Fish in the Cacapon River II (Sunfish)
Fish in the Cacapon River II
(Don Robinson)
Sunfish
Basses and sunfish are all from the family Centrarchidae, commonly called ‘pan fish’, which are native only in the fresh waters of North America. The pumpkinseed and redbreast are the only ones native to the Cacapon and Potomac watershed. The others are introduced species.
Sunfish are like birds in that the male is the most colorful, and in particular is downright flashy during the spawning season. Cacapon sunfish all have nearly the same breeding habits. They spawn from late May through much of the summer in water temperatures of 67 to 82 degrees. The male fans out a nest (called a redd) about a foot or two in diameter and two or three inches deep in shallow water with its tail (caudal fin) and pectoral fins and lures or bullies females (often more than one) to the nest where she lays some of her thousands of eggs. The female Bluegill carries around 50,000 of them. Females lay all their eggs in several nests, and each nest contains the eggs of several females. This would enhance the chance of survival of the genes of the individual. The eggs stick to the rocks in the nest, and then the male fertilizes them and guards the nest from predation while trying to sweep it free from nest-choking silt. Too much silt from high water and/or actions of man can destroy a nest. The male remains at his post watching the hatchlings for a period of time while they stay in a close school and feed on minute crustaceans and grow large enough to live independently. Sometimes there are large numbers of nests in a cluster where conditions for nesting are ideal, usually sandy covered gravel in 1 to 4 feet of water. The sunfish all interbreed to some extent, especially in turbid waters where the markings are not as visible, so identifying a specific fish can be challenging. Five species reproduce in the Cacapon River. A 'sunny' can reproduce during its second or third summer. They live about 7 years given normal circumstances.
Sunfish feed on insects, insect larva, snails, crustaceans, crayfish, and smaller fish. Most don’t predate on minnows as heartily as bass because they have smaller mouths. A school of very tame sunfish will bite at moles and scabs on a human if the human stands still enough. The bite is startling, but really isn’t harmful since the bite is from their Velcro-like teeth. There is a part of the anatomy called an ear flap, but it is not a hearing mechanism. These fish, like the bass, are mostly visual feeders, but can sense vibration with their lateral line. The ones near our dock get their diet supplemented by sliced American cheese bits we throw in to watch them feed, and any leftover or moldy stuff, since they don’t mind the spoiled flavor too much. Over time, they become tame enough to take it from your fingers if you are patient. One of my favorite river things to do on a hot summer day when the water is clear is get a snorkel and goggles and sit on the bottom in front of my dock and have somebody toss cheese to the sunfish as I watch them from under the surface. They always seem to adapt to my presence if I am still and wait long enough. (Hence the water must be warm!) Their beautiful coloration can be seen from under the surface if the river is clear. After researching the various breeds for this article, I am waiting anxiously for the water to warm up and see if I can identify them better than I could before. The best way to see the coloration of these beauties is to take them from the water, gawk for a few short minutes, and then return them for another day’s sport.
The drawings on this page came from the website of the Native Fish Conservancy at http://www.nativefish.org.
Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)
Bluegills, as well as other sunfish, are called brim or bream in the south. The fish gets its name from the bluish rim on the gill flap.
The female has vertical barring on its round, flat, greenish body and the male is the one with yellow/orange belly, while the female is white-bellied. The front part of the dorsal fin is spiny as it is on all pan fish. Both male and female bluegills have a dark spot at the back of the dorsal fin, which is a way to distinguish the bluegill from the pumpkinseed and others when it is seen from the bank, dock or in the water. It is a popular game fish and puts up a good scrap when hooked. They can grow to around 15”, but that is rare, since they are so easily caught.
This fish is not native to the Cacapon River or the Potomac basin, but was likely intentionally stocked for sport fishing. One introduced, they easily become established.
The bluegill has been introduced in Africa, Hawaii, Asia, South and Central America from the 1930s through the 1950s. Some places it has become such a bad pest that it has been eradicated and at least one native species has ceased to exist because of competition from the Bluegill.
Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus)
Like the bluegill, this sunny has a dark spot on the dorsal fin, but it also has a dark spot on its anal fin. Generally there is a yellowish or orangish edge to the second dorsal, caudal and anal fins. It is bluish-green on its back and sides and often is flecked with metallic yellow/green spots, while its cheek has green wavy lines on it. The ear is dark with a whitish or yellowish tip.
It too is not a native but introduced into the Potomac watershed from further west. It came to the Cacapon as many other places by accidental stocking of misidentified bluegills according to the USGS. It has a larger mouth than most of the other Lepomis, so likely it will eat more fish than some of the others. They can grow to 12” in length.
The green sunfish has been introduced in parts of Africa as a forage fish for ‘black bass’ (I assume that means largemouth, also introduced), where it has only been moderately successful. Most of the reproducing populations are stunted. In one place it was introduced, Zimbabwe in 1940, it had disappeared by 1970. It has also been introduced in Germany, parts of Asia and Brazil.
Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis)
Sometimes this fish carries the epithet “Cherry Bream”.
The species name megalotis is Greek for ‘great ear’. True to its name, there is an unusually long, dark ear flap with a whitish or reddish edge on this sunfish, bordered above and below by a blue line. Wavy blue lines mark its cheeks, and the adult is a deep rusty brown-red or olive above with a bright orange belly, and has bright blue spots and streaks on its sides. The fins are clear and without spots. The breeding males have richest coloration. They generally don’t exceed 8” in length. There is a lot of variability in the way it appears in different parts of the country, and there may be as many as six subspecies of the longear, some of which may be separate species.
It prefers clear, warm, weedy waters of rivers, ponds and lakes, and feeds on the surface more than some of the other sunfish.
This sunny is native to the Mississippi drainage, but introduced into the Cacapon and Potomac watershed. It is considered a threatened species in some states. In researching this fish, I found an aquarium site recommending this as a ‘natural’ aquarium fish due to its beautiful coloration. Research has shown that when the breeding conditions are ideal in an aquarium, it will breed every two weeks for at least a year.
Redbreast Sunfish (Lepomis auritus)
This sunny is native to the Potomac watershed, Atlantic drainage, and the Cacapon River, but stocked and established elsewhere. In fact it may be leading to a decline in the longear in some areas where the redbreast is not native. They have a relatively large mouth so they have a wider variety of prey than the longear, hence compete better for food.
Out of the water, you will see a few wavy blue lines along the cheek and gill coverings. The back and sides are dark olive with yellow flecks. There are distinct red-brown to red-orange vertical stripes on this sunfish, whose ear is actually longer and narrower than the ear of the longear sunfish. The breeding male has a bright orange belly.
The redbreast was introduced to lakes in Italy in 1957 where it is now considered a pest, since it has displaced native species.
Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus)
Other names for this fish are pumkinseed, pond perch, sun bass, and common sunfish.
The pumpkinseed is a small (typically 5” when grown), colorful sunfish, and sunfish are among the most beautiful of all US native fishes. It has blue and orange mottling along its sides and a dark green back. The drawing above is not as colorful as the real fish, in my opinion. It has brilliant blue stripes on its mouth and gill covering. This sunfish is native to the Cacapon and the Potomac watershed. The caudal fin, anal fin and second dorsal fin are likely to have rows of dark brown stripes or speckles of orange.
They’ll feed on about anything, and can be caught using lures, especially flies and poppers. They generally stick close to shore and will aggressively strike most kinds of live bait also, making them a favorite catch of young fishermen.
The pumpkinseed has been introduced in Europe and South America where it is reproducing successfully in some places.
Addendum: I was able to identify all of these sunfish except the pumpkinseed feeding on the cheese I threw in for them at my dock this year.
The next installment of Fish in the Cacapon River will be about minnows. Minnows make up the smallest fish in the Cacapon as well as the largest, with several others in between.