Animalia Life

Enneacanthus gloriosus
FAMILY
Centrarchidae
TAXONOMY
Enneacanthus gloriosus Holbrook, 1855, South Carolina, Georgia, and Cooper Rivers, South Carolina, United States. No subspecies are recognized.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
German: Kiemenfleck-diamantbarsch.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Maximum total length 3.7 in (9.5 cm). Similar in general appearance to a bluegill, but with proportionally longer fins; dark “teardrop” band beneath eye; vertical, dark banding on body; and numerous metallic blue spots in the head, body, and vertical fins.
DISTRIBUTION
Eastern United States, from southern New York to western Florida.
HABITAT
Prefers vegetated freshwater lakes, ponds, pools, and stream backwaters.
BEHAVIOR
Solitary; seldom strays far from cover. Easily dominated by other centrarchids; typically found in substantial numbers only in habitats Lepomis species do not find congenial, such as the highly acidic black waters of the New Jersey pine barrens.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Normally feeds on snails and other invertebrates near cover of vegetation.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Males build nests 4–12 in (10.2–30.5 cm) in diameter in algae or soft substrate. Spawning occurs in spring, perhaps extending from late winter to early summer. Little is known of its reproductive biology in the wild.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not listed by the IUCN.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Sometimes kept as an aquarium fish.

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