Species: Lepomis cyanellus
Green Sunfish
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Actinopterygii
Order
Perciformes
Family
Centrarchidae
Genus
Lepomis
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
crapet vert
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Fishes - Bony Fishes - Sunfishes and Freshwater Basses
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Actinopterygii - Perciformes - Centrarchidae - Lepomis - Reported to hybridize with LEPOMIS GULOSUS, L. MACROCHIRUS, and L. MEGALOTIS. Though the gender of the name LEPOMIS is feminine (see Bailey and Robins, 1988, Bull. Zool. Nomencl. 45(2):100), the 1991 AFS checklist (Robins et al. 1991) retained the masculine ending for CYANELLUS and other species, pending a vote by the ICZN on a petition (by Etnier and Warren) to treat LEPOMIS as masculine for nomenclatural purposes.
Ecology and Life History
Habitat Type Description
Freshwater
Migration
true - false - false
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Feeds opportunistically on the larger, more active invertebrates that occur with them, and on small fishes. Young feed mostly on crustaceans (zooplankton) and aquatic insect larvae. Adults eat more large aquatic and terrestrial insects, crayfish, and fishes.
Reproduction Comments
Spawns in spring and summer; eggs hatch in about 2 days; male generally guards nest for about 5-7 days; usually sexually mature at beginning of 3rd year; may nest in colony or singly (Moyle 1976, Becker 1983).
Ecology Comments
Relatively sedentary; may return to same home range in successive years (Becker 1983).
Length
25
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-09-23
Global Status Last Changed
1996-09-23
Other Status
NAR - Not at Risk - 1987-04-01
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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Global Range
Native to most of central and eastern U.S. west of Appalachians, east of Continental Divide, from Great Lakes region (including Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, and Mississippi River basins) south to Gulf Coast states and northeastern Mexico (Gulf Slope drainages from Escambia River, Florida, and Mobile Bay, Georgia and Alabama, to Rio Grande, Texas; introduced widely elsewhere in U.S. and in Germany. Generally common to abundant.