
The Freshwater Information Network is an initiative to provide an online database of freshwater life.
The Redear Sunfish is found in Gulf to Atlantic coast drainages from Texas to South Carolina, including the Mobile Basin, as well as in the Mississippi and Ohio river drainages to Iowa and Ohio, including the Tennessee and Cumberland river drainages. They live over soft substrate of small to medium rivers, reservoirs, and swamps. As the common name suggests, Redear Sunfish have red spots on their “ears,” which are extensions of the opercular cover over their gills. Like other species of the genus Lepomis, males build nests by fanning the gravel or sand substrate with their tail.
The Freshwater Information Network is an initiative to provide an online database of freshwater life.