Bluegill
Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque, 1819
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
A chart showing a bluegill, greengill, and green sunfish. All of which were caught in the same pond.
Paleo1954 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 320 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or, in Texas, "copper nose", is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and wetlands east of the Rocky Mountains. It is from the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes, crappies and black basses) in the order Centrarchiformes. Bluegills can grow up to 16 in (41 cm) long and about 4+1⁄2 lb (2.0 kg). While their color can vary from population to population, they typically have a very distinctive coloring, with deep blue and purple on the face and gill cover, dark olive-colored bands down the side, and a fiery orange to yellow belly. They are omnivorous and will consume anything they can fit in their mouth, but mostly feed on small aquatic insects and baitfishes. The fish are important prey for bass, other larger sunfish, northern pike and muskellunge, walleye, trout, herons, kingfishers, snapping turtles and otters, and play a key role within the food chain of its freshwater ecosystem.
Wikipedia contributors, Bluegill; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:31:42.015907+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque, 1819
- Name authority
- Rafinesque, 1819
- Common name
- Bluegill
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Centrarchiformes
- Family
- Centrarchidae
- Genus
- Lepomis
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCentrarchiformes
- familyCentrarchidae Bleeker, 1859
- genusLepomis Rafinesque, 1819
- speciesLepomis macrochirus Rafinesque, 1819
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Lepomis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| redbreast sunfishLepomis auritus (Linnaeus, 1758) | CentrarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lepomis gulosus (Cuvier, 1829) | CentrarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lepomis megalotis (Rafinesque, 1820) | CentrarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lepomis miniatus (Jordan, 1877) | CentrarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lepomis punctatus (Valenciennes, 1831) | CentrarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lepomis symmetricus Forbes, 1883 | CentrarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lepomis lirus McKay, 1881 | CentrarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Green SunfishLepomis cyanellus Rafinesque, 1819 | CentrarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| pumpkinseedLepomis gibbosus (Linnaeus, 1758) | CentrarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lepomis humilis (Girard, 1858) | CentrarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lepomis marginatus (Holbrook, 1855) | CentrarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lepomis microlophus (Günther, 1859) | CentrarchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Lepomis macrochirus macrochirus Rafinesque, 1819 Rafinesque, 1819 | synonym |
| Lepomis macrochira Rafinesque, 1819 Rafinesque, 1819 | synonym |
| Lepomis macrochirus purpurescens Cope, 1870 Cope, 1870 | synonym |
| Lepomis purpurescens Cope, 1870 Cope, 1870 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Rafinesque, C. S. (1819). Prodrome. De 70 nouveaux genres d’animaux découverts dans l’intérieur des Etats-Unis d’Amérique, durant l’année 1818. Journal de Physique, de Chimie, d’Histoire Naturelle et Des Arts, 88: 417–429. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3TG2J. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.