Biology:Lepomis

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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 ("scale") and πῶμα ("cover", "plug", "operculum"). The genus' most recognizable species is perhaps the bluegill.

Some Lepomis species can grow to a maximum overall length of 41 cm (16 in), though most average around 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 in). 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.[1]

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.[2]

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. (2005),[3] expanded with fossil species. Subgenera in bold follow Bailey (1938):

A redspotted sunfish observed in Anderson County, Texas.
  
genus Micropterus
70 px
genus Lepomis
clade I**

L. humilis 70 px

L. macrochirus 70 px

clade Chaenobryttus

L. gulosus 70 px

L. kansasensis

L. serratus

clade Apomotis

L. symmetricus

L. cyanellus 70 px

clade II**
subgen. Lepomis

L. auritus 70 px

clade Icthelis

L. marginatus

L. peltastes*

L. megalotis Template:Image flip

subgen. Eupomotis

L. gibbosus 70 px

L. microlophus 70 px

clade Bryttus

L. punctatus

L. miniatus

L. sp. A ***

*) L. peltastes was not originally included in the analysis by Near et al. (2005) and is included here based on commonly accepted sister relationship to L. megalotis.[4]

**) See section 'Evolutionary History' below for explanation.

***) Phylogenetic position in clade II uncertain. See section 'Fossil record' for clarification.

Evolutionary history

Longear sunfish (L. megalotis) schooling with redbreast sunfish (L. auritus), in Texas

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.[5] 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 (see section 'Phylogeny' above). 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,[6] 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,[7] 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.[8]
photo
Fossil of †Lepomis kansasensis

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:

  • Lepomis kansasensis lived 6.6 million years ago in the Ogallala Formation of Kansas, and had pterygoid teeth, indicating a close relationship to the warmouth.[9]
  • Lepomis serratus is known from 3.4 to 2.0 million year old deposits in the Keim Formation of Nebraska, and also appears to be closely related to or ancestral to the warmouth on the basis of its preopercle.[10][11]

Species

There are currently 13 recognized species in this genus:[12]

Image Species Common name Distribution
frameless Lepomis aquilensis[13]

(Baird & Girard, 1853)

plains longear sunfish
frameless Lepomis auritus

(Linnaeus, 1758)

redbreast sunfish frameless
frameless Lepomis cyanellus

(Rafinesque, 1819)

green sunfish frameless
frameless Lepomis gibbosus

(Linnaeus, 1758)

pumpkinseed frameless
frameless Lepomis gulosus

(G. Cuvier, 1829)

warmouth frameless
frameless Lepomis humilis

(Girard, 1858)

orangespotted sunfish frameless
frameless Lepomis macrochirus

(Rafinesque, 1819)

bluegill frameless
frameless Lepomis marginatus

(Holbrook, 1855)

dollar sunfish
frameless Lepomis megalotis

(Rafinesque, 1820)

longear sunfish frameless
frameless Lepomis microlophus

(Günther, 1859)

redear sunfish frameless
frameless Lepomis miniatus

(D. S. Jordan, 1877)

redspotted sunfish frameless
frameless Lepomis peltastes

(Cope, 1870)

northern sunfish frameless
frameless Lepomis punctatus

(Valenciennes, 1831)

spotted sunfish
frameless Lepomis solis[13]

(Valenciennes, 1831)

swampland longear sunfish
frameless Lepomis symmetricus

(S. A. Forbes, 1883)

bantam sunfish

Hybridization

Greengill (top) and pumpkingill (bottom), in Howard County, Maryland.

Lepomis frequently hybridize and many different hybrid combinations have been observed in the wild.[14] Some of these hybrids include: * Lepomis macrochirus × cyanellus (greengill sunfish)

  • Lepomis macrochirus x microlophus (gillcracker)
  • Lepomis cyanellus x gibbosus (pumpgreen sunfish)
  • Lepomis cyanellus x gulosus (green sunfish x warmouth)
  • Lepomis gulosus x macrochirus (warmouth x bluegill)
  • Lepomis macrochirus x megalotis (bluegill x longear sunfish)
  • Lepomis gibbosus x macrochirus (pumpkingill)
  • Lepomis auritus x cyanellus (redbreast x green sunfish)
  • Lepomis microlophus x cyanellus (redear x green sunfish)
  • Lepomis auritus x microlophus (redbreast x redear sunfish)
  • Lepomis macrochirus x punctatus (bluegill x spotted sunfish)
  • Lepomis gibbosus x peltastes (pumpkinseed x northern sunfish)
  • Lepomis megalotis x cyanellus (longear x green sunfish)
  • Lepomis miniatus x punctatus (redspotted x spotted sunfish)

References

  1. Przybylski, Mirosław, and Grzegorz Zięba. "Invasive Alien Species Fact Sheet." NOBANIS – Invasive Alien Species Fact Sheet. NOBANIS. NOBANIS, 2011. Web. 5 Jan. 2015. Invasive Alien Species Fact Sheet - Lepomis gibbosus
  2. "Bream". Britannica. Chicago, Illinois: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.. 15 January 2020. https://www.britannica.com/animal/bream. 
  3. Near, T. J., D. I. Bolnick, and P. C. Wainwright (2005). "Fossil calibrations and molecular divergence time estimates in centrarchid fishes (Teleostei: Centrarchidae)". Evolution 59 (8): 1768–1782. doi:10.1111/j.0014-3820.2005.tb01825.x. PMID 16329246. 
  4. Bailey, R. M., W. C. Latta, and G. R. Smith (2004). "An atlas of Michigan fishes with keys and illustrations for their identification". University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Miscellaneous Publications 192. 
  5. S. J. Cooke, D. P. Philipp (2009). Centrarchid fishes: diversity, biology, and conservation. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. pp. 1–38. ISBN 9781405133425. 
  6. National Research Council (1995). Effects of Past Global Change on Life. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.. pp. 184–208. doi:10.17226/4762. ISBN 978-0-309-05127-9. 
  7. Smith, C.L. (1962). "Some Pliocene fishes from Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska". Copeia 1962 (3): 505–520. doi:10.2307/1441172. 
  8. Wilson, R.L. (1968). "Systematics and faunal analysis of a Lower Pliocene vertebrate assemblage from Trego County, Kansas.". Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology University of Michigan 22: 75–126. 
  9. Hibbard, C.W. (1936). "Two new sunfish of the family Centrarchidae from middle Pliocene Kansas". University of Kansas Science Bulletin 24: 177–185. 
  10. Pleistocene Preglacial and Glacial Rocks and Faunas of North Central Nebraska. American Museum of Natural History, New York. 1972. pp. 40–54. 
  11. Bennett, D.K. (1979). "Three Late Cenozoic fish faunas from Nebraska". Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 82 (3): 146–177. doi:10.2307/3627406. 
  12. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2013). Species of Lepomis in FishBase. February 2013 version.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Kim, Daemin; Bauer, Bruce H; Near, Thomas J (2021-05-03). "Introgression and Species Delimitation in the Longear Sunfish Lepomis megalotis (Teleostei: Percomorpha: Centrarchidae)". Systematic Biology 71 (2): 273–285. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syab029. ISSN 1063-5157. PMID 33944950. https://academic.oup.com/sysbio/article/71/2/273/6263850. 
  14. "Hybrid Lepomids - An Introduction" (in en-US). https://www.koaw.org/hybrid-lepomids. 

Wikidata ☰ Q251730 entry