The Life History of the Bantam Sunfish, Lepomis symmetnricus, 
in Wolf Lake © 
Wolf Lake is a large oxbow lake on the south edge of the LaRue- 
Pine Hills Ecological Area. The upper (northern) half of the 
lake, which adjoins the Ecological Area, has recently been acquired 
by the Forest Service from the Trojan Powder Company, but 
during our visits to the lake it,was still Powder Company property. 
The lake is well oxygenated but the water is generally turbid. 
The perimeter of the lake is rich in aquatic vegetation, especially 
lotus, and cluttered with logs and submerged stumps. In the area 
selected for study of the bantam sunfish, two principal habitat 
types were present: the shallow, heavily vegetated, mud-bottomed 
Shoreline and the deep, mud-bottomed area devoid of aquatic 
vegetation in the middle of the lake. The bantam sunfish, the 
smallest member of the genus Lepomis, was typically found in the 
shoreline vegetation. 
Minnow-seine collections were made at one-month intervals through- 
out the year. The specimens were brought back to the laboratory, 
where they were measured, their sex and age determined, and their 
digestive tracts and bodies examined for parasites. Several fram 
each series were also examined for stomach contents and gonad 
condition. Living specimens brought back to the laboratory in 
1974 did not spawn in captivity. 
Throughout its range, the species is rather localized and un- 
common in quiet weedy lakes, oxbows, swamps, and sloughs. It 
reaches its greatest abundance in Louisiana. In Wolf Lake, it 
was never abundant but could usually be secured in its preferred 
habitat associated with a number of other sunfish species Lepomis 
mackrochinus, L. microklophus, L. gukosus, L. punatatus, L. cyanellus, 
Pomoxts annulanis, and Micropterus salmoides.) 
No observations could be made on nest construction or other repro- 
ductive behavior of the species, but it was evident from examina- 
tion of the gonads that males were Sexually mature at one year of 
age and at a length of about 39 mm. Testes were enlarged during 
the spring months preceding spawning and young males lost the 
vertical baring typical of juveniles and became darkly pigmented. 
Females were sexually mature at one year of age at the same iength 
as males. Female ova became large and orange during April and May. 
During other months the ova were small and white. Spawning pre- 
sumably takes place during the last half of May and continues 
into June. The smallest young, taken in mid-June, was only 12 mm. 
The largest specimen taken to date was 62.9 mm and 26 months old. 
The majority of the population consisted of one-year-old fish. 
The distinct black spot at the end of the second dorsal fin, 
which has been regarded as a sexual character, is instead an 
ontogenetic character that persists in both sexes up to 35 mm 
in length. Growth rates of males and females are not significantly 
different statistically. 
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