Red-breasted Sunfish Research

SAE: 1 hour

Another panfish I catch is the red-breasted sunfish. In the same family as bluegills and pumpkinseed sunfish. Red-breasted sunfish have the more nicknames than the other panfish, they are sometimes called bream, or river bream, sun perch, robin, yellowbelly sunfish, and longear fish. Red-breasts are appropriately named because they are the brightest sunfish, with their red and scarlet stomachs. The vivid colors are only prominent on male fish, females also have red and orange, but it is much duller. These fish can be told apart from other sunfish by their gills. Red-breasts have a longer gill cover, usually longer than an inch in length, and it is entirely black. Other species have shorter, more colorful gill covers and the long black covers of these fish set them apart from the others. There are no subspecies for this type of fish.
Similar to other panfish, they create circular beds, but unlike the bluegills, they are spread apart and scattered among the freshwater floor, rather than clumped together. This species will also take over abandoned beds other fish had used in the past. Males construct and guard their nests, which can get filled with between 1,000 and 10,000 eggs. The female's age and health determines the amount of eggs and the number of larvae that hatch.
Red-breasted sunfish are some of the best freshwater fish when it comes to diet. They do not eat much at any given time, but they will eat just about anything. From small fish and larvae to crayfish, shrimp, clams and sometimes even the occasional snail. Despite their good eating habits, red-brested sunfish are the slowest growing sunfish they usually grow to a maximum of eight inches and do not live past seven years. It takes them between two and threee years to reach just six inches. Most sunfish will only eat in the daytime, but red-breasts will feed on live bait and artificial lures even in the night. A fisherman can use things like flies, grasshoppers, crickets, worms, and the occasional small minnow too. Another unique fact is that the red-breasted sunfish have a stripe, usually green or blue colored that separates their tails from their body. This stripe can help them hide from predators because it helps them blend into the strips of weeds and plants on the ground where they hide.
A red-breasted sunfish looks like:

The colors of a female fish are duller and sometimes the body and tail separation stripe is not prominent. Every red-breasted sunfish, whether male or female, always has the extended black gill cover and a red, or orange shaded stomach. The top half, usually a dark or medium green is almost identical to that of other sunfish, like bluegills. The red-breasted sunfish tails are usually a deep red, or burnt orange color, it can also look rusty and therefore further helps to disguise the fish when it is hiding from predators. Red-breasted sunfish are commonly hunted by trout, bass, pikes, and even larger sunfish.
I got my information from:

http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/Freshwaterfish_RedbreastSunfish.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/ia3/fishing/redbreastsunfish.htm

http://www.kentuckylake.com/fishing/fishfacts/panfish.html