Classification

Common Name: The Warmouth Sunfish

Domain - Eukarya
Kingdom - Animalia
Phylum - Chordata
Subphylum - Vertebrata
Class - Actinopterygii
Order - Perciformes
Family - Centrarchidae
Genus - Lepomis
Species - Lepomis gulosus (Cuvier, 1829)

Taxonomic information taken from Animal Diversity Web

Lepomis is a Greek word meaning gill covered scales while gulosus translates to large-mouthed (Fish Base) The Lepomis gulosus was discovered by Culvier and Valenciennes in 1829 and originally placed into the genus Chaenobryttus (Nature Reserve). The Chaenobryttus have since been placed within the Lepomis (Avise 1977).

Those in the Domain Eukarya are classified as organisms with a membrane-bound nucleus, or nuclei.  Those in the Kingdom Animalia have characteristics of multicellularity, lack a cell wall and are heterotrophic.  The Lepomis gulosus exhibits bilateral symmetry and deuterostomes in Phylum Chordata. Part of the Craniata, vertebrata in Class Actinopterygii are known as the Ray-Finned fishes. Fish in Actinopterygii exhibit the presence of a distinct head, jaw, gill covered by a bony operculum, and a lung or swim bladder (Hickman, et. al. 2011).

Species in the Order Perciformes are bony fishes, while the being in the family Centrarchidae indicates that it is a Sunfish or Freshwater Bass. The Lepomis genus is small one with roughly 20 species in it (Nature Reserve).  Lepomis are commonly known as Eared Sunfishes (EOL). Species in the Lepomis genus have lateral line scales, no teeth, and no spinous projections. The Lepomis gulosus differs from other Lepomis species in that they have dark and light lines from the eye to gill cover rather than blue or green.  Their fins can also be a variety of colors (Texas Parks & Wildlife).

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