ID This Sunfish!

[JIM]

You know you gotta explain why don't you?

well i been looking at pics for distinguishing features but i just was on my way back to change that answer after running thru the key above, now i think Red spotted. LOL so for 10,000 are you smarter tan a 5th grader, my final answer is Red Spotted based on what i saw in the key, or at least what i think i saw

 

[JDS]

thats not true at all. there is a positive id that isnt a hybrid, otherwise sandtiger wouldnt have said that it isnt a sub species

i bet sandtiger knows what species I'm touking about. and no its not a hybrid.

 

[gourami]

What makes you think it is an OSS?

The key said it was

 

[JIM]

Guess we will never know, dont look like he is ever coming back

 

[JDS]

Lepomis marginatus

 

[andyjs]

Lepomis marginatus

That's a good guess as far as I can tell. The margin on the "ear" and overall head and body shape look good.

There is so much more to IDing fish than color. Like sandtiger talked about earlier-you can't rely on color when you're trying to ID a fish that's been preserved in formalin for a couple years. At that point, most fish are a pretty bland uniform gray. There are so many other characteristics like certain fin shapes, mouth shape, certain spots, bands or other patterns, size/shape of the eye. In some, proper ID is almost impossible without going so far as looking at internal characteristics like pharyngeal teeth. Obviously, this isn't anything close to a formal course on ichthyology. Some of my non-biology major/non-fishkeeping friends don't understand how there can even be a class on "just fish," but I'd think in the natives section of a fishkeeping forum, you guys would care a little more...

 

[MultispeciesTamer]

ugh its a dollar sunfish (lepomis marginatus) weird looking "ear" on gillplate gives it away along with spots and the dorsal fin spines, mouth angle and eye placement

 

[blacktip]

Dollar sunfish was my guess. It's the only sunfish I've seen with spots on the ear.

 

[uting]

I don't know!

 

[JIM]

I don't know!

I think that is probably the best answer ive seen so far. and i would like to offer something that might stop a lot of the bickering in these threads.
We are blessed with people on this forum that are well educated in all phases of our hobby, when they see helter skelter, or bad info being distributed, it irks them to no end, which in turn, causes friction. They are not mean, just what they are. I for one will be the first to admit that I KNOW just enough about Native fish to be dangeruous. I love collecting and keeping them, and have enough years in the fish keeping hobby to do that with some success, But when it comes to ID and a lot of other things, Im lacking, and to be honest I want to know what they are but have no burning desire to be an expert, I just want to have fun in this hobby and know how to deal with keeping them happy and healthy. So in the FUTURE i intend to leave the advice to the experts, and learn what i want to know based on questions and observation and avoid at all cost, confusion and confrontation, and aggrivation. Thats all i got to say about that.