WARMOUTH SUNFISH

Warmouth Sunfish (Lepomis gulosus)

A species favoring lakes, pools, oxbows, marshes, and streams of low gradients, the Warmouth Sunfish is the most voracious piscivore of all the sunfishes.

They prefer substrates composed of muck and organic debris, and healthy populations of aquatic vegetation which they use as their spawning grounds.

After spawning the male warmouth is extremely aggressive in protecting the nest. When an intruder nears the nest the male warmouth will puff out its opercles (gill plates), and push small pulses of water at the intruder with its tail. If this fails the warmouth will attempt to nip at the intruder to ward it off.

The original distribution of this species in Ohio has been clouded by stocking programs of this and other species initiated in the 1920's. They were known from glacial lakes in NW and NE Ohio and from weedy low gradient streams such as the upper Cuyahoga River in NE Ohio where moderate to large populations still exist.

The pumpkinseed is a common associate of the warmouth in the northern Ohio lakes and streams.