 6 known subspecies of Longears (3 recognized by science) and 2 recognized subspecies of Dollar sunfishes.....often they vary from region to region; Im not bragging but ive seen enough Longear (we have them in SW Missouri) in streams and enough Dollar sunfishes on the web and in aquariums that I could tell the difference between Dollars and Longears by their body shape.
I've noticed that Dollar sunfishes and Northern longear sunfish are remarkable similar in shape.
That could be true with some of the Longears in Minnesota or maybe other areas....but our local longears have a longer body than most Dollar sunnies and have a lot more reddish orange in them.
Ive heard that Northern Longear is completely separated species from the Longear complex. They don't looks like a typical longear that most of us are familiar with.
is dollar sunfish the same as a bluegill? i live in michigan, so i dont know a fish whose name ur referring too. here, we call those em pumpkinseed sunfish, but i guess, it all refers to the area
centrarchid of Nanfa has some videos on you tube of his sunfish tank with both regular and Northern Longears in it, and you can definitely see a different color pattern, and from the pictures I can find online the Northern Longear definateley looks more in size and body shape like a Dollar than its cousins do.
No Pumpkinseeds are a different sunny than Bluegill, Longears or Dollars heres a link that goes into a little more detail http://zipcodezoo.com/Key/Animalia/Lepomis_Genus.asp
