Lepomis Miniatus- Red spotted Sunfish

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries have identified these fish that I referred to as "Stump Perch" officially as Red Spotted Sunfish with a scientific name of Lepomis Miniatus...........They explained that these fish are also referred to as Stump Knockers in many areas of their range.....If you Google Lepomis Miniatus there are some fact sheets available......They also went on to explain that the Black Spotted Sunfish is a close cousin to the red spotted sunfish with a scientific name of Lepomis Punctatus..........More to follow....Just goes to show you how many species and variations are out there.....Equally interesting is the nick names passed down for generations in the various regions of the country.....

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Just curious if any members have caught this species in their local waters or during a trip to a region that holds these species...Thanks for the interest and knowledge sharing........

[Bruce Condello]

I'm hugely interested in this thread.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Here are a couple reference photos of Lepomis Punctatus or Black Spotted Sunfish.....I caught all the red spotted sunfish pictured in this discussion in southeastern Louisiana earlier this month but I didn't catch any black spotted sunfish although these fish share the same areas......The range is more widespread than I would have imagined but I've never caught these fish in any other state that I have fished.......Inputs are greatly appreciated....Thanks in advance......

[Jim Ducy]

I can hear the grease sizzling now! Jim Ducy aka Fishin' Jimmy

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Ive seen the Black Spotted versions here.

I wonder where the name, "perch," comes from? Seems like thats what it used whenever people dont know what else to call a fish.....

[Josh Milczski (Omaha)]

Very cool.  Beautiful fish.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

In the studies conducted, like in many other species, the male tends to be darker with the deeper reds along it's sides and the female contain more orange and yellow.....It would appear based on the pictures included that I caught more males than females but I have photos of each....Based on the manner I was catching these fish it appears that the males protect the nests aggressively like in other sunfish species....Just neat to expand the knowledge to other sunfish species and let folks know what's out there....

[jody call]

see there you go,learn something new everday! just when i thought i knew it all! caught some fish that kinda looked like that through the years,but then again i just call all of them "bream"! watched a kid catching fish one day on a pier "he kept exclaiming,got another "eisenhower dad" so i kept watching,his "eisenhowers" were yellow perch! thought that was funny! "bream" species are abundant it seems! heck i remember the first "warmouth" i caught,bream sized body yet the mouth of a bass! fishing is fun,'cause you just never know what you gonna catch!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Another great photo of a cool sunfish......I included two charts showing the RED SPOTTED SUNFISH RANGE....(1) from September 2010 and (1) from March 2012.......According to the survey that I read, Louisiana has the largest population of these fish and Alabama also has a significant population.....

[Johnny]

I wish BIG BLUEGILL had a sticky posted with pictures & names of all the different types of pan fish, around here most locals will calle them bream,shellcrackers,blue gills.

 

Even tho ther all in the pan fish family ther different, some look somewhat alike but I've always wundered what they were exactly. 

[John Sheehan]

You can look through these photo search links: http://bigbluegill.com/profiles/blogs/tagging-fish-photos-by-species

[dink dailey]

clean looking fish