Elassoma okefenokee
Okefenokee Pygmy Sunfish
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Elassomatidae (Pygmy Sunfishes)
Elassoma
Elassoma okefenokee (Okefenokee Pygmy Sunfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: fusiform / normal.
Distribution
North America: Lower Altamaha River drainage, Georgia south to central part of peninsular Florida, and west to Choctawhatchee River drainage, Florida, USA.
Habitat Associations
Freshwater. demersal.
Biology
Occurs in swamps, heavily vegetated sloughs and small sluggish streams, usually over mud. Oviparous, eggs are deposited in aquatic vegetation, preferably on strands of Ceratophyllum sp. when available (Ref. 58020).
Max length: 3.4 cm TL; common length: 2.3 cm TL.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; guarders (clutch tenders). The fish scatter their eggs into thick plant vegetation.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-11-29. Resilience: Low (Fec=20).
References
Baensch, H.A. and R. Riehl (1985) Aquarien atlas. Band 2. Mergus, Verlag für Natur-und Heimtierkunde GmbH, Melle, Germany. 1216 p.
Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr (1991) A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 432 p.
Gilbert, C.R. (2004) Family Elassomatidae Jordan 1877. Pygmy sunfishes. Calif. Acad. Sci. Annotated Checklists of Fishes (33):5.
Mettee, M.F. and C. Scharpf (1998) Reproductive behavior, embryology, and larval development of four species of pygmy sunfish. http://www.nanfa.org/articles/elassoma.shtml. Accessed 23/03/07. (paper reprinted from American Currents).
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