Elvis!

Comment

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on June 3, 2012 at 2:55pm

Nice side burns on "Elvis"...big opercle!

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on November 25, 2011 at 7:00am

I'm not certain there is a correlation between a males size and the ear flap (opercle) size. I thought that the ear flap is a reliable male feature. But I'm not so sure now. Ive been looking in my books and on the net and cannot find that in writing.

Some seem to believe that it can be regraded as a sign of age, i.e., the opercle gets bigger as the fish does... but even that appears to only be a general condition.

The one thing the ear flap seems reliable for is to identify the particular species of sunfish. Bluegill seem to universally possess an all-black opercle.

Maybe someone can ferret out the fact of it.

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on November 25, 2011 at 4:40am

I've always wandered how a particular fish would have a large ear flap.....I've caught large fish with little flaps and smaller fish with large flaps. Don't know if males have the big ear flap to run off enemies while guarding the bed, etc. Does anyone know the science of it all? Thanks.