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Elassoma Jordan, 1849, is a
genus of freshwater fish, the only member of
family Elassomatidae and suborder Elassomatoidei of order Perciformes. The type species is E. zonata, the banded pygmy sunfish. The Elassomatidae are known collectively as pygmy sunfishes, but are not true sunfishes, which are members of family Centrarchidae.
The pygmy sunfishes only grow to a maximum overall length of 3–4 cm (roughly 1.25–1.5 in). They occur mostly in temperate and subtropical swamps, marshes, and other shallow, slow-moving, and heavily-vegetated waters, across an area of the American South stretching from the Carolinas to Alabama and down into southern Florida. One species, the bluebarred pygmy sunfish (E. okatie) is considered Vulnerable.
Unlike many of the true sunfishes, the pygmy sunfishes are not popular gamefish because of their size. They are, however, often kept as aquarium fish by hobbyists, especially in Europe.
The generic name Elassoma derives from the Greek ελάσσων (smaller) and σώμα (body), in reference to the fishes' diminuitive size compared to the true sunfishes.
Species
- E. alabamae
- E. boehlkei - Carolina pygmy sunfish
- E. evergladei - Everglades pygmy sunfish
- E. okatie - bluebarred pygmy sunfish
- E. okefenokee - Okefenokee pygmy sunfish
- E. zonatum - banded pygmy sunfish
References
- ITIS: Elassoma (http://www.itis.usda.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=168168)
- FishBase: Elassoma (http://www.fishbase.org/Eschmeyer/GeneraSummary.cfm?ID=Elassoma)
- Duzen, Bill. "The Pygmy Sunfish (http://www.nativefish.org/Articles/PygmySunfish.htm)." The Native Fish Conservancy Website.
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