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Species
Lepomis gibbosus (Linnaeus, 1758)
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
Canada and U.S.A., introduced elsewhere.
Pumpkinseeds consume a diverse diet of small prey including insects, insect larvae, mollusks, snails, crustaceans, leeches, and small fish. They are effective at destroying mosquito larvae and also consume detritus and small amounts of aquatic vegetation.
L. gibbosus feed at all water levels throughout the day, with their heaviest feeding occurring during the afternoon.
Animal Foods: fish; eggs; insects; mollusks; terrestrial worms; aquatic crustaceans; zooplankton
Plant Foods: leaves; algae
Other Foods: detritus
Primary Diet: carnivore (Insectivore , Molluscivore )
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| Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2013, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
| Source | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Lepomis_gibbosus/ |
At 28 degrees Celsius the eggs of pumpkinseeds hatch in as little as three days. The normal range for eggs to hatch is 3 to 10 days. The newly hatched larvae are tiny and transparent. The eyes do not have any pigment in the first 48 hours after the larvae have hatched. They remain at the bottom of the nest for a short time. Male pumpkinseeds continue to guard larvae against predators for around 11 days when they become free-swimming. When they leave the nest the juvenile fish stay in or near the breeding area and can grow to around 50.8 mm in the first year of life. Pumpkinseeds usually reach sexual maturity at age 2.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2012, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
| Source | http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Lepomis_gibbosus/ |
Comments: Localized threats may exist, but on a range-wide scale no major threats are known.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
| Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Lepomis+gibbosus |
North America: New Brunswick in Canada to South Carolina in the USA; Great Lakes, Hudson Bay and upper Mississippi basins from Quebec and New York west to southeast Manitoba and North Dakota, and south to north Kentucky and Missouri. Widely introduced. Several countries report adverse ecological impact after introduction.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Rainer Froese, FishBase |
| Source | http://www.fishbase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=3372 |
Occurs in quiet and vegetated lakes, ponds, and pools of creeks and small rivers. Feeds mainly on worms, crustaceans and insects (Ref. 7020) but may also feed on small fishes and other vertebrates (Ref. 1998), as well as fish eggs (Ref. 2058).
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Pascualita Sa-a, FishBase |
| Source | No source database. |
Pumpkinseeds typically live 5 to 6 years but have reached 12 years old in captivity. In the wild, however, most do not exceed 8 years old.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 8 years.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 12 (high) years.
Typical lifespan
Status: wild: 5 to 6 years.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 5-6 years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 13.0 years.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2013, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
| Source | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Lepomis_gibbosus/ |
Conservation Actions
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources |
| Source | http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/202555 |
Pumpkinseeds are deep-bodied and laterally compressed. They have brassy yellow to olive green sides that are densely covered with spots of bright copper or gold. The opercle flap has a distinctive crimson spot in a half-moon shape on the rear edge in adults. In young pumpkinseeds a pale spot on the opercle flap distinguishes them from other Centrarchidae.
Etnier and Starnes (1993) describe pumpkinseeds as having: lateral line scales 35 to 43, dorsal fin with 10 (10 to 11) soft rays, anal fin soft rays 9 to 10, pectoral fin rays 13 (12 to 14).
Young pumpkinseeds also have vertical chainlike bands down their sides with dark vertical bars between the primary bands. These help to differentiate them from other sunfishes. Lepomis gibbosus are most easily confused with redear sunfish, L. microlophus and bluegills, L. macrochirus.
Range mass: 620 (high) g.
Average mass: 171-286 g.
Range length: 254 (high) mm.
Average length: 152-203 mm.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
- Etnier, D., W. Starnes. 1993. The Fishes of Tennessee. Knoxville: The University of Tennesse Press.
- Smith, P. 1979. The Fishes of Illinois. Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
- Downs, W., L. Wiland, E. White, S. Wittman. 2002. "University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute Fish of the Great Lakes" (On-line). Accessed October 26, 2005 at http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/greatlakesfish/fpumpkinseed.html.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2013, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
| Source | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Lepomis_gibbosus/ |
Comments: Eats snails, aquatic insects, and other invertebrates obtained from bottom or from plant surfaces; pharyngeal jaws are specialized for crushing hard-shelled prey; larvae eat zooplankton (Moyle 1976, Becker 1983).