Okefenokee Pygmy Sunfish

The Okefenokee pygmy sunfish is an olive green color fish with brownish-red mottling across the body, mixed with bright blue colors. Elassoma okefenokee differs from its close relative Elassoma gilberti by only having three preopercular canals (gilberti has, on average, four). The average number of anal fin rays is seven in E. gilberti whereas E. okefenokee has 8. The female E. gilberti often expresses a blue patch of color behind her eye and on her body, while the E. okefenokee does not.

Elassoma okefenokee is a freshwater, demersal fish which spends its time in dense vegetation growth in waters with a pH range of 6.0-8.0 and a dH range of 5-unknown. Their preferred temperature range is 4–30 °C (39–86 °F).

Some good foods to try in the aquarium are California blackworms, daphnia, Grindal worms, microworms, and having a healthy population of snails. Some pygmy sunfish will learn to supplement their diet with crushed flake food, but this should not be relied upon as the only food source. The crushed fish flakes are a good idea, though, because they will feed the microfauna that will in turn feed the Elassoma.

Elassoma stems from the Greek, elasson (meaning smaller) plus the Greek, soma (meaning body) in reference to the fishes' diminutive size compared to the true sunfishes