Randy's 2014 OSF Multi-Species Challenge Entries - 7

[MuskieBait]

Hey Randy, this is a Green Sunfish, not a Pumpkinseed sunfish. You can identify it by its bigger mouth, blue streak on the face, blue/green streaks on the body especially closer to the tail, and the orange margins in the pelvic, anal, dorsal and caudal (tail) fins. None of the native sunfish species in Ontario have orange margins on all the fins like that, and especially not on the caudal fin. The spawning male Orangespotted Sunfish may have red dorsal and anal fins, but the margin of the caudal fin is not orange. This one looks like a pure Green Sunfish and not a hybrid product of other sunfish species with a Green Sunfish parent.

Good catch. Green Sunfish is native to Ontario. They are not rare, but in much fewer number than other sunfish species...with the exception of maybe the Warmouth and Orangespotted Sunfish. They pop up here and there in southern Ontario but they are not really consistently found in any given spot, unless it is southwestern Ontario. Some streams in the area of Essex-Kent seem to have more Green Sunfish.

We have 6 recognized sunfish species in Ontario.

Pumpkinseed
Bluegill Sunfish
Warmouth
Orangespotted Sunfish
Green Sunfish
Northern Sunfish

There is the rare Redear Sunfish reported, but it is usually close to the US border or waters closely shared with the US border. They don't naturally occur in Ontario from what I can gather.