Lepomis microlophus (Gunther) / REDEAR SUNFISH

About this Item

Name

Family: Centrarchidae (Sunfish and Bass)
Scientific Name: Lepomis microlophus (Gunther)
Common Name: REDEAR SUNFISH

Description

General Description: Spines in dorsal, anal, and pelvic fins; ctenoid scales; no opercular spine; lateral line does not extend onto caudal fin; colorful.
Specific Description: Deep body; small mouth; molariform pharyngeal teeth; back edge of opercular flap with red border in male, orange in female; no wavy lines on cheek 3 anal spines.

Distribution

Distribution: Central Mississippi drainage. Unfortunately introduced in southern Great Lakes drainage-hybridizes with pumpkinseeds.

Ecology

Ecology: In large, warm rivers and lakes. Feed on snails. Length to 16 cm.

Family Description

New Family Filename: /f/fish5ic/family/sunfish.htm

Related Material

Resolver ID: fish5ic-126

Technical Details

Collection: University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Fish Species Descriptions
Record: 194
Link to this Item: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/f/fish5ic/x-194/194

Rights and Permissions

These materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. This means you are free to share and adapt the digital objects for any non-commercial purpose, so long as you give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. The license does not in any way limit your rights under copyright law, such as fair use. Please read the license before using this work. If you use materials from this collection, please use the following attribution and copyright notice: "©2019 Regents of the University of Michigan. This work was created by the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Fish Division. It is licensed under the CC-BY-NC 4.0 license." If you have questions about the collection, please contact the UMMZ Fish Division. If you have concerns about the inclusion of an item in this collection, please contact Library Information Technology.

Cite this Item

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Full citation: "Lepomis microlophus (Gunther); REDEAR SUNFISH." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Fish Species Descriptions. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/f/fish5ic/x-194/194. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 19, 2025.