• Characteristics - back and sides golden or light olive green with several dark vertical bars that disappear in older fish; rounded ear flap has a whitish border with a prominent red or orange spot in adults
• Distribution - introduuced into man-made recreational lakes in the 1960's; now common to occasional in the southern two thirds of the state
• Foods - snails, aquatic insect larvae, cladocerans
• State Record - 1 pound, 9 ounces

For more redear sunfish information, see our printable pdf (78K) or Iowa Fish & Fishing.