Can anyone tell me what species this is?
You're probably wondering why the picture is B&W. That is because it has come to my attention that too many people are relying on color alone in order to ID a fish. As all of you should know fish change color, they fade in and out, loose their color when they're dead and can exhibit a great deal of diversity in colors between populations. I'm not giving you any hints, there are only 32 species of sunfishes and quite a few that this one quite obviously is not. In addition to telling me what species this is I would also like you to tell me how you got to the conclusion that it is what it is. If you don't have a field guide there is a key stickied to the top of this forum specifically for IDing Centrarchids. Good luck!
P.S. I know there are some members who might recognize this individual fish or the species immediately, I would appreciate it if we let the more inexperienced members handle this one.
You're probably wondering why the picture is B&W. That is because it has come to my attention that too many people are relying on color alone in order to ID a fish. As all of you should know fish change color, they fade in and out, loose their color when they're dead and can exhibit a great deal of diversity in colors between populations. I'm not giving you any hints, there are only 32 species of sunfishes and quite a few that this one quite obviously is not. In addition to telling me what species this is I would also like you to tell me how you got to the conclusion that it is what it is. If you don't have a field guide there is a key stickied to the top of this forum specifically for IDing Centrarchids. Good luck!
P.S. I know there are some members who might recognize this individual fish or the species immediately, I would appreciate it if we let the more inexperienced members handle this one.
