Bluegill
Lepomis macrochirus
Summary 7
The bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) is a species of freshwater fish sometimes referred to as bream, brim, or copper nose. It is a member of the sunfish family Centrarchidae of the order Perciformes. Lepomis, in Greek, means "scaled gill cover" and macrochirus means large hand, which may be a reference to its body shape. A defining characteristic of the bluegill is the bright blue edging visible on its gill rakers.
Morphology 8
Like other sunfish, bluegill have very deep and highly compressed bodies. In other words, they are "tall" and "flat." They have a small mouth on a short head. The dorsal fin is continuous, with the front part spiny and the back part soft and round with a dark smudge at the base. The tail fin is slightly forked but rounded. The body is mainly olive green with yellowish underneath. Their name "bluegill" comes from the iridescent blue and purple region on the cheek and gill cover (opercle). A close look reveals six to eight olive-colored vertical bars on the sides.
Typically, adults are between 10 and 15 cm but they can grow as large as 41 cm.
Young bluegill are a paler version of the adults, usually silver with a slight purple sheen.
Range mass: 2.2 (high) kg.
Range length: 41.0 (high) cm.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Sources and Credits
- (c) Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, some rights reserved (CC BY-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/widnr/8538678901/
- Engbretson, Eric, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), https://www.biolib.cz/IMG/GAL/20738.jpg
- (c) Phil Myers, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://animaldiversity.org/collections/contributors/phil_myers/Fish/bluegill4392/medium.jpg
- (c) Phil Myers, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://animaldiversity.org/collections/contributors/phil_myers/Fish/bluegill7508/medium.jpg
- (c) Phil Myers, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://animaldiversity.org/collections/contributors/phil_myers/Fish/bluegills5264/medium.jpg
- Engbretson, Eric, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), https://www.biolib.cz/IMG/GAL/21612.jpg
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepomis_macrochirus
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31401715
