Long eared Bluegill

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Originally Posted by NIMROD

NOT SURE , BUT COULD IT BE A BLUEGILL/LONGEARRED SUNFISH HYBRID?

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It "could" be, since sunfish do have a habit of crossbreeding, given the right circumstances. But, I think Dixieangler has correctly identified it as a Redbreast Sunfish.

I wasn't identifying the fish Camofish caught ... I was correcting the "long ear bluegill" & "mutant" ideas/names :p --- if you look at the pictures on the first link I posted, you can easily see the similarities between the Redbreast Sunfish picture and Camofish's fish. I think the most obvious giveaway to the ID of Camofish's fish, is listed in the characteristics of the Redbreast Sunfish (in that link) ... "Pelvic fin with small filamentous projection of longest ray" -- notice the extension of the pelvic fin, against the palm of Camofish's hand ;)
I was just trying to inform Popeyemaker, that he had probably caught many different species of sunfish, without realizing there were so many. :D

... cp :cool:

It's longeared alright.

Mutant was a bad choice of words by me, perhaps. As an amateur ichthyologist and keen observer of nature I am constantly amazed by mother nature. I should have said hybrid. By the way check LBF.com for a good fish identification chart;)

Never see one before.

I would say that it was a hybrid too.
All I know is that it was an awesome looking gill and I hope to catch another one like it, the fish was released. :D And hopefully there are more, one cool looking gill. :cool: