# Warmouth Sunfish



## Guest (Nov 11, 2009)

(Looks Kinda like My Avatar)  The Warmouth Sunfish (Lepomis gulosus), also known as,Redeye, Goggle-eye, Stump Knocker, Rock Bass, Weed Bass, Wood Bass, Mud Bass, and Warmouth Bass, Are actually not Bass at all, but a member of the Sunfish family of fishes.
The warmouth is a little larger than the Rock bass or Green sunfish but is very similar otherwise physically as it is both large-mouthed and heavy-bodied. Adult Warmouth have a dark, and mottled brown coloration. Their belly is generally gold, and males have a bright orange spot at the base of the dorsal fin. Three to five reddish-brown streaks radiate from the eyes, and the gill flaps are usually red. Warmouth have three spines in the anal fin, 10 spines in the dorsal fin, and small teeth that are also present on the tongue. These fish range in size from 4 to10 inches long, but can grow to more than 12 inches, and weigh up to 2.25 pounds. the young warmouth feed on zooplankton and small insects. Adults feed on insects, mollusks, and small fish. Their predators include larger fish, water snakes, turtles, and herons. The Warmouth reachs sexual maturity at 3 to 4 inches, and spawn in the Spring, when water temperatures reach about 71° F, and continue through the Summer. Males build a disc-shaped nest by fanning their tails and removing silt and debris from the nesting site. Nests are made in 1.5 to 4 feet of water near a stump, clump of vegetation or other large, submerged object. Females produce 4,000 to 63,000 eggs during the spawning season. After an incubation period of three days, the young hatch. The fry leave the nest five to six days after hatching and grow to 1 to 2 inches by the Fall. Their life expectancy is not known. 

Warmouth are quite reclusive, and seek cover in rocky banks, stumps or weeds, or near other large objects, where they can hide and ambush their food. They are sight feeders. When its breeding season, the males' eyes turn red. After the female lays her eggs, the male fertilizes the eggs and aggressively defends the nest, the eggs and the fry from any intruder-including other females. The Warmouth will hybridize with bluegill or green sunfish. They can survive in polluted, or very low oxygenated waters where other sunfish cannot. The Warmouth is often confused with rock bass. The difference between the two is in the anal fin, with Warmouth having 3 spines on the anal fin and the Rock bass having six spines. Warmouth are found in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins, from western Pennsylvania to Minnesota, south to the Gulf of Mexico; and the Atlantic and Gulf drainages from the Rappahannock River in Virginia to the Rio Grande in Texas and New Mexico.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

The Warmouth here get quite large as they go, and in the spring the colors are stunning. The one in your avatar is just brown, but in spawning season they turn a rusty orangey with ochre yellow bits and a big bright red splotch on the rear dorsal. If you saw one in a petshop you'd swear it was some fantastic new cichlid from Bolivia that you just had to have at any price. heh,heh.


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