Lepomis


Lepomis or true sunfish is a genus of North American freshwater fish from the family Centrarchidae in the order Centrarchiformes. The generic name Lepomis derives from the Greek λεπίς and πῶμα. The genus' most recognizable species is perhaps the bluegill.
Some Lepomis species can grow to a maximum overall length of, though most average around. Many species are sought by anglers as popular panfishes, and large numbers are bred and stocked in lakes, rivers, ponds and wetlands. They are widely distributed throughout the freshwater lakes and river tributaries of the United States and Canada, and several species have been translocated and flourished around the world, even becoming pests. Aquarium trade in some Lepomis species is prohibited in Germany for this reason.
Lepomis species, among others, are sometimes referred to as bream, but the term is also used to refer explicitly to the unrelated European cypriniform fish of genus Abramis.

Phylogeny

Phylogeny of all Lepomis species based on a partitioned mixed-model Bayesian analysis of a seven gene dataset of mitochondrial and nuclear gene DNA sequences by Near et al., expanded with fossil species. Subgenera in bold follow Bailey :
*) L. peltastes was not originally included in the analysis by Near et al. and is included here based on commonly accepted sister relationship to L. megalotis.
**) See section 'Evolutionary History' below for explanation.
***) Phylogenetic position in clade II uncertain. See section 'Fossil record' for clarification.

Evolutionary history

Phylogenetic reconstructions using a combination of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences calibrated with fossils to estimate ages of divergences suggests that the genus Lepomis diverged from the black bass in genus Micropterus, its sister taxon, about 25 million years ago. The deepest split among currently living species of Lepomis is dated to ~15 million years ago and separates genus Lepomis into two clades: clade I that leads to the modern bluegill, orange-spotted, green, and warmouth sunfish, and a clade II that includes the modern long-ear, red-breasted, pumpkinseed, redear, and red-spotted sunfish. The timing of this speciation event roughly corresponds with the Middle Miocene disruption that resulted in increased aridity on the plains of North America and a transition from savannah to grasslands, although the relevance of these environmental changes to the evolution of Lepomis is unclear.

Fossil record

No fossils unambiguously assigned to genus Lepomis are currently known from the putative stem-lineage that must have existed between 25 and 15 million years ago, spanning most of the early Miocene.
Currently, four extinct species of Lepomis are known from the fossil record:
There are at least two as yet undescribed fossil species of Lepomis that reach back to the middle Miocene:
  • †Lepomis sp. A consists of fragmentary fossils of its lower jaw from the Valentine Formation of Nebraska, dated to 13.5 million years ago, and shows morphological similarities to the modern Lepomis microlophus, although its great age means that this species predates the divergence of any of the living species.
  • †Lepomis sp. B was found in deposits from the Ogallala Formation of Kansas, dated to 12 million years ago.
Two other more recent fossil species appear to be closely allied to Lepomis gulosus, and indeed their earliest occurrence may be close to the divergence of the lineage leading to the modern warmouth from other species of Lepomis:

Species

There are currently 13 recognized species in this genus:
ImageSpeciesCommon nameDistribution
Lepomis aquilensis
plains longear sunfish
Lepomis auritus
redbreast sunfish
Lepomis cyanellus
green sunfish
Lepomis gibbosus
pumpkinseed
Lepomis gulosus
warmouth
Lepomis humilis
orangespotted sunfish
Lepomis macrochirus
bluegill
Lepomis marginatus
dollar sunfish
Lepomis megalotis
longear sunfish
Lepomis microlophus
redear sunfish
Lepomis miniatus
redspotted sunfish
Lepomis peltastes
northern sunfish
Lepomis punctatus
spotted sunfish
Lepomis solis
swampland longear sunfish
Lepomis symmetricus
bantam sunfish

Hybridization

Lepomis frequently hybridize and many different hybrid combinations have been observed in the
wild. Some of these hybrids include: