sunfish shock

[bignellm]

Old Marine, sunfish make great aquarium fish, but they certainly still taste good. Is it weird that I keep sunfish in tanks at home and still enjoy frying up their brethren on occasion?

BigNellum, longears have the potential to reach about 8-9 inches, but in the wild, they rarely exceed 6'' depending on sex, habitat, and drainage. It is more common to see adults from 4-6''. For instance, some of the longears in Louisiana might get to a larger max size than their northern longear counterparts. And the introduced population here in Georgia rarely get larger than 5''. (There are several "strains" or subspecies of longears across the country, and they may eventually be separated as different species). Pumpkinseeds, on the other hand, can get pretty stout at 10''. But again, they are more commonly seen at about 6-8''.

Man, wish I hadn't used my college online ID name for this forum, LOL.
Last name, first initial. bignellm...

Sincerely,

Mark Bignell

Makes sense, lol, that Sunfish are soo much larger than Moonfish. Someone was thinking well when assigning these names on a size basis.

[Rue]

Man, wish I hadn't used my college online ID name for this forum, LOL.
Last name, first initial. bignellm...

...

Ah! I get it. I was also confused when I first saw Big Nell was a guy...

[bignellm]

Ah! I get it. I was also confused when I first saw Big Nell was a guy...

Yea, anyone got a quick name change option, LOL.

[UncleWillie]

Oh man, sorry for the butchering of your name. I should be more careful, because I totally understand. - I get all squirmy when someone spells my name Willy instead of Willie. Thanks for pointing that out Mr. Bignell.

[escamosa]

This thread has made me hungry.

[bignellm]

Oh man, sorry for the butchering of your name. I should be more careful, because I totally understand. - I get all squirmy when someone spells my name Willy instead of Willie. Thanks for pointing that out Mr. Bignell.

Hehe, no problem.

[aqua101]

Contrary to the popular response, those fish are longears, as stated earlier. If I have to bet, I'd day this fish was either caught in Texas, or in a river draining into the Mississippi River. Too bad the OP hasn't told us where it was caught. But these fish are not Pumpkinseeds - I promise.

Old Marine, sunfish make great aquarium fish, but they certainly still taste good. Is it weird that I keep sunfish in tanks at home and still enjoy frying up their brethren on occasion?

BigNellum, longears have the potential to reach about 8-9 inches, but in the wild, they rarely exceed 6'' depending on sex, habitat, and drainage. It is more common to see adults from 4-6''. For instance, some of the longears in Louisiana might get to a larger max size than their northern longear counterparts. And the introduced population here in Georgia rarely get larger than 5''. (There are several "strains" or subspecies of longears across the country, and they may eventually be separated as different species). Pumpkinseeds, on the other hand, can get pretty stout at 10''. But again, they are more commonly seen at about 6-8''.

Hi
This is for UncleWillie!
So, I hear you guys are debating on what sunfish this is and where I caught it. Well, I caught this fish in one of Tx's rivers and have been keeping them for a while now. These sunfishes are very hardy and will eat anything.

Lastly, I thank-you all for your cooperation and will update a new photo of my fishes on a new thread sometime early next month.

[UncleWillie]

Glad they are working out for you - they are indeed hard, undemanding and great aquarium fish if you have the space. I could tell they were Texas fish just because of the reasons I mentioned early. Longear coloration, body shape and size changes from population to population across the country. I look forward to seeing more pics.