Banded pygmy sunfish

Banded pygmy sunfish
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Centrarchidae
Genus: Elassoma
Species:
E. zonatum
Binomial name
Elassoma zonatum

The banded pygmy sunfish, Elassoma zonatum, is a species of pygmy sunfish endemic to the United States, where it is found from Indiana and Illinois to Texas to the Atlantic coast. It prefers densely vegetated bodies of slow-moving water. This species can reach 4.7 cm (1.9 in) in total length, though most do not exceed 3.5 cm (1.4 in).[2]

The banded pygmy sunfish are capable of retaining their juvenile characteristics while they are sexually mature; that is to say that they are neotenous.[3]

It was originally thought that the banded pygmy sunfish belonged to the cichlid family. However, researchers Hay, Jordan, and Gilbert thought that the banded pygmy sunfish was actually an intermediate species of fish between the pirate perch and the centrarchid family of fishes. Therefore, the banded pygmy sunfish was placed into its own family, Elassomatidae.[4][5] In the 5th edition of Fishes of the World, though, this is treated as a subfamily of the sunfish family Centrarchidae.[6]

  1. ^ NatureServe (2013). "Elassoma zonatum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T202440A15363545. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T202440A15363545.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Elassoma zonatum". FishBase. December 2019 version.
  3. ^ Eaton, T. H. 1956. Notes on the olfactory organs in Centrarchidae. Copeia 1956:196-199.
  4. ^ Hay, O. P. 1880. On a collection of fishes from eastern Mississippi. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 3:488-515
  5. ^ Mettee, Maurice F.; Scharpf, Christopher (February 1998). "Reproductive Behavior, Embryology, and Larval Development of Four Species of Pygmy Sunfish". American Currents. Retrieved 1 January 2024 – via www.nanfa.org.
  6. ^ J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. pp. 444–446. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6. Archived from the original on 2019-04-08. Retrieved 2020-05-26.