Sunfish ID and Species List

I wanted to put together a total list of fish species I’ve caught, just to try and keep a running tab. Hopefully it will continue to grow as I fish more new waters. I think I get just as excited catching new species as I do catching truly big fish. I’m not on any kind of mission to catch a certain number of species, I just think it will be interesting to maintain and revisit the list from time to time. It should also help to serve as a place to ID a fish that you’ve caught, but have no idea what it is. Of course, I’m not a biologist, so take what I post with a grain of salt, most of my knowledge comes from experience, and the internet. Also, be sure to check out Lance Coley’s article posted on Riverbassin last year called “What the Heck Kinda Bass is That?”. It takes a look at each bass species, even breaking it down to subspecies, complete with pictures from Lance himself (with 1-2 exceptions). I don’t plan to go into the detail that Lance did, but I’ve got to start somewhere. In time I will add other freshwater fish from different families, then move on to saltwater, but for now here are the sunfishes. Update, May 2016: Lance has published an update to his 2011 article on Southern River Fishing, check it out: “What the Heck Kinda Bass is That?”. I’ll leave both links up in case something happens to either site.

Warning to some though, things are about to get nerdy. I’ll separate each species according to it’s taxonomy. Today I’ll start in freshwater with the sunfishes, family Centrarchidae, which has 8 genera, and 28 species native to North America. So far I’ve caught 16 of them. It helps to live in the Southeastern U.S. if you want to catch a variety of sunfish.

I’ll put up a picture and a distribution map of those that I’ve caught. Click the map for more information about that particular species. The distribution maps come from NatureServe Explorer. A pretty good resource for finding information on plants and animals. Another good resource is the Angler’s Life List & Native Fish Network. They have a fish page that illustrates the native ranges of the basses in Google Maps.

Ambloplites ariommus – Shadow bass

Ambloplites rupestris – Rock bass

Lepomis auritus – Redbreast sunfish

Lepomis cyanellus – Green sunfish

Lepomis gulosis – Warmouth

Lepomis macrochirus – Bluegill

Lepomis megalotis – Longear sunfish

Lepomis microlophus – Redear sunfish

Lepomis miniatus – Redspotted sunfish

Micropterus treculii – Guadalupe bass

Micropterus coosae – Redeye bass

Micropterus dolomieu – Smallmouth bass

Micropterus hensalli – Alabama bass

No range map given from NatureServe. They are only native to rivers that flow into Mobile Bay.

Micropterus haiaka – Choctaw bass

The newest member of the black bass family as discovered by biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Their range falls in between the Alabama bass and the Shoal bass in Gulf draining streams on the Florida panhandle and in Alabama.

Micropterus punctulatus – Spotted bass (Kentucky)