Pumpkinseed

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Onglets

Description

Distinguishing features

These small, colorful fish, typically measuring 10 to 20 cm, have an olive or brown back with green, blue, and orange spots on the flanks. They sport a distinctive red or orange margin on their black opercular flap.

Reproduction

Pumpkinseeds breed in spring and summer. Males build nests, which are simple hollows in the substrate at the bottom of lakes and rivers, typically in shallow areas. They vigorously defend their territory.

Females lay between 1,000 and 3,000 eggs, which the males fertilize and guard until hatching.

Diet

Pumpkinseeds primarily feed on insects, aquatic larvae, small crustaceans, fish, amphibian larvae, mollusks, and worms.

They are opportunistic feeders and adapt their diet based on prey availability.

Predators

Larger fish, such as walleye and chain pickerel, prey on pumpkinseeds, as well as piscivorous birds and certain aquatic mammals, including minks and river otters.

Juvenile pumpkinseeds are particularly vulnerable to predation.

Habitat

Pumpkinseeds thrive in clear, calm, and shallow waters in lakes, ponds, and slow-moving streams. They prefer environments with abundant aquatic vegetation.

Ecology, behaviour

A territorial species, especially during breeding season, pumpkinseeds play a key role in the aquatic ecosystem by regulating prey populations and serving as a food source for a variety of predators.

Originally from North America, the pumpkinseed has been introduced into Quebec lakes and Europe. In Quebec, authorities consider that it can become an invasive species.

French name

Crapet soleil

Scientific name

Lepomis gibbosus

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Actinopterygii

Order

Perciformes

Family

Centrarchidae

Size

10 to 20 cm (can reach 25 cm)

Weight

Up to 300 g

Life span

In the wild: 6 to 8 years In captivity: 8 to 12 years

Status

Least concern (IUCN)

At the Biodôme

Pumpkinseeds can be spotted at the underwater viewing area of the beaver pond in the Laurentian maple forest. They coexist well with yellow perch, North American beavers, and wood ducks.

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