Specie question on gills and sunny's?

[tightlines]

We are so busy here at work that we got nothing better to do than discuss ice fishing . The topic has come up about sunfish versus bluegills. Are they the same specie's?

[EBass]

Same family-(Sunfish) If my biology serves me right.
Let's make a list.
Blue Gill
Pumpkinseed
Red Ear
And I know there's a couple more.

[This message has been edited by EBass (edited 01-07-2004).]

[Hookmaster]

Sunfish is a general term for many different species. The bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus, is only one. I think another specie is shell cracker?

From what I remember from ichthyology, the sunfish body shape is considered to be highly evolved.

Lepomis, from the Greek, "scaled gill cover"
macrochirus, from the Greek, "large hand"
·
Phylum Chordata, animals with a spinal chord
Subphylum Vertebrata, animals with a backbone
Superclass Osteichthyes, bony fishes
Class Actinopterygii, ray-finned and spiny rayed fishes
Subclass Neopterygii
Infraclass Teleostei
Superorder Acanthopterygii,
Order Perciformes, the perch-like fishes
Suborder Percoidei
Family Centrarchidae, the Sunfishes
Genus Lepomis, common and eared sunfishes

[This message has been edited by Hookmaster (edited 01-07-2004).]

[SpikeRoberts]

Here's a great site on MN fish species.

http://www.gen.umn.edu/research/fish/fishes/natural_history.html

I didn't see the "red ear" or the "shellcracker" on the site's list but the list isn't necessarily complete. We can, however, add orange-spotted sunfish and green sunfish to our list.

[Da-Roc]

Hi Guys!
Don't forget my personal favorite the green sunfish. He's the biggest and meanest of them all.
Da-Roc
They are 12 inches + down here in Indiana!

[Minnetonka]

"Sunfish" (Centrachidae) is a "family name" for a large group of fish. This family includes subgroups known as Genus's such as Lacepede, which includes the large and small mouth bass, Genus Ambloplites, which includes rock bass, Orangespotted sunfish, Bluegill sunfish, pumpkinseed sunfish,and longear sunfish.Another genus in this family is Pomoxis. This group includes black and white crappies. Some members of the same genus can cross breed and form hybreds. All of the above named fish are found in Minnesota.

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"I'd rather be fishing"

Mike