Banded Pygmy Sunfish
Elassoma zonatum
- Class
- Ray-finned fish
- Rarity
- Common
- Observations
- 620
- Most observed in
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Conservation
- Least Concern
Description
The banded pygmy sunfish, Elassoma zonatum, is a species of pygmy sunfish endemic to the United States, where it is found from Indiana and Illinois to Texas to the Atlantic coast. It prefers densely vegetated bodies of slow-moving water. This species can reach 4.7 cm (1.9 in) in total length, though most do not exceed 3.5 cm (1.4 in). The banded pygmy sunfish are capable of retaining their juvenile characteristics while they are sexually mature; that is to say that they are neotenous. It was originally thought that the banded pygmy sunfish belonged to the cichlid family. However, researchers Hay, Jordan, and Gilbert thought that the banded pygmy sunfish was actually an intermediate species of fish between the pirate perch and the centrarchid family of fishes. Therefore, the banded pygmy sunfish was placed into its own family, Elassomatidae. In the 5th edition of Fishes of the World, though, this is treated as a subfamily of the sunfish family Centrarchidae. More recent authorities treat it again as its own family, although closely related to the Centrarchidae.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “Banded pygmy sunfish”.