Dollar sunfish

Dollar sunfish
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Centrarchiformes
Family: Centrarchidae
Genus: Lepomis
Species:
L. marginatus
Binomial name
Lepomis marginatus
(Holbrook, 1855)
Synonyms[2]
  • Pomotis marginatus Holbrook, 1855

The dollar sunfish (Lepomis marginatus) is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (family Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes. It is categorized as a warm water pan-fish. Early settlers said that this species of sunfish resembled a European species they called bream. Historically it has been found along the Southern Atlantic coastal drainages from North Carolina to Florida, and west to Texas.[3] Lepomis marginatus mainly feeds on detritus and filamentous algae as well as a few terrestrial insects (Homoptera, Hymenoptera[4][page needed]). The juvenile and mature fish do not have many predators, but the eggs in the nest are in danger of predation from a few different species of fish.

The dollar sunfish can have different breeding seasons depending on where it is located geographically. On average the dollar sunfish breeds from April to September, and in some states such as North Carolina, it breeds from May to August. They always finish breeding before the weather turns cold. These fish breed mainly on sandy substrates. "Bourgeois" males build and tend nests, court females, and care for eggs and young.[5] The average lifespan is around 6 years, and it can grow up to a maximum of 100 mm.[citation needed]

Currently there are very well managed creel limits for the sunfish species. The creel limits help to protect the species from being over harvested. Other species of sunfish have been stocked in Tennessee lakes, however the dollar sunfish has yet to be stocked in any of the river drainages of Tennessee.

  1. ^ NatureServe (2013). "Lepomis marginatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T202557A18232973. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T202557A18232973.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Lepomis marginatus". FishBase. December 2019 version.
  3. ^ Hubbs, C., R.J. Edwards, and G. P. Garrett. 1991. An Annotated Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of Texas with keys to Identification of Species. The Texas Journal of Science 43(4):1-56.
  4. ^ Etnier, D.A., and W.C. Starnes. 1993. The Fishes of Tennessee, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville. 681pp.
  5. ^ Breder CM. (1936) The Reproductive habits of North American Sunfishes (family Centrarchidae). Zoologica,21,1-47.