This beautiful pumpkinseed sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus) was caught here in Gull Lake. It resides in the Centrarchidae family of fish. Also in this family of panfish are the bluegill, black crappie, bluespotted sunfish, green sunfish, large mouth bass, longear sunfish, mud sunfish, rock bass, and small mouth bass. In my humble opinion, the pumpkinseed sunfish is the most beautiful. Be careful, though, those lovely spines on the dorsal fin are very sharp. Pumpkinseed sunfish live in shallow waters of cool to warm temperatures. They are native to all of the Great Lakes, but prefer the weedy bay areas the most. They are also found in many inland lakes, such as Gull and Crooked Lake here in Hickory Corners. Like their bluegill relatives, male pumpkinseed sunfish build nests once the lake waters are above 55 degrees F. The males are the caretakers of the eggs and newly hatched fish. Due to their low level on the food chain, these sunfish reproduce rapidly.
Some may recall from the Ecology blog, the pumpkinseed sunfish feed on snails along with other small insects, mollusks, and worms.
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