@DesertTortoise I believe this is a Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) primarily due to Colouration on the back. Longear sunfish (Lepomis megalotis) have a section of greyish-blue which then fades into a sort of amber yellow towards the belly. Pumpkinseeds on the other-hand are an overall reddish-orange colouration (like the photo) which doesn’t seem to fade into another colour towards the belly.
@Dr. Loxodonta I'm still not convinced, mainly due to a lack of red on the opercular flap of this fish. That red spot is a defining feature of pumpkinseed. I have photos of a few other fish in this tank, and they all lack any sort of red spot in that region.
I can see where both of you are coming from. This does have a lot of reddish-orange like a Pumpkinseed Sunfish; however, I believe that this is an individual from the Ozark population of Longear Sunfish. Due to the location of the Wonders of Wildlife Museum in the Missouri Ozarks, it makes sense that this sunfish was caught locally. The form of Longear Sunfish that occurs in the Ozarks of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas are very red just like this individual. If you do a Google search for "Ozark Longear Sunfish" you'll see what I mean. Also there are some good photos of the Ozark form on the website of the Missouri Department of Conservation.
@Dr. Loxodonta I didn't realize that they existed either until about five years ago. I have a friend who is a past-president of the North American Native Fishes Association and he told me about them and showed me his photo gallery of Longear Sunfish in the Ozarks. Otherwise, I would have thought that this was a Pumpkinseed too.
