Green Sunfish Page

Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) Description: Native to the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay and the Mississippi River basin. Introduced into Arizona in 1926. Large mouth with blue-green striations on the cheeks. Opercle flap is black with reddish or orange border. Bodies olive-green in color, dark vertical bars are faintly seen on sides. Pectoral fin short and rounded. Caudal fin and lower fin margins are white or yellowish with dusky spots at rear of dorsal and anal fins. Length: 3 to 12 inches. Weight: 3 ounces to 1 pound 8 ounces. May live to nine years. Location and Habitat: Found in most warm water lakes and streams in Arizona and even in a few trout lakes in the White Mountains and Mogollon Rim. Prefer lakes with rocky substrate and piles of rubble, but can be found around brushy banks and cliffs. Reproduction: Males build nests in shallow pools over gravel, sand or bedrock. The nests are usually within a couple feet of each other. The male guards the nest and hatched fry. Males constantly show defensive displays and fight with other males who come too close. Food: Green sunfish will eat anything they can catch and swallow. Aquatic and terrestrial insects and invertebrates are the most common food items. Small crayfish, fish and frogs are all in danger when green sunfish are present. Angling: Because of their highly predaceous and pugnacious nature they are one of the easiest fish to catch. They are always hungry and readily bite on small worms and insects. They readily take small jigs, spinners and spoons, as well as nymphs and small streamers. Green sunfish are great for teaching kids how to fish.

Rainbow Trout	Fish Species of the Colorado River in Lower Glen Canyon and Grand Canyon Online training Fish photos, information, and maps	Brown Trout

Updates 2016 NPS reported today the results of a survey they did last Friday (8/12/16) to follow up on a report earlier this month from AZGF that there may be green sunfish again in the Upper Slough in Glen Canyon. If you recall, an infestation of green sunfish in this slough was why an HFE was not held in the fall last year. NPS reported today: "Two Grand Canyon National Park technicians made a quick sample in the Upper Slough with a backpack electrofisher on Friday (August 12). Due to a river emergency downstream, they had limited time on site, but completed one sample (574 seconds) along the muddy shore on the river side of the slough. They captured 26 green sunfish and saw many more. Some captured green sunfish were in the 20 mm size range. A block net is still installed between the sloughs, but is compromised at current flows." NPS, Reclamation, USFWS, AZGF, and GCMRC are organizing to come up with both a short-term plan that addresses this latest infestation and to come up with a long-term fix for this problem. The hope is to have this addressed in some fashion before the end of the current HFE window as to not interfere with the possibility of conducting an HFE this fall. (8/16/16) 2015 In July, 2015 AGFD biologists discovered an unusually large, reproducing population of invasive green sunfish in the slough. Green sunfish are prolific, with a single female producing up to 10,000 eggs. They are also voracious predators of native fish and their eggs. Biologists with the AGFD, NPS, USGS, FWS, and BOR determined that green sunfish pose a threat to native fish including the humpback chub (Gila cypha). A rapid response action is necessary to eradicate the population of sunfish before it spreads downstream into critical habitat for the endangered humpback chub. (2015 NPS Press Release) Links and Information Information on the green sunfish The High Flow Experiment (HFE) Page Presentations and Papers 2016 Colorado River Slough Green Sunfish Removal Green Sunfish Rapid Response Treatment, Nov 2-6 and Nov 12-13, 2015 Brief Treatment Summary Installation of Nets to Contain Green Sunfish in Minus-12-Mile Slough, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Oct 6-7, 2015 Trip Report 2015 Desert News: Rapid response treatment to remove invasive green sunfish from a backwater slough Green Sunfish Rapid Response Non-native Fish Control in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Final Recommendation to Not Implement a Fall 2015 High Flow Experiment at Glen Canyon Dam Invasive species threats: Green sunfish Updates on 2014 HFE, 2015 Paria sediment inputs, and 2015 sediment mass balance Other Stuff Photos of the 2015 green sunfish treatment