Redbreast Sunfish
Redbreast Sunfish (Lepomis auritus) is a freshwater species. The first thing to check: a long, narrow, entirely black ear flap with no pale or coloured margin — narrower than the eye is wide. The look-alike to rule out is Longear Sunfish: a longear's ear flap is broader and carries a distinct pale white or red margin around its edge.
Last updated
| Scientific name | Lepomis auritus |
|---|---|
| Also called | redbreast, robin, yellowbelly sunfish |
| Water | Freshwater |
| Group | Sunfish |
| Temperature | Feeds well between 68 and 84 °F. |
How to identify a Redbreast Sunfish
- A long, narrow, entirely black ear flap with no pale or coloured margin — narrower than the eye is wide.
- A bright orange-red breast and belly, strongest on males in spring.
- Wavy blue-green lines on the cheek, and a body more elongate than most sunfish.
If you would rather not work through a key on a wet deck, photograph the fish and let the app name it — you get the common and the scientific name back, and the record is filed before you release.
Fish it is mistaken for
| Species | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Longear Sunfish | A longear's ear flap is broader and carries a distinct pale white or red margin around its edge. |
| Pumpkinseed Sunfish | Pumpkinseed have a short ear flap tipped with an orange spot and heavy body spotting; the redbreast's flap is long, narrow and plain black. |
Side-by-side comparisons
Read the full entry for Longear Sunfish and Pumpkinseed Sunfish.
Where it lives
Atlantic slope rivers and streams from New Brunswick to Florida, and widely introduced west. Holds in undercut banks, root wads and slow current in small rivers.
Temperature
Feeds well between 68 and 84 °F.
The conditions that matter
Redbreast are a river sunfish and sit tight to bank structure in gentle current, so the productive water is the seam rather than the open pool. They keep feeding well into the warm end of summer when other sunfish slow.
Global Fishing League records 18 weather and water readings against every catch automatically — tide stage, barometric pressure, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, swell, current, moon phase and more, taken at your GPS position at the moment you log the fish. Over a season that turns a hunch about redbreast sunfish into a pattern you can read.
See every reading recorded with a catch, or the guides to what each reading means.
Size limits, bag limits and seasons
Size limits, bag limits, slot limits and seasons are set by your state wildlife agency — and for many offshore and migratory species by federal regulators — and on many waters they differ from the statewide rule. They also change between seasons. Check the current regulations for the exact water you are fishing before you keep a fish — we do not republish limits here, because a number that is a season out of date is worse than no number.
What the app does do is make your side of it accurate: every catch carries a length measured from the photograph, a GPS position and a timestamp, exportable if you ever need to show your work for a tournament or a record claim. It is also what a Global Fishing League entry is built from — a record that verifies itself, without publishing where you caught the fish.