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View Full Version : ID - Pumpkin Seed fish?


vombatus
06-01-2010, 10:02 PM
Hi! I thought someone here might be able to help me out with a fish ID. These are not the best pictures but I think they are pumpkinseeds. I took these photos in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY yesterday afternoon. It's fresh water, btw.

http://pics.livejournal.com/laurasubby/pic/000t0w0y/
http://pics.livejournal.com/laurasubby/pic/000t1ppg/
http://pics.livejournal.com/laurasubby/pic/000t24ww/
http://pics.livejournal.com/laurasubby/pic/000t395z/

Thanks much!
FishPish
06-01-2010, 10:04 PM
Oscar?
jpappy789
06-01-2010, 10:12 PM
Uh, that's definitely not an oscar.

In order to properly ID any Lepomis species you'll need a clear side shot...at least I would LOL. Maybe someone else can verify it for you with the pics you have but I cant make a call based on those.
vombatus
06-01-2010, 10:17 PM
So then, do you think it is some kind of Lepomis? Or you can't tell at all?
jpappy789
06-01-2010, 10:25 PM
Well it's definitely along the lines of a pumpkinseed, bluegill, etc. but I personally cannot tell the exact species.
vombatus
06-01-2010, 10:26 PM
Thanks!
FishPish
06-01-2010, 10:55 PM
Starting to think its some sort of sunfish. Very similar to an oscar.
vombatus
06-01-2010, 11:02 PM
Starting to think its some sort of sunfish. Very similar to an oscar.

A pumkinseed is a sunfish. Thanks.
FishPish
06-01-2010, 11:03 PM
A pumpkinseed is in the sunfish family. A pumpkinseed is not the definition of a sunfish per se.
jpappy789
06-01-2010, 11:05 PM
Oscars and sunfish are really not all that related...
KingOfTheDeep
06-01-2010, 11:18 PM
when i used to fish in prospect park, we used to talk about the over abundance of pumpkinseed, we always caught more of them then LM bass..

99.9% sure thats what the fish your pictures are.
vombatus
06-01-2010, 11:27 PM
Thanks much! I saw the name on a list of fish that are found there and I thought it really looked like my pictures, but I don't know much about wild fish. Good to see people confirming my guess.


when i used to fish in prospect park, we used to talk about the over abundance of pumpkinseed, we always caught more of them then LM bass..

99.9% sure thats what the fish your pictures are.
dirtydawg10
06-03-2010, 7:56 PM
Yup...that's a pumpkinseed.
vombatus
06-03-2010, 10:53 PM
Thanks much!


Yup...that's a pumpkinseed.
Vicious_Fish
06-04-2010, 10:11 AM
I'm pretty sure that's a Green Sunfish just by looking at the coloring on the tips of the fins.
LifelessForm
06-04-2010, 10:31 AM
A pumpkinseed is in the sunfish family. A pumpkinseed is not the definition of a sunfish per se.

Last I checked, the Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) is a member of the sunfish (Centrarchidae) family. That would make it a SUNFISH. Not sure how much closer to the "definition" of a sunfish you can get. Especially considering Lepomis is the genus of COMMON SUNFISH.

Oh yea, and I'll second VF, looks like a Green Sunfish as opposed to a Pumpkinseed, but all species in the Lepomis family will interbreed in a pond setting so it could be a hybrid as well. Only a side view, and possibly one out of water will give a true ID of the fish.
vombatus
06-04-2010, 1:51 PM
Thanks everybody. It's okay with me to just say it's a sunfish and leave it at that. I personally think it's a pumpkinseed due to the tiny red dot at the edge of the colored circle, but it's only visible in one of my pictures. That's interesting that they hybridize. Makes perfect sense. And also, I could have taken pictures of more than one fish, although that was not my intention. The one with the red dot showing, maybe that's not the same fish as the other pictures. I was trying to follow one but the water was muddy. So, sunfish, possibly pumpkinseed, possibly green. I'm satisfied.