Pumpkinseed | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Perciformes |
Family: | Centrarchidae |
Genus: | Lepomis |
Species: | L. gibbosus |
Binomial name | |
Lepomis gibbosus | |
Synonyms [3] | |
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The pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus), also referred to as pond perch, common sunfish, punkie, sunfish, sunny, and kivver, is a small/medium-sized North American freshwater fish of the genus Lepomis (true sunfishes), from family Centrarchidae (sunfishes, crappies and black basses) in the order Perciformes.
The pumpkinseed's natural range in North America is from New Brunswick down the east coast to South Carolina. It then runs inland to the middle of North America, and extends through Iowa and back through Pennsylvania. Pumpkinseed sunfish have however been introduced throughout most of North America. They can now be found from Washington and Oregon on the Pacific Coast to Georgia on the Atlantic Coast. Yet they are primarily found in the northeastern United States and more rarely in the south-central or southwestern region of the continent. [4]
In Europe, the pumpkinseed is considered an invasive species. They were introduced to European waters, and could outcompete native fish. [5] This species is included since 2019 in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (the Union list). [6] It cannot be imported, bred, transported, commercialized, or intentionally released into the environment in the whole of the European Union. [7]
The pumpkinseed has also been introduced to the United Kingdom, having arrived in the country around the same time as the populations in Continental Europe. Its range is believed to be restricted to Southern England and the West Country, with stable populations found in East Sussex, West Sussex and Somerset, though the species may potentially be present in the vicinity of London as well. [8]
Pumpkinseeds have a body shaped much like a pumpkin seed (thus the common name), typically about 10 cm (4 in) but up to 28 cm (11 in) in length. [3] They typically weigh less than 1 pound (450 g), with the world record being 1 pound 8 ounces (680 g) caught by Robert Warne while fishing Honeoye Lake, Upstate New York in 2016. [9] They are orange, green, yellow or blue in color, with speckles over their sides and back and a yellow-orange breast and belly, and the coloration of the ctenoid scales of the pumpkinseed is one of the most vibrant of any freshwater fish and can range from an olive-green or brown to bright orange and blue. The sides are covered with vertical bars that are a faint green or blue, which are typically more prevalent in female pumpkinseeds. Orange spots may cover the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins and the cheeks have blue lines across them. The pumpkinseed is noted for the orange-red spot on the margin of its black gill cover. The pectoral fins of a pumpkinseed can be amber or clear, while the dorsal spines are black. They have a small mouth with an upper jaw stopping right under the eye. [10]
Pumpkinseeds are very similar to the larger bluegill, and are often found in the same habitats. One difference between the two species is their opercular flap, which is black in both species but the pumpkinseed has a crimson spot in the shape of a half moon on the back portion. Pumpkinseeds have seven or eight vertical, irregular bands on their sides that are duller in color compared to the bluegill. [11]
Pumpkinseeds typically live in warm, calm lakes, ponds, and pools of creeks and small rivers with plenty of vegetation. They prefer clear water where they can find shelter to hide. They tend to stay near the shore and can be found in numbers within shallow and protected areas. They will feed at all water levels from the surface to the bottom in the daylight, and their heaviest feeding will be in the afternoon. Pumpkinseed sunfish usually travel together in schools that can also include bluegills and other sunfish. [12]
Pumpkinseeds are more tolerant of low oxygen levels than bluegills are, but less tolerant of warm water. Groups of young fish school close to shore, but adults tend to travel in groups of two to four in slightly deeper yet still covered waters. Pumpkinseeds are active throughout the day, but they rest at night near the bottom or in shelter areas in rocks or near submerged logs.[ citation needed ]
Pumpkinseeds are carnivorous and feed on a variety of small prey both at the water surface and at the bottom. Among their favorites are insects, small molluscs and crustaceans (such as small crawfish), worms, minnow fry, small frogs or tadpoles, and even cannibalizing other smaller pumpkinseeds. They are effective at destroying mosquito larvae and even occasionally consume small pieces of aquatic vegetation and detritus. [13] They also will readily consume human food scraps, most notably bread which is commonly used for bait. [14]
The pumpkinseed sunfish has a terminal mouth, allowing it to open at the anterior end of the snout. [4] Pumpkinseed sunfish that live in waters with larger gastropods have larger mouths and associated jaw muscles to crack the shells. [15]
The pumpkinseed sunfish are typically very likely to bite on a worm bait, which makes them easy to catch while angling. Many fishermen consider the pumpkinseed to be a nuisance fish, as it bites so easily and frequently when the fisherman is attempting to catch something else. The pumpkinseeds are very popular with young fishermen due to their willingness to bite, their abundance and close locations to the shore. Although many people consider the meat of a pumpkinseed to be good-tasting, it is typically not a popular sport fish due to its small size. [4]
Because pumpkinseeds tend to remain in the shallows and feed all day, pumpkinseeds are relatively easy to catch via bank fishing. They will bite at most bait – including garden worms, insects, leeches, or bits of fish meat. They will also take small lures and can be fished for with a fly rod with wet or dry flies. They will also hit at grubs early in the winter, but are less active from mid- to late winter. They may be easy to catch and popular with the youngest anglers, but pumpkinseeds are often sought by adults as well. The fish do put up an aggressive fight on line, and they have an excellent flavor and are low in fat and high in protein. [10]
The IGFA world record for the species stands at 0.68 kg (1 lb 8 oz), caught near Honeoye, New York, in 2016. [9]
The pumpkinseed sunfish is very common and is not listed by CITES. It is considered Least Concern (not threatened) by the IUCN. [1] Spawning grounds of the pumpkinseeds can be disturbed by shoreline development and shoreline erosion from heavy lake use. Their susceptibility to silt and pollution makes the pumpkinseed a good indicator of the cleanliness and health of water. [12]
Once water temperatures reach 55–63 °F (13–17 °C) in the late spring or early summer, the male pumpkinseeds will begin to build nests. Nesting sites are typically in shallow water on sand or gravel lake bottoms. The males will use their caudal fins to sweep out shallow, oval-shaped nesting holes that stretch about twice the length of the pumpkinseed itself. The fish will remove debris and large rocks from their nests with their mouths.
Nests are arranged in colonies consisting of about three to 15 nests each. Often, pumpkinseeds build their nests near bluegill colonies, and the two species interbreed. Male pumpkinseeds are vigorous and aggressive, and defend their nests by spreading their opercula. Because of this aggressive behavior, pumpkinseeds tend to maintain larger territories than bluegills.
Females arrive after the nests are completed, coming in from deeper waters. The male then releases milt and the female releases eggs. Females may spawn in more than one nest, and more than one female may use the same nest. Also, more than one female will spawn with a male in one nest simultaneously. Females are able produce 1,500 to 1,700 eggs, depending on their size and age.
Once released, the eggs stick to gravel, sand, or other debris in the nest, and they hatch in as few as three days. Females leave the nest immediately after spawning, but males remain and guard their offspring. The male guards them for about the first 11 days, returning them to the nest in his mouth if they stray from the nesting site.
The young fish stay on or near the shallow breeding area and grow to about 2 in (5 cm) in their first year. Sexual maturity is usually achieved by age two. Pumpkinseeds have lived to be 12 years old in captivity, but in nature most do not exceed six to eight years old. [16]
The pumpkinseed sunfish has adapted in many ways to the surroundings where it lives. Its skin reflects camouflage for its habitat. The pattern that appears on the pumpkinseed resembles that of the sunlight patterns that reflect on the shallow water of bays and river beds.[ citation needed ]
The pumpkinseed sunfish has developed a specific method of protection. Along the dorsal fin are 10 to 11 spines, and three additional spines on the anal fin. These spines are very sharp, which aid the fish in defense. The pumpkinseed has the ability to anticipate approaching predators (or prey) via a lateral line system, allowing it to detect changes or movements in the water using different mechanical receptors.[ citation needed ]
The brightly colored gill plates of the pumpkinseed sunfish also serve as a method of protection and dominance. Also known as an eye spot, the dark patch at the posterior of the gill plate provides the illusion that the eye of the fish is larger and positioned further back on the body, thus making the fish seem up to four times larger than it actually is. When a pumpkinseed feels threatened by a predator, it flares its gills to make it seem larger in size, and shows off the flashy red coloration. Males of the species also flare their gills in the spring spawning season in a show of dominance and territoriality.[ citation needed ]
In the southernmost regions of its distribution, the pumpkinseed has developed a larger mouth opening and abnormally large jaw muscles to aid in feeding; its forage is small crustaceans and mollusks. The larger bite radius and enhanced jaw muscles allow the pumpkinseed to crack the shells of their prey to attain the soft flesh within, thus providing one common name of 'shellcracker'. [15]
Lepomis, in Greek, means 'scaled gill cover' and gibbosus means 'humped'. [17] The defining characteristic of a pumpkinseed sunfish is the bright red spot at the tip of the ear flap. The pumpkinseed sunfish is widely recognized by its shape of a pumpkin seed, from which its common name comes. [18] See also Wiktionary link below.
Centrarchidae, better known as sunfishes, is a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes, native only to North America. There are eight universally included genera within the centrarchid family: Lepomis, Micropterus, Pomoxis (crappies), Enneacanthus, Centrarchus, Archoplites, Ambloplites, and Acantharchus. A genetic study in 2012 suggests that the highly distinct pygmy sunfishes of the genus Elassoma are also centrarchids.
Triggerfish are about 40 species of often brightly colored fish of the family Balistidae. Often marked by lines and spots, they inhabit tropical and subtropical oceans throughout the world, with the greatest species richness in the Indo-Pacific. Most are found in relatively shallow, coastal habitats, especially at coral reefs, but a few, such as the oceanic triggerfish, are pelagic. While several species from this family are popular in the marine aquarium trade, they are often notoriously ill-tempered.
Teleostei, members of which are known as teleosts, is, by far, the largest infraclass in the class Actinopterygii, the ray-finned fishes, and contains 96% of all extant species of fish. Teleosts are arranged into about 40 orders and 448 families. Over 26,000 species have been described. Teleosts range from giant oarfish measuring 7.6 m (25 ft) or more, and ocean sunfish weighing over 2 t, to the minute male anglerfish Photocorynus spiniceps, just 6.2 mm (0.24 in) long. Including not only torpedo-shaped fish built for speed, teleosts can be flattened vertically or horizontally, be elongated cylinders or take specialised shapes as in anglerfish and seahorses.
The bluegill, sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or, as is common in Texas, "copper nose", is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and wetlands east of the Rocky Mountains. It is the type species of the genus Lepomis, from the family Centrarchidae in the order Perciformes.
The word panfish, also spelled pan-fish or pan fish, is an American English term describing any edible freshwater fish that usually do not outgrow the size of an average frying pan. It is also commonly used by recreational anglers to refer to any small game fish that can fit wholly into a pan for cooking but are still large enough to be legal. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term was first recorded in 1796 in American Cookery, the first known cookbook written by an American author.
Lepomis or true sunfish is a genus of North American freshwater fish from the family Centrarchidae in the order Perciformes. The generic name Lepomis derives from the Greek λεπίς ("scale") and πῶμα. The genus' most recognizable type species is perhaps the bluegill.
The warmouth is a freshwater fish of the sunfish family (Centrarchidae) that is found throughout the eastern United States. Other local names include molly, redeye, goggle-eye, red-eyed bream, and strawberry perch.
The yellow perch, commonly referred to as perch, striped perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill from New York. It is closely related, and morphologically similar to the European perch ; and is sometimes considered a subspecies of its European counterpart.
The redbreast sunfish is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. The type species of its genus, it is native to the river systems of eastern Canada and the United States. The redbreast sunfish reaches a maximum recorded length of about 30 centimetres (12 in).
The green sunfish is a species of aggressive freshwater fish in the sunfish family (Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes. A panfish popular with anglers, the green sunfish is also kept as an aquarium fish by hobbyists, they need a 55-75 gallon tank and can be fed minnows, mealworms, or nightcrawlers. They are usually caught by accident, while fishing for other game fish. Green sunfish can be caught with live bait, such as nightcrawlers, waxworms, mealworms, and blood worms. Grocery store baits, such as pieces of hot dog or corn kernels, can even catch fish. Green sunfish are aggressive and will hit small lures. They can be caught with fly fishing tackle. They are extremely aggressive and will attack swimmers. They usually get 10 inches long, but in some cases they can get 12 inches long.
The longear sunfish is a freshwater fish in the sunfish family, Centrarchidae, of order Perciformes. It is native to the area of eastern North America stretching from the Great Lakes down to northeastern Mexico. The longear sunfish reaches a maximum recorded length of about 24 cm (9.4 in), with a maximum recorded weight of 790 g (1.74 lb). Most do not live beyond six years. The longear sunfish is quite colorful, with an olive to rusty-brown back, bright orange belly and vermiculate blue-green bars on the sides of its head, the latter two features most pronounced in breeding males. A unique characteristic of longear sunfish is their elongated operculum flap, giving an appearance of a "long ear". It is black and often has a white margin. The pectoral fin is relatively short and would not reach the snout if it were reflected anteriorly. In breeding males, iridescent blue spots develop on the dorsum and sides and the fin membranes turn orange in all fins except the ventral ones, which may be blue to black, and the pectoral ones. Lepomis megalotis can be distinguished from closely related dollar sunfish L. marginatus by a greater number of cheek scale rows, by having one to two additional pectoral fin rays and by the slope of the opercular flap, which is distinctly upward in L. marginatus but is closer to horizontal in males of L. megalotis, although female and subadult L. megalotis may have upward slanting opercular flaps.
The redear sunfish, also known as the shellcracker, Georgia bream, cherry gill, chinquapin, improved bream, rouge ear sunfish and sun perch) is a freshwater fish in the family Centrarchidae and is native to the southeastern United States. Since it is a popular sport fish, it has been introduced to bodies of water all over North America. It is known for its diet of mollusks and snails.
The banded pygmy sunfish, Elassoma zonatum, is a species of pygmy sunfish endemic to the United States, where it is found from Indiana and Illinois to Texas to the Atlantic coast. It prefers densely vegetated bodies of slow-moving water. This species can reach 4.7 cm (1.9 in) in total length, though most do not exceed 3.5 cm (1.4 in).
The spotted sunfish, also known as a stumpknocker, is a member of the freshwater sunfish family Centrarchidae and order perciformes. The redspotted sunfish, redear sunfish and pumpkinseed sunfish are its closest relatives. Lepomis punctatus is olive-green to brown in color with black to reddish spots at the base of each scale that form rows of dots on the side. The scientific name punctatus refers to this spotted pattern. It was first described in 1831 by Valenciennes.
The dollar sunfish is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. It is categorized as a warm water pan-fish. Early settlers said that this species of sunfish resembled a European species they called bream. Historically it has been found along the Southern Atlantic coastal drainages from North Carolina to Florida, and west to Texas. Lepomis marginatus mainly feeds on detritus and filamentous algae as well as a few terrestrial insects. The juvenile and mature fish do not have many predators, but the eggs in the nest are in danger of predation from a few different species of fish.
The redspotted sunfish, also known as a stumpknocker, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, a sunfish from the family Centrarchidae which is native to the United States. The redspotted sunfish was previously considered to be a western subspecies of spotted sunfish but was distinguished as a separate species by Warren in 1992.
Trachidermus fasciatus is a species of fish in the superfamily Cottoidea, the sculpins, and the only member of the monotypic genus Trachidermus. Its common name is roughskin sculpin. It has also been called four-gilled perch. It is native to the coastlines of China, Japan, and Korea, where it occurs at the mouths of rivers.
Fundulus zebrinus is a species of fish in the Fundulidae known by the common name plains killifish. It is native to North America, where it is distributed throughout the Mississippi River, Colorado River, and Rio Grande drainages, and other river systems; many of its occurrences represent introduced populations.
The blackbanded sunfish is a freshwater fish species of the sunfish family (Centrarchidae). They are found in the United States ranging from New Jersey to central Florida.> The defining feature of this Black-banded sunfish is the black vertical strips that it has on both sides of its body. The term "Enneacanthus" comes from the Greek terms ennea, which means "nine times", and acanthi, which means "thorn". It is in a genus that consists of only three species along with the Banded Sunfish and the Bluespotted Sunfish. Collectively, they are commonly referred to as the "Banded Sunfish" or "Little Sunfish".
The pumpkinseed x bluegill sunfish, sometimes referred to as hybrid sunfish or pumpkingill, is a hybrid between a pumpkinseed and a bluegill. They are sometimes found in lakes and ponds where both parent species are present.