Sun fish guarding his nest.

drsyme · 05-31-2006, 07:18 PM

About this time of year in Chesapeake land, in the shallows the Sun Fish (pumpkin fish) lay their eggs. They do this in the areas covered with grasses. By using their mouths they clear a circular nest, about 8 inches diameter. The female lays the eggs in the middle, and the male guards the nest for 3 to 5 days until the fry hatch. They fry then go to the grassy areas to grow.

On Memorial Day I saw dozens of these nests by the pier. I tried to photo them and this is the best shot that I got.

tims · 05-31-2006, 07:28 PM

sweet shot Jack,
that is a lot of fry there!

zxcv123 · 05-31-2006, 07:32 PM

I saw the exact same thing on vacaton this past memorial day weekend. I waz fishing at a large lake in south Jessey and spotted a sunny hovering around what appeared to be a nest! I wouldnt leave the nest no matter what- and when I came back to gfish the next morning, I saw the exact same fish there again!

cobray · 05-31-2006, 07:36 PM

I've seen that before here in the Detriot River. They make dozens of nests in a place I like to go swimming. I've seen huge schools of fry while snorkeling with bass feeding on them.

zxcv123 · 05-31-2006, 07:40 PM

In this lake, which was called lake riviers, i believe, the nest was constructed of a pile biege pebbles from the substrate of the man made portion of the lake. The sunfish would not budge from the nest even whemn i swished my fishing pole in front of him! Thats how protective of their eggs are.

zxcv123 · 05-31-2006, 07:41 PM

Ya at this ake the bass and picrol/ pike eat the eggs. I, actually landed a 6 lb picrol and a 4 lb large mouth bass this past weekend. It was catch & relese, but I always release them back anyway.

drsyme · 05-31-2006, 07:51 PM

Why is that image so small?

I am very confused about all of this uploading.