- Art Gallery -

Elassoma

Cladus: Eukaryota
Supergroup: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Osteichthyes
Classis: Actinopterygii
Subclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Superordo: Acanthopterygii
Ordo: Perciformes
Subordo: Elassomatoidei
Familia: Elassomatidae
Genus: Elassoma
Species: E. alabamae - E. boehlkei - E. evergladei - E. okatie - E. okefenokee - E. zonatum

Vernacular Names
English: Pygmy Sunfishes

Elassoma is a genus of freshwater fish, the only member of family Elassomatidae and suborder Elassomatoidei of order Perciformes. The type species is E. zonatum, the banded pygmy sunfish. The Elassomatidae are known collectively as pygmy sunfishes, but are not true sunfishes, which are members of family Centrarchidae. Some researchers believe they are related to sticklebacks and pipefishes (order Syngnathiformes) rather than Perciformes.

The pygmy sunfishes grow to a maximum overall length of 3 to 4 cm (1.25 to 1.5 in). They occur mostly in temperate and subtropical swamps, marshes, and other shallow, slow-moving, and heavily-vegetated waters, across an area of the American South stretching from the Coastal Plain of North Carolina to central Florida, west along the Gulf Coast to eastern Texas, and north up the Mississippi River Valley to southern Illinois. The bluebarred, Carolina, and spring pygmy sunfishes have small localized populations and are considered Vulnerable.

The pygmy sunfishes are too small to be game fish, but are popular as aquarium fish because of the males' iridescent colors and fascinating breeding behaviors. Eggs are laid on or beneath dense vegetation, and the male guards the nest area until the fry hatch and scatter. They adapt well to small aquaria and are easy to care for, but require small live worms, insects, or crustaceans as food. Most individuals will not eat prepared fish foods.

The generic name Elassoma derives from the Greek ελάσσων (smaller) and σώμα (body), in reference to the fishes' diminutive size compared to the true sunfishes.

Species

* Spring pygmy sunfish Elassoma alabamae Mayden, 1993.
* Carolina pygmy sunfish, Elassoma boehlkei Rohde & Arndt, 1987.
* Everglades pygmy sunfish, Elassoma evergladei Jordan, 1884.
* Bluebarred pygmy sunfish, Elassoma okatie Rohde & Arndt, 1987.
* Okefenokee pygmy sunfish, Elassoma okefenokee Böhlke, 1956.
* Gulf Coast pygmy sunfish, Elassoma gilberti Snelson, Krabbenhoft, and Quattro, 2009.
* Banded pygmy sunfish, Elassoma zonatum Jordan, 1877.

References

* North American Native Fishes Association (NANFA) Elassoma forum [1]
* "Elassoma". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=168168. Retrieved 20 March 2006.
* Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Elassomatidae" in FishBase. January 2006 version.
* Duzen, Bill. "The Pygmy Sunfish." The Native Fish Conservancy Website.

Biology Encyclopedia

Fish Images

Source: Wikipedia, Wikispecies: All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License