hyb

Comment

Comment by Bruce Condello on December 23, 2008 at 7:23pm

"is it possible for this cross to produce a viable and fertile offspring?"

Hybrid sunfish are often capable of reproduction. As with many hybrid species there tends to be a higher rate of deformities, infertility, unviability, etc. but there are generally enough offspring produced within a reproductive event that you'll get a certain percentage of viable and fertile offspring.

Most studies suggest that within the various hybridizations of sunfish, that you will generally get significantly more male offspring, which can be a reason why pond managers can count on overall lower fecundity in all hybrid ponds. The lack of females will greatly reduce the capacity for sheer numbers of offspring in a single fishery. Eventually in ponds that are originally stocked with only hybrids you will end up with a pond that has poor reproduction, and an undesirable mix of genes which results in overall poor performance of the population, both in numbers and quality.

When two pure sunfish species cross, the first generation of "F-1" will have what is commonly referred to as heterosis or hybrid vigor. This is a fish which is unable to pair undesirable alleles in the DNA strand (such as nearsightedness in humans), so the less advantageous traits essentially disappear for one generation. Now when hybrids recross, which is known as the "F-2" generation, these undesirable traits can once again re-pair which means you can see the original undesirable traits from either pure species, plus you lose a lot of the fitness because of the fact that the species are different enough that many of the evolutionarily acquired positives are diluted between the two parents.

Rough translation....

F-1, good
F-2, bad

Comment by Bill "Musky" Modica on December 23, 2008 at 2:55pm

BG x PS is what I also suspect............both species are present in the lake, however the catch rate of these hybrids @ 2:10, are seemingly twice as high as the catch rate of the Pumpkinseeds........Most of these hybrids run larger than the BG and PS that are present. The pictured fish was 8"....is it possible for this cross to produce a viable and fertile offspring?

Comment by John Cachel on December 23, 2008 at 1:07pm

I guess is Hybrid.....Bluegill/ pumpkinseed but maybe a freak pumpkinseed.
If you caught lot of bluegills and pumpkinseed in the same water then that's possible to be a wild hybrid!
Nice fish! How big it is?
Maybe someone can tell what's it really is!

Comment by Bruce Condello on December 23, 2008 at 5:46am

There are so many variations, but I'm going to say BG X PS cross. Definitely looks like there's some bluegill genetics.

Are both bluegill and pumpkinseeds present nearby?

Comment by Bill "Musky" Modica on December 22, 2008 at 10:04pm

Bluegill/Sunfish cross?.....can anyone speculate?