By Koaw - August, 2025

GENERAL: GENERAL: The Gulf Longear Sunfish (Lepomis solis) (Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1831), as of 2023, has been reelevated to species-status primarily due to the work of Kim et al. (2022) and accepted by authorities in the California Academy of Sciences and American Fisheries Society (Fricke et al., 2025; Page et al., 2023). As these authorities are willfully recognizing this species delimitation from the Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis), so shall we in the KNFS community.

In short, the Longear Sunfish was split so that two new species are now recognized: the Gulf Longear Sunfish and the Plains Longear Sunfish (Lepomis aquilensis).

IDENTIFICATION BASICS:

Gulf Longear Sunfish vs. other fishes (besides the Longear-complex):

1. The ear flap will most likely be elongated and have a mostly whitish border around the entirety where some other color may also exist.

2. Blue spotting will exist on the body.

3. Blue-streaking will exist on the snout, cheek and most all of the operculum, even behind and above the eye.

4. Typically, that blue-streaking on the upper lip will extend for the entirety of the lip (as opposed to the smaller Dollar Sunfish (Lepomis marginatus).

The good news is that identifying a Gulf Longear Sunfish from the other sunfishes, or any species outside of the genus, remains fairly simple. The bad news is that there is no reliable meristic (countable) or morphometric (measurable) feature to tell the Gulf Longear Sunfish apart from the Longear Sunfish.

How to tell a Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis) from a Gulf Longear Sunfish (Lepomis solis)?

Range. Check the range map below. The drainages segregate these two species fairly well with only a narrow zone of introgression where there are mixed genetics within populations.

COLORATION: Most mature Gulf Longear Sunfish will express an orange to olive green hue on the dorsal side. The belly is often yellow to orange, and more likely to be reddish on parental males during the breeding season; females often express the paler, yellowish tinge on the underside. Blue dotting is expressed on the lateral sides with a somewhat organized arrangement, although not in obvious, distinct rows as appears on the Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus).

The median fins on adults often contain an orangish tinge as well as express an extent of bluish iridescence, much more apparent on males in the breeding season where the orange is much darker, if not reddish. The paired fins often contain less color, except on breeding males where the pelvic fins often take on a darker hue, sometimes appearing entirely black.

Vertical bars may appear on Gulf Longear Sunfish, of which, is common within many species within the genus Lepomis. These bars may ‘flare’ on and off where even after only a handful of seconds the vertical bars may hardly be visible.

EAR FLAP: The opercular flap of the Gulf Longear Sunfish does help it stand out from other lepomids by being long and thick. The Redbreast Sunfish (Lepomis auritus) typically has a narrower ear flap without color on the back edging. Compared to the Plains Longear Sunfish (Lepomis aquilensis), the Gulf Longear Sunfish will generally have a slightly thicker, longer, and more angled ear flap, however, this is by no means constant enough to use as an ID feature—it merely highlights a mild trend.

GILL RAKERS: The gill rakers on the first gill arch are generally very short and thick, though may be a bit longer and thinner than what is seen in the adjacent photo. These rakers are easily seen by lifting the gill cover and looking at the white portion above the red filaments on the gill arch closest to the gill cover.

I made a video describing how to locate and find these rakers that is hosted on Koaw Nature’s Fishing Smarts YouTube channel.

LONGEAR-PLAINS LONGER & LONGEAR-GULF LONGEAR ADMIXED POPULATIONS: The range overlap regions of Longear-Plains Longear/Longear-Gulf Longear will, with high certainty, yield introgressed/hybridized specimens because of past secondary contact where gene swapping occurred and/or more recent hybridization events. The range overlap region provided is approximate, not exact. The full extent of the genetically admixed ranged has not been completely investigated (nor do I image it will be due to how expensive that would be.)

The anomalous MPA point in the central range exists in Clover Creek near Medon, TN and represents a genetic admixture of primarily Plains Longear and Northern, with some Longear. The northeast MS points represent populations that are strongly admixed by both Longear and Gulf Longear. In the western range, it appears that many Longear and Plains Longear populations exist together with limited gene swapping, although some populations exhibit strong admixture within the Arkansas-White-Red River Drainage, such as within Lukfata Creek, OK (Kim et al., 2022).

HABITAT: The Gulf Longear Sunfish may be found in a number of habitat types. Find this species within the calmer pools and runs within creeks and rivers, likely over a more rocky or sandy substrate. As with my other observations of species within the Longear-Complex, this species exhibited tendency to congregate around and within complex structure within pools and alongside eddies.

Other impoundments, such as lakes, ponds and reservoirs may also hold this species.

SIZE: The ‘old’, general accounting of this species possibly reaching 24.0 cm (9.5 in) (Page & Burr, 2011) may still hold valid though most all specimens will be much smaller where any specimen around ~6 in is very large.

Of the 229 specimens of L. solis examined by Kim et al., the largest specimen held a standard length of 12.9 cm, of which, could translate to a total length of about 16 cm, or just over 6 inches. In their study, the average standard length was 7.8 cm (3.1 in), although they examined a fair number of subadult specimens and avoided examining juveniles. Males are slightly larger than females, on average.

FISHING: Seeing as most Gulf Longear Sunfish will not surpass 6 inches in TL, a smaller hook (#10) will help land more specimens. An easy, effective way to land this species is with a drop-shot setup and a live bloodworm. Other options include small spinnerbaits, flies, and even spoons. A weighted-jighead and soft plastic is also an effective method.

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References:

Cuvier, G., & Valenciennes, A. (1831). Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome septième. Livre septième. Des Squamipennes. Livre huitième. Des poissons à pharyngiens labyrinthiformes. Vol. 7. Histoire Naturelle Des Poissons, 441–531.

Fricke, R., Eschmeyer, W. N., & van der Laan, R. (n.d.). ESCHMEYER’S CATALOG OF FISHES: GENERA, SPECIES, REFERENCES. [Dataset]. Retrieved October 16, 2024, from http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatmain.asp

Kim, D., Bauer, B. H., & Near, T. J. (2022). Introgression and Species Delimitation in the Longear Sunfish Lepomis megalotis (Teleostei: Percomorpha: Centrarchidae). Systematic Biology, 71(2), 273–285. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syab029

Page, L. M., Bemis, K. E., Dowling, T. E., Espinosa-Pérez, H., Findley, L. T., Gilbert, C. R., Hartel, K. E., Lea, R. N., Mandrak, N. E., Neighbors, M. A., Schmitter-Soto, J. J., & Walker, H. J. Jr. (2023). Common and Scientific Names of Fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico (8th Edition). American Fisheries Society.

Page, L. M., & Burr, B. M. (2011). Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North America North of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.